Championship restructure talk has been everywhere.
Our GAA Editor Colm Parkinson has proposed a new format with the league at its centre, while Conán Doherty favours a World Cup style format.
Now the GAA Director General Paraic Duffy has revealed his proposal, which includes eight extra matches and a group stage replacing the quarter-finals.
Duffy believes his format will “produce a more exciting senior football championship within the current provincial championship structure and in a way that should not have a negative impact on the playing of county club championships.”
The extra eight matches per season will ultimately be reduced to six following the abolition of the Allianz League semi-finals.
If his proposal was to in effect this year the two groups of four would be:
Group 1
Kerry
Galway
Donegal
Mayo
Group 2
Tyrone
Dublin
Tipperary
Clare
There would also be fewer games played at Croke Park. In this year’s Championship this is how the fixtures would break down:
Group 1 Round 1 – Kerry v Galway, Croke Park; Donegal v Mayo Croke Park.
Group 1 Round 2 – Kerry v Donegal, Killarney; Galway v Mayo, Pearse Stadium, Galway.
Group 1 Round 3 – Kerry v Mayo, Castlebar; Galway v Donegal, Ballybofey.
Group 2 Round 1 – Tyrone v Dublin, Croke Park; Tipp v Clare, Croke Park.
Group 2 Round 2 – Tyrone v Tipp, Omagh; Dublin v Clare, Croke Park.
Group 2 Round 3 – Tyrone v Clare, Ennis; Dublin v Tipp, Thurles.
Each team would play each other once with the top two in each group progressing to the semi-finals,
Duffy’s format of the All-Ireland senior football championship would be as follows:
PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Knock-out format as at present.
ALL-IRELAND QUALIFIER SERIES
Round 1: Sixteen teams that do not qualify for provincial semi-finals
Round 2: Eight round 1 winners play eight defeated provincial semi-finalists
Round 3: Eight round 2 winners play each other on an open-draw basis
Round 4: Four round 3 winners play four provincial runners-up
Proposal 1:
(i) A Division 3 or 4 team drawn against a Division 1 or 2 team in rounds one, two or three of the qualifiers will be granted an automatic home-venue advantage.
(ii) The format of ‘A’ and ‘B’ sides to the qualifier draw will be ended.
QUARTER-FINAL STAGE
Proposal 2:
The current quarter-final stage of the championship to be replaced by a Group Stage, contested by the four provincial champions and the four round 4 qualifier winners.
The group stage will be organised on a league basis with two groups of four teams, with each team playing the other three teams once.
After the group stage is completed the top two teams in each group will progress to the All-Ireland semi-final with the Group 1 winner playing the Group 2 runner-up and the Group 2 winner playing the Group 1 runner-up
Order of fixtures in both groups
Round 1
Team 1 v Team 2. Croke Park
Team 3 v Team 4. Croke Park
Round 2
Team 1 v Team 3 or 4. Home advantage for provincial champions.
Team 2 V Team 3 or 4. Home advantage for provincial champions.
Round 3
Team 1 v Team 3 or 4. Home advantage for Team 3 or 4.
Team 2 v Team 3 or 4. Home advantage for Team 3 or 4.
Note:
Home venues shall be subject to approval by the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) and
shall meet the criteria set down by the National Facilities/Health and Safety Committee. CCCC shall
make the draws for Rounds 2 and 3.The above fixtures format for the group stage means that each team will have one game in Croke Park,
one home game and one away game.Tie-breakers in the event of teams finishing level on points (in order of application):
(i) Result of game between two tied teams (only where two teams are level on points)
(ii) Score difference
(iii) Highest score for
(iv) Goals scored
(v) Play-off match
All-IRELAND SEMI-FINALS:
Group 1 winner v Group 2 runner-up
Group 2 winner v Group 1 runner-up
(to be played over one weekend)
All-IRELAND FINAL
