Key changes mooted for 2025 competitions

TYRONE’’s Junior clubs will be spilt into two separate Divisions for the 2025 season as part of the biggest change to the All-County leagues for more than two decades.

A new Division 3B for next season is set to come into effect for next year’s domestic action. It was one of a dozen different recommendations aimed at revamping the fixtures organised by the Tyrone Competitions Control committee.

The changes is set to be implemented following an extensive analysis of this year’s games played in both hurling and football throughout the county. The document was completed by Omagh St Enda’s clubman, Conor Sally, who is the current Fixtures Analyst for the CCC.

The new Division 3A and 3B is set to revamp Junior football in the county and more big changes could also be on the way, There are also suggestions for an increase in the number of starred games played without county players to seven or eight and an rise in the number of points for clubs who win these matches to four for a win and two for a draw.

In addition Mr Sally, proposes the removal of the Division One semi-finals and perhaps the league final. This issue has gained widespread coverage in recent weeks due to the delay caused to the competition by Errigal Ciaran’s prolonged and ultimately successful Ulster Club run that saw them clinch the Seamus MacFerran Cup for the third time.

As a result, there is also a proposal to have all league games completed before the Senior, Intermediate and Junior championships begin.

Mr Sally said the idea of a spilt season allowing six months for club matches and six for the inter-county season doesn’t work in practice.

“November is a month dedicated to a break for county players, except those involved in the provincial club championship, December through to July is dedixted to the inter-county season,” he said.

“This means that the County CCC is left with August, September and October to run off their programme of games. This is simply in my view unacceptable to clubs and counties who have been left with the crumbs from the table.

“The Masters Fixtures plan deems August to October as ‘Club Championshipo months’ working on the basis that counties will play their leagues during the inter-county window, without their county players.”

Mr Sally said that he had made ‘strong representations’ to Fergal McGill, he new GAA President, Jarlath Burns, and the Operations Manager, Fergal McGill from Croke Park when they visited the four provinces earlier in 2024.

“Whether any heed is paid to the representations remains to be seen,” he added.

Mr Sally’s research into Tyrone Fixtures shows that out of 2017 fixtures which were fixed between March and October, almost a thousand remained unplayed.

The worst months saw 319 out of 372 fixtures in month six, 251 unplayed out of 294 in month seven and 317 out of 379 played in month eight.

Conor Sally has now recommended that Tyrone GAA set up a task force to make recommendations to deal with the issue of referees, their every-increasing age, the reduction in the number of referees and recruitment.

He is also recommending that clubs be permitted to select one holiday week per year, rather than the current system where the holiday week is set in stone by the Tyrone CCC.