GAA sound out Joe McDonagh Cup counties on possibility of cutting current All-Ireland link 

The competition winners and runners-up qualify for the last six of the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Carlow goalkeeper Brian Tracey celebrates with the cup after the Joe McDonagh Cup final against Offaly. Picture: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

The GAA have written to the six Joe McDonagh Cup counties for their thoughts on jettisoning the competition’s current year link with the All-Ireland preliminary senior hurling quarter-finals.

In the two seasons before the pandemic and two since, the Joe McDonagh Cup winners and runners-up have qualified for the last six of the Liam MacCarthy Cup where they have been pitted against the third-placed teams in Leinster and Munster.

The lop-sided nature of the preliminary quarter-finals is part of the reason why the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) have approached Down, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Offaly and Westmeath for their thoughts on breaking the connection and running the McDonagh Cup concurrently with the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Were the preliminary quarter-finals to be disbanded, both the senior provincial championships and the McDonagh Cup would be able to start later than their current commencement dates in April.

If the counties are agreeable and it receives backing at Special Congress in September, it is believed the McDonagh Cup final could be played as a curtain-raiser to one of the All-Ireland semi-finals in Croke Park in early July similar to the Down-Meath Tailteann Cup final will be the undercard to a football semi-final on July 15. Currently, the second tier decider is played in late May.

A number of McDonagh Cup counties have expressed concern that the intense McDonagh Cup in the late spring/early summer is doing little for the promotion of the game while managements would prefer more time between games. The group stages of this year’s McDonagh Cup comprised five games in six weekends.

Apart from Laois’ shock win over Dublin in 2019, the provincial third-placed teams have won all of the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. In those seven games, the average margin of victory for the Liam MacCarthy team has been nearly 19 points.

The CCCC are also reviewing the structure of the league with a means to making it more competitive while assisting developing counties. It remains to be seen if they linked the league to the championship as has been done in football.

Speaking after his Offaly team’s heavy loss to Tipperary last Saturday week, Johnny Kelly said the secondary competition had to be revised as a matter of concern: “If they want to develop hurling in counties, if they want a more meaningful or broader range of counties competing, they really have to open their eyes and look at that League. A yo-yo effect isn’t going to help anyone.”