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All-Ireland League-Championship (AILC) could work:
Two Options (with a few minor tweaks):
OPTION ONE
- Two league tiers of 16
- Prov KO ties 'double as league ties' (all 4 Prov rds, intra-tier only); any tier-crossover ties (Tier 1v2) are Prov KO only
- Play Prov Prelim & QF Rds early (1st half of Feb); and defer SFs (end of Apr) & Finals (2nd & 3rd weeks of May)
- After Prov QFs, draw '4 groups of 4' in each tier
(from 4 seeding pots of 4)
- 12-match Regular Season (URC schedule, less 'intra-group' ties - i.e. play other 'crossover' 12), with all 'intra-tier' Prov KO ties included in the 12
- Limit each group to 'no more than one' Prov SF team from each province (this way, all 'possible' Prov Finals & Prelim, QF & SF ties can 'cross over')
- Teams ranked 1-16 & 17-32, based on 12-match/ 16-team tables, advance to 'three-tier' AIC for Sam, Shield & Plate
- Teams placed 1 & 17 win "League 1" & "League 2"
- Top 8 to AI Sam AFL-style playoffs; 9-20 to AI Shield KO; 21-28 to AI Plate KO (or Tailteann Cup); and 29-32 do not advance
- Prov Champs advance based on League placing (no Sam berth guarantee)
- 'Shield QF 8' earn/retain Tier 1 status the next year,
with '2, 3 or 4 teams' promoted & relegated
(after PQFs: 11,12,13,14 host 20,19,16,15; and
QFs: 9,10,17,18 host PQF 'reverse seed' winners).
Or, alternatively:
OPTION TWO
10-match Regular Season - same as "Option One", with the following changes:
- After Prov QFs, draw groups of 6, 5 & 5 in each tier
- 10-match schedule (6 v both 5s; each 5 v own round-robin group), with all intra-tier Prov ties 'likely' included in the 10
- To optimise this 'likelihood' in the draw, restrict each 'same-province Prov SF set', as follows:
a) put all of the set in 'one Group of 5' (not both); or
b) split it between 'one Group of 5 & the Group of 6'
[i.e. try to avoid Prov Finals between two 'Group of 6' teams, as they are KO only and do not double up].
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CALENDAR
Week Activity
-2 (mid Jan) Start of '2-3 game' Pre-Season
0 (end of Jan) End of Pre-Season Warm-Up
1 (start of Feb) Prov SFC Prelim Rd
2 Prov SFC QFs
2 (after QFs) AILC Draw (2 tiers of 4x4 or 6,5,5)
2 (after Draw) Prelim/QF 'intra-tier' ties to tables
3 Bye Week
4 (end of Feb) First Full Regular Season Rd
13 (end of Apr) Rd includes all 8 Prov SFs
15 & 16 Rds include 4 Prov Finals
20 Last Regular Season Rd
21 (end of June) Bye Week
22 AI Sam PSFs/PQFs, Shield PQFs & Plate QFs
23 AI Sam QFs & AI Shield QFs
24 AI Plate SFs
25 AI Sam SFs & AI Shield SFs
26 (end of July) AI Plate Final
27 (start of Aug) AI Sam Final & AI Shield Final
Note - As each team plays 12 (or 10) 'staggered' regular season games (plus maybe 1-2 inter-tier) in Weeks 1-20 and '0 to 4' AIC/post-season games in Weeks 22-27, 'off weeks' provide sufficient rest.
omahant (USA) - Posts: 3224 - 30/04/2025 13:21:11
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Replying To legendzxix: "I think the higher Division 3 counties should be pushing to 4 groups of 5. Offaly, Kildare, Westmeath and Fermanagh wouldn't be out of place in 4 groups of 5. The league would have to be completed within 6 rounds.
The other alternative is a 10:10:12 split. 4 provincial runners up and 11 league qualifiers should playoff for 5 places to join the 4 provincial winners and Tailteann winner in 2 groups of 5. Provincial runners up could have a bye from Q1 but Q2 should be seeded on league.
The 10 counties losing in the playoffs could contest the Tailteann in 2 groups of 5. Tier 3 then possibly in 2 groups of 6.
I don't think 20:12 or 10:10:12 is disrespecting Division 4 counties but what's your opinion on it?" I don't think 20:12 adds much to the main championship.
Splitting the field into 4 keeps the top teams away from one another too much.
The 10:10:12 wouldn't be disrespectful to lower tier counties. I do still think that a 2nd tier is probably all that's needed and all but the weakest of teams would have a good shot at getting themselves to a competitive level in this competition.
You look at say Louth, they are in the Same Maguire now for 3 straight years, progressing all the way to the quarterfinals. It's hard to say that's beyond many counties outside maybe London and Waterford.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4515 - 30/04/2025 16:09:07
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Replying To Whammo86: "I don't think 20:12 adds much to the main championship.
Splitting the field into 4 keeps the top teams away from one another too much.
The 10:10:12 wouldn't be disrespectful to lower tier counties. I do still think that a 2nd tier is probably all that's needed and all but the weakest of teams would have a good shot at getting themselves to a competitive level in this competition.
You look at say Louth, they are in the Same Maguire now for 3 straight years, progressing all the way to the quarterfinals. It's hard to say that's beyond many counties outside maybe London and Waterford." In the current set-up, it is fair that provincial winners are in different groups. The group draw should be after the finals with runners up at least seeded on league e.g. Clare possibly Seed 4 depending on Sunday v Kerry of course.
The current format that's on the way out could have offered provincial finalists two home games as an added incentive to qualify for finals. The current format that's on the way out would suit Round 1 winners playing in Round 3. The worst case scenario would have been 1 v 2 to win the group and 3 v 4 for the preliminary quarter-finals. Dead runners completely avoided but Round 1 and 2 of low consequence.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8755 - 30/04/2025 16:35:37
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