National Hurling League 2023 Discussion

Would have preferred an earlier time against Cork. We got the short straw in both codes too in terms of having more away than home games.

Double header for Kildare/Wexford though which seems to have not happened in ages. And the Dubs at home in football which is great.

In what sense ?

Ya sounds about right. I think Cork need a trophy of any sort at this stage to shake off the growing choker vibes in the county.

A fair few counties with a new manager to impress too.

I wouldn't mind Limerick at least winning a few games this year. Makes going a bit more pleasant.

Yep but 2023 is what it is so we might as well talk about that.

Same format as last year. Top 2 in each Division 1 group qualify for the semi-finals. In all other divisions, 2nd have home advantage against 3rd in the semi-finals, with the winner taking on the 1st placed team in the final.

Most of the debate will be again focussed on the two Division 1 groups format. Two divisions based on merit would bring more of an edge. Football counties have no guarantee of Division 1 status. The hurling league has removed the relegation jeopardy for the majority of the top counties. The GAA will stick with it however until supporters vote with their feet and decide to skip the snorefest.

It was tried badly with the top 4 in both divisions going to the quarter-finals.

1A should see 2nd v 3rd in a semi-final, with the winner taking on 1st in the final. The 6th team should be relegated.

1B should see 2nd v 3rd in a semi-final, with the winner taking on 1st in the final. 1B final winner promoted. The 6th team should be relegated.

Division 1A for league teams ranked 1 to 6 and Division 1B for league teams ranked 7 to 12 is the fair solution. Let everyone earn their place on merit. The national football league has thrived on this for years.

1 to 9 are probably fine with the current setup. It's 10 to 12 who would have to push for change.

Money will be a key factor. If the current format is bringing in good crowds, the GAA will stick with it. If the lack of a competitive edge keeps supporters away, they'll be more inclined to bring in a bit of jeopardy.

Think the system is fine as it is. The league is the league. I dont want a cut throat league . Its pointless with the round Robin which is excellent.

No you misunderstood I mean we have tried the equal 1A and 1B before. We are basically back to a tried and failed system.

The top 2 teams in 1B walked it and only got 1 good match maybe 2 in the knockouts.

I completely zoned out of during that time and didn't even watch Limericks games most of the time.

During my walk with the dog earlier, I was thinking of a way to revitalise the league while also making the Provincial championships proper meaningful again.

I would get rid of all the pre-season tournaments, with the only designated GAA action for January the various club championships. Re-structure the league so it starts in mid-February like now, but where the eventual Division One champions are guaranteed a place in the semi-finals of the championship proper (Div 1A vs. 1B table-toppers play-off in the final) The Division Two champions are guaranteed a spot in the knock-outs of the same championship. League placings will potentially have a bearing in the championship too....

I would then revert the Munster and Leinster championships back to straight knock-out. Conduct the championship draws the Monday after the league final (why do we always have to do it so far in advance?), with a two-week break or whatever. The Leinster and Munster winners get the next two semi-final spots, and a back-door system to determine the last semi-finalist. If there is an odd number of teams remaining, have it seeded so the highest ranked remaining team on league position gets a bye. I know there are scenarios were a team could win the league and their province, but it should be possible to substitute one of the semi-final spots with either the league/provincial runner-up or again the highest finishing remaining team. I know the A/B split may prove complicated, but you just have to rank each team on number of points they gained in the group stage regardless of what side of the division they were on.

I personally think it would be a load of fun, and would actually widen the club calendar a bit. Sure all you hear about this time of year is "it's only the league, we are gearing for championship".

Yeah, same. The Division 2 finals will be a week before the start of the McDonagh Cup. That's unfair. If they are determined to have the McDonagh final at the end of May, possibly Division 2 semi-finals should be scrapped so the league finals can be a week earlier?

Both teams get a point in the league, a penalty shootout will decide who wins the Walsh Cup.

People have been predicting the overshadowing of hurling since Cúchulainn.

People who are into hurling will pick any hurling game over football and vice versa. Doesn't really matter what clashes. Also hurling is full throttle from the opening of the championship where as the football is pretty crap until the Q/F stage. The new group stage I bet will be mostly predictable.

Hurlings big failing is still the league. Football league is way better but football is lucky enough to have more teams at a similar level.

Amalgamating the League & Championship would be the obvious choice long term. A 12 team round robin, everyone guaranteed 11 games, at least 5 at home. All knockout games (with the exception of the final) would be finish on the day.

The Provincial Championships would be incorporated into the league phase of the Championship. Basically, there would be 2 mini-leagues within the main league, with the top 2 of the Munster league into the Munster Final, and the top 2 of the Leinster league into the Leinster Final. The Provincial winners go to the AI Semi-Finals, and the loser to the AI Quarter-Finals the week after.

On the same weekend of the Munster/Leinster Finals, the 4 best ranked teams of the league who are not provincial finalists would go into a playoff to get to the QF. On the next weekend would see the QF's between the winners of the playoff and the loser of the Provincial Finals, and from there on close out the Championship as normal.

Now the technical side of things (though still easy enough to follow).

To add a bit of bite to things in the league phase, the league ranking would determine the pairings of every knockout round and home advantage for the qualifiers. For example in the qualifier round, if the four provincial finalists in Munster and Leinster had also occupied the rankings of 1-4 in the round robin, then teams 5-8 would progress to the Qualifiers with 5 playing 8, and 6 playing 7, with teams ranked 5 and 6 getting home advantage in the qualifier game.

The same would apply to the Quarter-Finals. For example, if the Munster runner-up was ranked 2 in the round robin, and the Leinster runner-up was ranked 4 in the round robin, and teams ranked 6 and 8 came through the Qualifier, then the Munster runner up would face the team ranked 8 and the Leinster runner up would face the team ranked 6 in the Quarter Finals.

The Semi-Finals would work on the usual principal that any team that was runner up in their Provincial Final who makes the AI Semi-Final would face the winner of the opposite province. However, if neither of the Provincial runners-up make the AI Semi-Final, then the AI Semi-Final pairings would then be based on the round robin rankings, with the Provincial Champion with the highest round robin ranking playing the team with the Semi-Finalist with the lowest round robin ranking.

On the time-line side of things, run it along the lines of 3 weeks round robin, rest week, 3 weeks round robin, rest week, 3 weeks round robin, rest week, two weeks round robin, Munster/Leinster finals and Qualifiers, AI Quarter-Finals, rest week, AI Semi-Finals, rest week, AI Final. Set the AI Final for the 2nd Sunday in July (or the 3rd if there are 5 Sundays) and work back from there. There would only be 3 weeks between the Provincial Finals and the AI Semi-Finals. No team would play more than 3 weeks in a row except for those in the AI Quarter-Finals with 4, and even at that all 4 of them teams would be in the same boat.

If that timeframe were applied this year, the Championship would start on the first week of March and finish on July the 16th, giving plenty of time to run off the county and club championship, a proper winter break, plenty of time for the Fitzgibbon Cup to be completed at the start of the year, and still time for some pre-season competition to try out lads.

It runs in a timely manner, the Provincials still play a role, the league rankings matter throughout, and it's a structure that can be applied at the lower levels too.

The white kit reminds me of the old Irish International Rules kits.

Would love that to be the Limerick keepers kit this season instead of the horrible cyan crap we got. Outside of it being ugly I hate this generic soccer style keepers kits creeping into GAA.

I think practically everyone except Limerick could do with a trophy. It seems to either be the first year or a big year for every manager bar Kiely too.

If Galway go all in I think they will do it. I think they were much better last year than they get credit for because Clare and Kk were the big stories.