Being sick to death of all these meaningless provincial ties over the last few weeks and waiting for the championship to kick off but realizing that there are now already half the teams knocked out without even a whimper. A bit bored here so i came up with a possible group knockout system that would benefit the weaker counties along with creating a far more exciting and marketable product for the GAA, would mean scrapping the the league and provincial championships. Of course there are plenty flaws in it with a few one sided ties but over time it may work and give every team at least 7 games. Just put this together in the space of half an hour and not 100 per cent accurate in the seedings for the group stages but a general outline of my thoughts on standards of certain counties currently.

Top Seeds:
Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, Donegal, Cork, Monaghan, Roscommon
2nd Seeds:
Galway Meath, Cavan, Westmeath, Kildare, Down, Derry, Fermanagh
3rd Seeds:
Tipperary, Sligo, Longford, Laois. Armagh, Wexford, Louth, Clare
4th Seeds:
Offaly, Antrim, Limerick, Waterford, Leitrim, Carlow, Wicklow, NY/London

Each seeded section put into 4 different pots and are simply drawn out

Example Of Groups:

Group A
Dublin
Cavan
Armagh
Offaly

Group B
Kerry
Galway
Longford
Antrim

Group C
Mayo
Meath
Tipperary
Wicklow

Group D
Tyrone
Kildare
Sligo
Limerick

Group E
Donegal
Westmeath
Laois
Waterford

Group F
Cork
Derry
Wexford
Leitrim

Group G
Monaghan
Fermanagh
Clare
Carlow

Group H
Roscommon
Down
Louth
London/NY

Top 2 teams in each group qualify for the 2nd round (last 16) in the sam maguire competition
Third and fourth placed teams enter the secondary competition
Top teams get home advantage for the second rd


Fixture List for group stage (Home and Away Format) played on time slots over three days on a given weekend.
Group stage

Fixture 1
April 29th- May 1st

Fixture 2
May 6th-8th

Fixture 3
May 20th-22th

Fixture 4
May 27th-29th

Fixture 5
June 10th-12th

Fixture 6
June 17th-19th

2nd round fixtures (one off match and home advantage highlighting the importance of finishing top of the group!!
July 8th-10th and 15th-17th

Q- Final (Played Home and away)
July 29th- 31th and August 5th-7th

Semi- Final (Played Home and Away)
August 19th- 21th and Sep 2nd- 4th

Final
Third Sunday of September

Seeding for the following year is based on reaching the last 16 of the sam maguire competition. These counties are number 1 and 2 seeds for next years groups stages with the quarter final 8 being tops seeds.


All inter county games will be played in 4 months from may to september giving 8 months free for all other fixtures (club, college etc).

Whilst these groups may not seem fair to some of the weaker counties its still no worse than the current setup where they train for half the year only to get two games max and get knocked out and demoralized. I know not probably feasable to work but does anyone see space for this format to work??

DancingSeany (UK) - Posts: 32 - 12/07/2016 01:52:42    1881495

I think that the semis and finals would have to be a straight game. Quarter finals home and away is a good idea. Extra time if the 2nd game were tied.

Alas I dont think it is going to be adopted. There are too many fans of the provincial structures, as there would be sponsors and gaa beaurocrats who want them to continue. There is revenue at the provincials that has to be accounted for too, something that the powers that be are not too keen on dropping.

As it stands, I would say that the only amendment to the current structure would be a case where there is a provincial replay and the losers are out the following week. That simply does not work.

Currently, there are 2 ulster teams with any hope of winning the all ireland. The winner of ulster will be in a very strong position to push on. The loser will not be. So it is kill or be killed. There are swings and round abouts to the current system. I think that we should all acknowledge this.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 12/07/2016 09:14:12    1881544

I think 8 groups of 4 is the best way to go, it's very straight forward although I would be against 6 group games. You have too many dead rubbers with 6 group games, 3 is more than enough and you could still guarantee 1 home game per team. Top 2 qualify for All-Ireland last 16, 3rd place teams qualify for 2nd tier quarter finals (if there's interest) and 4th placed teams are eliminated (I wouldn't reward teams for finishing last).

Just on the seedings I think you could use the League standings straight up but I'd prefer to see the provincials retained (and run off in April before the main All-Ireland) and used for seedings as well to help retain their importance.

So basically what you could do is guarantee provincial winners a place in pot 1 regardless of their league position and guarantee provincial final losers a place in pot 2. Now obviously if a provincial final loser finishes high in Division 1 they'd remain in pot 1, they wouldn't be forced to drop down to pot 2. Then use league positions to seed the rest of the groups.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 12/07/2016 09:50:27    1881556

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 12/07/2016 11:40:27    1881650

Provincial championships are ran off as usual (In a shorter time frame) up to Semi Final stages in the four provinces.

After that

The 8 division 1 teams are drawn in two groups of four
The 8 division 2 teams are drawn in two groups of four
The 8 division 3 teams are drawn in two groups of four
The 8 division 4 teams are drawn in two groups of four


The team that finishes top is seeded in the next round & home advantage
The team that finishes second qualifies with a chance of seeding
The team that finishes third qualifies for the next round
The team that finishes bottom is eliminated



24 teams qualify for the next round

Draw consists of the 8 seeded teams who have guaranteed home advantage
The next four teams draw out from pot 2 (second seeds) join the top seeds with home advantage
The rest of the teams are drawn against those teams

The 12 winners progress to the Last 16 where they are joined by the four provincial winners

If a provincial winner also qualifies through the championship that team will receive a bye to the quarter final

lasertech (UK) - Posts: 129 - 12/07/2016 12:54:30    1881740

"Currently there are no teams in Ulster capable of winning the All Ireland."

Tyrone are a good outside bet at least!

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 12/07/2016 12:57:56    1881747

This topic has been done to death.

I don't want to be dismissive but any new plan has to deal with a few realities:

1 Provincial championships are here to stay and for some very good reasons.

2 The GAA are wary of formats with group stages as there will in all likelihood be too many dead rubbers.

3 There will not be any interest in a B championship.

As an aside I don't see how group stages would be anymore exciting than the provincial championships. Other than Leinster they have actually been reasonably interesting this year.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4225 - 12/07/2016 13:10:06    1881758

http://www.hoganstand.com/Forum/MessagePage.aspx?TopicID=97285&Latest=1#Latest This was my format a few weeks back.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 12/07/2016 13:27:17    1881776

Provincial championships are going nowhere and that is the reality. Group stages are not all that exciting as well. Has the qualifier group reinvigorated hurling? The hurling championship All-Ireland qualifiers even had group stages for a few year around 2005. They went back to knockout format after a few years. To be fair, the GAA has tested the water. A number of club championships have gone from group stage to the double elimination format used in the Christy Ring Cup. The All-Ireland championship already has the double elimination format. In my own humble opinion entering the 8 provincial finalists and 8 Qualifier Round 2 winners into a Round of 16 would be a good step forward but I have discussed that enough! ;-)

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7844 - 12/07/2016 20:17:52    1882092

FAO the OP of this thread.

Absolutely brilliant idea.

We could call it something like... Oh I don't know ..... Emmm.... The "Champions League"..

We could also bring in an offside rule..

And no points, Only goals...

And stop players from using their hands

Ahhh this is so exciting... :D

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 12/07/2016 20:42:14    1882106

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 12/07/2016 21:15:44    1882124

Great rid of the back door

Every game is a knock out in the Prov Champs - every game is crucial again and would bring back that excitment

Teams that get beaten go into a secondary comp - knock out football

Straight draw - Games to be played at home ground of first drawn

The final of that comp is played on All Ireland Final day as curtain raiser

No more back door's...

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 12/07/2016 21:18:13    1882125

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4225 - 12/07/2016 22:05:36    1882184