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Replying To Expertinall: "Fine system, if all provinces are equal. Are they?" Kerry are All Ireland Champions. Louth dethroned the Dubs, probably the greatest ever albeit passed their best. That feat alone is worthy of respect in the all ireland series.
Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 310 - 02/05/2026 20:26:54
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Replying To legendzxix: "1. All Ireland club final players are only back for national league round 5.
2. Any format scrapping the All Ireland quarter finals is removed from reality.
People can dream up formats all they want but if they are removed from reality, this format discussion is going around and around for infinity!" What are you on about ? The suggestion is to move the league to April, May and early June.
JimB1991 (Donegal) - Posts: 160 - 02/05/2026 20:30:06
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Replying To JimB1991: "What are you on about ? The suggestion is to move the league to April, May and early June." All club final players have to have a fair chance of playing in their provincial championship, even if the provincial championships were separate from the All Ireland series.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9699 - 02/05/2026 20:37:00
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Replying To Whammo86: "If the All Ireland quarterfinals have to persist we will always have a limited All Ireland championship that doesn't get going until the end of June. That was one of the big criticisms of the old qualifiers system.
I don't really know why the quarterfinals have to remain, I know they are linked to the 10 year ticket but they played fast and loose with that when they had the super 8, All Ireland quarterfinals they were not really. You could have an arrangement where Croke Park games in the league phase are included in the ticket. People with a ticket could have the option to cancel if they wish, there's no way that the system I've come up with wouldn't be more lucrative and sell-able that the current Frankenstein's monster of a season. That's not the be all and end all of it, really the motivation is just to get the best teams playing one another in the main competition.
The Provincials start later than the league All Ireland club players can play with their counties if they want." The big problem at the moment is Meath lose to Westmeath and Donegal lose to Down without any impact to All Ireland qualification. Make Donegal and Meath have to sweat over a banana skin Qualifier Round 2 a week before All Ireland Round 1.
Regards the Round 2A-2B format coming in this year, it has got to be given a chance. Many club championships are familiar with the format. No dead rubbers.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9699 - 02/05/2026 20:45:51
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Replying To legendzxix: "The big problem at the moment is Meath lose to Westmeath and Donegal lose to Down without any impact to All Ireland qualification. Make Donegal and Meath have to sweat over a banana skin Qualifier Round 2 a week before All Ireland Round 1.
Regards the Round 2A-2B format coming in this year, it has got to be given a chance. Many club championships are familiar with the format. No dead rubbers." Kerry never have to 'sweat' over reaching the All Ireland series.
JimB1991 (Donegal) - Posts: 160 - 02/05/2026 21:34:06
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Replying To legendzxix: "All club final players have to have a fair chance of playing in their provincial championship, even if the provincial championships were separate from the All Ireland series." Terrible arguement. The likes of Wicklow, Leitrim, Antrim realistically would prioritise a division 4 title or Tailteann cup run over the provincials.
If a club from one of these counties reached the All Ireland club final would you be arguing to move division 4 games back to April?
Its this narrow minded elitist mentaility holding back change
JimB1991 (Donegal) - Posts: 160 - 02/05/2026 21:40:40
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Replying To JimB1991: "Terrible arguement. The likes of Wicklow, Leitrim, Antrim realistically would prioritise a division 4 title or Tailteann cup run over the provincials.
If a club from one of these counties reached the All Ireland club final would you be arguing to move division 4 games back to April?
Its this narrow minded elitist mentaility holding back change" Ulster are the biggest supporters of retaining the status quo of the provincial championships. The Ulster championship, like the other scared cows, should be able to stand on their own two feet.
I'd have no problem with the provincials being their own competitions. The four Round 2B losers could go into relegation semi finals. The Tailteann Cup winner could be promoted. Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt. Job done!
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9699 - 02/05/2026 22:33:02
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Replying To legendzxix: "Ulster are the biggest supporters of retaining the status quo of the provincial championships. The Ulster championship, like the other scared cows, should be able to stand on their own two feet.
I'd have no problem with the provincials being their own competitions. The four Round 2B losers could go into relegation semi finals. The Tailteann Cup winner could be promoted. Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt. Job done!" provincials being their own competitions will basically make them pre season competitions whereby managers will select fringe players and small crowds will turn up for those games.
Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3944 - 02/05/2026 22:53:11
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Replying To legendzxix: "Ulster are the biggest supporters of retaining the status quo of the provincial championships. The Ulster championship, like the other scared cows, should be able to stand on their own two feet.
I'd have no problem with the provincials being their own competitions. The four Round 2B losers could go into relegation semi finals. The Tailteann Cup winner could be promoted. Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt. Job done!" There you go with your straw man argument again..
Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 310 - 02/05/2026 23:11:07
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Change is brought to GAA structures in baby steps (except in hurling when they changed to round robin in response to super 8 format).
Football does need change though.
2027
1. Change seeding requirements from all 8 provincial finalist, replace with 4 provinical winners, all ireland champs and rest from league performance. (This will help remove the slow bycicle race at the end of div 1 league).
2. Return tailteann cup to round robin
2028 -
1. Shorten league to covid league, with playoffs.
2. Change provincial championships to U20 format.
2029
1. Teams eliminated from sam maguird plus 4 tailtenn group winners, play for tailteann cup
2. Have teir 3 competition (junior championship) for tailtean cup group 2/3 place teams.
2030
1. 2029 Tailtean cup winners seeded in all ireland
2. 2029 junior winner get auto entry to Sam maguire
tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1785 - 03/05/2026 05:13:32
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Tiered competition structures [ in G.A.A and other sports] work very well. There is promotion and relegation between the tiers. Winning [or placing] in your own tier is the only route for moving up to the next tier. The relegation element is also a very important aspect of a tiered structure as less successful teams strive to avoid dropping down a level.
The Inter county Gaelic Football Championship is an outlier in the G.A.A world [at all levels club + county in male and female competition] as it does not operate a tiered structure.
With the Provincial Championships being linked to the A.I.C. it means that all teams are tier 1. This in turn means no possibility of promotion and relegation. Now the Tailteann Cup is a competition for teams exiting the Provincial Championships up to the finals [and have not qualified for the A.I.C through the League] but it is not a tier 2 competition as such. The winner gets a place in the last 16 of the A.I.C the following season but are a tier 1 team irrespective of winning it or not as are all the other T.C teams. To a great extent that reduces the prestige of the T.C. If it was the only route to tier 1 then that would massively increase its importance as is shown with the hurling tiered structure. Kildare won both the Tailteann Cup and Joe Mcdonagh cup last year. It was clear from watching the after match celebrations that the hurling title was celebrated with way more gusto than than the football one was.
Bottom line is it is not possible to have a true tiered structure with the Provincial Championships as part of the All Ireland Championship. There is unlikely however to be any change in that regard in the immediate future.
While the link continues there surely are better ways than what currently exists of running the Championship. Teams getting to the K.O rounds of the A.I.C will have played varying number of games. Once the Championship commences it should be imperative that all teams play the same amount of games until the K.O rounds are reached. That aim surely is achievable.
Seeding in all the Provincials is one thing that really should be considered. It really is not great where a D3/ D4 team has to beat 1 [or2] other D3/D4 teams to reach a Provincial final and a place in the A.I.C. where they are totally out of their dept and may have had a much more productive season competing in the Tailteann Cup. This is can happen particularly in Munster and Connacht[ and has].Now if any of these D3/D4 teams had actually beaten a team from D1/D2 then it can be said that their place in the A.I.C was deserved .
edu (Mayo) - Posts: 129 - 03/05/2026 05:21:13
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Replying To legendzxix: "The big problem at the moment is Meath lose to Westmeath and Donegal lose to Down without any impact to All Ireland qualification. Make Donegal and Meath have to sweat over a banana skin Qualifier Round 2 a week before All Ireland Round 1.
Regards the Round 2A-2B format coming in this year, it has got to be given a chance. Many club championships are familiar with the format. No dead rubbers." I agree that's a problem.
I don't think your analysis of why it's a problem really goes very deep and as a result doesn't tackle the underlying issue.
The underlying issues are that the season lacks intensity and organisational clarity.
A 16 team All Ireland might be ok but we get down to it to late in the season and as a result there's too many low consequence games.
The lack of clarity is seen in the sequencing of the competitions with the league being played there's very little jeopardy going into the Provincials.
The comparison of the All Ireland 2A and 2B system and club competitions isn't really fair for 2 reasons.
When you include the Provincials teams are getting more than 2 chances.
Inter county competitions are afforded 27 weeks of the year, club championships something like 6 to 8 weeks per code. Club championships are limited in what they can do. That makes it more annoying that the county game isn't making the most out of the time afforded to it.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4656 - 03/05/2026 06:11:08
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"No dead rubbers" should not be a consideration when coming up with championship proposals and I can prove it.
If "No dead rubbers" were applied to the hurling championship the Munster SHC wouldn't persist in its current format.
Hurling get their championship format right by getting the top teams playing games of consequence against one another.
It should be the first principle of coming up with an exciting championship format and it barely registers when this conversation happens, including at National level and in formal channels. It's no surprise then when it doesn't exist in the competitions put in front of us.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4656 - 03/05/2026 06:48:04
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Replying To Tadhg2020: "Kerry are All Ireland Champions. Louth dethroned the Dubs, probably the greatest ever albeit passed their best. That feat alone is worthy of respect in the all ireland series." Why not just answer the question ?
Expertinall (UK) - Posts: 47 - 03/05/2026 12:15:28
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Replying To Expertinall: "Why not just answer the question ?" Whether they are equal or not is a matter of opinion. They are held in equal standing by the Association and that is the opinion that counts. Ulster was the weakest province for many a year. They put in great work to turn that around and now have the strongest. Connacht was considered very weak for years too and they turned that around. Leinster was considered to be very strong and it no longer is. These things go in cycles.
Winning your province should mean a seeding in the All Ireland series in any format.
Tadhg2020 (Limerick) - Posts: 310 - 03/05/2026 13:19:40
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Replying To Gaa_lover: "provincials being their own competitions will basically make them pre season competitions whereby managers will select fringe players and small crowds will turn up for those games." Galway v Roscommon and Kerry v Cork are standalone events. No influence whatsoever on the All Ireland championship. If the finals are standalone events, the championships can be standalone events as well - if the majority agree at Congress.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9699 - 03/05/2026 14:23:22
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If Congress agreed to separate provincials from the All Ireland:
1. League over 6 rounds only.
2. Complete provincial championships over 5 weekends.
3. All Ireland in 4 groups of 5. Tailteann in 2 groups of 6.
Until separating the provincials from the All Ireland is a realistic prospect...
2 qualifying rounds to reduce 24 non finalists to the 7 or 8 league qualifiers is the way forward.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9699 - 03/05/2026 15:13:54
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Replying To Tadhg2020: "Whether they are equal or not is a matter of opinion. They are held in equal standing by the Association and that is the opinion that counts. Ulster was the weakest province for many a year. They put in great work to turn that around and now have the strongest. Connacht was considered very weak for years too and they turned that around. Leinster was considered to be very strong and it no longer is. These things go in cycles.
Winning your province should mean a seeding in the All Ireland series in any format." It isnt a matter of opinion, its a fact that there not fair, the numbers alone confirm that before you even get into the relative strength of the teams.
Beating two hurling counties in Munster should not give you the same seeding as beating 3 or 4 teams in Ulster or Leinster, that shouldn't even be up for debate.
JimB1991 (Donegal) - Posts: 160 - 03/05/2026 15:41:27
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Replying To legendzxix: "If Congress agreed to separate provincials from the All Ireland:
1. League over 6 rounds only.
2. Complete provincial championships over 5 weekends.
3. All Ireland in 4 groups of 5. Tailteann in 2 groups of 6.
Until separating the provincials from the All Ireland is a realistic prospect...
2 qualifying rounds to reduce 24 non finalists to the 7 or 8 league qualifiers is the way forward." 4 groups of 5 would add nothing to the championship. You'd have the same problem of the best teams not meeting one another until the quarterfinals.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4656 - 03/05/2026 17:23:17
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Replying To JimB1991: "It isnt a matter of opinion, its a fact that there not fair, the numbers alone confirm that before you even get into the relative strength of the teams.
Beating two hurling counties in Munster should not give you the same seeding as beating 3 or 4 teams in Ulster or Leinster, that shouldn't even be up for debate." You are dead right but yous have to beat the teams first.Donegal could nt even beat Down who getting trounced by Armagh.Just goes to show how bad Donegal are.Bate by a team that are in the tailteann cup.
brayballer (Wicklow) - Posts: 564 - 03/05/2026 17:26:57
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