By John Harrington

Nine of the 11 Motions on the GAA Special Congress 2023 clár were ratified by delegates in Croke Park today.

The only Motion that was defeated was Motion 1 which proposed to abolish the All-Ireland SHC Preliminary Quarter-Finals.

That would have meant that the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists would no longer have an avenue into the Liam MacCarthy Cup, but it was defeated with 51 per cent of delegates voting against it.

This meant that Motion 2, which proposed to introduce a semi-final in the Joe McDonagh Cup between the teams that finish in second and third place of the round-robin group stage of the competition, was not debated or voted on.

Every other proposed Motion was passed by a majority of delegates.

Motion 3 which proposed to introduce tiered knock-out competitions for the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship was supported by 93 per cent of delegates.

Motion 4, which proposed the introduction of preliminary quarter-finals in the All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship that would involve the third and fourth placed teams in Munster and Leinster was supported by 94 per cent of delegates. This Motion also proposed Galway and Ulster teams as agreed by the Ulster and Leinster Councils would compete in the Leinster Minor Championship.

Motion 5, which proposed allowing provincial council to organise round-robin championships at U-20 level was supported by 95 per cent of delegates.

Motion 6, which proposed that All-Ireland Finals be played on or before the last Sunday in July was supported by 90 per cent of delegates.

Motion 7, which proposed making it mandatory that a county’s Central Council delegate also be a member of the county’s management committee was supported by 97 per cent of delegates.

Motion 8, which proposed allowing a Central Council delegate to serve a second five-year term after a five year period has elapsed following their first term was supported by 88 per cent of delegates.

Motion 9, which proposed achieving and maintaining a gender balance in the membership of the Central Council Management Committee was supported by 79 per cent of delegates.

Motion 10, which proposed reformatting the GAA’s Official Guide so that rules relating to procedures and policies would become the responsibility of Central Council rather than Congress and be known as ‘Codes’ was supported by 86 per cent of delegates.

Motion 11, which proposed that a player must have celebrated his 17th birthday prior to January 1st of the Championship year in order to be eligible to play at adult level, and gave a county committee the flexibility to increase this minimum eligibility for specific competitions or circumstances through a competition regulation was supported by 91 per cent of delegates.