Mayo GAA leagues to be revamped

Edwin McGreal

THE Competitions Control Committee (CCC) of the Mayo GAA Board are set to review the the county’s senior football league structures in the coming weeks.
Mayo GAA CCC chairman, Seamus Tuohy, told The Mayo News last night that members of his committee will meet with Mayo GAA clubs in the near future to discuss possible changes for the 2018 season.
“With the new ‘Super 8s’ at national level next year, it’s an opportunity for us to look at our own leagues. They have been the same format for a while.
“Especially with Mayo playing in the Qualifiers in recent years, eleven league games as things currently stand is possibly too many,” Tuohy told The Mayo News.
The Breaffy clubman also said that the CCC would be ‘happy to listen to all proposals’ that clubs may have relating to possible structure changes.
Ballyhaunis GAA club have already submitted a motion for next month’s Mayo GAA Convention with their own proposal to revamp the senior leagues for next season.
The East Mayo club are proposing that there will be a sixteen-team Division 1, comprised of the 12 teams in Division 1A in 2017, together with the top four teams in Division 1B.
Division 2 would comprise the bottom eight teams in this year’s Division 1B and the top eight teams in Division 1C and so on.
These divisions would be split into two groups of eight. The top four teams in each group would play quarter-finals, the winners progress into semi-finals and, subsequently, into a league final.
At the other end, the bottom four teams in each division would go into relegation play-offs. Relegation quarter finals would be played. The losers would go into two semi-finals and the two losers would be relegated.
This year’s Mayo GAA Convention, which is hosted by the West Mayo Board, takes place on Sunday, December 10 in Hotel Westport.