National Forum

6 Teams Left In A Hurling May 24Th

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Replying To CeachtPeile:  "It's interesting but the fact that 1 point is enough to qualify is a serious flaw. Another major flaw is that third place teams getting a double chance in the knockout phase means a team could lose 4 games and win the All Ireland. This is because a team could come third in Munster with 1 win and 3 defeats and then could lose the first play-off for a fourth defeat. They would still have another chance to progress."
They are playing much better teams though. That has to be a factor.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 726 - 05/07/2026 20:33:57    2684387

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Replying To Tadhg2020:  "If the product on offer is good enough none of that other stuff really matters."
If the product is good enough then the Heineken Cup, PL etc dont habe much effect. They dont on Munster Championship attendances. They dont on tv ratings. Hurling ratings are holding up well. That is what I mean. You might not like it but our product sells very well.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 726 - 05/07/2026 21:17:09    2684393

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Replying To M Lyster:  "I saw an interesting proposal on another forum to liven up the hurling championship a little. Yes it involves the top 4 teams emerging from the round robins but each team starts a round further back the lower they are in the table.

Play the round robins as normal, when the provincial finals are being played the teams in 3rd & 4th play their counterpart in a knockout play-off. The 'best 3rd' gets straight through to the QF, the 'best 4th' plays the loser of the other play-off for a QF spot.

Provincial champions: straight through to SF
Provincial runners-up: straight through to QF
3rd place playoff: winner to QF, loser to playoff final (effectively a preliminary QF)
4th place playoff: winner to playoff final (effectively a pre-preliminary QF)
Playoff final: winner to QF (effectively a preliminary QF)

Applied to this year's championship might look like this:
3rd place playoff: Clare v Offaly
4th place playoff: Waterford v Kilkenny
Playoff final: Waterford v Offaly
QF: Clare v Dublin, Cork v Waterford
SF: Limerick v Clare, Galway v Cork

Same outcome but it gives a few more meaningful knockout games in June after the round robins. It's a minor tweak but allows the likes of Waterford to prove they're better than Offaly etc."
Im not against it.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 726 - 05/07/2026 21:18:18    2684394

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Replying To M Lyster:  "I saw an interesting proposal on another forum to liven up the hurling championship a little. Yes it involves the top 4 teams emerging from the round robins but each team starts a round further back the lower they are in the table.

Play the round robins as normal, when the provincial finals are being played the teams in 3rd & 4th play their counterpart in a knockout play-off. The 'best 3rd' gets straight through to the QF, the 'best 4th' plays the loser of the other play-off for a QF spot.

Provincial champions: straight through to SF
Provincial runners-up: straight through to QF
3rd place playoff: winner to QF, loser to playoff final (effectively a preliminary QF)
4th place playoff: winner to playoff final (effectively a pre-preliminary QF)
Playoff final: winner to QF (effectively a preliminary QF)

Applied to this year's championship might look like this:
3rd place playoff: Clare v Offaly
4th place playoff: Waterford v Kilkenny
Playoff final: Waterford v Offaly
QF: Clare v Dublin, Cork v Waterford
SF: Limerick v Clare, Galway v Cork

Same outcome but it gives a few more meaningful knockout games in June after the round robins. It's a minor tweak but allows the likes of Waterford to prove they're better than Offaly etc."
Im not against it. Im not sure you can squeeze 3 rounds in though. The quarters are 2 weeks on from the provincial finals. If you go a week earlier someone will likely be playing 3 weeks in a row.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 726 - 05/07/2026 21:20:55    2684396

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If 3rd and 4th are advancing from the groups, 3rd Munster v 4th Leinster and 3rd Leinster v 4th Munster is the way to go. Anything else is just unnecessarily convoluted.
The key is home advantage. 3rd at home in preliminary quarter finals. Runners up at home in quarter finals.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9957 - 06/07/2026 02:56:24    2684419

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Replying To Tadhg2020:  "Im not against it. Im not sure you can squeeze 3 rounds in though. The quarters are 2 weeks on from the provincial finals. If you go a week earlier someone will likely be playing 3 weeks in a row."
Would make the Provincial RRs even more relevant though, even more of an advantage to finish 1st, and even for finishing second. As it should be. If you finish 3rd or 4th there should be a disadvantage associated with that.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 10:14:46    2684444

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Replying To legendzxix:  "If 3rd and 4th are advancing from the groups, 3rd Munster v 4th Leinster and 3rd Leinster v 4th Munster is the way to go. Anything else is just unnecessarily convoluted.
The key is home advantage. 3rd at home in preliminary quarter finals. Runners up at home in quarter finals."
If you only introduce 2 extra games thats not really tackling the issue at hand. There's way too few games of hurling in the last 2 months of the intercounty window overall. The best 2 months weather wise for hurling, and the best from a promotional point of view also.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 11:04:01    2684454

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Replying To Viking66:  "If you only introduce 2 extra games thats not really tackling the issue at hand. There's way too few games of hurling in the last 2 months of the intercounty window overall. The best 2 months weather wise for hurling, and the best from a promotional point of view also."
The provincial finals are 6 weeks, and quarter finals are 4 weeks, before the All Ireland final. By the nature of knockout, there's going to be less teams involved closer to the final. Getting 8 teams to June will be fair enough.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9957 - 06/07/2026 15:05:49    2684511

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Replying To legendzxix:  "The provincial finals are 6 weeks, and quarter finals are 4 weeks, before the All Ireland final. By the nature of knockout, there's going to be less teams involved closer to the final. Getting 8 teams to June will be fair enough."
There would only be 8 teams left in it 8 or 9 out from the final. Im not altogether against the idea of only 8 teams, taking on board Tadgs concerns about the Munster RR and the necessary jeopardy. But there should definitely be more than 9 games of hurling left in the last 2 months of the intercounty season.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 15:41:08    2684518

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Replying To Viking66:  "There would only be 8 teams left in it 8 or 9 out from the final. Im not altogether against the idea of only 8 teams, taking on board Tadgs concerns about the Munster RR and the necessary jeopardy. But there should definitely be more than 9 games of hurling left in the last 2 months of the intercounty season."
With the exception of provincial finals, I think it has to be knockout hurling after the group stage. 3rd v 3rd and 4th v 4th is over egging the omelette.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9957 - 06/07/2026 16:25:54    2684535

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Replying To Viking66:  "There would only be 8 teams left in it 8 or 9 out from the final. Im not altogether against the idea of only 8 teams, taking on board Tadgs concerns about the Munster RR and the necessary jeopardy. But there should definitely be more than 9 games of hurling left in the last 2 months of the intercounty season."
Ye're having 4 rounds involving six teams (Prov Finals, Qtr Finals, A I Semis and Final) which have to be spread out.

Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 738 - 06/07/2026 16:57:09    2684544

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Replying To Seanfan:  "Ye're having 4 rounds involving six teams (Prov Finals, Qtr Finals, A I Semis and Final) which have to be spread out."
Thats the issue. Not enough games. Not enough different teams.
As of the 12th June we still had 24 teams in the Football Championships, and only 6 teams left in the Hurling between all the tiers. We only had 6 teams left in the hurling from the weekend of the 23rd of May in the top tier, summer was still over a week away and intercounty hurling was pretty much done already for most counties.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 17:25:51    2684548

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Replying To legendzxix:  "With the exception of provincial finals, I think it has to be knockout hurling after the group stage. 3rd v 3rd and 4th v 4th is over egging the omelette."
How exactly is only 5 games of hurling in nearly 2 months at the end of the intercounty window, and those 2 months being the only 2 months of summer in the intercounty window, overegging the omelette?
I know you are from Kerry, but thats being pretty mean with eggs!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 17:47:32    2684555

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How about doing away with League finals and AIQFs and AISFs, and running the Provincial Championships on a home and away Round Robin basis up to the end of June, 8 games in Munster and 10 in Leinster, with the finals 2nd weekend in July, and the AI final between the Provincial winners the same weekend as the Football AI? And have the lower tier finals 1st week in July, with semifinals berween 2nd and 3rd placed teams the last week in June, so as to give the teams that finished 1st the advantage of a week off before their final.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 18:00:17    2684561

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Replying To Viking66:  "Would make the Provincial RRs even more relevant though, even more of an advantage to finish 1st, and even for finishing second. As it should be. If you finish 3rd or 4th there should be a disadvantage associated with that."
Yea I agree but we made a conscious decision a few years back to ensure that no team had to play 3 weeks in a row for obvious reasons. If I remember rightly every team that had to lost the 3rd game. It was definitely a big thing and that would remain the case.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 726 - 06/07/2026 18:57:46    2684574

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Replying To Viking66:  "If you only introduce 2 extra games thats not really tackling the issue at hand. There's way too few games of hurling in the last 2 months of the intercounty window overall. The best 2 months weather wise for hurling, and the best from a promotional point of view also."
It might only be two extra games but its big hurling games on the first, second and 3rd weekends of june. The 4th is a rest weekend before the semi finals in any format. I think that the needle will land here if it moves at all.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 726 - 06/07/2026 19:00:47    2684576

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Replying To Viking66:  "How about doing away with League finals and AIQFs and AISFs, and running the Provincial Championships on a home and away Round Robin basis up to the end of June, 8 games in Munster and 10 in Leinster, with the finals 2nd weekend in July, and the AI final between the Provincial winners the same weekend as the Football AI? And have the lower tier finals 1st week in July, with semifinals berween 2nd and 3rd placed teams the last week in June, so as to give the teams that finished 1st the advantage of a week off before their final."
While it sounds grand in theory I think it might just be too much. There is interest fatigue to factor in. Then there is actual player fatigue and performance protetion/ quality control.
Im a big fan of NFL. They dont saturate their audience with games the way NBA and MLB do. I know they are very different sports but the thinking is apt. They know that the players can only play so many games at a high level before injury and fatigue damage the product.
The same or similar applies to Super league in RL over in the north of England. Im not as big a fan of that but I think they have similar thinking. They do have a complicated playoff system considering there are only 14 teams or something so the 3rd v 3rd idea isnt unique. I think we have a good balance of types of tournaments atm. The league is used for blooding players in near championship environment especially in Division 1. The provincial RR is real competitive stuff that requires performance and results to extend your season while also offering significant silverware. And then there is knockout championship hutling for the top prize. I think that is an ideal structure. I appreciate that some lament the loss of hurling in june but most reasonable people recognise thst July is out of bounds unless the political situation changes within the Association. Therefore we are talking about 1 extra weekend really, 2 at a push and unfortunately the 3rd v 3rd idea requires 3 . The space just isnt there. Thats why I think 3rd v 4th the week in between the provincial finals and quarter finals is the most likely landing spot.

Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 726 - 06/07/2026 19:17:04    2684584

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Championship structure is fine as is.

Enough of this endless howaboutery.

Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 144 - 06/07/2026 23:01:36    2684608

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Replying To Tadhg2020:  "It might only be two extra games but its big hurling games on the first, second and 3rd weekends of june. The 4th is a rest weekend before the semi finals in any format. I think that the needle will land here if it moves at all."
Agree it would be better than nothing

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 23:14:23    2684613

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Replying To Tadhg2020:  "While it sounds grand in theory I think it might just be too much. There is interest fatigue to factor in. Then there is actual player fatigue and performance protetion/ quality control.
Im a big fan of NFL. They dont saturate their audience with games the way NBA and MLB do. I know they are very different sports but the thinking is apt. They know that the players can only play so many games at a high level before injury and fatigue damage the product.
The same or similar applies to Super league in RL over in the north of England. Im not as big a fan of that but I think they have similar thinking. They do have a complicated playoff system considering there are only 14 teams or something so the 3rd v 3rd idea isnt unique. I think we have a good balance of types of tournaments atm. The league is used for blooding players in near championship environment especially in Division 1. The provincial RR is real competitive stuff that requires performance and results to extend your season while also offering significant silverware. And then there is knockout championship hutling for the top prize. I think that is an ideal structure. I appreciate that some lament the loss of hurling in june but most reasonable people recognise thst July is out of bounds unless the political situation changes within the Association. Therefore we are talking about 1 extra weekend really, 2 at a push and unfortunately the 3rd v 3rd idea requires 3 . The space just isnt there. Thats why I think 3rd v 4th the week in between the provincial finals and quarter finals is the most likely landing spot."
Thats if we keep League finals

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20263 - 06/07/2026 23:15:59    2684614

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