GAA considers July final as part of Joe McDonagh Cup revamp

A later finish to the McDonagh Cup may provide extra exposure to the developing hurling counties. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Next year’s Joe McDonagh Cup could run up to the weekend of the All-Ireland senior hurling semi-finals.

The Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) have provided Central Council with two options – conclude the second-tier hurling championship on the day of the Leinster final in early June or run it until the first weekend in July where it will be staged on the undercard of one of the games. The master fixtures will be finalised in October.

The CCCC also have to incorporate a new semi-final stage in the McDonagh competition where the second and third-placed teams will face off to meet the table-toppers in the final. Laois, who proposed the successful motion earlier this year, agreed for the semi-final to be postponed until 2027.

The first McDonagh Cup decider was played as a curtain-raiser to the Leinster SHC final in 2018. The two games have made for a reasonably good fit because of Croke Park’s generous capacity and the presence of Leinster counties in the final – including Antrim, the province have provided both finalists in all but the three years Kerry reached the showdown between 2020 and ’22.

However, there is a determination to expand the footprint of hurling in the GAA inter-county window. This year, there were just five senior hurling inter-county fixtures played after the provincial finals following the move to disband the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals.

There is a school of thought that the later finish to the McDonagh Cup may provide extra exposure to the developing hurling counties in the same way the Tailteann Cup’s conclusion on All-Ireland SFC semi-final weekend in July has promoted football.

The scheduling of the McDonagh Cup round-robin stage, five games in six weekends, has also come in for heavy criticism. Former Offaly chairman Michael Duignan said it is “too intense for amateurs”.

The All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals are pencilled in for July 18 and 25 respectively. Although the Munster Council have proposed a later finish to the hurling championship, recent match programme notes by GAA president Jarlath Burns suggest he won’t be returning to the matter.

The first year of the enhanced backdoor format in the All-Ireland SFC was considered a veritable success and it will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

A decision on whether to delay the All-Ireland SFC first round draw until after the provincial finals will be made later in the year. It was claimed the early draw in May overshadowed the build-up to the provincial games.