The Offaly SFC will be reduced to eight teams in 2015 after radical proposes were accepted by club delegates at last week's county board meeting.

Plans to introduce a new senior 'B' championship, consisting of eight teams, as well as an eight-team IFC in two years' time, were also approved by 33 votes to 16. The alternative structures were put forward by a special committee comprising Joe Higgins (Tubber), Mary Dunne (Ballyfore), Fergal McKeown (Tullamore), Aidan Doyle (Ferbane) and Martin Boland (Raheen).

The committee believes such changes will lead to more competitive championships, and most clubs in Offaly seem to agree if last week's vote is anything to go by.

As things stand, there are 12 teams in the Offaly SFC, but this will be whittled down to eight after four teams (the bottom two in each group) are relegated next year. They will be joined by the four IFC semi-finalists in the new senior 'B' championship.

One team will be relegated to junior from intermediate in 2014, with the remaining seven teams staying in intermediate where they will be joined by the junior champions. The remaining clubs will compete in the junior 'A' and 'B' championships. Tweet

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