DECEMBER ALL-IRELAND finals are on the cards after the GAA confirmed today they will finish the 2020 championships in the calendar year.
The football final will take place on Saturday 19 December with the hurling final on Sunday 13 December and the Joe McDonagh Cup final will act as the curtain-raiser there.
The Leinster football final will be held on the 100th year anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
The full plans for their fixtures in the revamped championship were unveiled in Croke Park this morning to cover football and hurling.
The inter-county season is set to resume on the weekend of 17-18 October with games to be held on Saturdays and Sundays, some of them with ‘unfamiliar’ throw-in times.
Here are the changes that are in store:
Football
- Championship to revert to provincial knockout.
- New York will not be involved and London will be involved pending travel restrictions.
- No qualifiers in 2020 and Tailteann Cup is postponed until 2021.
- The All-Ireland football semi-final draw will see Munster v Connacht and Leinster v Ulster.
- Rounds 6 and 7 of the Allianz football leagues will be completed, the top team in each division is the league winner for that division. No league finals will be played.
Hurling
- Liam McCarthy Cup to revert to straight knockout in the provinces. Two round back door with All-Ireland quarter-finals.
- New draw for Munster and Leinster senior championships – to be made this evening.
- No Division 1 hurling league knockout games to be played, Limerick declared Division 1A and Clare Division 1B champions for 2020.
- Joe McDonagh Cup to stay round-robin with the winner promoted to the Liam McCarthy Cup for 2021.
- No entry to 2020 championship for Joe McDonagh Cup finalists.
- Issue of what happens for 2021 Liam MacCarthy Cup championship should Kerry win Joe McDonagh Cup will be dealt with in final competition proposals.
- Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups to be straight knockout with Lory Meagher Cup to retain existing format.
- Participation of overseas teams in lower-tier hurling championships will be on the basis of all games being in Ireland.
The games in provincial championships will be on a weekly basis and will be finished on the day (extra-time, penalties) in all inter-county knockout games including All-Ireland finals.
There will be no club provincial or All-Ireland championships this year, and no inter-county junior championship either.
The U20 football semi-finals and final will be completed. The U20 hurling championship will be played concurrently with the senior hurling championship, no All-Ireland semi-finals as the provincial champions will meet in the All-Ireland final.
It is to be recommended that a player who plays (as a starter or sub) in the senior hurling championship becomes ineligible for the U20 grade until his senior team has exited the championship. For the U20B grade, a blitz type competition is being explored post the Ring/Rackard/Meagher completion.
The minor football and hurling grades will be knockout, the All-Ireland series will not be played alongside the senior competition.
No quarter-finals in either grade, the draw has bee made in advance for the one semi-final in hurling with Galway to face the Munster champions.
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Spot on.
I share the undercooked concern. Choose close to full team, rest anyone with a niggle or still jaded from last weeks heat. Warm ups are over, time to build momentum.
Murray; first of all, I have really enjoyed the podcasts so far from France, so thank you for that.
My amateur opinion is that they should go full strength and treat the SA game like a final. Even if it’s a narrow loss, they’ll know that they’re close to the standard required to win the competition. If they win, then the belief will become huge. You have to bear in mind that Ireland have had some less good performances last Autumn and in the 6N, but they’re kept winning and so surely they have that winning mindset. This is pretty rare and the winning run is worth fighting for.
One question for you would be about training. I’d be happy if they were having a few savage full contact sessions, as these may be tougher than a match against a tier 2 nation, but the squad size is restricted so this may not be possible. Would this be another argument for going full strength against Tonga? I’d really like to see the line out attack come back and to deny Tonga from scoring a try.
Maybe the answer to this in 4 years is to line up top opposition in friendlies leading into the world cup. I get they need to get the A team up to 100% preperation firing for the SA game but at the expense of picking up injuries again the minnows before then is a risky plan…
@Stuart: You are probably right… but I think the IRFU found it difficult to line up a game against other tier 1 nations. The England game was probably lined up from 4 years ago. Maybe they left it too late to arrange the others and it wouldn’t be extraordinary to think that they were disorganised or complacent.
@Stuart: apparently other top tier nations turned down playing against Ireland in the summer internationals. Not sure if they left it too late or if other teams felt it would show their hand too much.
In all likelihood yourself and the others on media duties are aware of the team (as normal) but cannot spell it out BUT you’re trying to slowly row your way back from the, way off, potential team you posted a few days ago…. Nice try. It’ll be about 12 from first 15 and Big Joe may be on his way to being first 15 with anyone carrying minor niggle sitting it out. Murray knew a few weeks ago Big Joe would get his shot
Are we not finding excuses to talk ourselves into the very same situation that killed us in previous world cups – ie no trust in the wider squad and thereby overloading the core group? What you are saying, Murray, is that should Ireland win the WC, they would play basically the same team for 6 matches in a row (with only minor alterations from the remaining 7th game). That’s a tough message to the squad and it does not fit the McCloskey inclusion.
@John Morris: nah, I dont think so. We played a weakened team vs Japan 4 yrs ago and look what happened. Plus we play our best team in 6 nations each game for most part with slight adjustments for Italy. Look at what southern hemisphere do – play their strongest team pretty much for rugby championship and some warm ups. And they win every world cup except 1. I think Murray’s article is very well put together and I would agree full strength is required. Its not equal game time for all, go games style. These are fully grown men playing professional sport so get on with it. They;; be called upon if injury strikes. Thats the idea of a squad of grown men
Gonna be an interesting call, they can probably win with a 2nd string side but agree we should put out close to our strongest . Only player I would definitely look to leave out from the 23 is Porter and keep him fresh for SA. We can bring in the likes of Baird , Henderson, Henshaw , McCloskey and Byrne (sub) and steam roll Tonga
@Owen ODonoghue: Spot on about Porter. He is the one player we cannot afford to lose to injury. Playing against SA without him would be scary.
@Owen ODonoghue: Getting hard to see Byrne in the mix, no doubt he’ll be thereabouts for this game tho.
We’re at risk of Eddie O’Sullivan 2007 territory here by playing the same team every weekend. Given the likely hard slog against Scotland and every weekend thereafter they need to rotate this weekend