Castlehaven oppose the new proposal for a radical championship format

CASTLEHAVEN, one of the clubs that would be adversely affected if a proposal to play some championship games without inter-county players is passed, have given the thumbs down to that idea.

A number of proposals are before a delegate meeting of the County Board tonight which would change the structure and scheduling of the county championships. The most controversial of these would see clubs without their star players for two of five round-robin matches during the summer months.

All the clubs in the county are entitled to vote on the various proposals but Castlehaven will not be rowing in behind proposal C.

If that came to pass the West Cork outfit could find themselves without key players like Mark Collins, Damien Cahalane and the Hurley brothers, Brian and Michael.

A spokesperson for the club told The Echo their inter-county players want to be playing all championship games and as a result they will oppose it.

Douglas have already come out strongly against it as well, the southside unit have the highest number of Cork players, including Seán Powter, Kevin Flahive, Nathan Walsh, Eoin and Alan Cadogan, Shane Kingston and Mark Collins, who plays hurling with the club and football for the Haven.

Many clubs didn’t meet until last night to determine which proposal they would vote for, including Midleton, St Finbarr’s, Nemo Rangers, Bride Rovers and Killeagh.

Delegates will be asked to vote on what grading system should be applied as the tiers are split into four equal levels of 12 teams each.

This means there will be two senior and two intermediate grades, replacing the current set-up of senior, premier intermediate and intermediate.

As there are currently 61 hurling teams and 53 football teams above the junior ranks in Cork GAA, with four new tiers, 13 teams will drop back to hurling in 2020 and five in football.