Leinster hurling set for revamp to include eight teams in expanded group format

Tomás Keyes of Laois is tackled by Jack McCullagh of Carlow during last year's Joe McDonagh Cup final. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

A new eight-team Leinster senior hurling championship format could be in play by 2028.

A proposal to tier the competition into two groups of four incorporating the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists is receiving support among counties, although no recommendations have been finalised.

The top four teams in the previous year’s Leinster SHC comprise the first group where they all face one another. At the conclusion of those three rounds, the top two earn separate semi-final berths.

In the quarter-finals, the bottom two face off against the top two in the second four-team group that consists of the bottom two teams in the previous season’s Leinster SHC and the McDonagh Cup finalists. The beaten Leinster semi-finalists later meet to determine who qualifies for the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The counties filling the third and fourth positions in the second group proceed to the McDonagh Cup semi-finals against the top two finishers in a third group made up of McDonagh Cup teams. The last two in the third group contest a relegation play-off to avoid demotion to the Christy Ring Cup the following season.

Based on this past year’s championship, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny and Offaly would make up Group 1, Carlow, Kildare, Laois and Wexford would compete in Group 2, while Group 3 would incorporate Antrim, Christy Ring Cup champions Derry, Down and Westmeath.

Former GAA president Nickey Brennan has been charged by Leinster GAA with reviewing the format of the championship and is expected to issue his report by the middle of next month.

Early indications are positive for the new format, although it is understood current McDonagh Cup champions Laois wish to compete in the six-team Leinster SHC in 2027.

Options

Meanwhile, McDonagh Cup finalists Carlow will support the retention of the competition’s current timeline when the outline of GAA masters fixtures list for 2027 are discussed at Central Council next week.

The Central Competitions Control Committee have allowed for two McDonagh Cup options – retain the status quo with the addition of a semi-final and conclude the championship on Leinster SHC final day in early June or extend it to All-Ireland semi-final weekend a month later.

Laois defeated Carlow in this year’s second-tier final and the disbandment of the preliminary quarter-finals in the Liam MacCarthy Cup meant there were only five inter-county games after provincial final weekend.

Shifting the McDonagh Cup schedule by four weeks to run alongside the All-Ireland SHC would give it more exposure. However, Carlow fear they would have to alter the championship formats to budget for reaching a McDonagh Cup final taking place as a curtain-raiser to an All-Ireland semi-final in early July.

If the current schedule is retained, it would mean the second and third-placed teams will play five games in as many weekends. The new semi-final, as proposed by Laois and supported by Congress in February, would be arranged for the end of May between the final round games and the final.

The break weekend between Round 2 and 3 and that between Round 5 and the decider are the only gaps in the McDonagh Cup schedule.