Fixtures clash could lead to switch of All-Ireland Under-20s Semi-Finals to midweek

The GAA’s Central Competitions Controls Committee will raise concerns over new rule. Photo: Sportsfile

Colm Keys

The GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) will raise concerns over the latest rule introduced to govern the overlap between U-20 and senior inter-county players, specifically around the possible fixing of All-Ireland U-20 football semi-finals on a midweek date.

In recent years provincial U-20 finals have been played on midweek dates but the All-Ireland semi-finals and final have been fixed for weekends.

Now with the new provision, passed in rule last February on foot of a Cork motion, eligible players can play both senior and U-20 championship games, provided there is a 60-hour gap between those games.

Essentially that means U-20 games being played on a Wednesday night in most cases to allow for senior games to take place at the weekend, thereby facilitating players eligible for both.

The governance around this overlap has changed in recent years, from preventing players from playing both until their team’s U-20 championship was over to a seven-day window that was operated last year.

Cork were successful in stripping that back to 60 hours in Newry last February, garnering over 70pc of the vote.

It’s understood that CCCC are not seeking to overturn the Cork motion but wish to highlight the prospect of midweek All-Ireland semi-finals in football especially, that could see Kerry or Cork meet Derry, Tyrone or Donegal in the years ahead.

Because the format for the All-Ireland football championship is under review with a proposal to go before this weekend’s meeting, CCCC can’t guarantee weekend slots for any All-Ireland U-20 semi-finals (there is also a B competition) to align with the 60-hour rule.

Leinster hurling will be more impacted than Munster with the new 60-hour provision because of the presence of counties from outside the province, Galway in tier one and Derry and Kerry in tier two. They have cited the logistical challenge of Wexford and Galway, for example, playing midweek as part of a home and away arrangement.

Leinster GAA chair Derek Kent said the Congress decision on the Cork motion must be respected and he saw “logic” in it. But he said it still created a “scheduling issue and tied the hands of the provincial CCC.”

“We will work with the counties to manage it as well as we can,” said Kent.

Meanwhile a proposed format to replace the current round-robin group stage will be put before Central Council for support, ahead of a possible motion to Special Congress at the end of November.

CCCC have put together a format where 16 teams, the eight provincial finalists and the next seven highest placed league teams in addition to the Tailteann Cup winners, would contest round one of qualifiers with eight winners and eight losers then entering different groups.

If it was successful it would reduce the number of games, prior to All-Ireland quarter-finals, from 28 to 20 and free up one weekend.

Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee (FRC) will also report on their progress to Saturday’s meeting with an outline of what rule changes they intend to proceed with. Before that the FRC will meet with inter-county managers to brief them later this week.