GAA Congress to vote on four rules that could change the face of inter-county game

Some major potential law changes are in play

This weekend, the GAA Congress will meet to vote on 40 motions that have been put forward by various groups.

The recent law changes to how the game is played have been an overwhelming success in the NFL and NHL leagues thus far, and may act as a catalyst for further tweaks to inter-county football and hurling.

The main motion that will be discussed involves the All-Ireland SFC Championship structure, and would see the sport revert back to more of a knock-out style, in place of the current round-robin groups.

This format has been much maligned, due its lack of jeopardy, as it see three teams qualify from groups of four.

The new proposal would see the eight provincial finalists, plus the next seven best league-ranked teams and the winner of the Tailteann Cup, part of the draw for the opening round of the Championship.

The winners advance to round 2A, where they would face off against each other and provide four teams for the quarter-finals.

First-round losers advance to 2B, producing four winners who would face the losers from 2A, with the winners making up the quarter-finals.

This motion, number 19, has been put forward by the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), and is expected to succeed.

Father of Dublin great Jack McCaffrey, Dr Noel McCaffrey, is leading a proposal - through his club Clontarf - that is aimed at making inter-county players play more club games.

Motion 12 would see players only eligible for inter-county play if they had already togged out in four competitive league games for their club in the same calendar year.

There would be exceptions around injuries, while dual-code players could count games in both hurling and football.

We may also see a change in final replays.

The CCCC are looking to have replays for provincial finals after extra-time - with penalties only after extra-time in a replay - and All-Ireland finals to go to a replay after 70 minutes.

Nenagh Éire Óg are bringing forward a motion to change the hand-pass rule in hurling.

It is looking for hand passes to be clearly struck by the hand not carrying the sliotar, or to be dropped on to the hurl before being passed.

It hopes to put an end to players throwing the ball to one another.

The rule was made up by All-Ireland winner and former Tipperary hurler, Conor O'Donovan, who says he is "cautiously optimistic".

Other big motions in play include: allowing GAA clubs to make decisions on whether to open up their facilities to other sports and groups; Europe and New York entering inter-county hurling through the Lory Meagher Cup; all clubs to have underage hurling teams.