Jarlath Burns backs August All-Ireland finals in 2027 and return for provincial final replays
GAA president Jarlath Burns has given his support to provincial final replays from next year and All-Ireland finals moving to August in 2027.
Burns confirmed Croke Park is unavailable in August next year due to yet-to-be-announced concerts but gave his backing to the deciders being pushed into the first and third weekends of the month in two years' time having taken feedback from units.
In the wake of Saturday evening's penalty shoot-out deciding the Munster SHC final, he also endorsed replays applying to provincial deciders after extra-time. A proposal on the matter is expected to be on the agenda of Special Congress in October having been withdrawn at Congress in February for further consideration.
"Well, we did bring a motion to Congress this year,' said Burns at Tuesday's launch of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship in Faithful Fields, Co Offaly. 'Ironically, it was Munster GAA who stymied it. For good reason as well, because they know that they have it very tight with the preliminary quarter-finals.
'I suppose that brings that into focus as well. There are people who are very favourable towards the preliminary quarter-finals, but we will always be led by what the counties want. We decided that we would hold that particular one back.
'You don't have to talk to me above anybody else about replays and provincial finals. We've (Armagh) lost three now, two quarter-finals, on penalties. I would be very much in favour of replays where at all possible."
In April, Burns ruled out the All-Ireland finals being pushed to August in 2026 but is open to them moving there the following year. 'Remember, we have an amateur organisation that is also working alongside Croke Park, which is a commercial organisation.
'Croke Park operates with regard to its priorities and how it does its business a year in advance. So, already, because we hadn't made a decision on that, August 2026 is taken up. That puts August 2027 into the mix.
'I'm around the country all the time, in clubs and counties every single day of the week, and the thing that I get most debate on are the timings of the All-Ireland finals. And there is a school of thought that is saying that first and third weeks in August, leaving everything as it is, okay, first and third weeks in August.
'Remember, the fact we're only playing two games next year in the (All-Ireland SFC) rounds saves that week for the Allianz National League. You have two weeks then after that. That solves that problem. And then you have no dead rubbers in the round-robin.' Burns continued: 'You might have heard me saying that this isn't going to happen during my presidency. The decision might be made during my presidency, but it might not actually occur during my presidency. But I am certainly open to first and third weeks in August from 2027 on. At the end of the day, we are a games organisation.
'We also have to factor in replays. We have to factor in camogie and LGFA, and replays for those as well. So Croke Park could be very, very busy in that month of August. But that's great. The more games we can have in it, the better.'
Burns also indicated the Joe McDonagh Cup could run concurrently to the Liam MacCarthy Cup. '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.'
Burns isn't inclined to see the Leinster Council take their senior hurling final outside Croke Park as has been suggested by some pundits. He hailed the concept where 10,000 children took up the 20,000 free ticket offer for last Sunday's game and their 'imaginative move' of taking their football semi-finals outside Croke Park.
Believing the €50 price for a stand ticket was value for money after what transpired in TUS Gaelic Grounds on Saturday, Burns spoke of the committee he has charged with looking at changing the way certain tickets are priced.
'One of the things that I would always hear is around the whole business of we price ourselves out and it's stopping people from going to games. They're going to produce a report for us on our ticketing structure, on what works, what doesn't work.
'We have tried a few things this year, the Leinster championship was one of them. One of the questions is, if you charge less into a match, will more people go? It's a very simple thing. I would have to say that the €50 for the three (All-Ireland SFC) games has worked out very well for us.
'I just think if we can show imagination, particularly around, if you are in a situation in Croke Park where there's going to be 40,000 empty seats, let's prioritise filling those seats in whatever way we can. So that's the sort of things that they're looking at.'
Burns said the revival of the International Rules series is on the agenda of the GAA's management committee this Friday but was not yet prepared to confirm it will return in October.
'We have to be mindful of lots of things because that's coming in the middle of a closed season, which we are very protective about and that's why we did away with the pre-season competitions last year because we wanted our county players to have a genuine closed season.
'If we are going to start now with International Rules at that time, we know that would compromise that principle that we have brought in, giving our players that rest period.'
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It wasn't the way I wanted my six-year tenure to end, but the whole frustration almost encapsulated my attitude towards All-Ireland quarter-finals. I just didn't like them. And I still kind of don't. Maybe it's just my experience with Dublin that has clouded my judgement because I had a lot of good days in quarter-finals as a player and manager with Clare, beating Galway in 1999 (after a replay) and overcoming Wexford twice (as a manager) in 2005 and 2006. The only blip was the quarter-final defeat to Kilkenny in 2004 after a replay but the drawn game was a magical day, when we looked dead and buried before Jamesie O'Connor nailed the equaliser with the last puck. My first quarter-final with the Dubs was in 2009 when we lost to Limerick in a match we should have won. We had a good year and had made great progress, which was very satisfying, but it was still a missed opportunity that gnawed away at me over the winter. In 2011, we had won the league before losing the Leinster final to Kilkenny, but it wasn't that hard to lift the lads ahead of the quarter-final against Limerick. We'd had a good year. The league final gave us great confidence and the Kilkenny defeat didn't drain a lot of that out of us. I felt we'd beat Limerick, which we did. That was the one high-point but I have never warmed to quarter-finals since. Even though Clare won their last three quarter-finals, I found them frustrating experiences even as a supporter. Maybe it's just the hurling fanatic in me but I always get the impression that half the stadium doesn't care when there is a double-header. Whichever crowd loses the curtain-raiser is gone by the final whistle, while the winners' supporters are out the gap by half-time of the second match. And the whole sense of occasion just collapses like a deck of cards. Cork are a different animal again, win or lose. After they lost the 2022 curtain-raiser to Galway, the rebel hordes emptied Semple Stadium. After they beat Dublin in the curtain-raiser last year, the red wave just swept out of Thurles like a tide washing out to sea. Having the games early on a Saturday afternoon twice in the last three years certainly didn't help, but I have long felt that the double-header just doesn't work and that there should be standalone fixtures. Circumstances have dictated as much now, which I think will certainly make a difference around the atmosphere and appeal of the matches. The Dubs may be part of a double-header with the footballers but at least they'll get a decent crowd in early, while Limerick will arrive to the capital in enough numbers to make it feel like an occasion. I'm glad that Galway-Tipp is in Limerick but I'd have preferred if it was on in Ennis – and not just out of comfort for me. I'm not sure what kind of a crowd will be in the Gaelic Grounds but it certainly won't be a sellout, whereas Ennis would have been. I just felt they should have gone with Cusack Park and made it an all-ticket game. The vast majority of people who will go today would have got a ticket but the scramble would have also drummed up more hype and discussion around the occasion, which, to be honest, has been fairly low-key this week. Much of that is down to the GAA not promoting the quarter-finals enough but it's also probably a result of the distrust around Galway and what team may actually turn up. Galway haven't liked Tipp since the 1980s but they're so Jekyll and Hyde that even their own supporters can't trust them to bring enough anger into this match to make it into the kind of spectacle that their public deserves. Galway were a joke in their opening game in Nowlan Park and, while they recovered well in their next four matches, they were back to their old bad habits in the Leinster final. Aside from a seven or eight minute burst late on, Kilkenny rode roughshod over them. Galway need to cut loose again now because I'd be fairly confident that Tipp will. They're back in a quarter-final when a lot of people – including their own – wouldn't have expected Tipp to have reached this stage at the outset of the championship. They have improved as the championship has gone on, but I also think they're in a far better physical – and mental – state than they were when Tipp were last on this stage in 2023. That year, their form was slowly draining away as the championship progressed and they effectively bottomed out against Galway that afternoon in Limerick. I'm not sure if all the older brigade had bought into the Liam Cahill project in that first year whereas this is definitely Cahill's team now. Tipp almost seemed stuck in neutral on that mid-June evening in 2023 whereas this is a team on the move now. This has all the makings of a cracker but I really think it's down to Galway to make sure that it is. Is there enough badness in them to win a game like this? Everybody is already talking about Cork and Tipp in the semi-final. That's dangerous talk for Tipp but it's music to Galway's ears. Tipp have to block out all that outside noise. They're capable of beating any team on any given day, but can they step up and take down a Galway team now that, on paper, they are better than? I just think that you can trust Tipp more so I fancy them by about three points. When the option of going to Croke Park to take on Dublin was put to Limerick, I'm sure it wasn't even a discussion for John Kiely. As well as Limerick loving the venue, only losing there under Kiely in championship for the second time last year, it's also an ideal opportunity for Limerick to flush that bad memory out of their system before stretching their legs at Headquarters ahead of an expected match-up there with Kilkenny in two weeks. Limerick are too professional to be looking that far down the tracks without focusing on the job in hand, but I can't see Dublin being able to contain a wounded animal hell-bent on retribution since the Munster final defeat. Losing that game on penalties again underlined just how hard Limerick are to beat and, aside from the deficit in physicality and hurling ability, I don't think Dublin can be in the right frame of mind to take down Limerick either. If they had beaten one of Galway or Kilkenny in Leinster, it would have at least given them the confidence to think that they can live with Limerick. But I can't see it. Limerick won't be concerned about putting on a show. They will only be focused on getting the job done, which Limerick will. Kilkenny will come in their own good time.
