Carlow chairman Sean Campion has stated that they are pleased with the new hurling format being introduced for 2018.

Under the new structure, there will be ten teams starting off in the All-Ireland SHC, five in Munster and five in Leinster; and these will play off in a round robin series of games.

A newly formed tier 2 will include Carlow, Antrim, Kerry, Laois, Meath and Westmeath with the top two teams going through to the All-Ireland quarterfinals, while the winner will be promoted to the Leinster SHC for 2018.

Counties voted the new structure in at a special congress last Saturday and Campion revealed that the carrot of advancing to an All-Ireland quarterfinal swung the vote in favour of change.

"It means we have a route to the MacCarthy Cup for 2018 and have a chance of playing in the Leinster championship the following year," Campion told the Carlow Nationalist.

"It is the best we could have hoped for."

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