In the end it was straightforward. Despite ultimately baseless rumours that the Ulster counties would oppose the blueprint of the Hurling Development Committee, the vote was a fait accompli.

It was a triumph for HDC chair Pat Dunny. The former Kildare dual player mightn't be one of nature's orators but the groundwork he had completed meant that the matter was beyond the reach of even the most silver-tongued of opposition advocates.

Ger Loughnane, the former Clare manager, was the big gun the HDC had chosen to wheel out should the occasion demand it. In the event there was no need and Loughnane remained silent.

Speaking afterwards he paid tribute to Dunny's work. "There is a political side to the GAA and he knew how to work it. I would say it's down to him more than anyone else that this went through."

He also said that the result marked "a great day for hurling" and that the proposals, which had been geared towards the needs of the weaker counties, would, with a bit of fine-tuning, probably be accepted into the rule book after the trial period.

The blueprint provides for the senior All-Ireland to be limited to 12 counties. Next year it will start with the counties in the current Division One.

Afterwards there will be a system of relegation and promotion with one team going down each year.

A round-robin format will replace the current qualifiers for teams defeated before the provincial final stage in Munster and Leinster. There will also be enhanced status for the Tier Two and Tier Three All-Irelands, including getting on the same bill as major senior matches and finals in Croke Park. An All Star awards scheme is also planned for these championships.

In the weeks before, Dunny had carried the argument to the counties and had obviously been persuasive. He based his presentation on the proposals' division of the hurling counties into three tiers, each of which would have its own All-Ireland championship.

A further advantage of the plan was that it would provide four competitive quarter-finals in the senior championship.

"Look at the value the quarter-finals are bringing to football," he said. "Wouldn't it be great to have a similar weekend in August set aside for the hurling quarters?"

Frank Murphy from Cork led the opposition but allowed that there were "beneficial" aspects to the proposals.

He was concerned about the impact on club fixtures and also apprehensive about the long-term trend of the HDC's thinking.

"There has been a process of incremental change. I hope that this is a two-year experiment and that it doesn't extend to the abolition of the provincial championships."

Both Dunny, and afterwards Loughnane, denied that the provincial championships in Leinster and Munster had been on the committee's agenda.

Commenting on the argument about club fixtures in the counties that win the Leinster and Munster championships and which under the old system went straight to the All-Ireland semi-finals, Dunny pointed out: "Only two counties in any given year are enjoying the benefit of that gap."

One decision that might cause controversy is the reduction of county panels from 30 to 24. The number only went up to 30 two years ago on the recommendation of the GAA's Players Committee, now in abeyance. The thinking behind the move was to free up an additional six players for club duty on days when they might otherwise be sitting in the stand watching the county team play with little prospect of making an appearance.

On the disciplinary front, Tyrone's Stephen O'Neill and Eamonn Fitzmaurice from Kerry had their four-week suspensions upheld by the Games Administration Committee who reviewed the cases but decided to stand by the referee's report of the National League fixture in Omagh two weeks ago.

Galway's Kevin Brady will serve a further four weeks of his suspension for playing without valid authorisation in Britain at the end of last year.

Brady had sought a reduction from the Reinstatements Committee but the Management Committee took over the case and decided against allowing the player back immediately.