GAA: The GAA's Árd Chomhairle yesterday supported the Central Competition Control Committee's (CCCC) Hurling Championship proposals.
The recommended format changes will now be sent for approval to March’s annual congress in Derry.
The CCCC proposal gained a large majority and was preferred to the format changes put forward by the Hurling Development Work Group.
The blueprint looks to retain the Munster championship, while five teams in Leinster – Kilkenny, Dublin, Wexford, Offaly and Galway – will be joined by two “qualifiers”, to be decided by a round-robin competition, involving Laois, Antrim, Carlow, Westmeath and London.
It would also see the current 15-team senior championship reduced incrementally to 13 by 2016.
The Hurling Development Work Group’s proposal was more radical and was made up of three separate groups - Munster, Leinster, plus a third tier - each of which would have been first played off on a round-robin basis.
The strains this format would have put on an already tight schedule always meant it was second favourite in yesterday’s vote.