What if hurling mirrored the football format with a couple tweaks. Back to knockout provincials and then 16 teams in AISHC. There would also be 8 in the ring cup, 8 in the Rackard cup, 4 in the meagher cup and the 4 round 2B losers making up the mcdonagh cup…
This would give more counties a chance to compete against the best. If this happened this year Carlow and Westmeath would happen to be in the Christy Ring Cup despite usually every year being within the top 16 (allocation explained below).
This year could look like…
Provincials
Connacht SHC
Quarter-finals 1: Sligo v Lancashire 2: Roscommon v New York 3: Leitrim v London 4: Mayo v Warwickshire
Semi-finals 5: Winner 1 v Winner 2 6: Winner 3 v Winner 4
Final 7: Winner 5 v Winner 6
Leinster SHC
Preliminary round 1 1: Meath v Louth 2: Longford v Wicklow
Preliminary round 2 3: Carlow v Winner 1 4: Westmeath v Laois 5: Kildare v Winner 2
Quarter-finals 6: Galway v Dublin 7: Offaly v Winner 3 8: Wexford v Winner 4 9: Kilkenny v Winner 5
Semi-finals 10: Winner 6 v Winner 7 11: Winner 8 v Winner 9
Final 12: Winner 10 v Winner 11
Munster SHC
Quarter-finals 1: Kerry v Clare 2: Tipperary v Waterford
Semi-finals 3: Limerick v Winner 1 4: Cork v Winner 2
Final 5: Winner 3 v Winner 4
Ulster SHC
Preliminary round 1: Armagh v Cavan 2: Monaghan v Fermanagh
Quarter-finals 3: Donegal v Winner 1 4: Derry v Winner 2 5: Tyrone v Down
Semi-finals 6: Antrim v Winner 1 7: Winner 2 v Winner 3
Final 8: Winner 6 v Winner 7
All-Ireland SHC
Teams Seeded * Leinster champions (Galway) * Munster champions (Cork) * Ulster champions (Down) * Leinster runners-up (Kilkenny) * Munster runners-up (Limerick) * Leinster semi-finalists (Offaly) * Leinster semi-finalists (Wexford) * Munster semi-finalists (Clare)
Unseeded * Munster semi-finalists (Tipperary) * Joe McDonagh Cup winners (Kildare) * Christy Ring Cup winners (London) * National Hurling League (Waterford) * National Hurling League (Dublin) * National Hurling League (Antrim) * National Hurling League (Laois) * National Hurling League (Kerry)
Round 1 1: Offaly v Kerry 2: Down v Dublin 3: Clare v Antrim 4: Wexford v Waterford 5: Kilkenny v Laois 6: Limerick v Tipperary 7: Galway v London 8: Cork v Kildare
Round 2 2A: TBD v TBD 2A: TBD v TBD 2A: TBD v TBD 2A: TBD v TBD 2B: TBD v TBD 2B: TBD v TBD 2B: TBD v TBD 2B: TBD v TBD
Round 3 TBD v TBD TBD v TBD TBD v TBD TBD v TBD
Quarter-finals TBD v TBD TBD v TBD TBD v TBD TBD v TBD
Group stage Cavan 0 Lancashire 0 Monaghan 0 Warwickshire 0
Final TBD v TBD
Notes - Galway remain in Leinster for competitive balance
- Have to win ulster to qualify to All Ireland - Have to get to Leinster semis to qualify for AI - Just have to win a Munster match to qualify - No direct qualification from Connacht championship
- Previous years cup winners play grade higher
- Mcdonagh cup can be played on AI final day - Ring and Rackard can be played on AI sf days - Meagher cup can be played on AI QF day