The GAA have issued the details of the new hurling proposals that may affect the 2018, 2019, and 2020 seasons.
The Association's President and Director-General held a number of informal discussions with various members and units of the GAA - including the National Hurling Development Committee and the GAA's Management Committee - collated the responses, and submitted them to the Central Competitions Control Committee.
The CCCC then returned a clearer restructure, but based on the feedback received, had to ensure that any tweak to the competition would retain the provincial championships and ensure there were more quality games staged, while not impinging on the scheduling of club games.
Here's a breakdown of the new hurling proposals, competition-by-competition, beginning with the Senior hurling championship.
New hurling proposals - Liam MacCarthy
Should the proposals be implemented, the top-tier competition will consist of two provincial championships and a provincial qualifier group.
Leinster and Munster Championships
The provincial championships would be played on a round-robin basis: therefore there will be five rounds of four games each.
This is pretty straightforward.
Each side will play two home games and two away games, with the top two in each group qualifying for the final.
In 2018, Leinster would consist of Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly, and Wexford; Munster made up of Cork, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford.
The provincial winners would then qualify for the All-Ireland semi-finals (as is the case at the moment), while the beaten finalists are into the quarter-finals.
The side that finishes third in their provincial group earns an All-Ireland reprieve: they'll remain in the Championship, with the opportunity to pursue what is essentially a back-door system into the All-Ireland quarter-finals. (This is a bit more complicated, and we'll return to it in a moment).
The Provincial Qualifying Group
There is also the issue of promotion/relegation to the MacCarthy Cup. Here's how the provincial qualifying group would look based on current rankings:
Laois, Westmeath, Kerry, Antrim, Carlow.
The side that finishes bottom in the Leinster Championship group will instead have to play in the provincial qualifying the following year.
They would then be replaced, naturally, by the side that wins the provincial qualifier.
It gets slightly more complicated with Kerry. If they (or another Munster side) were to win the qualifier, they would play-off against the side that finishes bottom of the Munster Championship group. The winner plays in the Munster Championship; the loser the qualifying group.
The side that finishes bottom of the qualifier group is relegated to the Christy Ring Cup, with the winners of that competition taking their spot.
It's not solely promotion that the qualifier sides are playing for, however. They also have the chance of making that year's All-Ireland quarter-finals, and will earn the shot to do so with a play-off against the team that finished third in one of the provincial championships.
The identity of that opponent will be clearer on alternate years: so hypothetically they could face the third-placed Leinster side, and the year after the third-placed Munster side, before reverting to Leinster the year after.
All of these games, by the way, will be on a round-robin basis and played during the same period as the Leinster and Munster championships.
Now, onto the All-Ireland quarter-finals...
All-Ireland Quarter-Finals
So, with half of the semi-finals consisting of the provincial winners, we need two quarter-finals to decide the final two sides to join them.
These games will feature the beaten provincial finalists, along with the winners of the aforementioned play-offs between the third-placed provincial team in either the Leinster or Munster championship and the winners of the qualifying group.
The fourth side in the quarter-finals will be the side that finishes third in the provincial championship that does not have to compete in the play-off with the qualifier group winner.
So, in Year One of these new proposals, the All-Ireland quarter-finals will be:
Winner of play-off between third-placed Munster team and the qualifier group vs defeated Leinster finalist
3rd-placed Leinster team vs defeated Munster finalist
For Year Two, just swap the word Munster for Leinster, and vice-versa.
One other small note: home advantage in the quarter-final will be given to the side that loses the provincial final.
All-Ireland semi-finals and final
And finally: the Munster and Leinster champions are to be kept apart in the All-Ireland semi-finals; there can be no repeat of provincial finals in the All-Ireland semi-finals; and the GAA will do their best to ensure there are no repeat pairings, but that is subject to the implementation of the first provision.
And at the end of all that change, Kilkenny then win the All-Ireland final.
New Hurling Proposals - Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups Proposals
Here are the current line-ups for each competition, beginning with the Christy Ring Cup:
Armagh, Derry, Down, Kildare, London, Mayo, Meath, Wicklow.
And the Rackard Cup:
Dongeal, Leitrim or Warwickshire, Longford, Louth, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo, Tyrone.
Both of these competitions will be played on a round-robin basis, of four teams each, with the top team in each group contesting the final. The winner of the Christy Ring is promoted to the qualifier group in the top tier; the Rackard winners are promoted to the Ring Cup.
The two bottom-placed sides play-off, with the loser relegated to the competition below.
New Hurling Proposals - Lory Meagher Cup Proposals
This will be a four-team competition:
Cavan, Fermanagh, Lancashire, and either Leitrim or Warwickshire.
As the above, it's a round-robin competition, with the top two playing off for silverware and promotion.
New Hurling Proposals - All-Ireland U-21 Championship
The issue of an open draw was discussed, but ultimately discarded as the travel distances involved would have rendered the staging of Wednesday-night games impossible.
There might be a change, though. It's proposed that Galway, and "any Ulster teams of sufficient strength" be accommodated into the Leinster championship. If that were to happen, the Leinster and Munster winners would qualify directly for the All-Ireland final, with semi-finals abolished.
Galway presently enter the All-Ireland semi-finals without having played a game.
New Hurling Proposals - All-Ireland minor championship
The GAA recommend changes to the format of the minor competition to better serve the needs of Galway, Antrim, and the rest of Ulster.
Under it, the All-Ireland semi-finals will consist of the Leinster and Munster winners, with a round-robin competition set-up to determine the identity of the latter two semi-finalists. This round-robin will consist of Galway, and the beaten provincial finalists.
The proposals also urge the consideration of Antrim joining the Leinster championship at minor level.
The new hurling proposals will be considered by Central Council on Saturday, June 17th.
