DONAL ÓG Cusack, the three-time All-Ireland winning Cork goalkeeper, believes the integrity of the Munster and Leinster hurling championships can be maintained while integrating them into a new national structure.

GAA president Liam O’Neill already revealed this week plans are afoot to re-examine the current championship set-up with change to be introduced by 2014.

“I don’t see why it would be overly complex to add the Munster championship into an overall programme,” said Cusack yesterday in his capacity as the GAA’s Round the Square columnist.

“I still think it would be possible. One of the options would be, if you look at a more national structure, that if there was a national competition you could still retain the Munster and Leinster provincial championship as part of that national structure.

“I don’t think the question is as black or white: do we get rid of the provincial series in favour of a more open draw? I think there are possibilities around integrating both.”

The 35-year-old was back doing aerobic exercises on Wednesday night, 11 weeks after rupturing his Achilles. However, he will not return playing until January.

The Cork captain’s abrupt removal from Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s team – he has been retained in the backroom – initiated a lively debate about his replacement as Martin Coleman Jnr and Anthony Nash both have the pedigree to become Cork’s number one.

Coleman was preferred for the National League final defeat to Kilkenny, but an error in that game opened the door for Nash, who starts in the qualifier meeting with Offaly at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night.

“I’ve played with Martin Coleman for a decade,” said Cusack. “The most professional guy I ever met was Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and I would put Martin in that bracket. He comes from a hurling family; his father won three All-Irelands with Cork in the ’70s. What happened to him, I would get a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about it.

“But he’s a goalkeeper, he knows that is the joy of the position we play in, mistakes are magnified rather than out the field. It’s tough but we are playing in a top league and there is no one going to pull himself through this situation only himself.

“Then, to be fair to Anthony Nash; very professional guy, very committed to Cork hurling. He came in the day I was injured [against Tipperary in the league semi-final] and did well. He would have been very disappointed when he wasn’t picked for the league final.

“I’ve seen it over the years. I know players get down, even this weekend some players will get picked and dropped, and some will think ‘is this it for me’, but I have seen so many things change over the years, nothing is set in stone, you never know what is around the corner. When you do get dropped that is the spirit you need to carry in your mind.”

Offaly and Cork were embroiled in some epic duels during Barry-Murphy’s first reign as manager, particularly in 1999 and 2000.

“The over-riding memory I have of those games is that they were pure hurling games and great to be involved in.

“Offaly, a lot of people would see it as the best draw that Cork could have gotten but if you put yourself in an Offaly person’s position coming down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night they know the type of game Cork play, Páirc Uí Chaoimh is a big open space. Offaly are a hurling county as well.

“I’d imagine they’d relish the idea of coming to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

“You only have to look back to 12 months ago when we played Offaly at home and only escaped, if you like, with a one-point victory.”

A valid concern voiced by Cusack yesterday was that the new wave of Cork hurlers has arrived at senior level without the burst of confidence gained from underage success.

“Jimmy is after bringing a great freshness around the camp but the management don’t have the luxury of the young lads coming in having won minors and under-21s. It is a thing I’d be conscious of as one of the older players.

“We played Kilkenny in a few All-Ireland finals, won two and lost two and would have had a strong belief in ourselves and still have. You need to think about some of those younger guys who are 18, 19, 20 – they have really come up at a time when Kilkenny have been dominating the game. It is a factor not alone for us in Cork but every team that is trying to chase them.

“You can make the analogy that they are turning into the All Blacks of the game.”