A vote to change, on the back of a Wexford motion, got 57pc, just short of the required 60pc.
Wexford wanted the change because of a clash with the Feile na nGael finals which they are hosting and the impact that would have on their volunteers.
After their All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final win over Laois on Saturday that set up a quarter-final with Clare provisionally fixed for this Saturday, Wexford made the request.
But GAA president Jarlath Burns, who has made hurling a cornerstone of his presidency, has been keen anyway to give greater priority to two of the remaining five games in the hurling championship.
There was strong feedback that the change should be made and that the hurling quarter-finals should be restored to Sunday when Burns met with Munster and Leinster counties earlier in the week in relation to broader football championship change.
Burns is understood to have outlined that position strongly at tonight’s meeting.
The Tailteann Cup semi-finals have enjoyed that Sunday afternoon billing since the competition’s inception in 2022, something that was a selling point to help its establishment. But that preference at the expense of hurling has angered many hurling supporters who feel that Saturday billing for games of the importance of the quarter-finals was not appropriate.
The move drew a reaction from Sligo manager Tony McEntee whose team are playing Down in one of the Tailteann Cup semi-finals. Laois are playing Antrim in the other semi-final.
“The Tailteann Cup is set up in order to try to promote football at these low levels and give a bit of confidence to these teams. To give exposure to them, to help (county) sponsorship and develop the teams,” he said.
“What we have here is an opportunity that seems to have arisen from conversations between provincial councils and the GAA president,” he said. “I’m not sure that is a good way to develop policy.
“While the suggestion is it is due to the Feile na nGael, the Munster and Leinster counties have asked for more profile for hurling and Saturday afternoons is not the highest opportunity for that,” said McEntee.
“We have a sponsor too, we have AbbVie and they would love the profile of a Sunday afternoon. I know our county board has been lobbying them for greater funding on the back of that profile.”
Burns is understood to have communicated by email to Sligo this morning outlining that while the Wexford request is relevant, the fundamental reasons for change are acknowledged too.
With just five games left in the hurling championship, the president is believed to be uncomfortable with two of them going ahead on a Saturday afternoon with a 1.15 throw in for the first one.
That early scheduling is due to RTÉ’s commitment to showing the URC final between Glasgow Warriors and the Bulls after they defeated Leinster and Munster at the weekend.
Burns has made hurling a priority in his three-year term and has suggested that with just five games left, there should be greater priority given.
He also made the point in his communication that when the Tailteann Cup was conceived nobody envisaged such a clash with All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals and that this was the nature of a condensed season which needed to be changed.
McEntee feared change would become permanent. “Once you do it once, you have already belittled it,” he said.
“The problem for the president is he has come in and he wants to support hurling but he wants to support smaller counties. But this is an unnecessary change. It didn’t need to happen.
“Ironically, up until yesterday, Saturday wasn’t available because had Leinster won their URC semi-final, they would have been playing the final in Croke Park on Saturday evening. And this conversation would not have been happening. It happens that Leinster got beaten and the opportunity has come out to swap it.”
The GAA’s Central Competition Controls Committee will confirm the dates and times and dates for all games tomorrow.
