Jarlath Burns to set up group to reform inter-county structures, with hurling set for tweaks

GAA president Jarlath Burns is to set up a group to review the structure and scheduling of the senior inter-county championships.
Burns gave the commitment at the meeting of Central Council in Croke Park on Saturday.
As a new All-Ireland senior football championship format will be commencing next year, any structural change is likely to come in the hurling championship where the All-Ireland preliminary hurling quarter-finals could be disbanded completely or the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists removed and replaced with the fourth-placed teams in the Leinster and Munster championships.
In that case, Wexford instead of Laois would have faced Tipperary and Clare, not Kildare taken on Dublin this past weekend for All-Ireland quarter-final places against Galway and Limerick.
Instead, less than a week after their McDonagh Cup final, runners-up Laois lost to Tipperary by 23 points and Dublin defeated second tier winners Kildare by 21 points.
In the six years of the preliminary quarter-finals, MacCarthy Cup sides have won 11 out of 12 times with an average winning margin of 17.9 points.
Last week, Burns indicated the McDonagh Cup could run parallel to the MacCarthy Cup instead of being run off in time to feed into it. 'If you do away with the preliminary quarter-finals, there are advantages to that because you could stretch out the Joe McDonagh Cup and you could make that a longer competition.'
Although the Munster Council will be loath to alter the jeopardy associated with their championship that again pulled in record attendances and gate receipts this year, the likes of Clare, Waterford and Wexford may be in favour of such an amendment. A relegation play-off between the bottom teams in Leinster and Munster may also be considered.
The expected return of provincial final replays after extra-time, set to be debated at Special Congress in October, would have to be factored into any structure or scheduling changes. Simply ending the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals could mean up to a five-week gap for the third-placed team in Munster between their last provincial match and All-Ireland quarter-final.
A compromise may come in the final round of the provincial championships being pushed out to June. However, that is unlikely to happen until 2027 at the earliest as Burns confirmed concerts have been booked for Croke Park in August of next year and therefore All-Ireland finals won't be staged in that month.
Yet there is growing support for the inter-county season to conclude in the eighth month of the year as Burns acknowledged at last week's All-Ireland senior hurling championship launch.
In his Munster SHC final programme notes last week, provincial chairman Tim Murphy wrote of the same. 'The split season has generally been effective with inter-county players in particular expressing high levels of satisfaction. Having spoken to clubs, counties, players, managers, administrators and supporters over the last number of weeks and months, there is however a strong desire for the season to be extended.
'I am confident a comprehensive national review – engaging all relevant stakeholders and considering the full range of perspectives – can produce a well-balanced extension to the playing season that meets the needs of all involved.'
The following day, Leinster chairman Derek Kent, who too has called for an August finish to the championships, wrote of the lack of hurling being played in summer. 'Almost 60% of our senior hurling teams in Leinster will have no hurling in June, which surely demonstrates a troubling lack of hurling promotion.
'On the contrary, over 91% of our football teams, all but one of the 12 in the province, will play football this month. That clearly highlights an imbalance in the playing of our games.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Irish Times

an hour ago

• Irish Times

Matt Williams: Lions can't afford to be infected by Irish rugby's sense of entitlement against resurgent Australia

Last weekend proved that 80 minutes of rugby can be a very long time in the professional game. After Leinster's stunning performance at Croke Park , they have gladly passed the chokers' T-shirt to the Bulls, who have now lost three United Rugby Championship finals in four years. At Twickenham, the Premiership final was as enjoyable as getting a tooth pulled, with the highlight being a legendary Michael Cheika sideline blow-up. In Super Rugby, the Brumbies were pumped out of the playoffs by the Chiefs, making it four seasons in a row that the Australian side have departed the Super Rugby competition at the semi-final stage. Leinster would have been glad to get the monkey off their back when it comes to finals. Inside the fortress of the GAA , normal service was finally restored. At long, long last, Leo Cullen's team won the trophy that had evaded them over so many close defeats. READ MORE All of which proves two things. Every team on the planet is only as good as their last game. And winners are grinners while losers can please themselves. In the binary, black-and-white world of knockout rugby, you are either a winner or a loser. Cheika worked wonders in getting Leicester to the English final in his first season. Over the past four years, the Brumbies have consistently performed at an outstanding level despite operating in a dysfunctional Australian rugby environment. In reaching three URC deciders in four years, the Bulls' performance must be described as exceptional. However, the reality is that on their biggest day of the rugby season, the Bulls, the Brumbies and Leicester have all come up short. That does not make them failures . More than any other club on the planet, Leinster understand that sentiment. Have Leinster answered their critics with this URC title win? Listen | 38:05 Across the last five years, Leinster's consistency across both the URC and the Champions Cup has been historic. Despite this, heart-breaking defeats in semi-finals and finals saw many calling for Cullen to be sacked. Sadly, many in the Leinster and wider Irish rugby community possess a deep sense of entitlement. They believed their team deserved to win because they had dominated the competition. This type of thinking denies the basic truth that victory in every match must be earned because, as we have already established, you are only as good as your last match. Leinster head coach Leo Cullen with Jordie Barrett after last Saturday's URC final victory against Bulls. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho The wisdom of the leadership that sits above the coach within Leinster could see that with their incredible consistency, season after season, they did not have a coaching problem. They understood that the club had a problem with players coping under the highest pressure imaginable. As the Lions are jetting off to Australia, Andy Farrell will face a similar problem to Cullen. Everyone in the northern hemisphere believes the Lions are entitled to dominate the series against the Wallabies. Wrongly, they remain fixated with the mess that was the Wallabies' 2023 World Cup campaign. This is understandable, as it remains a compelling case in how not to approach a World Cup. It contained a long, horrendous list of errors in selection and coaching appointments and culminated with the great Wallaby openside flanker, leader and talisman, Michael Hooper, not being selected in the World Cup squad. It remains the greatest selection blunder by the Wallabies in the professional era. [ Australia squad thin on playmakers may come back to bite Joe Schmidt Opens in new window ] It was the final act of two decades of mismanagement by Rugby Australia. The list of stupid decisions the Australian rugby community had to deal with across a 20-year period is hard to comprehend. But those in the north need to understand that there have been sweeping changes since. With former players Daniel Herbert as chairman and Phil Waugh as CEO, Australia have competent leaders with a high rugby intellect. For the first time in two decades, Australian rugby has changed for the better. While there remains a long and rocky path ahead, the game in Oz is moving forward. Resilience is a word that gets tossed about far too easily, but across the last 18 months, I have been astounded at the resilience within Australian professional rugby ranks. Joseph Sua'ali'i will be key to Australia's hopes against the Lions. Photograph:for Rugby Australia While it will take a decade for the full effect of the long-term planning to take effect, the elite end of the game is recovering far quicker than I considered possible. It is recovering to the extent that the Wallabies are capable of calling on a very strong 23 players. With Joe Schmidt in charge for the rest of the year and his successor, Les Kiss, already appointed – backed up with the technical excellence of Laurie Fisher – the Wallaby staff possess vast experience of rugby at a very high level. With the expected return of a number of Australian players from France and Japan, who were unavailable in recent seasons, and the stardust that Joseph Sua'ali'i will provide, the Wallabies will have vastly different personnel than the World Cup of two years ago. More importantly, the Lions will face a contest far more ferocious than many in the northern hemisphere are predicting. Any sense of entitlement from the Lions will be punished in a very public manner.

The Irish Sun

2 hours ago

• The Irish Sun

‘Oh hey friends' – Sharlene Mawdsley's cute snap as she's cheered on at training by GAA ace boyfriend

IT was a case of a Tipperary takeover at the University of Limerick on Thursday as Sharlene Mawdsley partook in a training session there. She was cheered on by two loved ones - one of whom being Advertisement 3 Her dog Lola was the other beloved onlooker Credit: @sharlenem1 3 They watched her from this vantage point as she used the campus' athletics track Credit: @sharlenem1 3 They went public with their relationship last month Credit: @sharlenem1 It's clearly part of the package when you're dating an Olympic athlete. But Breen doesn't seem to mind as he's getting in the habit of sharing snaps whilst "coaching" her. He previously The Ballina man will be racing around the Gaelic Grounds himself as the Premier have an All-Ireland quarter-final date with Galway on Saturday. Advertisement Read More On Irish Sport That 6.15pm throw-in will be preceded by the hurling clash of Dublin and Limerick in Croke Park at 4pm. While both of those premier match-ups will be shown live on RTE Two, there is yet Dublin against Cork will throw-in at the exact same time as Tipp against Galway as it's going to be a Dubs double-header from Jones' Road. The day's other All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final between Kerry and Cavan will also more or less run concurrent with Dublin versus Limerick as that'll be a 3.30pm start. Advertisement Most read in Athletics Aside from heading along in person, both of those affairs will be only available to watch via GAA+. A bumper Sunday will see Ulster champions Donegal and Leinster kingpins Louth face off in Ballybofey at 4pm. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter That'll be a repeat of last year's All-Ireland quarter-final which Jim McGuinness' men won 1-23 to 0-18. Galway's prize for Advertisement And Croker will roll out the red carpet for the last four of the Tailteann Cup as Wicklow get the ball rolling against Limerick at 2pm before Kildare's clash with Fermanagh at 4. Mawdsley last competed in Philadelphia In addition to that showing on the Sunday at the big-money Grand Slam Track event, she also came sixth in the long sprints category 24 hours previous. For that performance, she banked $15,000 with Olympic 400m gold medallist Marileidy Paulino coming out on top. Advertisement The 26-year-old wound up in fifth place. Again, she clocked a season's-best time in that race at 51.12. Her next outing is due to take place between June 28-29 in Maribor, Slovenia at the European Team Championships.

Irish Daily Mirror

4 hours ago

• Irish Daily Mirror

The coolest head in inter-county management - Shane Walsh hails Padraic Joyce

Shane Walsh has credited Padraic Joyce for staying cool under pressure when Galway stared down the barrel of a Championship exit last Saturday. The Connacht champs were on the brink of an early exit until Joyce lifted the team with a calm, studious team talk at half time. The upshot was they came from behind to defeat Armagh and secure a preliminary quarter final away to Down this Sunday. Read more: Tipperary star says he retired knowing good times were coming again Read more: Joe Brolly weighs in on Mayo's latest All-Ireland heartbreak: 'The culture is all wrong' Star player Walsh said: 'We went in at half-time knowing that they'd probably been a bit hot and that we weren't executing our chances. 'Padraic obviously wanted us to up the level a bit and just bring a bit more intensity in the second half. It never felt like we were gone. 'We then knew after the positive start we made (in the second half) we were in a good position and it was just about trying to see it out then. We worked a really good opportunity at the end and Paul (Conroy) showed all his experience as well to win the free.' And that was a free Walsh converted to seal the deal. The former All Star outlined what went through his head as he stood over the ball to secure Galway's win over last year's All-Ireland champs. He said: 'Probably three different things. Firstly, when you're walking over, you're just saying 'calm, this is my job now.' 'Then there's a few words coming your way from opposition and then the heart rate starts to go up a bit. 'Then you're coming back in saying, you've dreamt of this as a young lad. This is what you grew up dreaming about, saying you want to be in these situations and just commit to the kick, be yourself. That's all I could do, I suppose, and thankfully it went over.' All of which brings another Ulster team - Down - onto their radar, the third Ulster side they have played in a row. Walsh said: 'Down are probably the most in-form team. Even with the Donegal game, they were probably unlucky with a lot of goal chances they had that day. And you see the way they've been building since the league, they're a completely different proposition. 'We all know about going up to Newry, you never get that easy up there either. Conor Laverty always has his team as well drilled. 'So it's a great challenge. Again, no more than the group that we had with Dublin and Derry and Armagh, having Down again, it's another unbelievable challenge if you get through it to build your confidence, build the belief in the team and build a bit of momentum.'