Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MOTION TO DISMISS?
Hurling Championship reform not assured as Central Council face hard sell to delegates
THE GAA today holds its first Special Congress since 2006, which could result in the most radical reform the All-ireland Hurling Championship has ever seen.
Alternatively, after an intriguing 2017 Championship, delegates may opt to leave well enough alone, with several prominent hurling counties already mandated to vote against Central Council’s headline motion, for which 60% majority would be required.
In total, there are 22 motions on the programme for today’s event at Croke Park. Here are the key ones:
Central Council motion on Allireland SHC structure
Calls for the Liam Maccarthy Cup to be reduced to 10 teams, five each in Munster/leinster with a newly created standalone six-team second tier. The provincial championships would be played off on a round robin basis with the champions progressing to the All-ireland semi-final. Beaten provincial finalists and two third-placed teams compete in the All-ireland quarter-finals. There would be promotion relegation from top tier to the second. Its chances of being passed appear to have diminished somewhat in recent weeks with several influential hurling counties feeling it would dilute provincial championships while those outside the top nine fear being cast further adrift.
For the latter reason, Laois, Offaly and Meath have proposed an amendment calling for the second tier finalists to be allowed play in a preliminary quarter-final.
Tipperary motion on All-ireland SHC structure
Like Central Council, calls for five teams in Leinster and Munster but there would be a back door system within the provincial competitions. In all, it’s a rather unwieldy proposal that appears to stand little chance of success.
Dublin motion on All-ireland SHC structure
Essentially proposes same structure as pertains at the moment up to the All-ireland quarter-final stage, which would be expanded from two to four matches with provincial champions losing their right to go straight to the semi-final stage.
Has merit but motions from individual counties traditionally tend to struggle when flying in the face of a Central
Council proposal, which this essentially is, regardless of their worth.
Cork motion on All-ireland SHC structure
Advocates retaining the current provincial formats like Dublin’s but instead of four quarter-finals there would be a ‘Super Eight’, similar to that being introduced in football in 2018, with two groups of four played on a round robin basis before the semi-finals.
Like the Central Council proposal, this is an attempt to address the imbalance between high profile hurling and football games during the peak of the Championship but much of the hurling fraternity h a s come around to a ‘less is more’ line of thinking of late in the aftermath of this year’s Championship.
Central Council motion on Allireland Under-21 Hurling Championship
Proposes that Connacht and Ulster teams funnel into the Leinster Championship at this grade with the Munster and Leinster winners contesting the All-ireland final. Likely to be passed as it would eliminate redundant All-ireland semi-finals that have cropped up for a number of years now at this age group.
There are two proposed amendments. Offaly are calling for Galway to be moved to Munster instead of Leinster while Cork want the four provincial finalists to cross over and play Allireland semi-finals.
Central Council motion on Allireland MHC
Calls for Ulster teams to compete in Leinster and for Galway to enter the competition with a round robin stage against beaten Leinster and Munster finalists, with the top two progressing to the All-ireland semi-final.
Likely to be passed.
Central Council motion on kickout in Gaelic football
The first step in clamping down on the short kickout in football. It proposes that a kickout must travel beyond the 20-metre line before being played by a defending team. Set to be passed and could be a precursor to kickouts having to go beyond the 45.