'Exciting' new format proposed for Leinster SHC
In attendance are, from left, Nickey Brennan, Workgroup chair, Martin Byrne, Cathaoirleach Comhairle Laighean, Michael Reynolds, Runaí Comhairle Laighean, and William Maher, National Head of Hurling, during the Leinster GAA Hurling Championship review workgroup media briefing at the Leinster GAA Offices in Portlaoise, Laois. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Leinster GAA today unveiled what they hope will be the new structure for their senior provincial hurling championship from 2028 on.
The proposal, which will go before GAA Annual Congress next year, would see an eight-team Leinster SHC split into two groups of four.
Group A would comprise of the top four teams in Leinster by the end of the 2027 Leinster SHC.
Group B would be made up of the fifth and sixth placed teams from 2027 along with the two Joe McDonagh Cup finalists.
The top two teams from Group A would advance directly to the provincial semi-finals while the bottom two teams in Group A would play the top two teams in Group B in the quarter-finals.
The beaten semi-finalists would play off to determine who would be the third team from the province to quality for the All-Ireland SHC quarter-finals.
The bottom two teams in Group B would go on to participate in the Joe McDonagh Cup semi-finals.
Former GAA President, Nickey Brennan, chaired the workgroup tasked with coming up with the new structure and is confident it will prove popular with supporters.
“I think it is exciting,” said Brennan. “We have one knockout game in Leinster at the moment, that's the Leinster Senior Hurling Final. We're now adding two quarter-finals, two semi-finals, a final and a third place playoff. So, we're now adding six knockout games where there's only one there at the moment.
“That’s real jeopardy. And we feel that in terms of supporters, they’ll be excited about that. Because there’s nothing certain, in terms of results.
“We also don’t know who the pairings might be in the semi-final until we finish the quarter-finals. So there’ll be a draw there. There are all sorts of possibilities here."
Nickey Brennan, Workgroup chair, speaking during the Leinster GAA Hurling Championship review workgroup media briefing at the Leinster GAA Offices in Portlaoise, Laois. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
GAA Head of Hurling, William Maher, was a member of the Brennan’s committee, and believes one of the positives of the new structure is that it will give developing counties an opportunity to raise their standard.
“I think this is a brilliant initiative,” said Maher. “I'd like to compliment Martin Byrne, Michael Reynolds and Nickey Brennan for leading the group. There's been extensive consultation. Everybody has been spoken to on this.
"I think it's a very, very clear, simple championship with meaningful games that allow sustainable competition over time in so far as we won't have that yo-yo effect like Kildare going back down to the Joe McDonagh Cup after a gallant effort in Leinster this year.
“I think this is a really good structure to allow meaningful games to happen. From a games perspective nationally, that's what we're trying to provide, so it's brilliant and I was delighted to be invited to be involved in this committee and hear the discussion and hear the debate and hear the interaction.”
Munster counties have won the last eight All-Ireland senior hurling titles, but Brennan is hopeful that the proposed structure for the Leinster SHC would better prepare the teams that emerge from the province for the rigours of the All-Ireland series.
“I do think they'll be more battle-hardened going into the quarterfinals because they will have had a number of knock-out games as well as the Round Robin," he says.
“Even something like the third team play-off, that will take place two weeks before the All-Ireland quarterfinal, so we do feel that having a real competitive game at that stage will put that team in a better position than perhaps it has been in the past.
“That's the hope anyway, because I'm totally accepting that based on the 2026 All-Ireland quarterfinals, it was a non-show by Leinster teams, there's no point in me saying everything, Dublin and Offaly just didn't fire on those particular days.
“But hopefully the extra bit of competition that's built in here around the knockout stages will put the teams in better shape going forward to take on the Munster counterparts.”
A member of the media examines the Leinster GAA Hurling Championship workgroup report during the Leinster GAA Hurling Championship workgroup media briefing at the Leinster GAA Offices in Portlaoise, Laois. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
Brennan is very hopeful that Leinster GAA’s proposal will get the backing required at Annual Congress in February, 2027.
“I'd be very surprised if Congress didn't applaud the fact that we're very much integrating tier 2 counties and embedding them into the competition now at this stage, and I think it's something to be applauded,” he said.
“I'm going around Congress a long time now not to make any assumptions though we will not take it for granted. We will certainly talk to those who will be attending Congress and explain our case to them to make sure that it does get passed.”
The Leinster GAA Hurling Championship Review Workgroup Report in full can be viewed and downloaded below
