The Ulster Senior Hurling Championship ought to be reinstated in order to promote the game in the province, says former Antrim and Loughgiel star Johnny Campbell.
The competition was last played back in 2017 when the Saffrons claimed their 16th successive Liam Harvey Cup with a one-sided victory over Armagh in Owenbeg.
The Ulster Council announced a three-year hiatus for the competition, but there are still no signs of the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship being resurrected.
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The continued success of the Joe McDonagh, Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard and Lory Meagher Cup competitions has made scheduling the major stumbling block.
Yet, plenty of prominent figures within Ulster still yearn for the return of the provincial series, including Campbell, who is Darren Gleeson’s assistant manager with the Antrim senior squad.
“It would be great to have the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship back,” said Campbell.
“I can’t see why we shouldn’t have one up here. Ourselves (Antrim), Down, Derry, Donegal and Tyrone are progressing. Fermanagh won the Lory Meagher last year too. Obviously, it needs to be structured the right way to make it competitive for everybody.
“What better way to promote hurling up here than to have an Ulster Senior Hurling Championship?”
Campbell knows a standalone tournament will fail to get the proper buy-in from counties - especially if it is played after the All-Ireland series.
Yet, the finalists in this year’s Joe McDonagh Cup will go back into this season’s Liam MacCarthy Cup with the winners getting promoted to the McCarthy Cup for next season.
Campbell, who captained Loughgiel to All-Ireland club glory alongside DD Quinn in 2012, says the Ulster Championship would need to be incentivised in order to prosper.
“That’s for the powers that be to work out. To be fair, the competitions that are there at the minute work really well, added Campbell.
“Everyone of them is a minefield from the Liam MacCarthy to the Joe McDonagh, down to the Christy Ring and the Nickey Rackard. Nearly all the teams involved in those competitions could win them.
“Limerick and Waterford are probably ahead of everyone else in the Liam MacCarthy, but in the Joe McDonagh Cup, you could throw your hat over three or four of the teams and that’s the same in the other competitions.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure how the Ulster Championship would tie in with progression to the Liam MacCarthy - that’s a bigger debate.
“We are proud Ulster people too and having our own competition would be massive for the promotion of hurling in the province.”
The Saffrons will bid to get one over on the other Ulster side in the Joe McDonagh Cup when they take on Down in round two of the competition in Ballycran this Sunday.
Both teams enjoyed opening day victories last weekend with Ronan Sheehan’s men defeating Kerry 1-19 to 0-18 with Daithi Sands scoring an early major for his side.
At Corrigan Park, Antrim needed a late goal from Conor Johnston to edge Offaly 3-22 to 2-24.
Campbell said it was far from their best performance of the season and he knows more will be required to see off a vastly-improved Down side this weekend.
“We had some superb performances in the League in three or four games and ended up with no points. The most pleasing aspect of last weekend was that, even though we weren't as free-flowing as we had been, we ground out the result and got over the line,” said Campbell.
“We fought to the very end even though it was a crazy finish. Maybe in past years, we would have thrown the head up, but it was pleasing to see them come back and Conor (Johnston) took his goal well.
He added: “Down had a very good year. . . and a very good couple of years to be fair to them.
“As a hurling man, you’d be keeping an eye to see how other teams are doing and they’ve been performing well.
“They’ve beaten Kerry twice this year which is no mean feat. It will be interesting to see how Sunday goes - we are expecting a good challenge.
“Through my time in hurling, you never take Down for granted. You always got a big challenge down in Ballycran so we are under no illusions as to what’s ahead of us.”
Campbell added that Keelan Molloy is the latest player to join Antrim’s extensive injury list with the Dunloy ace set to miss Sunday’s game with a hamstring problem.
Although James McNaughton returned to action against Offaly, this weekend’s game will come too soon for Neil McManus, Niall McKenna, Michael Bradley and Damon McMullan.
Down are already without the services of Donal Hughes, who will miss the remainder of their Joe McDonagh Cup campaign with a knee injury, but Conor Woods is available for selection after missing last weekend’s win over Kerry.
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