News round-up: Offaly manager Michael McNamara has played down the likely impact on the county of relegation from Division One. Despite having six points after phase one Offaly managed to end phase two pointless after being touched off in injury-time on Sunday by neighbours Laois.

"Next year will be about the championship," he said referring to the new championship blueprint to be introduced in 2005. "There'll be at least four matches in a league format so maybe the price we'll pay won't be as great as it might have been under the old system."

He was nonetheless critical of the National Hurling League structure that led to his injury-wracked team paying a high price in phase two.

"This was supposed to be a two-year plan. Then half way through someone decided to tinker with it because last year Tipp and Kilkenny (reaching the final) had been a foregone conclusion in phase two. People don't look at the big picture, they just change something here and something there.

"That said you've got three matches that you can't lose, or rather you have to avoid losing all of them and we weren't able to do that."

He also lamented the impact of late, late goals on his team's fortunes this season. On Sunday Laois scored 1-1 in an extended period of additional time to defeat their neighbours, whom they will probably face in a Leinster semi-final at the end of next month.

"Some man put up a board saying three minutes of injury-time and we conceded the winning score in the seventh minute. It was the same in Cork when we got caught with a late goal. Conceivably we could have been playing in the final instead of going to Division Two.

"The worst of the injury crisis is at least over and we've five weeks to put the show back on the road."