Premier to field intermediate championship side

TIPPERARY GAA chiefs have decided that they will enter a team in this year’s Munster intermediate hurling championship but only on the proviso that there will be an overhaul to the intermediate hurling and junior football championships at national level for the 2011 season.

Tipperary’s participation in the provincial intermediate hurling scene had come under doubt last October, when it was mooted at a board meeting that the county should withdraw due to lack of interest and success in the competition. But following consultation meetings with the Munster Council before Christmas, it was announced at Tuesday night’s county board meeting in Thurles that Tipperary will field a side this season.

Tipperary are drawn to face Cork in the Munster IHC quarter-final in Páirc Ui Chaoimh on May 30, which is a curtain-raiser to the senior quarter-final between the counties. County board chairman Barry O’Brien insists that they only took the decision after being given assurances that proposals to change the structures of these championships will be brought forward to the GAA’s Annual Congress in Down in April.