League Format???

[LooseCannon]

Anyone know the structure to the leagues next year?
Is it the same?
When it starts?

[Geansai Gorm]

2018 championship & Competition Structures Proposals

Option 1 – Football

(Championship to commence on w/e 31st March with 2 rounds of Football or Hurling – This will then see championships only with County Players involvement stopping to re-commence after Offaly exit the Championship)
By playing this format it means all grades in that code can be played once Senior Championship has commenced*
If football is opted for – this will also mean the U21 Hurling Championship can be played
If hurling is opted for – this will also mean the U20 Football Championship can be played

*Bye Law re grading to be brought into consideration

Senior A, Senior B and Intermediate Football Championships

1 Group of 8 teams in each

• Top 2 teams to qualify from the group to Semi Finals
• Next 4 Teams to qualify for Quarter Finals: 3 v 6 & 4 v 5
• Semi Final draw as follows Teams 1 & 2 to be seeded
• Bottom two teams to play off in relegation
Junior Football Championship & Competitions

- Teams to be graded by C.C.C. and structures to be formulated when entries received and permissions and amalgamations approved.
- All games up to knock out stage to be played on home/away basis, but C.C.C. may fix games at neutral venue in league stage under lights if necessary in order to progress the Championship/ Competitions.
U20/U21 Hurling & Football Championships

(Based Offaly League fixtures there are no free weekends between the 27th January and 25th March with Offaly competing in both Hurling and Football Leagues – Senior Managements to be spoken to see where games can be played)

- Knockout Championship (played on home or away basis first named team at home) up to the Semi Final Stage. Extra time to be played in all games except the Final.
- If teams in the U20 Football Championship have no access to Flood Lights they will have to travel to venue of the opposition or to venue nominated by the C.C.C.
Football and Hurling Leagues

(Leagues to commence early February with games to be played with exception of Final without County Players – aim to have League finished by start of championships)
Division 1: The 8 teams that will participate in the Senior A Championship in 2018 – Two groups of four - 3 matches with top team in each group to Final. Open Draw for groupings.
Division 2: The 8 teams that will participate in the Senior B Championship in 2018 – Two groups of four - 3 matches with top team in each group to Final. Open Draw for groupings.
Division 3: The 8 teams that will participate in the Intermediate Championship in 2018 – Two groups of four - 3 matches with top team in each group to Final. Open Draw for groupings.
Division 4 & 5: Based on Junior Championships entries – Groups sizes will be determined by entries. Open draw applies.
Entry Fees for all adult leagues to be €200 per team.
The above structures (Championships/Leagues) if accepted will give teams a minimum of 11 competitive games.

This was agreed at county board on 7th Nov as plan for 2018, and is the text as I received it.

[LooseCannon]

Thanks, only saw it there now. Leagues will be irrelevant next year, as they generally are. For example if you look at senior B(division 2), the most competitive championship probably. Teams will be playing dummy teams all round. Lads in different positions, etc. There’s no point to the leagues unless there’s relegation, with the new structure being locked in for 5 years minimum.
Also, I note that K/K are having a meeting about potentially fielding again. Hopefully they will. But they shouldn’t be put into any grade above junior b. Let them work their way up.
Does anyone know if there was relegation from junior A? Clonmore and Lusmagh were bottom in their groups.

[Geansai Gorm]

>Harps or Lusmagh? No relegation game played, probably due to the fact that Harps might not have a team to field next year, and Lusmagh might look to re-grade. There seems to be an ad-hoc approach to anything in Junior these days. For in 2017 there were more teams in Junior-C than B. You can just decide where you want your team to play it seems.
>As for KK entering a football team again, they would definitely walk Junior-B, and probably A. Would be hard on genuine Junior teams to have a team like KK parachuted into their division. Hard one to call.

[Lone Shark]

Hang on - leagues to be started in early February, and finished before the start of the championship (31st of March) - that means that not alone will there be no championship games from the end of April until early July, but there will be no games at all! That can't be right, surely?

I understand we can't have county players available, but surely to jaysus you could give club players a few league games or something to be going on with??

[LooseCannon]

Hang on - leagues to be started in early February, and finished before the start of the championship (31st of March) - that means that not alone will there be no championship games from the end of April until early July, but there will be no games at all! That can't be right, surely?

I understand we can't have county players available, but surely to jaysus you could give club players a few league games or something to be going on with??

Some could view that as if lads want to go to America, they can. Some clubs will go oh sh*t x,y and z are gone.
Other clubs will view it as an opportunity. Two months to up fitness levels. This proves that the league is meaningless, as ever. Apart from giving lads a runaround, and giving lads games, it’s pointless. On the other hand, teams can have challenge matches, and not worry about having to call them off.

It’s a bit odd that provisional dates for fixtures have been set, yet the fixtures secretary, hasn’t been appointed yet.
Or does Pat Horan’s (I presume he’ll get it) duties only come into effect from after the league or what’s the story?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Agree 100% with this.

Hang on - leagues to be started in early February, and finished before the start of the championship (31st of March) - that means that not alone will there be no championship games from the end of April until early July, but there will be no games at all! That can't be right, surely?

I understand we can't have county players available, but surely to jaysus you could give club players a few league games or something to be going on with??

[Plain of the Herbs]

I’ve two issues (for now):

After training on for two months after their championship exit in a bid to compete in Division 1 league, Lusmagh are being denied that promotion. That’s a kick in the teeth. Fortunately, no one sustained a serious injury in the pursuit of that promotion (at least as far as I am aware), because that could have happened.

Secondly, group matches and quarter-finals to be played at the home venue of one of the participating clubs means that there will be no double headers. It may also require a chance of a bye law – I believe (open to correction on this), that the referee provides the umpires but the host club provides linesmen. That’s a problem if the host club are hurling. And before anyone suggests the referee should bring linesmen, the referee has possibly had to make ten phone calls in order to recruit four umpires. Some referees don’t bring a full quota of umpires, hoping to recruit a few lads at the gate. (some don’t bring umpires at all). It also puts pressure on the resources of the host club, as regards stewarding.

[LooseCannon]

I’ve two issues (for now):

After training on for two months after their championship exit in a bid to compete in Division 1 league, Lusmagh are being denied that promotion. That’s a kick in the teeth. Fortunately, no one sustained a serious injury in the pursuit of that promotion (at least as far as I am aware), because that could have happened.

Secondly, group matches and quarter-finals to be played at the home venue of one of the participating clubs means that there will be no double headers. It may also require a chance of a bye law – I believe (open to correction on this), that the referee provides the umpires but the host club provides linesmen. That’s a problem if the host club are hurling. And before anyone suggests the referee should bring linesmen, the referee has possibly had to make ten phone calls in order to recruit four umpires. Some referees don’t bring a full quota of umpires, hoping to recruit a few lads at the gate. (some don’t bring umpires at all). It also puts pressure on the resources of the host club, as regards stewarding.

Durrow were caught with having to host and play the same day this year, albeit due to rescheduling.(waterlogged OBP)


Would a structure of 2 groups of 4, 3 H games, 3 A games with top 6 or 4 advance be a good idea? (Football+Hurling)
At least 6 games.

[frankthetank]

When was the decision made that next year’s group games in the hurling championship will be played on a home and away format made? Straight off the bat is the issue that some teams will have 4 home games while others will have 3.

And quarter-finals aswell?? Is the aim after the group stages to have 3 vs 6 home venue 3 and 4 vs 5 home venue 4 as the quarter final lineup?

Im amazed all this has gone unmentioned until now if this is the case?

[LooseCannon]

Would anyone know when the draw for the league takes place?

[frankthetank]

Going by the master fixture list Division 1 of the football / hurling leagues will comprise of all 8 teams taking part in the SFC / SHC. They will play each other once.

Division 2 of the football / hurling leagues will have the 8 teams who are in the IFC and IHC (or if you like to use their rebranded names - SFC "B" and SHC "B")

It seems that the initial plan to have the league played in two groups of 4 has thankfully been shelved so at least there is a reasonable amount of league games for clubs to play when the county teams are "in camp".

[kaiserchief]

Master plan has now been released 4 to 5 weeks now.

Hurling League is first.. 9th to 11th of Feb.. 10 days away and no fixtures or draw announced.. what is going on?

Does anyone know when this draw is happening? County board normally meet the first Tuesday of the month.. are they seriously waiting until the 6th of feb, 4 days before to do this? or has it been done already?

[LooseCannon]

Master plan has now been released 4 to 5 weeks now.

Hurling League is first.. 9th to 11th of Feb.. 10 days away and no fixtures or draw announced.. what is going on?

Does anyone know when this draw is happening? County board normally meet the first Tuesday of the month.. are they seriously waiting until the 6th of feb, 4 days before to do this? or has it been done already?

It appears to be the case. Teams know that they’ve a match, but they don’t know who they’re playing, or if it’s Home, Away or played at a Nuetral venue. Fairly scandalous.

[chimbonda]

Fixtures for the league are available on the offaly gaa website. Click on adult leagues and it will display all rounds showing who plays who and who is at home. Fixtures for next weekend will be announced Sunday night as has been the case for the last few years.