Kieran Shannon: Firm pitches and happier marriages... the split-season's pay-off

Though there are things we lose too, Clare has been a microcosm of the new calendar's benefits. 

LOFT IT: Clonlara's John Conlon and Sixmilebridge's Jason Loughnane during the Clare SHC quarter final at Cusack Park on Sunday. Picture : Eamon Ward

When Clare beat Cork after an All-Ireland final replay in 2013, their county board didn’t so much run a club championship as race one off.

The county senior quarter-finals were played on Oct 19, the semi-finals in the wind and rain and shit of early November, the county final itself just a week later.