AT GAA Congress this weekend, most of the interest will centre on the two motions concerning the length of the inter-county playing season.

Concern has been expressed at moving the All-Ireland finals from their traditional spots in early September to the end of July, which was part of the overall plan to split the intercounty and the club seasons.

Now only a single week between the finals means there is little time to celebrate the hurling final before publicity for the football final begins the same week. It is also felt that the concession of August and half of September to other codes is not a wise move for the GAA.

Motion 8 proposes a 30-week inter-county season, the only exception being the replay of the All-Ireland hurling final, while Motion 17 proposes that the All-Ireland hurling and football finals would take place on either side of the August bank holiday, two weeks between the finals. However, that means if both motions were passed, the month of January would be cut from the inter-county season and the present pre-season tournaments would be done away with.

Following a county board meeting last week during which the various motions were discussed, the delegates voted to oppose both motions: moving the All-Ireland finals back or confining the inter-county season to exactly 30 weeks.

Even though CEO Kevin O’Donovan, who was on the sub-committee that proposed moving the finals back a week or two, pointed out that the move would really only apply to Cork hurlers at present and would only take a week off the club season, the delegates, especially from dual clubs, were reluctant to shave any time off the present club season.

The county board delegates voted for a motion that would end the participation of the Joe McDonagh Cup, second tier hurling, finalists in the Liam McCarthy Cup championship. Hitherto, the finalists played the third-placed teams from the Munster and Leinster championships in two preliminary quarter-finals, but under the proposed motion, the third-placed team from Munster would play the runner-up from Leinster and vice-versa.

Cork will also support a motion to have replays in the case of the Munster football final being drawn but this would not apply to the hurling final as such was not sought by the hurling fraternity.

Taking the minor finals out of Croke Park as curtain-raisers to senior finals has caused a stir in recent seasons and Cork will support a motion to have the minor finals restored as curtain-raisers on final day..

A motion that would affect hurling proposes that any dissent in a hurling game be penalised by bringing the free forward by 30 metres. Although Cork will support the motion there was apprehension that the 30 metres could stretch just like the 50 metres in football.

Again, in hurling, it is proposed that any abusive or threatening behaviour to a referee or official, including before the game or at half time, be penalised with a 20-metre free in front of goal. Any misconduct by team officials would also be penalised with a 20-metre free.

It is also proposed, in hurling, that at U18 and lower age groups a black card be introduced for dissent, with the offender going to the sin bin for ten minutes, with a sub being allowed to take his place.

Cork will oppose a motion that proposes to reduce the age at which a player becomes tied to a club from 12 years to ten years. It was pointed out that there are no official competitive games at U10 level in Cork and therefore it would be impossible to implement the change.

Cork will also oppose a motion from Clontarf that has received a great deal of publicity, proposing that a player must have played eight games (championship or league) with his club the previous year to be eligible for selection on the county team. It was pointed out that this rule could be abused in several ways, especially putting players on for a couple of minutes in a club game and then bringing them off again.

Apart from the discussion on the motions for Congress the county board meeting also contained some interesting items of concern to all clubs. The Rebel Bounty draw scheme is in its third year of a three-year cycle and will be up for major review at the end of the year. As a result, the good news for clubs is that the present quotas for clubs are frozen for 2026.

All applications for transfers were granted, bar two. One of those was the transfer of Colm O’Driscoll from Tadhg MacCárthaigh to O’Donovan Rossa because the change of address was deemed unsatisfactory and not within the Skibbereen catchment area. However, it was pointed out by the O’Donovan Rossa delegate that the player will have been idle for 96 weeks by July and he will then be eligible for a transfer anyway.

There were seven applications for loans for club developments and one of these was from Castlehaven for work on their main pitch. All seven were granted.