PROMOTION AND RELEGATION between Division 1A and 1B have been scrapped in this season’s Allianz Hurling League to cater for a new format that’s being drawn up for 2020.
As usual, the top four sides from either group will contest the Division 1 quarter-finals, with relegation from 1B still on the cards for the bottom-placed team.
Galway, Waterford and Dublin look certainties to make the last eight, with Carlow, Laois and Offaly likely to battle it out for the final quarter-final spot from 1B.
Things will be far tighter in 1A, where Clare, Cork, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Limerick and Wexford will duke it out for four places in the knock-out stages.
The presence of four new managers, Liam Sheedy (Tipperary), Paraic Fanning (Waterford), Mattie Kenny (Dublin) and Eddie Brennan (Laois), will make matters on the sideline interesting for the early part of the spring.
The introduction of the round-robin system in the provincial championships also means the strength of the squad is more important than ever before, so expect plenty of experimentation across the board.
1B produced three of the last four winners of the league – Waterford (2015), Clare (2016) and Galway (2017) – proving that starting out in the second tier isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to winning the competition outright.
So who do you think will claim the Division 1 hurling title?
Poll Results:
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