Familiar look to draw format

The draw for next year's All-Ireland hurling and football championship, which takes place on Monday (RTÉ 1, 6.30 p.m.), will follow a similar format to last year, though some elements of the Leinster and Munster hurling championship have still to be finalised.

In Leinster, three counties will automatically go into the draw for the hurling semi-finals - Kilkenny, Offaly and Wexford. The fourth team will be drawn as the preliminary round group winners, the draw and exact format for which will be decided by the Leinster Council at a later date.

Seven counties will enter the Leinster preliminary round - Dublin, Laois, Carlow, Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and Westmeath. It is expected they will be divided into two groups like last year, with Dublin and Laois seeded, with the games to be played on a knock-out basis.

There were calls from several of those counties for a return to a round-robin series, but with the new league format pressing later into the season it is unlikely there will be sufficient time. Only the preliminary round finalists - in last year's case Dublin and Meath - can go on for a place in the All-Ireland qualifier series. The only consolation for the losing teams before then is a place in the All-Ireland B championship.

In Munster, Kerry have made a request to return to the hurling championship. As of yesterday, however, the Munster Council was still examining the implications of that application, and whether the new hurling qualifier series, which cannot be changed for another year, will prevent the extra county being added to the provincial championship.

As the All-Ireland hurling qualifier series stands, round one consists of three teams each from Leinster and Munster beaten before the provincial final, along with the beaten Ulster finalists, and Galway. Should another first round game involving Kerry be added to the Munster championship then some sort of adjustment would be necessary.

On the football front, the Leinster championship will, like last year, see Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Offaly all seeded at the quarter-final stage, so that they cannot meet before the semi-finals. The qualifier series, introduced two year's ago, will run as it stands for another season.

Meanwhile, the GAA's Special Congress opens in Dublin tonight to discuss the report of Strategic Review Committee, but without touching on the main controversies. There will be no vote to amend Rule 42 to open Croke Park to other sports, nor will any decision be made related to the future of the GAA in Dublin - and specifically the SRC recommendation that the county be split in two for football purposes.

Instead the two-day congress will deal mostly with minor organisational and rule changes. One of the motions to reduce football to 13-a-side for the National League in 2003 and 2004 has already received some negative reaction from inter-county managers and unlikely to gain the necessary support.