Both the Munster and Leinster hurling finals will take place on July 1 next year.

The GAA published its Master Fixtures plan this afternoon and some very interesting issues have arose.

The Munster football final will take place on a Saturday evening in 2018. It has been given a 7pm throw-in time on June 23.

The entire Munster championship will run off in 35 days, while the Munster hurling campaign will take 42 days.

There will be a one-week gap between the end of the Super 8s and the All-Ireland football semi-finals.

Hurling purists may not like the fact that the league final will take place under lights on March 24.

If Tipperary and Kilkenny were to meet in the Allianz Hurling League final, that game would take place in Nowlan Park (due to an arrangement between the two Counties). In that scenario, the Hurling League final would take place on the Sunday.

Both the hurling and football leagues will begin on January 28. As a result, only the Division One and Two football finals will take place in April on Sunday, April 1.

On playing the Munster and Leinster finals on the one day, the GAA said: "In order to avoid a “6 day turnaround” in the football championship, the necessity of playing the Munster and Leinster Hurling finals on the same day had to be considered.

"This had never been done before as C.C.C.C and the provinces had always sought to maximise our opportunities to promote hurling in the context of a championship (before the recent changes agreed) that had very few high profile games in the early part of the season. However, given the huge number of high profile hurling games that will be staged in the provinces in 2018, we do not see the same issues arising as might have in previous years had such a proposal been floated."

Online Editors