Following hot on the heels of the announcement of the introduction of the super 8’s to the football championship for three years from next season, the GAA have announced new proposals for the Senior All Ireland, U-21 and Minor Hurling Championships to be considered by Central Council next week.
These new proposals would initially be on a trial basis from the 2018 to 2020 seasons.
Changes would include that the Senior Leinster and Munster Championships would be played off on a round robin basis.
The Senior Hurling championships would consist of the two provincial championships of Leinster and Munster and a third provincial qualifier group with five rounds of four matches in each.
The proposal would guarantee more games for teams who would have two home games and two away games. The top two sides in the Leinster and Munster groups would contest their respective provincial deciders, with the winners progressing to the All Ireland semi-finals and losers contesting the All Ireland quarter finals.
The big carrot for the third place teams in the group is they will remain in the championship with the chance to qualify for the All Ireland quarter finals as on a rotating basis the third placed team in each province will either progress straight into the quarter finals or play the provincial qualifier group winner in a one off game for a last eight spot.
The qualifier group for the 2018 season will contain Carlow, Antrim,
Laois, Westmeath and Kerry with all those teams competing for the Liam McCarthy Cup but not for a provincial title.
In the minor Championship, the provinces remain the same, with Galway taking part in a three-way round-robin with beaten provincial finalists.
For the U-21 grade, the proposal is for Galway and “Ulster teams of sufficient quality” play in Leinster.
A meeting of Central Council is to take place on Saturday the 17th of June where they will discuss the proposals and if they are in favour of the new ideas then a Special Congress will vote on the proposals later in the year.
To view the full CCCC proposals just Click Here.
