Hurling League to be revamped

The format of next year's National Hurling League is to be revamped, with fewer games and a swifter conclusion the most likely alterations. The GAA's Management Committee has been authorised to implement the changes and will finalise the new format at its next meeting on November 11th.

Flaws in the existing format had prompted several calls for the revamp. An obvious imbalance had developed between the 12 teams that make up Division One, which created a series of mismatches. And teams could soon find themselves with little or nothing to play for, especially those resigned to the lower division of the second phase.

The changes, however, won't be as sweeping as some people had hoped. Rather than reducing Division One to eight or 10 teams, the 12-team format will remain for 2006. But the second or "play-off" phase is set to go. For the last three years the top three teams from both Division One A and One B entered a play-off to decide the two finalists. The bottom three entered a separate play-off to decide which team was relegated - which meant playing eight league games in total before anything was won.

Tony O'Keeffe, the chairman of the Central Games Administration Committee (CGAC), yesterday explained the background to the proposed changes: "The matter was brought to the last meeting of Central Council, and it was agreed that Management Committee would have the authority to make a decision on the changes. And that's what they're deciding on at the moment.

"The main change that has been spoken about involves getting rid of the second series of games. That's mainly because of all the extra games now taking place in the championship. So that's the essential change, but which was also mentioned last year. We decided then that we'd wait and see how the whole year went."

It was felt that teams would need to be given advance warning if the top division was reduced, which may yet happen for the 2007 league. In the meantime, though, the two top divisions of six teams each will remain. "That group format will remain as it does," added O'Keeffe. "It's just about doing away with the second series, and probably going straight into a semi-final and final.

"It's hard to know how far the changes will go, and it does depend on what sort of a run counties believe suits them best. And the counties are letting their views be known to the Management Committee at the moment."

A final decision on the changes will be made at the Management Committee meeting of November 11th, the same day as the remaining three provinces - Leinster, Connacht and Munster - make their 2006 championship draws, and the eve of the National Club Forum in Killarney.

The format of the National Football League also came up for discussion at the recent Central Council meeting, again after certain calls for change. But according to O'Keeffe there was a general consensus to leave it alone. "The football format will be the same," he confirmed.

Reverting to a pre-Christmas start was also ruled out in the short term: "That's definitely not going to happen anytime soon. But what some people are suggesting is that the teams are divided into three groups of six in the top divisions, instead of Division One A and Two B. There are a number of things that could be looked at, but that won't be happening next year anyway. Central Council decided to leave it for another year."

The Galway senior hurling final between Portumna and Loughrea, due to take place next Sunday, has been postponed until November 13th.

This follows a request from Loughrea who otherwise would be playing for a third consecutive weekend after defeating Clarinbridge in a quarter-final replay before knocking out champions Athenry last Sunday.

Loughrea have a number of injury problems including midfielder Brian O'Mahony and the county board agreed to a fortnight break as Pearse Stadium in unavailable on Sunday week.

Babs Keating has included only four regulars in his first selection following his appointment as Tipperary manager - Philip Maher, Paul Kelly, John Devane and Hugh Moloney. They will backbone the team to play Dublin in O'Toole Park on Sunday to mark the 85th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

TIPPERARY (SH v Dublin): D Young; C O'Mahoney, P Maher, M Ryan (Moneygall); D McGrath, J Devane, H Moloney; J Woodlock, S McGrath; P Kelly, N Curran, E Hanley; S Butler, D Egan, D Shelley.