CARLEY PREFERS THE HURLING FORMAT

The mood must have been massively lifted out on the Firhouse Road on Saturday evening. The Senior hurlers beat All-Ireland Champions Cuala in their first game in this year's Dublin Senior Championship.

The result came only 9 days after the club's senior footballers, All-Ireland winners themselves just thirteen months ago, were knocked out in the 1st Round of the Dublin Championship by Oliver Plunketts Eoghan Ruadh.

And while there is no room for error in the football championship, as it's straight knockout, that is not the case in the hurling equivalent. Cuala will still be able to get out of Group 1, if they beat Crumlin and Faughs.

Boden hurling supremo Paul Carley tells FM104 Sport's Cóilín Duffy that round-robin is the way to go.

"I'd rather be in our position than the football position. I think it's an unfair championship that you get one chance, and if you make any mistakes, you can't improve upon them."

And some of the results in the first round of the Football championship would lend credence to the argument that quality trumps quantity. The outstanding result, for all the wrong reasons, was Kilmacud Crokes' 10-12 to 0-7 points win over Erin's Isle.

Elsewhere, Vincents were 15 points winners over Round Towers, Sylvesters beat Annes by 18 points, while Ballymun had 19 points to spare over Pats of Palmerston.

What good those defeats to for those clubs is highly questionable, and Carley prefers the idea that there isn't so much pressure on a one off fixture so early in the Championship season.

"Today, win or lose, you're still giving yourself a chance going into the second round."

Whether it is time to change the format of the football championship is sure to be a hot topic over the coming months.

This article was originally published on the FM104 Sport website.