INTER-COUNTY MINOR competitions will remain at U17, after a motion to return them to U18 competitions was defeated at GAA Congress earlier today. 

Kerry and Longford proposed a motion that minor competitions would revert to the U18 limit, but it was defeated with 67.6% of the delegates voting against. 

Speaking in favour of the motion, Longford’s Derek Fahy said the motion was introduced to reduce the drop out of players. Among those to speak out against the motion was CEO of the Gaelic Players Association, Tom Parsons. 

“The GPA strongly opposes this motion”, said Parsons.  “The sports science, welfare committees, and the GPA are spending hundreds of hours looking at this. We should be moving forward to tackle multiple eligibility. We strongly object to this motion.”

Elsewhere, the Kerry hurlers will be admitted automatic entry to the Munster senior hurling championship should they earn promotion by winning the Joe McDonagh Cup. 98.2% of delegates voted in favour of giving Kerry the same automatic promotion status as other McDonagh Cup winners, thus abolishing the play-off that is currently in place. 

From now on, all Munster counties in the Liam McCarthy competition will hurl in the Munster Championship, with all other counties competing in the Leinster Championship. This will mean the competition will consist of two provincial championships, one of six teams and the other of five. The side that finishes bottom of the six-team championship will be relegated automatically to the Joe McDonagh Cup, raising the theoretical possibility of one of Munster’s established quintet – Tipperary, Limerick, Clare, Cork, and Waterford – dropping into the second tier of the championship. 

Meanwhile, Congress also approved that inter-county players now can play at U20 and senior level, but can only play for one of those teams in any seven-day period.