THE GAA HAS unveiled the proposal for the restructuring of the All-Ireland senior, U21 and minor hurling championships.
The proposed format is to be considered by Central Council next week and if it gets the go ahead a Special Congress will be called later this year.
The proposals are to be introduced on a three-year trial basis from 2018.
The Leinster and Munster senior hurling championships would see the introduction of a round-robin stage with each team playing four games, two home and two away. The top two teams in each province would then contest their respective provincial final.
The winners of the provincial finals would advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals, while the defeated finalists enter at the quarter-final stage.
As part of a rolling two-year cycle, the teams that finish in third in either province would either progress to the quarter-final, or meet the winner of the provincial qualifier group in a play-off to reach the last eight.
It means that the teams in the provincial qualifier group are in the race to win the All-Ireland, but not a provincial championship.
It’s been proposed that the provincial qualifier group in 2018 would consist of Laois, Westmeath, Kerry, Antrim, and Carlow.
The bottom team in Leinster each year faces demotion to the qualifier group, while Munster is unaffected.
The provinces remain the same in the minor championship, but Galway enter in a three-way round-robin with the beaten provincial finalists.
At U21 level Munster stays the same, while it’s proposed that Galway and ”Ulster teams of sufficient quality” will compete in Leinster.
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