GAA reveals plans for Senior, U-21, and Minor Hurling Championships which will be considered by Central Council next week.

The newly restructure hurling calendar will run on a three year trial from 2018 to 2020 inclusive and would see the Leinster and Munster Championships retained and the implementation of a round robin format.

Should Central Council give the proposal the green light at its meeting on Saturday 17 June, a Special Congress would be called later in the year.

The senior hurling Championship would consists of two provincial championships and a provincial qualifier group, with Munster and Leinster played off on a round-robin basis, with five rounds of four matches each.

Each team would have two home and two away matches, with the two teams finishing in the top two places in each group qualifying for their respective provincial final.

It would certainly boost the coffers of the county boards with at least two high profile home games per year and from a hurling point of view, the most consistent teams would be rewarded while also preserving the provincial championships.

The winners of the provincial finals would qualify for the All-Ireland semi-finals with the defeated provincial finalists qualifying for the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The third placed team in both championship groups would remain in the championship, with a pathway open to them to qualify for the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

On a rolling two-year cycle basis, the third placed team in each province would either progress directly to the All-Ireland quarter-final or else play the winner of the provincial qualifier group in a play-off for a place in the last eight.

In 2018 the provincial qualifier group would consist of Laois, Westmeath, Kerry, Antrim, and Carlow.

The teams in qualifier group are competing to win All-Ireland, but not a provincial title.

In the minor Championship, the provinces remain the same, with Galway taking part in a three-way round-robin with beaten provincial finalists, while in the U21 grade, it is proposed that the Tribesmen and “Ulster teams of sufficient quality” play in Leinster.

Overall the proposal seems to be well thought out and sensible, let’s just wait and see what Central Congress think next week.

You can read the CCC’s proposal in full here.