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Changes to the hurling championship format

Sep 30, 2007

Saturday, September 29th

The motion to make fundamental changes to the structure of the hurling championship was passed at a Special Congress in Croke Park on Saturday.

The amendments will come into play at the start of the 2008 championship season despite vehement opposition from a number of counties.

The motion was passed after the required two-thirds majority was reached. The final vote was 55-17 in favour of changing rule 120 (B).

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship - Tier 1

Provincial Championships:

Championship games will be played on a knock-out format. A 'round-robin' competiton may not be organised.
The All Ireland Championship series:

The 12 counties eligible to participate in their initial year (2008) shall be as follows:

Dublin, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wexford, Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Galway and Antrim.

All Ireland hurling qualifier phase 1: comprised of two teams, Antrim and Galway.

All Ireland hurling qualifier phase 2: shall comprise of the winners and losers of phase 1 and the teams defeated in the first round of the Leinster and Munster championships.

The winner of phase 1 will play the team from Leinster and the loser of phase 1 will play the Munster side. The winner of phase 2 will then move on to phase 4.

All Ireland hurling qualifier phase 3: shall be comprised of four teams i.e. the beaten provincial semi-finalist in Leinster and Munster, who will play off in a knock-out format. A Munster team will play a Leinsetr team and an open draw will be made to determine the pairings.

All Ireland hurling qualifier phase 4: The winners of phase 2 will play the winners of phase 3 in a knock-out format.

All Ireland quarter-finals: The defeated provincial finalists in Leinster and Munster shall compete in a knock-out format against the winners of phase 4.

All Ireland semi-finals: The Leinster champions will play in a knock-out format against the provincial finalists in Munster or the team which beats them in quarter-finals and the Munster champions will compete in a knock-out format against the beaten Leinster finalists or the team that beats them in the quarter-finals.

Promotion/Relegation: The defeated team in phase 2 of the qualifier shall play off and the losing team will contest a promotion/relegation play-off with the winners of the Christy Ring Cup.

The remainder of Rule 120 will remain unchanged.

 

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