Armagh captain Aidan Forker lifts the Sam Maguire – the 2025 Race for Sam could be set for a new format. Photo: Sportsfile
A single alternative to the current All-Ireland SFC format looks set to be put forward for discussion at a Central Council meeting next month.
The format, which has been used in a number of counties with 16-team championships through the years, has generated the most consensus in a consultation process with counties that has now concluded.
The GAA’s Central Competition Controls Committee are finalising a report for the meeting on September 7 at which structures and the calendar will be debated.
The alternative format would still include provincial championships and on completion, the eight finalists, in addition to the top seven league teams and Tailteann Cup winners, would be drawn together in the first round for the Sam Maguire Cup with the outcome of eight games determining separate winners and losers groups.
The winners of the provincial winners’ group would qualify directly for the All-Ireland quarter-finals with the losers playing the winners of the provincial losers’ group for the additional four quarter-final places. That format was one of six initially floated earlier in the summer and was part of the consultation process that saw GAA officials, including President Jarlath Burns, meet directly with counties.
The proposed format would incorporate 27 games in six rounds, eight less than the current round-robin format that also has four second/third place play-off games over seven rounds, saving a weekend that could then provide some division between the end of the league and the start of the provincial championships.
Counties would have a minimum of three championship games, one less than what is currently guaranteed.
But consensus from counties has not been reached about a possible time extension to the inter-county season.
The survey distributed among counties is understood to have leaned slightly more in favour of retaining the current seven-month window that concludes in July. That, however, does not mean that Central Council won’t support a possible motion to extend by a couple of weeks into August, another discussion point for September.