Cork GAA in favour of replays for drawn All-Ireland finals 

The Cork team huddle ahead of the All-Ireland SHC final between Clare and Cork at Croke Park. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Cork are in favour of replays applying to All-Ireland finals level at the end of normal time but want the “winner on the day” provision retained for provincial finals.

The third motion on the Clár on Annual Congress in Donegal town this Saturday calls for All-Ireland finals to be replayed in the event teams can’t be separated at the end of normal time.

Cork, whose senior hurlers lost out to Clare in extra-time of last July’s decider, are in favour of that element of the proposal, which if passed would apply to this year’s All-Ireland finals.

However, they are against the second part of the motion, which would facilitate provincial finals going to replays if the teams are still tied at the end of extra-time from next year.

That is contingent on the new All-Ireland senior football championship for 2026 being passed at Congress. 

That new structure would replace the round-robin phase of the Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cups with a second chance for teams beaten in the first round and those who have progressed to the winners’ part of the second round.

Cork believe that as no team is knocked out of the championship in provincial finals, the facility of a replay is not as urgent as it is at the ultimate stage, while a second Munster decider would cause difficulties for its finalists.

There are contrasting opinions about provincial final replays on the Munster GAA executive. 

In his annual report last month, the provincial council’s chief executive Kieran Leddy warned that a replay would disadvantage the provincial senior hurling champions as their wait for an All-Ireland semi-final would increase from four to five weeks.

“Yes, a replay ‘could’ bring an extra €1m of income to the provincial council but far more often than not the replay weekend would be idle and the potential financial gain once every nine years (on average), can hardly justify decreasing the chances of our champions progressing to the All-Ireland final because of the five-week wait.” 

Munster PRO and former treasurer Dermot “Weeshie” Lynch offered a different opinion in this newspaper last October: “The idea of a provincial final replay is a golden opportunity to pass up on. 

"A sell-out Munster final finishing in a draw, the game going to extra-time and people gasping at the spectacle in front of them and it had to be finished on the day.” 

Meanwhile, Cork will be voting in favour of Tipperary’s motion to prohibit hand-passing from the holding hand in hurling. The decision came following a debate at last Tuesday week’s board meeting.

In a boost for Conor O’Donovan’s proposal to curb the amount of thrown/illegal handpasses in the game, their opponents in Saturday evening’s Division 1A, Round 4 game will be backing The Premier County.

As reported by the Irish Examiner last week, Cork will be endorsing Wexford’s 1996 All-Ireland SHC winning manager Liam Griffin’s proposal for all dual clubs to have hurling teams from the ages of U7 to U10.

However, like Kerry they will not support Clontarf’s motion that would entail players lining out in four club league games to be deemed eligible for inter-county championship, which would require a reshaping of the playing calendar.