THE GAA’S CONTROVERSIAL hurling proposal, which would have seen five counties removed from the national leagues, was withdrawn at Saturday’s Ard Chomhairle meeting.

The motion, which has provoked widespread opposition since it was put forward by the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), was not put to delegates for a vote.

The CCCC proposed that from 2025, counties with fewer than five adult hurling clubs would not be allowed to compete in the national leagues, and would only be eligible to compete in the fifth-tier Lory Meagher Cup.

The move would have seen Longford, Louth, Leitrim, Cavan and Fermanagh excluded from the league and restricted to a shorter season, with the funds saved redirected towards hurling development initiatives in the counties instead.

The proposal had met with significant resistance in advance of Saturday’s vote, with the Longford, Louth, Cavan and Fermanagh county boards all publicly stating their opposition. Ulster GAA also lent their support to Cavan and Fermanagh’s call for the motion to be defeated.

In Leitrim, manager Olcan Conway warned that hurling in the county “will never come back” if the proposal was implemented, and called on those involved to instead find “real, practical solutions” that “don’t involve killing hurling in Leitrim for the sake of saving money”.

The plan was also opposed by the captains of the Liam MacCarthy counties, who publicly called on the CCCC to withdraw the proposal before it was put to a vote.

“It is clearly divisive and while that may not have been the intention, it does nothing for the development of hurling,” they said in a statement.

“If the CCCC does not see fit to withdraw the proposal, we call on all county boards to ensure their Central Council delegates vote it down and help us instead to grow the game we all love.”

– Additional reporting by Declan Bogue