CYRIL FARRELL BELIEVES Laois’s victory over Dublin yesterday proves that the Leinster SHC should be expanded to six teams.

Eddie Brennan’s side will compete in Leinster next season but face a difficult task to avoid an immediate return to the Joe McDonagh Cup.

Carlow lifted the second tier title in 2018 and suffered four defeats from four in Leinster, which consigned them to relegation.

While the worst team in Munster would only face a play-off if Kerry were to win the McDonagh Cup, there’s an automatic relegation for the bottom team in the eastern province as long as the Kingdom are not the winners.

Farrell believes that an extra team should be included in Leinster to give the likes of Laois a proper shot at surviving in the top flight and progressing.

“Maybe there isn’t as big a gap as people think (between the tiers),” he said on The Sunday Game. 

“When Galway only beat Carlow by six points, everyone was saying they should have beaten them by a lot more. But they weren’t able to beat them by a lot more.

“The gap is closing. I really believe there should be the six counties in Leinster, so it’ll give teams a chance.

“It’s up there with Antrim beating Offaly and Kerry beating Waterford years ago. On a wider issue, it shows that there should be six counties – whether it is Laois, Carlow or Westmeath - in Leinster.

“It doesn’t take away any Sundays and it leaves you with an even number of teams. Nothing at all wrong with it.”

Cyril Farrell argues that today's result shows there should be six teams in Leinster pic.twitter.com/yIIkXHrpMa

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 7, 2019

Should the Leinster SHC be expanded to six teams?

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