Armagh GAA has passed radical changes to the format of the senior, intermediate and junior club championships in 2018.
For the first time in the county’s history the championship will begin with a round robin before progressing to a knockout stage.
With 16 teams in each division, the agreed upon proposal will see four groups of four teams play each other once, with the top team in each progressing through to the quarter-final stage.
The second and third teams in each group will then play each other to determine the other four places in the quarter-final stage.
The fourth team in each group is automatically knocked out of the competition.
And a likely first for the club championship across the island of Ireland is the fact a club’s league position will determine their championship seeding.
The league will be completed before the championship begins – which has rarely been the case in preceding years.
Big change passed in Armagh. senior and intermediate champ moves to group stages. Three teams progress. League position impacts on seeding. #GAA
— Niall McCoy (@McCoyNiall) December 14, 2017
Four group winners into qf. Other eight (second and third teams) play to produce another four.
— Niall McCoy (@McCoyNiall) December 15, 2017
The move comes after GAA congress passed a new provincial hurling championship system featuring a round-robin for both Leinster and Munster.
The proposal will play the five-team Munster and Leinster championships on a round-robin basis. The top two teams in each provincial group face-off in the provincial final, while the third placed teams advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
The bottom two teams in either group play-off to reach the quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners play the provincial champions in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
