Big guns back smaller counties in push against GAA's league proposal

Hurling's big guns have all signed a statement calling on the GAA to withdraw a proposal to exclude any county with fewer than five adult hurling teams from the Allianz Leagues.

The resistance to the proposal - which would begin from 2025 onwards - continues to grow with the teams impacted now having the public backing of the GPA and the strongest counties in the country.

All 11 captains of the counties competing in the 2024 Liam MacCarthy Cup have signed a statement calling for a u-turn.

If Central Council passes the recommendation, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Longford and Louth would go into league exile, and consigned to the fifth-tier Lory Meagher Cup only.

A statement urging the GAA to reconsider the move was released on Friday morning, and signed by representatives of clubs in each of the five counties as well the captains of Antrim, Wexford, Kilkenny, Cork, Tipperary, Dublin, Galway, Clare, Carlow, Waterford and Limerick.

If the CCCC do not withdraw the proposal, the signatories have urged county delegates to vote it down next month.

It read: "We, the undersigned, are calling on the CCCC of the GAA, to withdraw the proposal that would see five counties excluded from the National Hurling League from 2025 onwards.

"It has become clear that the consultation referred to in the proposal was not conducted with the right people or with the correct information being discussed.

"This is clearly the case given that four of the five county boards involved are now publicly on the record calling for the proposal to be rejected. The players and management in Leitrim also want to see it rejected.

"Given that is the case, we believe it is in the best interests of everyone that the proposal be withdrawn. It is clearly divisive and while