Radical overhaul of hurling title race up for debate

THE structures of Galway’s senior, intermediate and Junior ‘A’ championships are sure to be the hot topic of debate when the County Hurling Committee hold their annual convention in Loughgeorge this evening, Thursday (7:45pm).

In all, 19 of the 29 motions tabled by clubs relate to this issue, although if the early proposals by Portumna and Killimor on maintaining the status quo of the senior and intermediate competitions are passed, the majority of the other motions will be rendered null and void.

No doubt, a number of clubs have put a great deal of thought into revamping the hurling structures. Clarinbridge propose the current format be retained but with the amendment of affording teams who end up in the Shield competition the opportunity to go through a backdoor system to qualify for a place in the quarter-finals.

Athenry, on the other hand, want the senior grade to be expanded to 24 teams and the championship to be divided into Senior ‘A’ and ‘B’ competitions. This could generate some momentum.

However, many senior clubs will indubitably take a jaundice view of playing in a Senior ‘B’ competition – even if the top three teams in the two groups of six in the Division 2 tier qualify for the preliminary quarter-finals.

In addition, the motion would see no team relegated for the third consecutive year while it would also mean an intermediate team – in this case, finalists Cappataggle – would be extracted from a competition that has already been diminished by the lack of teams dropping down from senior in recent times.

Similar motions for Senior ‘A’ and ‘B’ championships have been put forward by Cappataggle, Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry, St. Thomas’ and Meelick/Eyrecourt, although the latter club looks to establish a Senior ‘A’ and ‘B’ championship over a phased basis which would be not be in place until 2016.