GAA Special Congress 2023 - the motions explained

Roll up, roll up, for the Special Congress!

It's a bonus edition of the GAA’s annual decision-making jamboree at Croke Park on Saturday but don’t let the name fool you, as Congresses go this one isn’t overly special.

There are just 11 relatively uncontroversial motions in all and the 280 odd-delegates will be free to tuck into their lón within a couple of hours.

Competition structure motions

Motion 1 proposes removing the preliminary quarter-finals in the All-Ireland senior hurling championship from next year, meaning the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists would no longer take part. Instead, the third-placed teams in Leinster and Munster would advance directly to the quarter-finals against the opposing provincial runners-up.

The McDonagh counties don’t want to lose the chance to face elite opposition but in the eight games under the current system (suspended due to Covid in 2020 and ’21) they have been on the winning side just once when Laois shocked Dublin in 2019. Dublin beat McDonagh champions Carlow by 10 points this year and Tipperary ran up a championship record score of 7-38 against Offaly.

If Motion 1 is passed, Motion 2 would introduce a Joe McDonagh semi-final between the teams finishing second and third in the six-team group, with second having home advantage. The thinking here is to reduce the chance of counties being able to rest players in the fifth round, as Offaly did against Carlow, having already qualified for the decider.

Motion 3 would allow for the creation of tiered competitions, à la the Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cups, in the minor football championship after the round-robin stage. The top tier will remain a knockout competition, with the eight provincial winners and runners-up in quarter-finals.

Motion 4 would