John Fogarty: How the 2023 GAA season will be different

CHANGE AFOOT?: Paudie Clifford of Kerry shoots at goal despite the efforts of Jack Glynn of Galway during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Competitive inter-county GAA is now six months from resumption, but 2023 is already certain to be a campaign like no other. What exactly are the planned changes?

Extended inter-county season 

GAA president Larry McCarthy is on the record that finals won’t be returning to August next year but did point out it will be Central Council’s decision. That’s not to suggest there won’t be some tinkering with the duration or start and finish of the inter-county window. For promotional reasons, the GAA’s commercial department are hopeful it would be extended by three weeks pushing both All-Ireland finals into August. That would appear to be wishful thinking for 2023, if more probable for 2024, but any knock-on effect on the club season has to be considered. 

For next year, the Central Competitions Control Committee may be able to increase the inter-county period by a week or two. If it’s a week, they could slot in a break weekend between the two All-Ireland finals, also for promotional reasons, making July 30 All-Ireland football final day. If it’s two, they may also look at creating more space between the end of the Allianz Leagues and the start of the provincial championships — there was only a two-week gap in April this year.

A more important Allianz Football League 

Simply because there is more emphasis on finishing places for Sam Maguire Cup positions. As Westmeath have already qualified by winning this year’s Tailteann Cup, there are 15 places up for grabs, with a guarantee of at least seven based on finishing places in the 2023 football league. The other eight will be the provincial finalists. 

If a team double qualifies for the Sam Maguire Cup, their spot based on the league goes to the next best county outside the top seven. For example, if Kerry win Division 1 and the Munster SFC again, they would be seeded for annexing the province and their league place would go to the next county down. 

Had the new format been in place this year, the Sam Maguire Cup would have matched this year’s qualifier line-up: the eight provincial finalists – Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Limerick, Roscommon – and the eight best league finishers outside them – Mayo, Armagh, Tyrone, Monaghan, Meath, Clare, Cork and Louth.

Round-robin Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cups

Goodbye qualifiers, hello Super 8s for everyone. As was the case this year, 16 teams will compete for the Sam Maguire Cup and the same for the Tailteann Cup. However, they will be guaranteed three games each in the post-provincial round-robin stages. Each of the four Sam Maguire Cup groups of four will feature a provincial winner who will have a home game first. They will be joined by the runners-up from another province and two further teams based on league standings. 

Each team will play a home, away and neutral game. The team that finishes first in each group qualifies for the All-Ireland quarter-finals, the second and third-placed teams going into a preliminary quarter-final draw to join them where the former have home advantage. 

The four Tailteann Cup groups of four will be decided completely on league finishes. For the preliminary quarter-finals, the four second-placed sides enjoy home advantage against the three third-best finishers and New York.

New minor championships 

It's two months since McCarthy commissioned a committee to produce under-age grade proposals with a mind to them being voted on at a Special Congress later this year and coming in for 2023. The group continue to meet to discuss national options such as making U17 a completely developmental grade, and U19 becoming the new minor All-Ireland level or a return to U18. It is generally agreed the All-Ireland finals require curtain-raisers – they haven’t had any since 2019. If not the Tailteann Cup final, the return of U18 or U19 would provide an appropriate game.

No National League/club championship overlap 

This year saw 10 of the 2021-22 All-Ireland club championship games overlap with the start of the Allianz Leagues. That won’t be the case in 2023 as the All-Ireland senior club semi-finals will take place this coming December, the hurling games on the first weekend of the month and the football matches the following one. It is the GAA’s intention to stage the finals in January prior to the beginning of the Allianz Leagues at the end of that month. It may not be the calendar year season but it could be as close as the GAA are ever going to get to achieving that goal.