THERE will be no automatic relegation from the Liam McCarthy Cup tier in future years if a plan designed to streamline the All-Ireland senior hurling championships is accepted by counties.

The winners of the Christy Ring Cup (Tier 2) will be promoted, which means that the numbers competing for McCarthy could increase by one each year for the foreseeable future. However, the GAA are confident that it will be self-regulating and that counties who discover they are not strong enough to compete at top level will opt to return to the Ring Cup.

Tier 1 has been restricted to 12 counties for the past few years with a play-off between the bottom team in McCarthy and the Ring winners deciding placings for the following season. A difficulty arose this year after a rule change decreed that the Ring winners (Carlow) were entitled to automatic promotion, which meant that one from Offaly, Wexford, Clare and Antrim was facing relegation from McCarthy.

It led to a major controversy, with Antrim claiming that they had been guaranteed a place in the Leinster championship for a minimum of three years while Offaly, Wexford and Clare -- all of whom had won All-Ireland titles over the previous 13 years -- were also appalled at the prospect of being barred from McCarthy Cup participation in 2010.

At one stage, Clare hurlers even threatened to withdraw from the play-off, a scenario which would have led to the suspension of all their county teams, including the U-21s, who later went on to win the All-Ireland title.

Two of the play-offs took place (Clare beat Wexford; Offaly beat Antrim) but the Wexford v Antrim clash was cancelled after a decision was taken to review the overall structure for 2010.

Special Congress voted early last month to increase to 13 the numbers competing for McCarthy next year (all the 2009 counties, plus promoted Carlow). It was to be cut to 12 again for 2011 through a relegation play-off but, following consultation with counties, it now seems certain that nobody will make the drop next year -- or for the next few seasons either.

Motion

County board chairmen and secretaries met top Croke Park officials, including president Christy Cooney and director general Paraic Duffy, on Tuesday night, where the outline of the latest proposal was considered. It's now expected to be put into motion form and be brought before Congress next April.

If accepted, it could increase the numbers in McCarthy to 16 by 2013, although it remains to be seen if some counties opt to return to Ring if they find life in Tier 1 too demanding.

Views were expressed at Tuesday's meeting that it was wrong to restrict the McCarthy tier to 12 or even 13 counties, especially since some others wanted to take their chance at the higher level. It was felt that rather than keeping numbers down, counties should be encouraged to move up, once they had reached the level of Ring Cup winners.

The proposed system is likely to lead to an extended Leinster championship in future years as Westmeath, Kildare and others hope to win the Ring Cup and move up to Tier 1. Leinster will have eight counties in 2010 and could be as high as 10 in a few years' time.

Changes to Tier 1 will, of course, have a knock-on effect on the number of counties competing at Ring, Nicky Rackard (Tier 3) and Lory Meagher (Tier 4) level. It may be necessary to reduce the number of tiers to three, although it remains to be seen how that will work out.

The latest adjustments to a format which has undergone several changes since the 'back door' was first opened in 1997 may provide a short-term solution to the difficulty caused by relegating counties who were anxious to remain at McCarthy level, but it doesn't address the issue of whether it's time for a more dramatic overhaul.

There have been increasing calls to scrap a system which leaves the Munster and Leinster championships as the core base for the All-Ireland series but there seems to be no appetite for such a radical change at official level.

Munster and Leinster are opposed to any change which would impact on their provincial campaigns. Munster argue that their championship remains a major highlight of the GAA summer, while Leinster believe that the addition of Galway and Antrim this year should be given a proper chance to bed down before any further review is undertaken.

Irish Independent