Revealed: how next year's three-tier All-Ireland minor football championship will look

Details of the new three-tier U17 championship are taking shape with provincial finalists making up the eight counties in tier 1.

BREAKAWAY: Cork's Timothy Cullinane breaks from of the challenge of Dublin's Eoghan Costello and Alex Carolan in this year's All-Ireland MFC quarter final at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. 

Munster will have just one team in tier two of the All-Ireland minor football championship in 2024.

Details of the new three-tier U17 competition have emerged and only the third-best team from the province will feature in the second tier, a lower representation than any of the three other provinces.

The tier 2 knock-out competition will comprise 11 teams in 2024 – Munster’s one, four teams from both Leinster and Ulster and two from Connacht.

Leinster and Ulster will each be represented by their two losing semi-finalists as well as two beaten quarter-finalists. The third and fourth placed teams in Connacht will also be included.

This past season, Tipperary might have been considered as the third best in Munster having finished top of the phase one table and qualifying for the semi-finals alongside Limerick, the teams being defeated by Cork and Kerry respectively.

In tier 2, the semi-finalists in Leinster and Ulster along with the third-placed team in Connacht will receive byes to the quarter-finals where they will be joined by three preliminary quarter-final winners.

As explained in the successful motion at September’s Special Congress, the first tier next year will involve the eight provincial finalists, the four winners facing runners-up from other provinces in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

In tier 3, there will be 13 teams made up of five from Leinster, three from both Munster and Ulster and two from Connacht. 

In Connacht’s case, their fifth-placed team will face London for a berth in the quarter-finals. The only quarter-final seeded team will be the fourth-best team in Munster.

The tiered All-Ireland series will be over an eight-week period from mid-May to the start of July. Tier 2 is set to take place between May 25 and June 15 while tier 3 begins and ends a week earlier, May 18 and June 8. The tier one All-Ireland MFC quarter-finals are scheduled for June 8-9, the semi-finals on June 22-23 and final on July 6-7.

New cups are to be commissioned for the tier 2 and 3 competitions and they may possibly be named after former players or members. The tier 1 silverware remains the Tom Markham Cup in honour of the Clare man who was a GAA activist and a member of Dublin’s management team on Bloody Sunday in November 1920.

The All-Ireland MHC final is pencilled in for June 29-30, the semi-finals on June 15/16 and quarter-finals on May 31 or June 1.