There may yet be bumps in the road but we have a view now of how this season’s full GAA Allianz League, Championship and AIB Club season will play out.
Senior Inter-County teams can return to collective training from April 19th and three weeks later the sliotar will be thrown in on the opening round of the Allianz Hurling League.
The Inter-County season in the Men’s games will then run over a 20 week period with the All Ireland Men’s Football Final taking place on the last Sunday in August, one week after the All Ireland Hurling Final.
The Football Championship will be a straight knock out tournament with the winners of Leinster and Connacht on one side, Ulster and Munster on the other meeting in All Ireland Semi-Finals on the weekend of 14th and 15th August.
The Hurling Championship will be played in the same format as in 2020 with knockout provincial tournaments in Leinster and Munster but with back door possibilities for teams beaten in the early rounds.
The Allianz Hurling League will be played out on a split basis with no knock out rounds. There will either be joint winners for the season or, if the two sides that top the A and B divisions meet in the Championship, that wil double up as a League Final.
Regionalised
The Allianz Football League will be played on a regionalised split basis with the winners and runners up in each group of four advancing to a League Semi-Final and a League Final to be played on the weekend of June 19th and 20th. There is a possible exception that if either team is scheduled to play in Championship the following weekend then joint winners will be declared to give a two-week break.
There will be no Tailteann Cup again this year though the other secondary competitions will take place except for British and US teams who will not be able to compete this year but will return in 2022.
Minor and U20 competitions remain on hold pending confirmation from Government on the lifting of restrictions at this age grade.
The split season between County and Club means that all club championships will be underway in early September with counties permitted, if Government restrictions allow, for the playing of their own Championships once senior inter-county teams have exited their respective Championships.
It is hoped to have all county Championships complete in time for the start of the Provincial Championships to start on the weekend of November 21st and 22nd. The AIB All Ireland Club Championship Finals are scheduled for the second weekend of February 2022.
Details have previously been announced for the resumption of league activity in Ladies Football and Camogie is expected to follow shortly.
This is an exciting addition to the sporting calendar with TV and streaming details to follow, especially important given that there is no line of sight yet on a return of spectators.
It has required complex scenario planning to ensure that venues and potential pairings are possible and it is a significant marker that a return to better days is just around the corner.
Sport for Business Partners
