GAA president Jarlath Burns targets greater spread of hurling challengers by 2034

GAA president Jarlath Burns has set the long-term goal of expanding the number of hurling counties competing for Liam MacCarthy by 2034, the association's 150th anniversary.

Burns was speaking at a briefing by the Hurling Development Committee, where it was announced that the new role of a National Head of Hurling would be filled in the coming months.

Burns said that the committee, which includes notable former players and managers like Brian Cody, Neil McManus and Darragh Egan, were tackling what he considers one of his "three key objectives" as president, to grow hurling outside of its traditional heartlands.

Only 17 counties can challenge for the top prize each year, and only 10 have reached the All-Ireland final over the last 72 years. Antrim (1943 and '89) are the only Ulster county to have ever reached the decider.

"This is a very long-term project," Burns told RTÉ Sport. "I won't see any results at the end of my presidency [2027].

"We might start to see the basis of results on the 150th anniversary of the GAA, or we may not. But the long-term objective here has to be that we are going to have more counties participating in the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

"When I go around the counties and I go in to help them with their strategic plans, and out-and-out football counties who might only have six or seven clubs, I always ask the question, ‘Where is the section on hurling, where you are actually going to do something tangible and proper for hurling?’ What you get back often is 'we don't really know how to do that'. That's the answer you always get.

"This committee is the catalyst by which counties who have a genuine desire to see hurling and camogie develop within their counties have somewhere to go, have somebody to ask, can get