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Meeting last night was so set up. First the county board were asked by 95% of the clubs in January not to change the structure. So what did they do only bring another proposal to the clubs, knowing that it would be a fight out between the A group teams and the B group teams. And then to add insult the chairperson told the 17 members from management to vote for the new format. Last night was an insult to the delegates that attended for their clubs and if the country board expect these clubs to support them in the future fundraising, well don't be surprised if they don't.
CHAMPS (Westmeath) - Posts: 49 - 13/02/2026 10:19:14
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Replying To Westmeath25: "Fair play to TUS and all the Westmeath players last night on winning an All Ireland Freshers title! Some real talent on that team and Shane Corcoran MOTM was very impressive!" Fair play historuc win.
Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1184 - 13/02/2026 10:41:36
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Replying To Temple56: "Absolute shambles.
After a vote this evening, where the county board delegate held the majority our championship format has been changed. I genuinely can't believe it.
Under the new structure, the 9th-ranked team overall will qualify for the quarter-finals by coming through a group while the 4th-ranked team in the championship will be knocked out. You could easily see a situation where Lomans finish 4th in Group A after facing top sides like The Downs, Shamrocks, Kinnegad and Garrycastle, while Kilcucan finish 3rd in Group B after playing teams like Moate, Tang, Athlone and Tubberclair.
How is that fair?
Not a single player I've spoken to wants this change. Can someone explain why this was pushed through and what the reasoning is? It's a real kick in the teeth for players and clubs.
If you believe I'm wrong please let me know and your reasons to why change was needed ????
I'm just fed up! County board finally had something right and then decided actually no we should change it as it's running too well." Is it even helping dual player which was original or supposedly
I know argument leinster wants provincial all done in calendar does that gursntee that either.
Surely better solution than changing structure now which kind of dillutes group stages
Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1184 - 13/02/2026 10:44:31
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Replying To Temple56: "Absolute shambles.
After a vote this evening, where the county board delegate held the majority our championship format has been changed. I genuinely can't believe it.
Under the new structure, the 9th-ranked team overall will qualify for the quarter-finals by coming through a group while the 4th-ranked team in the championship will be knocked out. You could easily see a situation where Lomans finish 4th in Group A after facing top sides like The Downs, Shamrocks, Kinnegad and Garrycastle, while Kilcucan finish 3rd in Group B after playing teams like Moate, Tang, Athlone and Tubberclair.
How is that fair?
Not a single player I've spoken to wants this change. Can someone explain why this was pushed through and what the reasoning is? It's a real kick in the teeth for players and clubs.
If you believe I'm wrong please let me know and your reasons to why change was needed ????
I'm just fed up! County board finally had something right and then decided actually no we should change it as it's running too well." Pure ludicrousness from everyone invloved , not a good start to his tenure as chairman . When you think they can't get anything else wrong they change the only thing that was working !!
Initial reason for changing was to reduce games for dual players … does this reduce games ? NO.
If 3 teams come out of each group , teams should be seeded in some way and then a draw for the two groups.
The top teams shouldn't be punished for being a top Team and the weaker teams shouldn't be rewarded for being a weaker team. Mental stuff but can't say I'm surprised!!
Westmeath213 (Westmeath) - Posts: 347 - 13/02/2026 11:00:02
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Fair play to Westmeath county board for getting rid of one of the few good things we had going. New championship format is ludicrous. What was even the thought process behind this ???
Bluelake (Westmeath) - Posts: 346 - 13/02/2026 11:05:45
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Replying To Westmeath25: "Fair play to TUS and all the Westmeath players last night on winning an All Ireland Freshers title! Some real talent on that team and Shane Corcoran MOTM was very impressive!" The achievements of the Tus Midlands freshers should not be underestimated. Well done to Eoin carberry and his management team and players . It has been a seismic few weeks for football in the county
A_Chairde (Westmeath) - Posts: 370 - 13/02/2026 11:19:22
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Replying To Temple56: "Absolute shambles.
After a vote this evening, where the county board delegate held the majority our championship format has been changed. I genuinely can't believe it.
Under the new structure, the 9th-ranked team overall will qualify for the quarter-finals by coming through a group while the 4th-ranked team in the championship will be knocked out. You could easily see a situation where Lomans finish 4th in Group A after facing top sides like The Downs, Shamrocks, Kinnegad and Garrycastle, while Kilcucan finish 3rd in Group B after playing teams like Moate, Tang, Athlone and Tubberclair.
How is that fair?
Not a single player I've spoken to wants this change. Can someone explain why this was pushed through and what the reasoning is? It's a real kick in the teeth for players and clubs.
If you believe I'm wrong please let me know and your reasons to why change was needed ????
I'm just fed up! County board finally had something right and then decided actually no we should change it as it's running too well." Disgrace. Own goal after own goal scored by the County Board, clear out needed to save Westmeath football.
iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 299 - 13/02/2026 11:22:51
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Replying To 2maroonjerseys: "The structure is rewarding mediocrity, having a so called stronger group and a weaker group. There's no real championship cut and trust to it for want of a better word. As you said if you're in group B it's an easier path to the knockout stages.
It should be the 12 teams open draw 2 groups of 6. League format.
Winners of A play runner up B. Winners of B play runner up A. There's your semi finals and finals.
To add bite and reduce as many dead rubbers have a promotion/relegation semi final and final. Both bottom teams in each group, Team 5 from A play team 6 from B and vise versa. Losers of semi finals play relegation final with the loser going down.
All teams get a minimum of 5 games and a max of seven barring replays. Standard goes up as it becomes more dog eat dog to qualify for semis or avoid relegation playoffs. For example you'd have situations/games where the downs would need to win on the last day to make the semifinal and their opponents eg shamrocks would need the win to avoid relegation playoffs and if shamrocks won stop the downs from reaching the semifinal stage. It would add a bit of spice to every game." A gift to mediocrity is right.I believe a large majority of football clubs voted against this only passes by the unanimity of the board who now expect the clubs to find millions for the COE.
Some hope!
jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1885 - 13/02/2026 12:42:51
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Replying To Westmeath25: "Fair play to TUS and all the Westmeath players last night on winning an All Ireland Freshers title! Some real talent on that team and Shane Corcoran MOTM was very impressive!" Agreed - I thought Keegan was brilliant and Taylor especially was exceptional as well. Really encouraging signs.
Looking forward to the U20 campaign now. It's a tough group though with Dublin and Louth, and Louth only after winning it last year, so it won't be easy.
Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 135 - 13/02/2026 13:49:31
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To be honest it's really a massive disappointment that the structures have changed; it seems utterly unnecessary. At the least a playoff between A4 and B3 for a QF.
I think at Intermediate it's a bigger issue than Senior as the gap is broader; Miltown/Miltownpass/Shandonagh/Malachys won't come out of the group but a Maryland/Ballymore/CFCW/Ballinagore will, there's a massive gap between those teams; at least at Senior there's not as much difference between a Caulry for example and a Tang/Moate/Athlone but the point still stands as the general quality of team is much higher. They wanted structural change which was voted against but I'm not sure what this new structure offers.
Also, our league presumably starts in 7 days and there are no fixtures out, year after year this happens. So many young lads will need to book time off work and can't do so as they don't have a fixture.
OverTheHill85 (Westmeath) - Posts: 230 - 13/02/2026 15:01:31
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