Leinster hurling format announced

GAELIC GAMES:THE DRAW for the 2011 championship takes place in Croke Park on Thursday with only one slight modification to the existing schedule. The Leinster hurling championship is expanded by one county to include Westmeath, the winners of this year's Christy Ring Cup, who are therefore entitled to contest the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

It means the Leinster hurling championship now comprises of nine counties, and the Liam MacCarthy Cup compromises of 14 counties. GAA Congress decided last year there would be no relegation from the Liam MacCarthy Cup for three years, but that the winners of the Christy Ring Cup could be promoted, if the county itself desired it.

Last year saw Carlow promoted to the Leinster championship as Christy Ring Cup winners, and Westmeath earned the right to join the top-tier counties this year after beating Kerry in the Christy Ring Cup final – 2-16 to 1-18.

The format for the 2011 Leinster hurling championship was announced yesterday: four counties (Laois, Carlow, Antrim and Westmeath) go into an open draw and will contest a preliminary round; the two winners join four more counties in three quarter-finals (Galway, Dublin, Offaly and Wexford), also made on an open draw; and finally the three winners from there join Kilkenny in the semi-finals, those pairings also made on an open draw. Kilkenny, as Leinster champions, get a bye into the semi-final.

The addition of Westmeath to the Liam MacCarthy Cup will also necessitate an additional game in the All-Ireland hurling qualifiers, with the preliminary round now comprising of the five Leinster teams that fail to make their provincial semi-final, and the loser of the Munster preliminary game/quarter-final.

The Munster hurling championship follows the usual format with Cork, Tipperary, Waterford, Clare and Limerick in an open draw, with the first two teams drawn playing in the preliminary round/quarter-final – and the next three going into the semi-finals.

In football, the 2011 Leinster football championship has the four 2010 semi-finalists seeded (Meath, Dublin, Westmeath and Louth) who thus get byes into the quarter-finals.

The draw for all four provinces in football and hurling gets under way at 8pm on Thursday and will be broadcast live on RTÉ2.

Meanwhile, all four provinces have confirmed their schedule of games for the AIB club championship, which starts this Sunday with the two Ulster hurling semi-finals, as Armagh champions Keady take on Derry champions Lavey in Dungannon, and Antrim champions Loughgeil face Ballygalget of Down at Casement Park.

Two of the pairings are already known in the Leinster club football championship, new Wicklow champions Rathnew will take on Meath champions Skryne. Westmeath champions Garrycastle take on Longford Slashers. Both games take place on October 24th.

The Munster club football championship has a potential Kerry-Cork clash in the semi-final. The Kerry champions are drawn against the Limerick champions on November 7th, with the winners progressing to meet the Cork champions. The Kerry county football final is on Sunday week and has two all-club sides in Dr Crokes and Austin Stacks – which means the winners will represent Kerry in the Munster championship (divisional teams are not allowed to do so). The winning team will also nominate the Kerry football captaincy for 2011; if Dr Crokes win the honour is likely to go to Colm Cooper, and if Austin Stacks win it is likely to be Kieran Donaghy.