Fermanagh club Tempo Maguires hope delegates at GAA Congress next week will support a motion to reinstate the minor finals as the curtain raisers to the All-Ireland senior hurling and football deciders.
The minor finals were traditionally fixed as the opening games on All-Ireland final day, but that practice has faded since a vote at Congress in 2016 lowered the minor grade from under-18 to under-17.
On foot of that change, a process of moving the finals out of Croke Park followed. The 2019 hurling and football minor finals were the last to have been played on the undercard of their respective senior deciders.
The 2021 All-Ireland minor football final between Meath and Tyrone was played as the curtain raiser to the Covid-delayed Kerry v Tyrone All-Ireland semi-final that summer, but, apart from that all, minor deciders have taken place outside the capital and were held in places including Tullamore, Portlaoise, Thurles, Newbridge, Kilkenny, Roscommon and Armagh.
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But the Tempo Maguires club want the minor deciders to return to Croke Park as part of the All-Ireland final day programme of events.
Tempo’s motion to GAA Congress states: “The All-Ireland Senior and Minor Finals shall be played in Croke Park. The Finals shall be played on or before the last Sunday in July on dates determined by the Central Council, with the All-Ireland Minor Football & Hurling Finals to be played immediately before their respective Senior Finals. In exceptional circumstances the Central Council may make other arrangements.”
The Fermanagh club tabled a similar motion in 2024, but were persuaded to withdraw it on the day. However, with no change since, Tempo are once again bringing the matter to the floor at Congress.
“It’s an experiment that hasn’t worked,” Tempo Maguires chairman Phil Flanagan said. “We’ve trialled many things in the GAA. Many of them have worked, but I don’t believe this one has. We just think it has been a backward step.”
Flanagan pointed to David Clifford’s 4-4 in the 2017 minor football final at Croke Park – recalled now as a day the Kerry forward announced his brilliance on the national stage.
“We feel by restoring the minor finals, it would add to the occasion. It was such a special opportunity for young players to step out in front of a large crowd at Croke Park on All-Ireland final day,” Flanagan said.
“The warm-up shows in recent years haven’t worked and there has also been the issue with Jubilee teams walking out to a mostly empty stadium. We just think by restoring the minor finals it will allow All-Ireland final days to become a bigger experience again.”
It is one of 25 motions set to be debated at Congress on the weekend of February 27th-28th.
One of the motions likely to generate most debate is Central Council’s proposal to extend the length of the intercounty season – essentially for the All-Ireland football final to be played in the second week of August.
Motion 17 states that the All-Ireland finals “shall be played on or before the 32nd Sunday of the year on dates determined by the Central Council”.
The motion also states that “no intercounty competitions will be organised before the fourth Sunday of the year”, which would prevent provincial councils from scheduling their pre-league competitions and would in effect sound the death knell for the likes of the O’Byrne, McKenna and McGrath cups.
[ GAA Congress to hear motion tying intercounty eligibility to minimum club appearance requirement ]
A further part of the proposal states that clubs from counties competing in the All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals would receive a bye in the opening round of their respective provincial championships that year.
There is also a joint motion from Central Council and The Hurling Development Committee to change the format whereby the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists progress to the All-Ireland SHC series to contest preliminary quarter-finals.
Instead, the Joe McDonagh Cup teams would not enter the Liam MacCarthy competition that year, with the Munster runners-up facing the third-placed Leinster team and vice versa in two All-Ireland quarter-finals.
The Amateur Status Review Committee has proposed two motions, the most striking of which is a requirement for counties obtain a high-performance licence – Intercounty Certificate Programme – to participate in National Leagues and/or senior championships. It is an effort to tackle the spiralling costs of intercounty team preparation.
Key Congress motions
- To reinstate the minor hurling and football finals as curtain raisers on the day of the All-Ireland senior finals;
- To extend the intercounty season where the All-Ireland senior football final would be played on or before the second week in August. Within this motion is the adjustment that the intercounty season would not start until the fourth Sunday of the year – in effect ending the preseason competitions;
- The GPA want it enshrined that the intercounty season lasts no more than 30 competitive weekends – a safeguard to ensure that should the All-Ireland finals be moved to August at the end of the calendar, the start of the season would be adjusted accordingly to ensure it remains 30 weeks;
- A motion to end the format whereby Joe McDonagh Cup finalists play All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals in the Liam MacCarthy competition;
- County boards be required to obtain a high-performance licence to be permitted to enter teams in senior intercounty competitions;
- A proposal to allow county boards to organise competitions down to 11-a-side in a bid to help clubs continue to field teams where depopulation has had an impact on numbers;
- Dissent in hurling would see a free moved forward 30 metres or up to the opponents’ 20-metre line;
- Players must fulfil the criteria of playing eight league or championship games with their club in a season to be eligible to play for their county team the following year;
- Provincial senior football finals would go to a replay if they finish level after extra-time.
