New format excites Lawlor

Camogie president Aileen Lawlor is predicting an increase in thecompetitiveness and quality of the championship, which gets underway on Saturday.

There is a new format which will see the introduction of two quarter-finals, while the group stages will be used as a seeding process for the knockout stages.

Each group winner will progress to the semi-finals, while the runners-up will qualify for the quarter-finals. The remaining four teams will feature in two play-offs to complete the quarter-final pairings.