FURTHER DETAILS ARE emerging of how counties plan to run club championships when GAA action resumes in the wake of the Covid-19 enforced shutdown.
Leinster counties Meath, Wexford and Laois have all given indications to their clubs of the revised formats for 2020 with club matches set to commence in late July after the GAA last week set out their roadmap for a return to action.
Meath are planning their senior finals for October, Wexford’s hurling decider looks set for a late August date while Laois have plans for late September in hurling and a provisional October date for football.
In Meath the aim is to run their flagship senior football championship over the course of two months with the county final pencilled in for Sunday 4 October. It will begin with the opening round of games on the Bank Holiday weekend of 1-3 August.
The format will see the 16 teams drawn into four groups with each getting three round-robin games, which will all take place in August, with the senior football semi-finals down for 18-19 September and the county decider two weeks later.
The senior hurling championship in the Royal county is planned to conclude with the final on Sunday 11 October, the clashes in the round-robin stages will be held on alternate weekends to the football matches as both championships are run concurrently.
📢2020 @MeathGAA Return to Play Plan
— Meath GAA (@MeathGAA) June 11, 2020
Please note this is subject to both the Irish Government Roadmap and also the @officialgaa guidelines on safe return to Gaelic Games.
Full document @ https://t.co/DKyKtzIz8N#GAA #MeathGAA #MeathFootball #MeathHurling pic.twitter.com/val7rZnmxs
In Wexford the fixture details are not as concrete but it is clear that they will give initial priority to their senior hurling championship with the football action to follow.
The dates for all rounds will be decided in Wexford when the GAA’s national plan is revealed but the county have made some decisions regarding their clubs:
- Format will see four groups of three teams in both codes
- Hurling championships to start from Friday 31 July and played to conclusion
- Football championships will only start after the hurling semi-finals (date TBC)
- It is hoped that quarter-final will be part of the championships
➡️Football competitions will commence following Hurling Semi-Finals have been played (Date TBC)
— Wexford GAA (@OfficialWexGAA) June 11, 2020
➡️Dates for all rounds will be decided on receipt of revised National Master fixture plan.
➡️It is hoped that Quarter finals will be included in all competitions formats. 2/2.
And in Laois the county board proposals have been outlined by a report on the Laois Today website.
The football action would start on the weekend of 6-9 August with the final provisionally on Saturday 10 October as there is the prospect of it being played two weeks after the Laois county team exit the championship.
The hurling championship in the county would begin on the weekend of 31 July, games played every second week with the finals all on the weekend of 24-27 September.
The present football format would remain the same while an alteration in hurling would remove the quarter-finals and just see two teams advance to the knockout stages.
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