National Forum

Club Football Championships - General Discussion

(Oldest Posts First)

Dr Crokes seem to be on track for another Senior Club Championship title. Up to Na Gaeil as challengers to cause an upset.
The intermediate final is gaining more publicity. Certain brothers in the Fossa ranks are box office. An Ghaeltacht have a few sets of brothers who've been playing well. Suits An Ghaeltacht that all the focus is on Fossa.
A great Sunday double header lined up.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9187 - 11/09/2025 14:48:08    2635732

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Crokes won as expected. Na Gaeil had a bit of a late rally but Crokes were comfortable for the majority of the contest.
An Ghaeltacht deservedly won the intermediate final. Brian Ó Beaglaoich outstanding.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9187 - 15/09/2025 16:02:13    2636299

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you should be posting this in the Kerry group. The only relevance to the rest of us is that An Gaeltacht will now be favorites for the All Ireland intermediate championship on account of being the 9th best club in the most successful football county in the country. Off they march to beat the 13th best team in Limerick (Hurling county) to get to a provincial final.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1600 - 16/09/2025 09:17:25    2636379

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Replying To tirawleybaron:  "you should be posting this in the Kerry group. The only relevance to the rest of us is that An Gaeltacht will now be favorites for the All Ireland intermediate championship on account of being the 9th best club in the most successful football county in the country. Off they march to beat the 13th best team in Limerick (Hurling county) to get to a provincial final."
An Ghaeltacht have completed the expansion of the senior club championship to 10. This has been facilitated by Congress agreeing that divisional clubs can playoff separately to get to the 16 team limit. There has been no relegation last year and this year.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9187 - 16/09/2025 09:42:23    2636383

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Replying To tirawleybaron:  "you should be posting this in the Kerry group. The only relevance to the rest of us is that An Gaeltacht will now be favorites for the All Ireland intermediate championship on account of being the 9th best club in the most successful football county in the country. Off they march to beat the 13th best team in Limerick (Hurling county) to get to a provincial final."
That contributor just likes to see his own posts up but its good for insomnia.

brayballer (Wicklow) - Posts: 334 - 16/09/2025 11:01:59    2636391

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Replying To legendzxix:  "An Ghaeltacht have completed the expansion of the senior club championship to 10. This has been facilitated by Congress agreeing that divisional clubs can playoff separately to get to the 16 team limit. There has been no relegation last year and this year."
You'll still have the 10th ranked club in Kerry playing the 13th in Limerick, which seems very lopsided.
All strong footballing counties with a good number of clubs, have at least 16 senior clubs in their championship.
I've been down this road before and made all my points at the time, but essentially Kerry's very small number of senior clubs led to two main issues:

- Some of the divisional teams can become extremely strong, making it very difficult for club teams to win the county championship. East Kerry's dominance in recent years, with clubs like Dingle missing out on a county title is an example of this.
- Kerry's intermediate and junior winners have a big advantage in the provincial and All-Ireland series, as they're playing lower ranked clubs from other counties.

An increase to 10 from 8 does help with both of these issues, but it's still quite a bit short.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2535 - 16/09/2025 11:19:53    2636399

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Some counties possibly should restructure but there is no one size that fits all. Different traditions etc. Tyrone are content to go with straight knockout.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9187 - 16/09/2025 12:06:57    2636410

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "You'll still have the 10th ranked club in Kerry playing the 13th in Limerick, which seems very lopsided.
All strong footballing counties with a good number of clubs, have at least 16 senior clubs in their championship.
I've been down this road before and made all my points at the time, but essentially Kerry's very small number of senior clubs led to two main issues:

- Some of the divisional teams can become extremely strong, making it very difficult for club teams to win the county championship. East Kerry's dominance in recent years, with clubs like Dingle missing out on a county title is an example of this.
- Kerry's intermediate and junior winners have a big advantage in the provincial and All-Ireland series, as they're playing lower ranked clubs from other counties.

An increase to 10 from 8 does help with both of these issues, but it's still quite a bit short."
Castlebar Mitchels didn't make the Q finals in Mayo - I'm sure they would fancy their chances at an All Ireland Intermediate title as Mayos 10th ranked club.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1600 - 16/09/2025 12:15:35    2636412

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Replying To legendzxix:  "Some counties possibly should restructure but there is no one size that fits all. Different traditions etc. Tyrone are content to go with straight knockout."
The structure, i.e. knockout versus group stages has nothing to do with the points made.
We're talking about the number of senior clubs in the championship.
Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh, Kildare, Meath, Dublin all have 16 senior clubs in their championships. I'm sure there are others as well. Cork have 12 clubs in premier senior, but then have another 12 in what they call senior A, so it's their 25th club that represents them in intermediate.
Kerry are definitely an outlier in terms of the number of senior clubs they have.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2535 - 16/09/2025 16:23:24    2636461

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Ballina still seem to be the team to beat going into the Mayo quarter finals. Some performances by Coolera Strandhill last year knocking out Ballina and beating Padraig Peares in the Connacht final.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9187 - 16/09/2025 16:31:33    2636463

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Replying To legendzxix:  "Some counties possibly should restructure but there is no one size that fits all. Different traditions etc. Tyrone are content to go with straight knockout."
You're right in saying no one size fits all but Tyrone aren't going to ruin a perfectly good championship structure by going a different route.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2405 - 16/09/2025 17:02:17    2636468

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The structure, i.e. knockout versus group stages has nothing to do with the points made.
We're talking about the number of senior clubs in the championship.
Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh, Kildare, Meath, Dublin all have 16 senior clubs in their championships. I'm sure there are others as well. Cork have 12 clubs in premier senior, but then have another 12 in what they call senior A, so it's their 25th club that represents them in intermediate.
Kerry are definitely an outlier in terms of the number of senior clubs they have."
And that's nor their fault clever but helps them

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1001 - 17/09/2025 00:15:15    2636509

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The structure, i.e. knockout versus group stages has nothing to do with the points made.
We're talking about the number of senior clubs in the championship.
Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Tyrone, Armagh, Kildare, Meath, Dublin all have 16 senior clubs in their championships. I'm sure there are others as well. Cork have 12 clubs in premier senior, but then have another 12 in what they call senior A, so it's their 25th club that represents them in intermediate.
Kerry are definitely an outlier in terms of the number of senior clubs they have."
Still doesn't meab

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1001 - 17/09/2025 00:15:41    2636510

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "You'll still have the 10th ranked club in Kerry playing the 13th in Limerick, which seems very lopsided.
All strong footballing counties with a good number of clubs, have at least 16 senior clubs in their championship.
I've been down this road before and made all my points at the time, but essentially Kerry's very small number of senior clubs led to two main issues:

- Some of the divisional teams can become extremely strong, making it very difficult for club teams to win the county championship. East Kerry's dominance in recent years, with clubs like Dingle missing out on a county title is an example of this.
- Kerry's intermediate and junior winners have a big advantage in the provincial and All-Ireland series, as they're playing lower ranked clubs from other counties.

An increase to 10 from 8 does help with both of these issues, but it's still quite a bit short."
Here we not illegal other counties should adapt their system so if worried about what kerry do. Pure and utter crap get own county Iin order

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1001 - 17/09/2025 00:17:18    2636511

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St Eunan's have accepted their exit from Donegal SFC after opting not to challenge Termon's 16th man. A similar incident happened in the Kilmacud Crokes and Glen All Ireland club final two years ago. Match officials must handle these situations better, with better communication around substitutions to prevent these incidents happening. There's little room in the split season for unexpected replays.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9187 - 17/09/2025 07:35:49    2636522

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