Beaten finalists get a break

New fixture lists: The meagre, six-day break between games, which has severely hindered defeated provincial football finalists, will be extended to at least two weeks for next year's championship, the Games Administration Committee (GAC) said yesterday.

The provincial runners-up will actually have a three-week break before playing their fourth round qualifier, but, in the case of a replay, the eventual losers will still have a fortnight to recover.

This short time between games affected Limerick's progress in the last two championships, especially this year when, after two gruelling encounters with Kerry, they had to travel to Dr Hyde Park to face Derry.

"It's excellent news and about time," said Limerick manager Liam Kearns. "Everyone in the country will be welcoming this development, especially us, as particularly last year after the two championship matches we had less than a week before facing Derry in Roscommon. Although we led in the final stages, we were dead on our feet. We were punished for getting to a provincial final."

Laois suffered a similar experience this year when they had to face All-Ireland champions Tyrone six days after losing the Leinster replay to Westmeath.

However, the plan is not foolproof, as qualifier games will go to extra-time only, and a draw after that will still require a replay. There is no way of countering the fixture backlog if a situation like the 1991 Dublin and Meath saga were to develop.

The move was announced by the GAC at the 2005 fixture launch in Croke Park, where they also revealed an extra 50 senior championship matches will be played across hurling and football.

The new format in hurling and tweaks to the football championship were presented by the leading lights in the GAC, Tony O'Keeffe and Seán Ó Laoire, while GAA president Seán Kelly and director general Liam Mulvihill were also present.

Another change saw the three-month gap between the under-21 football provincial championships and All-Ireland series being bridged by the fixtures task force chaired by Pádraig Duffy.

Now, the semi-final is to take place on April 30th, with the final on May 8th.

The competition will not start until the Sigerson Cup and other third level competitions are completed.

The under-21 All-Ireland hurling final remains on the third Sunday in September, with the possibility of a double header with camogie.

In keeping with the new format laid out by the Hurling Development Committee, the new, three-tier championship structure comes into place.

Twelve teams will participate in tier one: Kilkenny, Wexford, Offaly, Dublin, Laois, Cork, Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Clare, Galway and Antrim.

Tier two will feature Roscommon, Mayo, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Kerry, Derry and Down.

Tier three will comprise Sligo, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Cavan, Tyrone, Donegal, Armagh, London and, possibly, Warwickshire.

Relegation and promotion from each tier will take place each season.

The provincial championships shall continue in Munster, Leinster and Ulster on a knockout format, with Galway and Antrim going straight into an eight-county qualifier system with the first round and semi-final losers in Leinster and Munster.

In subsequent years, the counties participating shall be all the teams eligible for tier one, except those that reach the Leinster and Munster finals. Two groups of four shall be formed, with each team guaranteed three matches.

In the event of teams finishing level after the group stages, the positions shall be determined first on points aggregate, then on the result of the game between the corresponding teams. Designated teams, one being Antrim, shall have two home games in the group stage.

The top two teams in each group shall qualify for the quarter-finals to face the provincial finalists from Munster and Leinster on July 24th and 30th.

Counties which fail to qualify for the quarter-finals face a relegation play-off, while the tier two champions shall take the losing county's place for next year.

The extra games brings a new type of logistical nightmare for administrators in Croke Park and, more worryingly, for the already creaking disciplinary systems. As Mulvihill pointed out, more games means more disciplinary scenarios.

Congress in April may yet overhaul the present disciplinary format, under the GAC remit, but if it does not the association is setting themselves up for another summer of controversy and discontent, when the option of taking decisions to the High Court will surely occur once more.

Another conundrum set to face fixture committees nationwide is how to fit in the club programme in the height of the summer.

"That is ultimately the major challenge facing the administrators around the country," admitted O'Keeffe.