Tiers hold no fears for clubs as hurling championship format

Tiered Senior and Intermediate Hurling Championships for 2024 are set to be rubber-stamped at the February meeting of Clare GAA, it was agreed at Tuesday’s Structures Meeting in the Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis.

With eight motions put forward for discussion, it was the four pertaining to the format of the county senior and intermediate hurling championships for 2024 that garnered the most debate.

Sixmilebridge and Feakle are seeking a return to the pre-covid championship structure of knock-out with a back door while Broadford (senior) and Newmarket-on-Fergus (intermediate) opted for a tiered approach.

In the end, Sixmilebridge’s proposal was defeated, with clubs looking more favourably on Broadford’s motion to divide the 16 participating teams into Senior A and B sections (two groups of four in each) with the top three teams from each group at Senior A advancing to the Canon Hamilton Cup quarter-finals alongside the group winners at Senior B.

Clubs’ Senior A or B status depended on where they finish in the upcoming 2023 senior championship, with the quarter-finalists to participate in Senior A.

The remaining eight teams will compete at Senior B. In addition, one team would be relegated and promoted between Senior A and B each year as well as Senior B and intermediate.

Initially Broadford’s motion was carried. However, upon scrutiny of an amendment by delegate Danny Chaplin on the Senior B format which meant that the Senior B table-toppers, along with advancing to the A quarter-finals, would also subsequently return to the B Championship at the semi-final stage, concerns over potential hold ups in the B competition put the motion on hold.

Clare GAA Chairman Kieran Keating, while acknowledging that the clubs were in favour of the principle of a tiered approach, felt that it needed to be ‘tweaked’ before the next meeting.

“There’s just too much confusion on exactly what we voted on so we’ll pass it over to Colm [Browne] and his Master Fixtures group to tease it out further and we’ll revisit it at the February meeting.”

Consequently, Newmarket-on-Fergus’ similar intermediate motion was also placed in the hands of the Master Fixtures Committee to remould for the next meeting which will be held on St Valentine’s Day.