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New Format 2026 All Ireland

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AIC QF Draw Restrictions:
No Armagh v Donegal/Galway/Dublin
No Donegal v Tyrone
No Kerry v Meath

Given restrictions, pairings will be:
Armagh v Kerry
Donegal v Meath or Monaghan
Tyrone v Galway or Kerry or Dublin
Monaghan v Dublin or Galway or Donegal
Galway v Meath or Monaghan or Tyrone
Dublin v Meath or Monaghan or Tyrone
Meath v Dublin or Galway or Donegal

After simply keeping Armagh and Kerry out of the draw,
I can see the other restrictions potentially causing chaos during the draw.
The big one -
If Pot 1 comes out as Meath, Monaghan, Tyrone
and then Pot 2 as Galway, Dublin, Donegal.

If Donegal comes out so late, how do you 'reserve' Meath or Monaghan early?
Does Galway play Meath which makes Monaghan play Donegal? or
Do you 'reserve both' = Galway plays Tyrone;
Dublin plays Meath; and Donegal plays Monaghan?

The cleanest way might be to put Meath & Monaghan in a 'mini pot' - draw one to play Donegal - and then add Tyrone to the one left to determine the remaining 2 QFs.
Without aid of a computer, a manual draw needs to be conducted carefully - I'm sure they'll get it right :)

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3308 - 22/06/2025 19:05:03    2619962

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Whatever happens going forward with structures, I think a big flaw still lies in the league being used for seeding. After their very positive championship this year, Down are likely to not qualify for the Sam Maguire next season. Something definitely wrong with that.

Ciaran359 (Galway) - Posts: 32 - 23/06/2025 14:13:31    2620314

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Replying To Ciaran359:  "Whatever happens going forward with structures, I think a big flaw still lies in the league being used for seeding. After their very positive championship this year, Down are likely to not qualify for the Sam Maguire next season. Something definitely wrong with that."
100%

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4586 - 23/06/2025 16:55:40    2620417

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Replying To Ciaran359:  "Whatever happens going forward with structures, I think a big flaw still lies in the league being used for seeding. After their very positive championship this year, Down are likely to not qualify for the Sam Maguire next season. Something definitely wrong with that."
One rule for Down!?
If they're that good they'll sail back up to D2.

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 2463 - 23/06/2025 17:17:11    2620435

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Replying To Whammo86:  "100%"
Fair point.
So should the 'Sam QF 8' and TC Champ qualify for next year's Sam, along with next year's Prov Champs and league top teams to complete the 16?

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3308 - 23/06/2025 20:00:11    2620496

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Replying To Seanfanbocht:  "One rule for Down!?
If they're that good they'll sail back up to D2."
Not at all the point being made. Championship performance should be what decides qualification for next season. Even if they get back to D2, they're not guaranteed a Sam Maguire spot. We should be rewarding good championship performances.

Ciaran359 (Galway) - Posts: 32 - 24/06/2025 08:34:47    2620534

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Replying To Ciaran359:  "Whatever happens going forward with structures, I think a big flaw still lies in the league being used for seeding. After their very positive championship this year, Down are likely to not qualify for the Sam Maguire next season. Something definitely wrong with that."
Using the league for seeding qualifying rounds would be a solution there. Up to counties really to push for a change like that.
Q1
5 byes
9 seeded v 9 unseeded, separate draw for home advantage.
Q2
7 seeded v 7 unseeded, separate draw for home advantage.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8969 - 24/06/2025 09:13:57    2620543

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Cant't wait to be 5 minutes into next years championship and there will be calls for change again.

trimmer (Meath) - Posts: 552 - 24/06/2025 11:45:55    2620621

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Replying To trimmer:  "Cant't wait to be 5 minutes into next years championship and there will be calls for change again."
Especially if some big team gets knocked out in Round 2B!!

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 2463 - 24/06/2025 12:57:50    2620664

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Replying To trimmer:  "Cant't wait to be 5 minutes into next years championship and there will be calls for change again."
Calls have started already -
No one wanted more games last year when the football was dire.
Now the football is good - we all want more games.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1463 - 24/06/2025 13:50:28    2620685

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Replying To trimmer:  "Cant't wait to be 5 minutes into next years championship and there will be calls for change again."
And there should be. It is madness. We have a great system and they are binning it.

ORIELMAN85 (Monaghan) - Posts: 648 - 24/06/2025 13:52:49    2620688

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Replying To Seanfanbocht:  "Especially if some big team gets knocked out in Round 2B!!"
3 provincial winners lost in Round 1 this year. 2 of those clash in Round 2B will have a provincial winner exiting early.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8969 - 24/06/2025 14:19:12    2620699

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Replying To ORIELMAN85:  "And there should be. It is madness. We have a great system and they are binning it."
I agree. It's crazy to change a format so quickly. The pure knock-out format was there for well over one hundred years, the qualifiers for close to twenty with small tweaks along the way. This one has been in place for only three years and it's being altered already. It should be given at least a decade to produce a meaningful set of outcomes on which to base any judgement.
The strong call was for more games for teams at this time of year and now they are reducing it.

CeachtPeile (Cavan) - Posts: 157 - 24/06/2025 14:31:37    2620706

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Replying To CeachtPeile:  "I agree. It's crazy to change a format so quickly. The pure knock-out format was there for well over one hundred years, the qualifiers for close to twenty with small tweaks along the way. This one has been in place for only three years and it's being altered already. It should be given at least a decade to produce a meaningful set of outcomes on which to base any judgement.
The strong call was for more games for teams at this time of year and now they are reducing it."
An argument can be made for reducing game count in the overall inter-county season, if the split season is retained.
I agree that more games should be played in June/July - but with maybe less in Feb/Mar.

The Munster SHC works great - so maybe the SFC should have groups with '3 of 5' advancing too.
Or, make it 'two groups of 6' for Sam - but like rugby's EPCR - keep it at 4 games, 2 at home/2 away.

Tier 2 dozen could operate the same.

A new Tier 3 could be the 'lowest 8' (4v4 crossover) with 'top 5 of 8' joining the 6 Tier 2 'non qualifiers' in a KO 11 (5 byes split between Tier 2 & 3).

Options, options....

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3308 - 24/06/2025 15:29:08    2620736

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Replying To CeachtPeile:  "I agree. It's crazy to change a format so quickly. The pure knock-out format was there for well over one hundred years, the qualifiers for close to twenty with small tweaks along the way. This one has been in place for only three years and it's being altered already. It should be given at least a decade to produce a meaningful set of outcomes on which to base any judgement.
The strong call was for more games for teams at this time of year and now they are reducing it."
HQ panicked when 11k turned up for a Dublin match (v Ros) in Croke Park.
A new sheriff in Town, Jarlath, went on a rant about group systems, blunt instruments etc, media started rubbishing the Group system.
Then HQ magicically fired out 4 new proposals saying 1 of them was their preferred option and asked the Counties to say which they preferred.

They originally intended to bring it in for 2025 but some persons in the CC got it put back to 2026.

I'd prefer the current system to be kept, with tweaks perhaps, as it gives every County a certainty of schedules and then let the best of them tear away at the knockout series.

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 2463 - 24/06/2025 15:57:37    2620752

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If next years system was applied this year

The round 2B losers would have been Mayo, Roscommon, Clare and Derry/Galway would have had to go to extra time
The automatic q finalists would have been: Tyrone, Meath, Monaghan and Armagh.

The games that would go missing were: Tyrone V Mayo, Cavan v Donegal (19 point beating), Roscommon v Meath, Cork v Kerry (11 point beating), Down V Louth, Monaghan v Clare (9 point beating), Galway v Armagh, Derry v Dublin

So we are losing 3 poor matches, 3 good matches and 2 great matches to end up in the same place

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1463 - 24/06/2025 16:01:40    2620753

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One round had to be removed from the current league and championship scheduling. The All Ireland losing a round and Allianz league finals retained won out.
Groups of 4 with 2 advancing and Round 1 winners playing in Round 2 still had the possibility of a dead rubber in Round 3, that being a team already qualified on 2 wins and a team already eliminated after 2 losses. The format chosen without any dead rubbers won out.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8969 - 24/06/2025 20:48:55    2620814

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