Paraic Duffy: ‘modest’ proposals will need Central Council and Congress approval

GAA Director General Paraic Duffy has announced a "modest attempt" to restructure the All-Ireland football championship.

The association’s proposal paper is seeking to replace of the All-Ireland quarter-finals with two groups of four. The provincial championships will be untouched while the qualifiers will be slightly altered.

This is an effort to address “persistent criticism that the current championship format has grown lacklustre” and “unhealthy predictability” of the Leinster and Munster football championships.

If passed by Central Council, the new format would be brought to next year’s Congress in a number of separate motions, each needing a two thirds majority, that cannot be adopted until 2018.

The group format would add eight inter-county matches to the calendar but the National League semi-finals are to be abolished.

These Champions League type group stages, contested by four provincial champions and the four Round Four qualifier winners, with each county playing the other three counties once.

The provincial champions would face each other in the opening round in Croke Park with the other two rounds held at provincial stadiums. That means Dublin playing at least one match outside of Croke Park.

The All-Ireland semi-finals, between the top two in each group, would be played over one weekend.

“There was no appetite for counties to go into a second tier competition after they were knocked out of their provincial championship,” said GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghaíl. “None whatsoever.”

Replays will only occur in the event of a draw after extra-time. This is in order “to bring improvements to situations that affect the scheduling of club fixtures and availability of inter-county players to their clubs.”

“Our championship structure is regularly called into question, although it has not yet been possible to find general agreement on a new structure,” read the GAA proposal paper. “It may well be the case that there will not be a ‘magic bullet’ solution.”

“The big point, and this is a huge point, is the clubs don’t see their inter-county players until the championship is over,” said Duffy.

“This condensed structure would aim to address that.”