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Clare, Limerick, Tipperary And Waterford Ruining Munster Football And All Ireland Championship?

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Replying To Viking66:  "Agree the League format is way better than the current Football Championship. Essentially what's being proposed here is scrapping the Championship and replacing it with the League. Not a bad idea.
Alternatively another good idea would be a 3 tier Championship like the the ladies have, Senior, Intermediate and Junior, with promotion and relegation between them.
The aims being twofold, increasing the competitiveness and reducing the amount of games over the season as a whole, so less dead rubbers and meaningless games, therefore more interest from the public and better for player welfare."
The 2026 provincial finals will essentially be standalone finals. No added incentive for winning. As I was saying a few months ago, the final step from standalone finals to standalone championships might not be as drastic as it is made out to be. If that brave step is to be taken, might require a good old 3 year trial.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9118 - 11/08/2025 12:07:13    2631069

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Replying To legendzxix:  "Clare have beaten Waterford and Tipperary over the last two years to take the place of a higher league opponent. Down were denied an All Ireland place in 2024 and Offaly were denied an All Ireland place in 2025.
With provincial finalists currently qualifying for the All Ireland series, arguably all provinces should have their top 2 ranked counties on either side of their draw.
A few years ago Sligo beat London and New York to qualify for the All-Ireland. Meath lost out then on that occasion despite remaining in Division 2!"
I agree. Munster and Leinster can keep their seedlings and additionally keep the top two League teams in opposite halves of the draw. In fact, why couldn't Munster keep its current seeding format (giving Kerry and Clare byes to the semifinals) and also say keep Kerry and Cork in different halves of the draw?

By the way, if Munster never changed its seeding structure, there's still a 1 in 3 chance of a Kerry-Clare semifinal, a 2 in 3 chance of Kerry and Cork (or any other named team) being in opposite halves of the draw. So I think it's nonsense.

By the way, here are the reasons why we haven't had a Kerry-Cork final since 2021:
2022: Drawn together in the semifinals
2023: Cork lost to Clare in round 1; they were in the other half of the draw to Kerry
2024: Same side of the draw
2025: Same side of the draw
Cork ending up in the 2024 semifinal (and not final) against Kerry was on merit, and the (bad) luck of the draw.

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1218 - 11/08/2025 16:57:32    2631170

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'Deeply disappointed' Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford squads have met to discuss the seeding of 2026 Munster SFC draw.
Their frustrations are understandable on some level but the whole the league has a fair ranking 1 to 32 and how they can improve their respective league rankings needs to be reflected on as well. The All Ireland championship should be a tough championship for obvious reasons.
Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford need to improve their league ranking if they want to be better prepared for Munster finals and the All Ireland championship. They are only codding themselves otherwise.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9118 - 11/08/2025 19:13:07    2631198

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I wonder could the four counties decide to just leave cork/Kerry have the Munster final..let the 4 battle away in league and tailteann..it looks like Munster want a final crowd boom every 2nd year in Killarney because even cork supporters don't go to home matches in last few years..I know it's my own county who seem to have voted in this seeding thing.. in my opinion what our county board and Munster delegates did was a complete disgrace..the silence from them is frightening..

CTGAA10 (Limerick) - Posts: 2584 - 11/08/2025 21:12:08    2631209

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Seeding Munster football was never a big issue before provincial finalists earned a place in the Sam Maguire Cup. In a province that is dedicated to hurling, that's not equitable compared to what similar standard teams like Antrim, Fermanagh, Wexford or Laois must do to get to a provincial final.
They four weaker Munster counties all want to avoid a Kerry but the reality is that even in an open draw they have a 50/50 chance of meeting the Kingdom.
In Leinster the previous year's semifinalists are seeded. Perhaps seeded the previous year's Munster finalists would be better. Most years it'll be a Cork Kerry final as the likes of Clare will only beat Cork once every six attempts.

49erroyal (Meath) - Posts: 71 - 11/08/2025 22:14:54    2631229

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Replying To 49erroyal:  "Seeding Munster football was never a big issue before provincial finalists earned a place in the Sam Maguire Cup. In a province that is dedicated to hurling, that's not equitable compared to what similar standard teams like Antrim, Fermanagh, Wexford or Laois must do to get to a provincial final.
They four weaker Munster counties all want to avoid a Kerry but the reality is that even in an open draw they have a 50/50 chance of meeting the Kingdom.
In Leinster the previous year's semifinalists are seeded. Perhaps seeded the previous year's Munster finalists would be better. Most years it'll be a Cork Kerry final as the likes of Clare will only beat Cork once every six attempts."
Seeding was removed at the beginning of the 1991 season. The result was instant:

1991 Limerick Munster finalists
1992 Clare Munster champions
1994 Tipperary Munster finalists

The game has moved on and perhaps a different approach is needed. If the GAA are going to use the NFL positions to seed teams then just use that to pit the other 4 against each other in the Munster Quarter finals. But to be fair, then shouldn't that be done for all provinces too?

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6535 - 11/08/2025 23:00:46    2631248

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But hang on everybody. "Munster Council have accepted a proposal that the top two teams from the southern province in the previous year's Allianz Football League will be seeded." Accepted from whom? Who's been making proposals like this? And did the other four county boards go along with it? How? Why?

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1218 - 12/08/2025 14:31:02    2631430

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Replying To slayer:  "Seeding was removed at the beginning of the 1991 season. The result was instant:

1991 Limerick Munster finalists
1992 Clare Munster champions
1994 Tipperary Munster finalists

The game has moved on and perhaps a different approach is needed. If the GAA are going to use the NFL positions to seed teams then just use that to pit the other 4 against each other in the Munster Quarter finals. But to be fair, then shouldn't that be done for all provinces too?"
The provincial councils run their own championships. I think the only thing set out is that they can't use a round robin, or at least it was anyway.
If the Munster seeding is seen as a positive move, possibly other provinces might consider it. There is something fair that the top 2 from each province would be on either side of the draw. Clare didn't attract a big crowd to Ennis for beating a lower league rival to make the 2024 Munster final. If they had beaten Cork to make the final, it would have the respect of their own people.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9118 - 13/08/2025 20:59:14    2631755

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