Replay exception could be made for provincial football finals, says Munster chief 

The Munster GAA Annual Convention took place on Friday night in the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis, Co. Clare. Former chairperson Jerry O’Sullivan (Cork), vice chairperson: Ger Ryan (Tipperary), Chairperson: Liam Lenihan (Limerick), CEO: Kieran Leddy (Cork), treasurer: Pearse Murphy (Cork)  

Munster GAA chief executive Kieran Leddy says a replay exception can be made for provincial football finals.

A motion put forward by Central Council at Congress on Saturday calls for the facility of replays to be extended to provincial football finals level at the end of extra-time.

If passed, the four games will no longer be winners-on-the-day games unlike the Munster and Leinster senior hurling finals.

At Congress in Donegal 12 months ago, Leddy argued against a motion allowing for provincial final replays in both codes. He claimed hurling could not facilitate a second game without impacting the eventual winners and runners-up.

When it was suggested during the debate that replays could be incorporated into the football championship only, GAA director general Tom Ryan said he was not in favour of one code being treated differently.

“We could have divorced the two, one way for football and one way for hurling but it’s hard to reconcile having a replay in a provincial final in one code and not in the other,” he remarked afterwards.

The motion was deferred and in the meantime as well as a Munster SHC final going to extra-time and penalties, a third consecutive Ulster SFC decider required extra-time. The two previous SFC finals in Ulster were determined by penalties after extra-time.

A proposal has since come from Central Council, which would allow replays in the provincial football championships.

Leddy said: “In fairness, the championships are structured so differently, that I think it makes sense that there is a different structure when it comes to replays.

“Because in senior football, the provincial championships are played at the start, and all teams progress on to either the Tailteann or Sam Maguire Cup.

“Whereas, the hurling is a different structure because the provincial championship is central to it. In other words, the end of it, there are two teams that will have exited in Munster. And if the preliminary quarter-finals go, there are only five games remaining after the provincial.

“Generally, the feedback I have received from speaking to counties is that they can see the difficulty with a hurling team potentially being forced to play three weeks in a row. And then coming up against a team that has had quite a good rest in terms of preparation. And they can see how that would be difficult, certainly.” 

Leddy continued: “The senior hurling championship in Munster is 11 games in total. The senior football is five. They’re just two completely different things.

“In the senior football championship, you play a quarter-final and then you have a two-week gap. Win the semi-final and you have another two-week gap. In hurling, those gaps don't exist.” 

Munster counties are expected to support the removal of the All-Ireland senior hurling preliminary quarter-finals between the third-placed provincial teams and the Joe McDonagh finalists. If passed, it will take effect from this year.

There is also backing in Munster for the quarter-finals to be played at the home venues of the provincial runners-up as a reward for finishing second in the provincial competitions.