*Peter Duggan is tackled by Daniel Treacy of Scariff. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CHANGES to the format of the senior hurling and football championships will be discussed at a Clare GAA structures meeting at Hotel Woodstock on this Friday at 7pm to which all clubs have been invited to send two representatives.
Head of Operations with Clare GAA Deirdre Murphy recently appointed a seven-person committee to review the hurling structures and they have presented a detailed report recommending changes for the 2025 season.
St Joseph’s Miltown GAA club have submitted a motion seeking a format change for the senior football championship for 2024 and this will also be up for discussion at this Friday’s meeting.
The hurling review committee comprised Padraic Boland (Broadford) who was the chairman, Donal Moloney (Scariff), Liam O’Reilly (Banner), Ann Marie Moran (Corofin), Martin Lynch (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Kevin Browne (Cratloe) and former St. Josephs Doora/Barefield and Clare hurler, Ollie Baker.
For the 2025 senior championship they propose that the sixteen teams be split into two tiers, ten teams in tier 1 and six in tier 2. Tier 1 is to be divided into two groups of five with a round robin structure of games. Tier 2 will be one group of six, on a round robin structure also.
The top three teams in each of the Tier 1 groups along with the top two teams in Tier 2 will qualify for the quarter finals where the top team in each of the two Tier 1 groups will be drawn against the top two teams from Tier 2 (Tier 1 group winners cannot be drawn against each other) while second in Tier 1 Group A will play third from Tier 1 Group B with second in Tier 1 Group B to play third from Tier 1 Group A. The semi-final pairings will be decided by open draw.
The top two teams in Tier 2 will play in the Ryan Hannon cup final (senior B) as a curtain raiser to the senior A final. In the event of a Tier 2 team qualifying for the senior A final, the Ryan Hannon cup final will take place at the first available date. The top two teams from Tier 2 will be promoted to Tier 1 with the bottom team in each of the Tier 1 groups dropping to Tier 2. The bottom two teams in Tier 2 will play off with the loser dropping down to the premier intermediate grade.
The four semi-finalists from the 2024 championship are to be seeded with one finalist and one defeated semi-finalist drawn into each Tier 1 group.
The report also proposes changes to the league format to have sixteen teams in Division 1 (Clare Cup), eight teams in each of Division 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 with the number of teams in Division 8 to be confirmed.
Division 1 is to be divided into two groups of eight with the groups to be decided by open draw annually.
The committee has proposed splitting the intermediate championship into two grades with ten teams in the premier intermediate and ten in the regular intermediate. The ten teams are to be divided into two groups of five. The winners of the premier intermediate will be promoted to Tier 2 of the senior competition.
The proposal for the junior A championship is to have ten teams split into two groups of five. The report also recommends a premier junior B and a junior B championship
The report also proposes that in the event of a team having success in a competition entitling them to promotion, they shall forego it if the club are already represented in the higher grade. In these circumstances the defeated finalists will be given the option to be promoted in their place. Should the beaten finalist decide not to be promoted no relegation will take place from the higher grade for that year.
If the relegation of a team creates a similar situation (two teams from that club in the lower competition) then the lower of that club’s teams will also be relegated. If these circumstances arise, it satisfies the relegation requirements in that
competition for that year.
Meanwhile St Joseph’s Miltown have submitted a proposal for the senior football championship to be run in two groups of six, guaranteeing each team five games.
The top team in each group will go straight into the semi-finals with the second and third teams playing in two quarter finals, team two in Group 1 versus team three in Group 2 and vice versa. The bottom team in each group will play off in relegation with the loser of that game dropping down to intermediate for the following year. This proposal if accepted, will mean that the finalists will have a minimum of eight games.
While there appears to be strong support for both the hurling and football proposals, there is concern that these changes if carried will place greater pressure on dual players and dual clubs.
