The conclusion of the 2017 John Gaffney Memorial has had a major effect on the updated National Men's 40x20 Rankings.
Armagh's Charly Shanks holds on to top spot after his semi-final placing in Mayo, but has in fact extended his lead to 14pts over Robbie McCarthy. McCarthy is of course the reigning All-Ireland Champion for the last three consecutive years, but having been forced to miss out on several tournaments due to work commitments, he has been unable to reign Shanks in on the rankings.
Winner last weekend, Cork's Killian Carroll has actually dropped to #7, with the 2014 Irish Nationals, which Carroll won, now falling outside the two year limit. Carroll missed a big chunk of the 2016 season which has had an impact on his ranking. Martin Mulkerrins has closed the gap to McCarthy in second to just 3pts after reaching the Gaffney Final, but holds a significant lead to CJ Fitzpatrick in 4th.
Similar to Killian, 2014 All-Ireland Finalist Diarmuid Nash has fallen to 13th after missing the entire 2016 season with work commitments, notably due to the 2014 Nationals where Nash reached the final falling off the list.
Next up is the All-Ireland Championships, where the Ranking List will be used for seeding purposes. Last years format whereby the Provincial champions receive a bye into the QF's does not apply to the 2017 Championship. Details of entry forms to follow.
Note:
- Rankings based over a two year period
- If players are tied on points, priority will be given on the below basis starting with point one;
1) Most points from key events; All-Ireland Championships (1), Irish Nationals (2), etc.
2) The player who has played the least number of events to gain their points total
3) The highest number of points gathered from a single event