OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

GAA plan would open ‘back door’

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Mark Jones

DUBLIN — All counties beaten in the initial stages of the All-Ireland football championships will be given a "back door" reprieve in the competition if a set of radical proposals are approved by the GAA.

The second-chance system, which was revealed Monday, would guarantee the weaker counties at least two championship games. It is just one part of a comprhensive football plan that will be introduced next year if approval is given at a Special Congress in October.

The plan envisions the retention of the provincial championships and of the National League in their original format. However, counties that lose out at any stage up to, and including, the provincial finals, will be permitted to re-enter the All-Ireland series.

The main thrust of the plan, which was drawn up by the Intercounty Fixtures Schedule Workgroup, which is chaired by Padraig Duffy of Monaghan, is as follows:

€ The provincial football championship will be played under the usual knockout format, with the winners progressing to the All-Ireland quarterfinals.

Never miss an issue of The Irish Echo

Subscribe to one of our great value packages.

€ The first-round losers would play off on an open draw basis, with the winners going through to meet the defeated provincial semifinalists. The winners of that round would then come up against the beaten provincial finalists, with the four survivors taking their places in the All-Ireland quarterfinals.

€ The four provincial champions would be seeded for the quarterfinals and would have home advantage where possible.

"We believe this formula gives us the best of both worlds," Duffy said. "It retains the provincial championships, while also providing a second All-Ireland competition. Every county would be guaranteed two championship games which obviously has its attractions."

The proposed new format would generate an extra 29 games (based on this season’s entry) and the open-draw stages would run in conjunction with the provincial championships.

Meanwhile, live commentary for the All-Ireland hurling and football finals on Sundays Sept. 10 and 24, respectively, will be available from RTE on the short-wave radio band for people in America and will also be transmitted on the station’s website.

The transmission on both dates will be at 14.30 -16-30 GMT/UTC. The SW radio frequency for North America will be 13720 kHZ.

RTE says that, depending on weather conditions, reception should be widely available outside the main target area.

The live commentaries will also be available on RTE’s website at www.rte.gaa.

— Andrew Bushe

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese