A year or two ago, this club had an interesting idea - merge the NHL into the AI SHC - so the Muns 5 and a Lein 4 (no Offaly) all play each other once for an 8-match (4 home, 4 away) schedule per team.
The idea kept the KO Provs - those pairings counting for both the Prov KO as well as the 9-team round robin. It was envisaged that all matches would have a winner on the day - no draws - all ties broken with extra time. The 9th team would get replaced by the Tier 2 Champ in the following year.
With top 6 of 9 to AI KO - top 2 getting berths in the AI SFs and other 4 to AI QFs - this format eliminates the pressure of the current 'cut throat' NHL and gives the Lein top 3 more competitive matches prior to the AI KO stage.
This idea seems ideal - I would change just one thing - make it 11 teams (Muns 5, Lein 6), playing 5 home, 5 away, prior to the AI KO 6. This way Offaly gets included, and presumably, would retain its place ahead of an 11th team that would get replaced annually with the Tier 2 Champ.
Is this not better than the two current Prov groups, and separately, the NHL competition ?
What are the arguments against ? Ditto for AI SFC ?