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Man Utd V Leeds Utd - Croke Park

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "@Viking66 - 2014 is actually a perfect example of how the current split season prevents that sort of thing from happening now.

Main reason our club championships ran a little late that year was due to our U21 hurlers reaching the All-Ireland Final in the middle of September. With so many of them playing in the adult club championships and so many of them being dual players, both our club hurling and football championships had to work around them.

The football wasn't helped either by how the Senior Hurling Final (Shelmaliers v St. Anne's) ended in a draw and how the same two teams were due to meet in a Senior Football semi-final the following week. If the football had proceeded as planned, it would have meant football semi-final then, football final the following Saturday, winners playing in Leinster the next day, and hurling replay not taking place in time for Leinster at all.

Fixtures committee of the time decided that the lesser of two evils was to have the hurling replay when the football semi-finals should have been played. Basically, we were going to be without a representative in Leinster in either hurling or football, and they decided it was in our better interests to have somebody in hurling.

But again, main reason for it was we lost a number of weekends in August & September for club championship action due to a county team still going strong. The split season means that couldn't happen now."
Agree 100% the split season is so much better than what we had.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20625 - 01/09/2026 14:57:47    2692311

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The split season has made a massive difference to clubs in Galway and I can confirm that first hand. We've had 3 rounds of the football championship and all senior and intermediate groups finished by the end of August. Games played on brilliant pitches in very good weather for the most part. Never mind when a county final is played, they're often extended so there isn't too much of a gap to the provincial campaign.
What matters is that the majority of club championship matches and the majority of players of our Gaelic games have certainty on when they're playing and are playing most of their matches in good weather and good surfaces at the end of the summer.
If the All-Ireland football final was still the 3rd Sunday in September, we'd be into October before we could even start. The players don't want that, yet some people still can't understand it.
Galway were in the All-Ireland hurling final this year, yet we have 2 rounds played already and the final round of group matches is next weekend."
Are players happy to be training for 6 months of the year with no meaningful games( bar all county league which are of little interest), then a glut of matches in a short time frame?
That adds to the risk of injury, and a hamstring or broken finger in the condensed season means a player will probably miss the whole championship.

richiepmurphy (Kilkenny) - Posts: 161 - 02/09/2026 13:44:22    2692404

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "In fairness, I think Barney may have been referring to the start of the Premier League in general, rather than specifically the Man United v Leeds match.

But I'll ask him:

If Limerick had been playing Galway in the Hurling Final on the first Sunday of September this year, how many kids outside of those counties would have been jabbering about that rather than Arsenal v Chelsea or Everton v Man United on the same day?

Or if the Football Final had been the following Sunday, how many outside of Kerry and Mayo would have been talking about it more than the Manchester derby that day, or the Liverpool or Arsenal matches that weekend?"
Are you serious? You don't think mayo winning the all Ireland would have captured the imagination of kids any less if it was in September?
They would have been discussing it in school with their friends and teachers and pretending to be kobe or Clifford at lunchtime.
Id say yes an all Ireland final would be bigger than a random Premier league game, assuming they were fans of all sports as most kids are nowadays anyway. They have all the jerseys, whether its man utd ,arsenal, kerry or mayo etc

richiepmurphy (Kilkenny) - Posts: 161 - 02/09/2026 13:51:58    2692410

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PREDICTIONS FOR MONAGHAN sfc THIS WEEKEND

Gaeil Triucha Clg

Magheracloone GFC... truagh +2


Cremartin

Clontibret O'Neills...cremartin +4


Scotstown

Inniskeen...scotstown+ 6



Latton O'Rahilly GAA Club

Corduff.....latton +2

monaghanmad4567 (Monaghan) - Posts: 43 - 02/09/2026 14:01:53    2692412

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Replying To richiepmurphy:  "Are you serious? You don't think mayo winning the all Ireland would have captured the imagination of kids any less if it was in September?
They would have been discussing it in school with their friends and teachers and pretending to be kobe or Clifford at lunchtime.
Id say yes an all Ireland final would be bigger than a random Premier league game, assuming they were fans of all sports as most kids are nowadays anyway. They have all the jerseys, whether its man utd ,arsenal, kerry or mayo etc"
I was talking about the days leading up to a final, rather than the days after it. And Mayo winning football this year, and the excitement it caused, was obviously a once-off anyway.

I'd still maintain that on your typical Saturday before your typical final, your average Liverpool or Arsenal or Man United supporting child in Kilkenny or Wexford or anywhere else outside the two counties actually in the football final would still more interested in how that soccer team was getting on that day, rather than what might happen in Croke Park the next day.

And while we were all obviously delighted that Mayo won this year, there'd have only been a fraction as much about the result if it had gone the other way. Yet another title for Kerry. Yet another defeat for Mayo. Ho hum. Next. Would children have been talking about as much in school on the Monday as they would have been about however Liverpool or United got on that weekend? I don't think so.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3968 - 02/09/2026 15:42:23    2692432

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Replying To richiepmurphy:  "Are players happy to be training for 6 months of the year with no meaningful games( bar all county league which are of little interest), then a glut of matches in a short time frame?
That adds to the risk of injury, and a hamstring or broken finger in the condensed season means a player will probably miss the whole championship."
Clearly they are much happier with the new format. Player surveys and the response to the withdrawn proposal at Congress this year are strong evidence of this.
League matches are of relevance to players who aren't involved in county setups. Lads who are fighting for a place on the team. It's also a great place for introducing new players and getting them ready for championship. They have regular league matches while the intercounty championship is on.
They then have access to their county players for the championship.
I can tell you as a player, I'd much prefer to have a championship match every 2 weeks, as is now the case, as opposed to one every few months, as was the case at times under the old system, often without knowing when your next game might be. Endless trainings in between.
I'd like to hear your alternative to the current structure, if you have a better one.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 3036 - 02/09/2026 15:46:30    2692434

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Replying To richiepmurphy:  "Are you serious? You don't think mayo winning the all Ireland would have captured the imagination of kids any less if it was in September?
They would have been discussing it in school with their friends and teachers and pretending to be kobe or Clifford at lunchtime.
Id say yes an all Ireland final would be bigger than a random Premier league game, assuming they were fans of all sports as most kids are nowadays anyway. They have all the jerseys, whether its man utd ,arsenal, kerry or mayo etc"
I think you are overestimating the interest alot of younger children have in GAA players not from their county. Ive brought some of mine to AI finals not involving us, obviously!!!!, and the only player my eldest could name was Tony Kelly, and that probably because he got his picture taken with him a few years ago.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20625 - 02/09/2026 16:38:01    2692440

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I can't believe there are people involved in Gaelic games that want to go back to the fixture chaos and nonsense that we had before the split season.

Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 907 - 02/09/2026 16:38:42    2692441

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Replying To Seanfan:  "I can't believe there are people involved in Gaelic games that want to go back to the fixture chaos and nonsense that we had before the split season."
I reckon you'd have to look hard to find many people actually involved in the games who want to go back to that, if you know what I mean ;)

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3968 - 02/09/2026 16:52:17    2692442

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