“We want to reduce inter-county footprint” – No more replays until All-Ireland finals says GAA

"They absolutely took the decision in the interest of players and in the interest of club players, in particular."

At the launch of the GAA's Master Fixture schedule for 2022, the association's director of player, club, and games administration Feargal McGill says that there will be no replays in the inter-county season, apart from the All-Ireland decider. This decision was made to "reduce the footprint of the inter-county season" and better facilitate the club season. This rule was currently in place for the past two seasons, but that was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and trying to get a condensed season through.

"This all goes back to five, six, seven years ago, where strategically we would have looked at the calendar and not been happy with the split between the time for club games and the time used for county games," McGill explained. "It was also influenced to some degree by the ESRI report and the findings of that, that the commitment required to play the inter-county game was more and more significant.

"Those two things were behind the moves to tighten the inter-county footprint. Central Council are fully aware of the revenue implications for it.

"But they absolutely took the decision in the interest of players and in the interest of club players, in particular.

"We do know that there will be a financial knock on, but so be it. The association wasn't created to make money. It was created to provide games." It was also revealed that there are no plants get rid of the water break for the coming season.