Ulster experiment should be wound up

Antrim have limped through the Ulster championship seeing off Down and Derry but by no means looking like they are at least a division better than their Ulster rivals.
The Saffrons struggled to see of a Down side missing Magic Johnstone and the improvement needed in less than a fortnight to even put it up to high flying Galway seems beyond them.
Sambo McNaughton remains as honest as ever and one Eff didn't wait on another when talking to the press after the game.
McNaughton knows that a repeat of Sunday's performance against Galway will end in tears and Antrim will be left licking their wounds after another heavy defeat.
To be honest I fear for our lads in a fortnight's time.
I believe they will raise their game a notch as the over familiarity and the fact that the Saffrons were going for their seventh Ulster in a row in what is now a meaningless championship obviously has taken some of the fire out of the contest.
Down are working hard to develop the game outside its Ards base and there are some signs of hope in South Down and with the efforts of the Bredagh club in south Belfast to promote the game.
It could be another five years before the county side sees the full benefit of this but if this doesn't work the game will die in the county.
The base the Ards teams have drawn off in the past has narrowed considerably as the day of the big hurling family producing three and four brothers for the local side is gone and falling school numbers tell their own tale.
The Ulster experiment of all nine counties competing added a little interest to the season but on its own did little to lift the standard of play, indeed it added to the mediocrity.
All the Ulster sides outside of Antrim should be playing in the lesser competitions and while the aspiration to have a fully contested Ulster championship is indeed a noble one the hurling authorities need to look no further than Leinster to see the effect a poor championship can have on the game.