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New Format 2026 All Ireland

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All-Ireland League-Championship (AILC) could work: Two Options (with a few minor tweaks): OPTION ONE - Two league tiers of 16 - Prov KO ties 'double as league ties' (all 4 Prov rds, intra-tier only); any tier-crossover ties (Tier 1v2) are Prov KO only - Play Prov Prelim & QF Rds early (1st half of Feb); and defer SFs (end of Apr) & Finals (2nd & 3rd weeks of May) - After Prov QFs, draw '4 groups of 4' in each tier (from 4 seeding pots of 4) - 12-match Regular Season (URC schedule, less 'intra-group' ties - i.e. play other 'crossover' 12), with all 'intra-tier' Prov KO ties included in the 12 - Limit each group to 'no more than one' Prov SF team from each province (this way, all 'possible' Prov Finals & Prelim, QF & SF ties can 'cross over') - Teams ranked 1-16 & 17-32, based on 12-match/ 16-team tables, advance to 'three-tier' AIC for Sam, Shield & Plate - Teams placed 1 & 17 win "League 1" & "League 2" - Top 8 to AI Sam AFL-style playoffs; 9-20 to AI Shield KO; 21-28 to AI Plate KO (or Tailteann Cup); and 29-32 do not advance - Prov Champs advance based on League placing (no Sam berth guarantee) - 'Shield QF 8' earn/retain Tier 1 status the next year, with '2, 3 or 4 teams' promoted & relegated (after PQFs: 11,12,13,14 host 20,19,16,15; and QFs: 9,10,17,18 host PQF 'reverse seed' winners). Or, alternatively: OPTION TWO 10-match Regular Season - same as "Option One", with the following changes: - After Prov QFs, draw groups of 6, 5 & 5 in each tier - 10-match schedule (6 v both 5s; each 5 v own round-robin group), with all intra-tier Prov ties 'likely' included in the 10 - To optimise this 'likelihood' in the draw, restrict each 'same-province Prov SF set', as follows: a) put all of the set in 'one Group of 5' (not both); or b) split it between 'one Group of 5 & the Group of 6' [i.e. try to avoid Prov Finals between two 'Group of 6' teams, as they are KO only and do not double up]. ______ CALENDAR Week Activity -2 (mid Jan) Start of '2-3 game' Pre-Season 0 (end of Jan) End of Pre-Season Warm-Up 1 (start of Feb) Prov SFC Prelim Rd 2 Prov SFC QFs 2 (after QFs) AILC Draw (2 tiers of 4x4 or 6,5,5) 2 (after Draw) Prelim/QF 'intra-tier' ties to tables 3 Bye Week 4 (end of Feb) First Full Regular Season Rd 13 (end of Apr) Rd includes all 8 Prov SFs 15 & 16 Rds include 4 Prov Finals 20 Last Regular Season Rd 21 (end of June) Bye Week 22 AI Sam PSFs/PQFs, Shield PQFs & Plate QFs 23 AI Sam QFs & AI Shield QFs 24 AI Plate SFs 25 AI Sam SFs & AI Shield SFs 26 (end of July) AI Plate Final 27 (start of Aug) AI Sam Final & AI Shield Final Note - As each team plays 12 (or 10) 'staggered' regular season games (plus maybe 1-2 inter-tier) in Weeks 1-20 and '0 to 4' AIC/post-season games in Weeks 22-27, 'off weeks' provide sufficient rest. omahant (USA) - Posts: 3235 - 30/04/2025 13:21:11 2605668 Link
Replying To legendzxix: "I think the higher Division 3 counties should be pushing to 4 groups of 5. Offaly, Kildare, Westmeath and Fermanagh wouldn't be out of place in 4 groups of 5. The league would have to be completed within 6 rounds. The other alternative is a 10:10:12 split. 4 provincial runners up and 11 league qualifiers should playoff for 5 places to join the 4 provincial winners and Tailteann winner in 2 groups of 5. Provincial runners up could have a bye from Q1 but Q2 should be seeded on league. The 10 counties losing in the playoffs could contest the Tailteann in 2 groups of 5. Tier 3 then possibly in 2 groups of 6. I don't think 20:12 or 10:10:12 is disrespecting Division 4 counties but what's your opinion on it?" I don't think 20:12 adds much to the main championship. Splitting the field into 4 keeps the top teams away from one another too much. The 10:10:12 wouldn't be disrespectful to lower tier counties. I do still think that a 2nd tier is probably all that's needed and all but the weakest of teams would have a good shot at getting themselves to a competitive level in this competition. You look at say Louth, they are in the Same Maguire now for 3 straight years, progressing all the way to the quarterfinals. It's hard to say that's beyond many counties outside maybe London and Waterford. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4519 - 30/04/2025 16:09:07 2605768 Link
Replying To tirawleybaron: "12 senior All Ireland counties 14 div 1 counties League starts in Feb 6 rounds by end of March League finals around Easter. provincial first round May bank holiday All Ireland championships starts one weeks later Play a provincial game every 3rd week, same for All Ireland groups and other week off. All Ireland Q finals first weekend in July - 16 counties start their club championships All Ireland final in Mid August. Club champions from All Ireland semi finalists get a buy in provincial club championships All Ireland club played during county club - clubs in All Ireland get a bye to county club q finals." You can't have clubs getting a bye to their county championship quarterfinals. Just treat the club game with a bit of respect. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4519 - 30/04/2025 16:11:23 2605771 Link
Replying To Whammo86: "I don't think 20:12 adds much to the main championship. Splitting the field into 4 keeps the top teams away from one another too much. The 10:10:12 wouldn't be disrespectful to lower tier counties. I do still think that a 2nd tier is probably all that's needed and all but the weakest of teams would have a good shot at getting themselves to a competitive level in this competition. You look at say Louth, they are in the Same Maguire now for 3 straight years, progressing all the way to the quarterfinals. It's hard to say that's beyond many counties outside maybe London and Waterford." In the current set-up, it is fair that provincial winners are in different groups. The group draw should be after the finals with runners up at least seeded on league e.g. Clare possibly Seed 4 depending on Sunday v Kerry of course. The current format that's on the way out could have offered provincial finalists two home games as an added incentive to qualify for finals. The current format that's on the way out would suit Round 1 winners playing in Round 3. The worst case scenario would have been 1 v 2 to win the group and 3 v 4 for the preliminary quarter-finals. Dead runners completely avoided but Round 1 and 2 of low consequence. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8773 - 30/04/2025 16:35:37 2605782 Link
Replying To legendzxix: "In the current set-up, it is fair that provincial winners are in different groups. The group draw should be after the finals with runners up at least seeded on league e.g. Clare possibly Seed 4 depending on Sunday v Kerry of course. The current format that's on the way out could have offered provincial finalists two home games as an added incentive to qualify for finals. The current format that's on the way out would suit Round 1 winners playing in Round 3. The worst case scenario would have been 1 v 2 to win the group and 3 v 4 for the preliminary quarter-finals. Dead runners completely avoided but Round 1 and 2 of low consequence." I think if you have to exert so much control over scheduling you have a bad format on your hands. It's also a little bit unfair on the weaker counties or those that cause upsets. There's a lot of control over the fixtures in the Leinster championship such that the weaker 2 teams are due to play the final round of fixtures. Antrim had beaten Wexford in round 2 but were then not due to play Carlow until round 5 by which stage they were out of the playoff running in the competition, but how great could it have been for Antrim if they'd more likelihood of 2 wins on the board in the first 2 rounds, maybe the results don't fall the same way in that scenario. Even if they do end up being the same results, Antrim could have been in a spot where they've 2 games to go and knowing that 1 win could see them advance. An Antrim versus Dublin game in that context could have been great for interest levels in the county. I think people saw the super 8s and saw there not be that much excitement with them and assumed that group stages weren't good but groups of 4 are uniquely bad. You either have 2 going through and there's too much chance of the final round being a damp squib or you allow 3 to go through and the whole of the group stage loses intensity. If you had a larger group with the right incentives. 8 in a group top 3 to emerge with the top team getting a bye to the semifinals, bottom team relegated, 2nd last team into a relegation playoff. You get to 6 rounds and there's going to be plenty up for grabs. A team could be on relegation trouble on 4 points, a team on 6 points might have an outside chance at qualifying, a team on 8 points probably still needs to win. If there's a few weaker teams in a group it's possible that multiple teams could finish 2nd to 4th on 9 or 10 points. That's a high enough qualifying standard. I think the season also struggles from a lack of surprise, yes the leagues are a perfect indicator of how teams will do come championship but they do provide a bit more clarity and then there's more awareness that Derry isn't that good this year takes away a bit of the interest in their games. I really think we need to just start the season with Provincials and then cut loose with a more league based All Ireland straight after. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4519 - 01/05/2025 09:52:35 2605934 Link
Replying To legendzxix: "In the current set-up, it is fair that provincial winners are in different groups. The group draw should be after the finals with runners up at least seeded on league e.g. Clare possibly Seed 4 depending on Sunday v Kerry of course. The current format that's on the way out could have offered provincial finalists two home games as an added incentive to qualify for finals. The current format that's on the way out would suit Round 1 winners playing in Round 3. The worst case scenario would have been 1 v 2 to win the group and 3 v 4 for the preliminary quarter-finals. Dead runners completely avoided but Round 1 and 2 of low consequence." You really love adding incentives for provincial winners - I wonder does it have anything to do with the fact that Kerry have wont 73 of the last 100 Munster titles? You must miss that days when Kerry could pick up an All Ireland by winning 4 matches. tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1382 - 01/05/2025 10:24:59 2605949 Link
Replying To tirawleybaron: "You really love adding incentives for provincial winners - I wonder does it have anything to do with the fact that Kerry have wont 73 of the last 100 Munster titles? You must miss that days when Kerry could pick up an All Ireland by winning 4 matches." John Prenty is more in favour of rewarding provincial winners!! If league is after provincial championships - use league for seeding IMHO. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8773 - 01/05/2025 11:58:57 2605991 Link
Replying To Whammo86: "I think if you have to exert so much control over scheduling you have a bad format on your hands. It's also a little bit unfair on the weaker counties or those that cause upsets. There's a lot of control over the fixtures in the Leinster championship such that the weaker 2 teams are due to play the final round of fixtures. Antrim had beaten Wexford in round 2 but were then not due to play Carlow until round 5 by which stage they were out of the playoff running in the competition, but how great could it have been for Antrim if they'd more likelihood of 2 wins on the board in the first 2 rounds, maybe the results don't fall the same way in that scenario. Even if they do end up being the same results, Antrim could have been in a spot where they've 2 games to go and knowing that 1 win could see them advance. An Antrim versus Dublin game in that context could have been great for interest levels in the county. I think people saw the super 8s and saw there not be that much excitement with them and assumed that group stages weren't good but groups of 4 are uniquely bad. You either have 2 going through and there's too much chance of the final round being a damp squib or you allow 3 to go through and the whole of the group stage loses intensity. If you had a larger group with the right incentives. 8 in a group top 3 to emerge with the top team getting a bye to the semifinals, bottom team relegated, 2nd last team into a relegation playoff. You get to 6 rounds and there's going to be plenty up for grabs. A team could be on relegation trouble on 4 points, a team on 6 points might have an outside chance at qualifying, a team on 8 points probably still needs to win. If there's a few weaker teams in a group it's possible that multiple teams could finish 2nd to 4th on 9 or 10 points. That's a high enough qualifying standard. I think the season also struggles from a lack of surprise, yes the leagues are a perfect indicator of how teams will do come championship but they do provide a bit more clarity and then there's more awareness that Derry isn't that good this year takes away a bit of the interest in their games. I really think we need to just start the season with Provincials and then cut loose with a more league based All Ireland straight after." The Dublin Championship have groups of 4. Round 1 winners play each other in Round 2. There is a Round 3 shootout for getting through to the quarter finals. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8773 - 01/05/2025 12:03:02 2605996 Link
New Format 2026 All Ireland: Saw in an article that the 8 provincial finalists will be drawn at home in Round 1. The first teams out of the hat will have home advantage in Rounds 2A and 2B. Round 1 winners who lose in Round 2A will have home advantage in Round 3. Seems they are trying to build in rewards. Get to your provincial final and have home advantage in Round 1. Win in Round 1 and guarantee at least home advantage in Round 3. Win in Round 2A and you go direct to quarter finals. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8773 - 02/05/2025 09:31:37 2606200 Link
@legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8760 - 02/05/2025 I wonder if you are giving too much credit - do they think like that? Well, it's still an accident that works well. omahant (USA) - Posts: 3235 - 02/05/2025 13:24:50 2606280 Link
Replying To omahant: "@legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8760 - 02/05/2025 I wonder if you are giving too much credit - do they think like that? Well, it's still an accident that works well." Home advantage in Round 1 and 3 is definitely by design. They never did that in the old Christy Ring Cup double eliminator however! The two teams who used to get to the semi finals unbeaten were never given the reward of home advantage. The GAA have slowly but surely embraced the rewarding of home advantage. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8773 - 02/05/2025 14:29:47 2606302 Link
Replying To legendzxix: "Home advantage in Round 1 and 3 is definitely by design. They never did that in the old Christy Ring Cup double eliminator however! The two teams who used to get to the semi finals unbeaten were never given the reward of home advantage. The GAA have slowly but surely embraced the rewarding of home advantage." So much better and so much better to be playing games in one teams ground instead of always plucking to neutral shaggykev (Donegal) - Posts: 322 - 02/05/2025 15:56:47 2606316 Link
Three years in a row there has been complaining about staging the All Ireland draw before the provincial finals. GAA HQ plough on regardless! :-D The main reason is because Round 1 is played over two weekends. Connacht and Munster finalists play two weeks after their final. League qualifiers need to know are they playing the first or second weekend of Round 1 fixtures. IMHO there should be a playoff round on the weekend after the Ulster and Leinster finals. People will complain about the All Ireland draw before provincial finals but I don't think there would be complaints about the All Ireland draw before the playoffs are completed. All Ireland Round 1 then can be on one weekend. Whammo makes a fair point about knockout playoff to double eliminator as well though. We've seen with the FRC rules the return of good contests. In some agreeable form there needs to be head to head contests for All Ireland qualification. Cork v Kildare, Cavan v Westmeath, Roscommon v Fermanagh and Monaghan v Offaly for example. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8773 - 03/05/2025 08:33:57 2606383 Link
@legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8769 - 03/05/2025 Why not put a Prov Final in each group of 4 (or 5) - problem solved! Non-Prov group games could start earlier then as well to decompress the tight schedule. Or go radical - my AILC, where Kerry v Clare awards no pts. omahant (USA) - Posts: 3235 - 05/05/2025 14:04:10 2606838 Link
There's no appetite for groups in football. All manner have been tried and each never caught on. We've good leagues that are ultimately compromised by the provincials, that has to end. League, home/away followed by seeded knock out. Provincials and TC fitted in but at a lower seeding. The situation Clare find themselves in has to end. If the Ulster Championship is as great as were led to believe then it will self sustain. Should that be the case more dues to it. seany16 (Dublin) - Posts: 1663 - 05/05/2025 16:45:44 2606882 Link
Replying To seany16: "There's no appetite for groups in football. All manner have been tried and each never caught on. We've good leagues that are ultimately compromised by the provincials, that has to end. League, home/away followed by seeded knock out. Provincials and TC fitted in but at a lower seeding. The situation Clare find themselves in has to end. If the Ulster Championship is as great as were led to believe then it will self sustain. Should that be the case more dues to it." There's definitely no room in the calendar for leagues home and away, it'd also be way less exciting than what we have currently with a lot less at stake in the concluding rounds. There hasn't really been all manner of groups tried. There's been groups of 4 in 2 different varieties tried. Groups of 4 are not good for football and probably wouldn't be for hurling either. I agree with you on Clare. They shouldn't be in the Sam Maguire just because they got a handy draw in Munster. I'd be in favour of the Provincials being separated from the All Ireland. It'd allow for simpler fixtures planning with only the National championship and All Ireland club being planned centrally and let the other units organise their own competitions as they see fit and around their own unique challenges. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4519 - 06/05/2025 05:27:26 2606977 Link
Replying To Whammo86: "There's definitely no room in the calendar for leagues home and away, it'd also be way less exciting than what we have currently with a lot less at stake in the concluding rounds. There hasn't really been all manner of groups tried. There's been groups of 4 in 2 different varieties tried. Groups of 4 are not good for football and probably wouldn't be for hurling either. I agree with you on Clare. They shouldn't be in the Sam Maguire just because they got a handy draw in Munster. I'd be in favour of the Provincials being separated from the All Ireland. It'd allow for simpler fixtures planning with only the National championship and All Ireland club being planned centrally and let the other units organise their own competitions as they see fit and around their own unique challenges." A man and his dog will tell you the season needs to extend into August for a multitude of reasons. All we are trying to do here is find the fairest and best means to a last 8 knockout. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. The best way the teams are ordered is via the league but the 4 v 3 home/away scenario skews things year to year. The leagues need to go up in status and that's achieved via seedings for the knockout stage. However, the provincial loop undermines the entire thing and the runner up placing simply has to go. The provincials also have to run concurrently during the league season. There's just no appetite for groups in football. It works in Munster Hurling because of local rivalries, its very much hit and miss in Leinster. seany16 (Dublin) - Posts: 1663 - 06/05/2025 12:05:57 2607058 Link
Replying To seany16: "A man and his dog will tell you the season needs to extend into August for a multitude of reasons. All we are trying to do here is find the fairest and best means to a last 8 knockout. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. The best way the teams are ordered is via the league but the 4 v 3 home/away scenario skews things year to year. The leagues need to go up in status and that's achieved via seedings for the knockout stage. However, the provincial loop undermines the entire thing and the runner up placing simply has to go. The provincials also have to run concurrently during the league season. There's just no appetite for groups in football. It works in Munster Hurling because of local rivalries, its very much hit and miss in Leinster." If the All Ireland had 3 tiers (12,12 and 9). All groups could have 3 teams and have the top 2 going up. A Sam Maguire cup with with 4 groups of 3, would give everyone what they want - a chance to recover from a defeat but no chance of a dead rubber. Having relegation play offs for the bottom 4 teams, breaks the link to the league as well. Have a league structure of Div 1A/B and Div 2A/B (4 up and 4 down promotion) - gives lower ranked teams a shot at higher ranked teams The Alternative is provincial leagues - then the All Ireland. Leinster GROUP 1 - Dublin, Louth, Meath, Kildare, GROUP 2 - Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, Wexford GROUP 3 - Longford, Carlow, Wicklow, London Connacht Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Sligo, Lietrim Munster Kerry, Cork, Clare, Tipp, Waterford Ulster Group 1: Donegal, Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, Derry Group 2: Cavan, Fermanagh, Down, Antrim tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1382 - 06/05/2025 13:00:23 2607081 Link
Please list your objections against my AILC [i.e.with its two league tiers of 16, encompassing all 4 Prov KO rds (intra-tier only) and a short concluding 'three-tier' KO]? To my mind, it ticks a lot of boxes for an 'orderly' season. omahant (USA) - Posts: 3235 - 06/05/2025 15:37:01 2607142 Link
Replying To omahant: "Please list your objections against my AILC [i.e.with its two league tiers of 16, encompassing all 4 Prov KO rds (intra-tier only) and a short concluding 'three-tier' KO ? To my mind, it ticks a lot of boxes for an 'orderly' season."]OPTION ONE - Two league tiers of 16 - Prov KO ties 'double as league ties' (all 4 Prov rds, intra-tier only); any tier-crossover ties (Tier 1v2) are Prov KO only - This was in the fixtures review committee in the 1990's Didnt get through then - Play Prov Prelim & QF Rds early (1st half of Feb); and defer SFs (end of Apr) & Finals (2nd & 3rd weeks of May) - After Prov QFs, draw '4 groups of 4' in each tier (from 4 seeding pots of 4) - 12-match Regular Season (URC schedule, less 'intra-group' ties - i.e. play other 'crossover' 12), with all 'intra-tier' Prov KO ties included in the 12 how are you getting 12 games from provincial and league matches - Limit each group to 'no more than one' Prov SF team from each province (this way, all 'possible' Prov Finals & Prelim, QF & SF ties can 'cross over') You have lost me at this point - Teams ranked 1-16 & 17-32, based on 12-match/ 16-team tables, advance to 'three-tier' AIC for Sam, Shield & Plate - Teams placed 1 & 17 win "League 1" & "League 2" - Top 8 to AI Sam AFL-style playoffs; 9-20 to AI Shield KO; 21-28 to AI Plate KO (or Tailteann Cup); and 29-32 do not advance - Prov Champs advance based on League placing (no Sam berth guarantee) - 'Shield QF 8' earn/retain Tier 1 status the next year, with '2, 3 or 4 teams' promoted & relegated (after PQFs: 11,12,13,14 host 20,19,16,15; and QFs: 9,10,17,18 host PQF 'reverse seed' winners). Or, alternatively: OPTION TWO 10-match Regular Season - same as "Option One", with the following changes: - After Prov QFs, draw groups of 6, 5 & 5 in each tier - 10-match schedule (6 v both 5s; each 5 v own round-robin group), with all intra-tier Prov ties 'likely' included in the 10 - To optimise this 'likelihood' in the draw, restrict each 'same-province Prov SF set', as follows: a) put all of the set in 'one Group of 5' (not both); or b) split it between 'one Group of 5 & the Group of 6' [i.e. try to avoid Prov Finals between two 'Group of 6' teams, as they are KO only and do not double up]. This might look good drawn up but cannot be followed trying to accommodate a dysfunctional provincial system into what should be a straight forward league or championship just makes a dogs dinner of the whole thing. tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1382 - 06/05/2025 17:21:45 2607177 Link