All-Ireland football final staying in July

Dublin's David Byrne and Lee Gannon celebrate with the Sam Maguire Cup. ©INPHO/Evan Treacy.

A proposal to move next year’s All-Ireland football final back a week to the first weekend of August was defeated at last Saturday’s Central Council meeting.

It means that football’s showpiece game will remain in July and that the Allianz Leagues will commence at the end of January, with the divisional finals to be played at the end of March.

The Championship will begin on the weekend of April 6/7 and the All-Ireland football final will round the season off at the end of July. Central Council will now bring a motion to Special Congress proposing that that all All-Ireland finals be played by week 30 of the inter-county season.

The proposal to add a week to the inter-county calendar by extending the date for the All-Ireland football final to the first weekend in August received just 32% of votes.