New Leinster hurling format would only guarantee counties one home game

In a four-team group, counties would be expected to play one game at home, another away as well as a neutral venue

ADVANTAGE: Kilkenny's Mikey Carey tackles Conor Whelan of Galway in the Leinster hurling clash at Pearse Stadium earlier this year. Picture: INPHO/Leah Scholes

The guarantee of just one home game in the proposed Leinster SHC reformat is a stumbling block for some established hurling counties.

In the current structure, teams have three home fixtures in the competition every second year and two in the intermittent seasons.

This year, Galway, Kildare and Offaly played three games at home and in 2027 Dublin, Kilkenny and Wexford are due to have the same number in Parnell Park, UPMC Nowlan Park and Chadwicks Wexford Park respectively.

In the new four-team group format that will be voted on at Congress in Wexford in February, counties would be expected to play one game at home, another away as well as a fixture at a neutral venue.

Chris Crummey of Dublin and Conor Hearne of Wexford in action. Picture: INPHO/James Lawlor

The venues for the semi-finals and quarter-finals were not outlined. In them, the top two finishers in Group A meet the provincial quarter-final winners (second and third in Group A v first and second in Group B).

However, it is believed the semi-finals would also take place at neutral venues and not the home grounds of the first and second-placed team in Group A, which has caused some disgruntlement.

Otherwise, there is healthy support for the restructuring of the Leinster and McDonagh Cup competitions as put forward by former GAA president Nickey Brennan and his workgroup.

If passed by Congress delegates, the top four finishers in the 2027 Leinster SHC will compete in the new Group A the following season, while the sixth as well as the fifth will drop into Group B in ’28 alongside next year’s Joe McDonagh Cup finalists.

Short-lived

It will also mean the new McDonagh Cup semi-final between the second and third-placed team in the group stage of the second tier will also be short-lived. Passed at Congress earlier this year, it was deferred for a season.

In the new design, the McDonagh Cup semi-final will be competed the bottom two teams in Group B and top two in the McDonagh Cup group (Group C).

New York will meet the last team in Group B in a quarter-final should they win the Christy Ring Cup. New York can’t be relegated from the Ring Cup for the next three seasons.

The workgroup have also proposed “a further review of the structures and supports in place within developing hurling counties”. Their report reads: “It is envisaged that this work could be progressed through the Hurling Development Committee and would complement the proposed changes to the championship structure.”