A top GAA official has described the decision to go with inter-county action first in 2021, and to park the Club Championships until late July, as a 'no brainer'.
Central Council has approved a split season draft fixture plan which provides for inter-county activity from February 27/28 - when the National Leagues begin - until July 17/18 - the weekend of the All-Ireland football final - followed by the local club championships.
The interprovincial and All-Ireland club competitions, shelved in 2020 due to the pandemic, will then play out across late autumn and winter.
GAA Director of Player, Club and Games Administration Feargal McGill described it as 'the first time we will have a proper split season', noting that the 2020 model was effectively an inter-county/club/inter-county schedule.
The downside of going with county games first is that the GAA could take another serious financial hit due to the likelihood of reduced attendances prevailing at games until later in the year.
"If we had looked at this purely from a financial point of view, we would have run with club first in the hope that towards the end of next year attendances would be back," said McGill.
"That would have been short sighted because it wouldn't have been in the best interests of 450,000 club players.
"There was certainly a financial temptation there to run with club first but it wouldn't have been the best thing for 450,000 and that has to be our priority.
"I also think if you took a short-term view, you would say there is no guarantee we will be able to play club games in the first quarter of the year anyway. We aren't allowed to play them now.
"That is looking at the short-term, if we look at the long-term, if the GAA are going to bring in a split season and it will be on the agenda for Congress in February, I think the right decision is still to put the county game first.
"A couple of reasons for that; if you ran with the club game first you could end up playing county finals at the end of April, the early part of May, then you have to run the provincial and All-Ireland club championships.
"That would be very early for the flagship team in every club to be finished their activity, we don't think that would have been a good approach.
"There would be less appetite for teams to play in leagues and non-championship competitions once they were eliminated from the county championships.
"The third obvious thing is that if you ran with club first then towards the end of the club season, inter-county training would be eating into the time available for clubs. For all those reasons we think the county first is a no-brainer."
McGill said the fact that some 2020 club championships in various counties still haven't been concluded is a 'festering sore'.
"That was an additional reason for keeping January and February free, that we would be able to hand it to the counties to use it for their 2020 club competitions but unfortunately until restrictions change, those outstanding games can't be played," he said.
The GAA received EUR15m from the government to help organise the 2020 Championships and McGill indicated that further funding is likely to be sought for the 2021 games.
"Yeah, I would think so," he nodded when asked if the GAA will actively seek that. "It would certainly be very helpful. Look, we will find a way, as we always have, of financing the competitions. It would be terrific if the government helped us again but we'll just have to wait and see on that."
2021 ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE
This is a draft proposal of the Divisional groups. There'll be a final decision on the groups in January.
KEY NOTES
* 3 round robin games
* Draw in January to decide home and away arrangements
* Top 2 in each group qualify for semi-finals, followed by final
* Bottom 2 in each group qualify for relegation semi-finals. Losers of relegation semi-finals are relegated
* Bottom teams in Division 4 qualify for Shield semi-finals and final, a mechanism to ensure extra games
Allianz National Football League
Division 1 North
Monaghan
Tyrone
Armagh
Donegal
Division 1 South
Dublin
Galway
Roscommon
Kerry
Division 2 North
Meath
Mayo
Westmeath
Down
Division 2 South
Cork
Laois
Clare
Kildare
Division 3 North
Cavan
Fermanagh
Derry
Longford
Division 3 South
Tipperary
Offaly
Limerick
Wicklow
Division 4 North
Antrim
Louth
Leitrim
Sligo
Division 4 South
Carlow
Wexford
Waterford
London (if permitted to compete)
2021 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
· Provincial knock-out Championships with back-door qualifier system and Tailteann Cup
· No Round Robin quarter finals
· New York NOT involved in Connacht Championship as this will take place in early April and impossible to plan for this currently – decision on their participation in Tailteann Cup to be made subject to restrictions (Tailteann date if they are involved is 16 May)
· Round 1 of Qualifiers (if required) to be limited to teams that did not make their provincial semi-finals
· London participation to be a matter for Connacht Council based on restrictions (date is 17/18 April if they are to be involved)
2021 LIAM McCARTHY CUP
Provincial knock-out Championships with back-door qualifier system (as in 2020) but with introduction of relegation to McDonagh Cup
· Munster – Limerick, Waterford, Tipperary, Clare, Cork
· Leinster – Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford, Dublin, Laois, Antrim
o There will be 11 teams in Liam Mac Carthy in 2021 - there will be a preliminary round in the qualifiers between the two defeated Quarter final teams.
o Winners progress to Qualifiers Rd 1 – Losers to McDonagh Cup 2022