A LARGE NUMBER of players from the counties which compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup are in favour of the competition’s link with the Liam MacCarthy Cup remaining, but only for the winners of the competition.
Currently, the Joe McDonagh finalists play the third-placed provincial finishers in the Liam MacCarthy preliminary quarter-finals.
However a motion to remove that connection is set to be considered at the GAA Special Congress in Croke Park tomorrow.
The GPA have revealed today that 74% of respondents to research on the motion disagree with the proposal with 71% only in favour if the competition’s champions advance.
“Feedback from individual players included that the move would devalue the Joe McDonagh Cup,” the email continues, “disincentivise teams who want to test themselves against the best teams in the country and cut Joe McDonagh Cup teams loose without any chance of closing the gap to their Liam MacCarthy Cup counterparts.
“However, players would back the motion if only the Joe McDonagh Cup winners were to progress. 71% of respondents favor the approach of only the competition’s champions going on to a preliminary quarter-final.”
Speaking about the findings of the research, GPA CEO Tom Parsons said:
“Players are very clear that they do not want to see a complete removal of the link between the two competitions. That is why I will be urging delegates to consider an amendment to the motion tomorrow and if that is not allowable then to vote against the motion.
“We’ve been given statistics quoting a sixteen-point average winning margin in these preliminary quarter-finals. However, we can’t forget the Laois win in 2019 and the fact Carlow were just 3 points down after sixty-four minutes of their game last year.
“Furthermore, if we look at just the Joe McDonagh Cup winners and their performances against Leinster opposition in the preliminary quarter-finals, it’s one win and one defeat.
“The argument can be made that the preliminary quarter-finals have done nothing for the development of hurling. If that is the reason for supporting this motion, I would ask what does this motion do for the development of hurling? The answer is nothing.”
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