Thank God for Clare.
When every second conversation about the GAA these days is simply descending into championship restructure chat, a club from the Banner County is trying to come to the rescue.
Cooraclare have put forward a motion that could just pave the way for a complete restructure of the entire football championship.
The south-west Clare outfit are proposing that the All-Ireland minor championship gets a facelift, the way a lot of people would like to see the senior football tournament run off in the summer except their seeding format is a little different.
They want the under-17 competition to run as follows:
- Eight groups of four
- Groups decided by seedings with strongest teams in Group 1 and weakest teams in Group 8
- Top two of Groups 1, 2, 3 advance as six quarter-finalists
- Top team of Group 4 advance to quarter-finals
That leaves one more place for the All-Ireland minor quarter finals.
- The top teams in groups 5, 6, 7, 8 proceed to their own knockout phase (semi-final and final)
- The winner will play the second place team of Group 4 for the final place in the quarters.
Here's the proposal below that will be heard in Congress on February 23-24.
That Rule 6.28 (E) All-Ireland Minor Championship – Official Guide Part 1 (page 111) be amended to read as follows
The Championship shall be organised initially on a national round-robin basis, with teams seeded into eight groups of four (GROUPS 1-8). Seedings / placings for each team to be determined by the CCCC, with a view to ensuring teams of similar standard playing in each group, e.g. the strongest teams in Group 1; the weakest, in Group 8.
All teams play three games against their group opponents with the top two teams emerging from Groups 1, 2 & 3 advance to quarter finals, plus the top team from Group 4. The eight and final quarter final place to be contested between the 2nd placed team in Group 4, and the winner to emerge by knock-out rounds of the top teams in each of Groups 5-8. (to be determined by two play-off rounds, as follows:- (1);- (a) winner of Group 5 v's winner of Group 8 & (b) winner of Group 6 v's winner of Group 7, followed by (2);- winner (a) v's winner (b).
All-Ireland Quarter-Finals
Each of the four Group Winners from Groups 1-4 shall meet one of the group runners up (or the team to emerge from Groups 5-8, should that team defeat the Group 4 runner-up) . The pairings shall be determined on an open draw, with teams not to be drawn against opponents from their round robin group.
All-Ireland Semi-Finals
An open draw of the winning quarter-finalists shall be made to determine semi-final parings.
All-Ireland Final.
Rule affected – Rule 6.29, 6.30, Appendix 3
