Jarlath Burns calls for change to hurling Championship structure ahead of final
It's a stage of the Championship where the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists are paired off against the third-placed teams in the Munster and Leinster Championship on a rotating basis, with opinions divided on the value of it.
When the round robin provincial structure was adopted at Special Congress in 2017 for the 2018 season, the preliminary quarter-finals were introduced as a result of an amendment to the motion which saw the newly-created McDonagh Cup come into play, with second tier counties feeling that they should retain a link to the All-Ireland series.
But with the McDonagh Cup winners and runners-up invariably required to play the weekend after the final of that competition, there have been a large number of lopsided games at that stage of the Championship. This year, McDonagh Cup winners Kildare lost to Dublin by 21 points, while Tipperary beat Laois by 23.
The great outlier is Laois's win over Dublin in 2019, which directly impacted the decision to increase the Leinster Championship from five teams to six, while there are some other instances of Carlow and Westmeath being competitive at that stage of the Championship against Leinster opposition.
But, writing in the match programme ahead of today's All-Ireland final, Burns suggested that the preliminary quarter-finals place an 'unfair burden' on the McDonagh finalists and advocates the second tier competition being drawn out more.
'As we look forward, we must also be reflective,' the Armagh man wrote. 'There is a necessary and timely conversation to be had about the structure of our senior hurling championship, specifically regarding the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists entering the All-Ireland series through a preliminary quarter-final.
'While the current system offers a pathway, it may also place an unfair burden on teams whose seasons have already been long and challenging.
'If we were to remove the preliminary quarter-final, we would open the door for a longer and more meaningful Joe McDonagh Cup competition – a competition that deserves to stand proudly on its own, with adequate time, coverage, and respect.
'These are discussions that must be held with fairness, vision, and the future in mind.'
A motion to scrap the preliminary quarter-finals came before Special Congress in September 2023 but only garnered 49% support, well short of the 60% required to bring about change, with players from the counties concerned largely in favour of retaining them with the Gaelic Players' Association backing their stance.
However, with another Special Congress pencilled in for this coming October, largely to deal with the new football rules, it may well be on the agenda again.
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