GAA considering shake-up of underage competitions
A return to the U21 grade at inter-county level and minor jumping from U17 to U19 are being considered.
Next year will see hurling fall into line with football and the U21 competition become U20.
However, there are concerns that the gap between U17 and U20 is too great and there is space for another grade, which would become ‘minor’.
One year into the minor grade moving from U18 to U17 and there is already unease about the move, particularly the appropriateness of U17s playing in All-Ireland final curtain-raisers and the vulnerable position it puts the defeated team in playing in front of a large crowd in Croke Park.
There are a growing number of officials who believe the finale of the U17 competitions should not be played on such a large stage.
Should GAA president John Horan succeed in having a second tier All-Ireland senior football championship take place, it’s likely that it would replace the minor final as the curtain-raiser, with the Joe McDonagh Cup final possibly being played prior to the All-Ireland SHC final.
However, U19 minor finals would be more acceptable on All-Ireland final days.
No changes are expected to be made to the structure of next year’s All-Ireland championships, though there will be a schedule change, as Horan had intimated in recent weeks, so as to avoid Liam MacCarthy Cup counties playing over four consecutive weekends.
Before making alterations, if any at all, for the 2020 season, Croke Park will digest the findings of a report on how the new inter-county season impacted on club activity nationwide. That document, by the fixtures analysis committee, is expected to be delivered before November.
In his match programme notes on Sunday, Horan defended the Super 8: “The concept of ensuring the best teams in the championship fight it out for the concluding stages of the Sam Maguire has been a success and I would urge everyone to give this trial its three years before we make definitive pronouncements on its impact.
Meanwhile, the condensed nature of the All-Ireland senior championships means more counties than ever can return to official collective training in November, since the winter moratorium was introduced 10 years ago. For the first time since 2010, Mayo can return in November after losing to Kildare in June.
Managerless Tipperary and Waterford can also come back in November after their June SHC exits.
