A Special Congress in April or May of next year will determine if the provincial boundaries are redrawn so to provide four eight-team provincial football championships.

The Club Players Association (CPA) weren’t sparing with their language last week, but then, they would have had reason. The description of the fixtures taskforce as “a Trojan horse” was the exact phrase used by Europe chairman Tony Bass at Congress last year when he dismissed their transparency motion, which was then defeated heavily.

The GAA’s national fixtures task force will meet again on Wednesday before their report is launched early next month.

The GAA’s national fixtures task force will meet again on Wednesday before their report is launched early next month.

This week’s buzzword has been fixtures. And it will be the same in Central Council tomorrow as the 2020 fixtures calendar is confirmed and the fixtures task force provide them with a briefing.

Former Louth manager Eamonn McEneaney has called on counties to add “realism” to the All-Ireland SFC and back the Tier 2 proposal.

The Kerry squad’s last link to their 2006 and 2007 All-Ireland successes has been broken with the retirement of Killian Young.

The two teams promoted from Division 3 of the Allianz League next year may yet earn a reprieve from the proposed second-tier championship.

Football is at risk of being “destroyed” until such time as a fair and equitable

GAA president John Horan has asked the newly formed fixtures review group to bring three proposals to Congress 2020 in a bid to resolve the Association’s calendar crisis.

When the conversation turns to his preferred championship structure, Clare football selector Enda Coughlan quickly shows himself to be at one with the man who drafted him into the county’s backroom team little over a year after he’d hung up his boots.

Back to Fitzgerald Stadium Kerry go on Sunday week, 177 days since there they became the first inter-county team to exit the All-Ireland SFC on foot of a victory. Like Connie Murphy and Karl O’Dwyer being the only two Kerrymen to win All-Stars but never an All-Ireland (David Clifford will be spared for now), it’s a fact that will be fodder for generations of table quizzes to come.

Fifteen county football championships are running later than they did in 2017, highlighting the total lack of impact the condensed inter-county calendar has had on the club scene.

Kildare president Seamus Aldridge is surprised, given Ned Quinn’s previous experience in Kilkenny, that the CCCC chairman decided the county can’t host their All-Ireland SFC qualifier against Mayo in St Conleth’s Park on Saturday because of capacity issues.

Here’s five talking points from this weekend’s Senior Football Championship.

Colm Collins lets out a dry laugh when reminded that this evening’s Munster quarter-final will be the fourth consecutive year that Limerick and Clare have met at this stage.

And so 82 National League fixtures shoehorned for five March weekends will be ramrodded into four.

Limerick GAA secretary Mike O’Riordan is not in favour of the new Super 8 format, calling for the introduction of a two-tier football championship.

Half a glance at the match programme for West Kerry’s defeat of Austin Stacks in the Kerry SFC quarter-final confirmed one of the most remarkable resurgences of a small GAA club in recent times.

Four days out from a hurling-dominated Special Congress and what will be decided for next year’s senior championship is anyone’s guess, writes John Fogarty.

Considering their flimsy challenge to the All-Ireland round-robin series, there will be questions asked about the GPA’s intentions, writes John Fogarty.

Club Players Association (CPA) fixtures coordinator Derek Kavanagh believes the “Super 8” All-Ireland SFC proposal will be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” for club fixtures.

O’Sullivan is convinced that the recommendations won't marginalise hurling.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

Hurling is in danger of being marginalised by GAA director general Páraic Duffy’s plans to change the All-Ireland SFC , warns Munster secretary Simon Moroney.

Kerry GAA secretary Peter Twiss has called for a county board draw to help meet the running costs of the new centre of excellence.

The changing nature of intercounty football was the primary factor behind Cork attacker Daniel Goulding’s decision to retire.

The GAA and GPA are on a major collision course after the players’ organisation last night threatened the non- compliance of eight county teams if the ‘B’ championship proposal is approved by Congress later this month.

Michael Quinlivan says it would be “catastrophic” for Tipperary football were the senior team consigned to a “B” championship next season.

Former Roscommon goalkeeper Shane Curran claims the GPA has left inter-county players “without a voice” and is compromised by GAA funding.

Dublin GAA secretary John Costello has accused Croke Park top brass of behaving like Ebeneezer Scrooge after their request for a share of the gate receipts from the Dublin-Mayo All-Ireland semi-final replay yielded the “princely sum” of €7,500.

Tadhg Kennelly is convinced Gaelic football will lose out further to rival sports if they don’t increase the number of championship matches.

Cork’s footballers and hurlers can put a red ring around March 5 next year when they both face Dublin in an Allianz Division 1 double-header in Croke Park.

There’s a strong possibility there will be no call to change the structure of the All-Ireland SFC arising from today’s Central Council meeting in Croke Park.