In the real world of the 2026 format, seems a weekend off after league finals might win out as a priority for the weekend freed up. If all the Round 1 games are played on the same weekend two weeks after the Leinster and Ulster finals - it will be a football only weekend, as the Leinster and Munster hurling finals are the weekend after. If they do that, there should be no need for the Round 1 draw until all football provincial finals have been played. Rounds 2A and 2B then can be two weeks after Round 1 - another all football weekend. Round 3 can be the weekend after Rounds 2A & 2B. Just a matter of deciding football round 3 and hurling quarter finals on the Saturday or Sunday. Quarter finals then the weekend after Round 3 - another all football weekend.
Replying To Seanfanbocht: "The current system means the Club Championships have the scene to themselves with no County manager interventions or players being "injured" etc ."
Yeah I know. It's just the split between Inter county and club is terrible.
Inter county gets 27 weeks of the year to their competitions. If you count March to October as the best months for playing, inter county gets 22 of the 35 best months. There's very little time allocated to club championship because of the inter county footprint.
I know clubs will play leagues in that but in a lot of counties those aren't overly prestigious. So you have club players getting very few good games.
I don't know that we should just give in to county dominating the access to players in the way in which we do.
I actually think in a lot of counties the clubs would have more sway than you'd imagine.
Like if you're in Derry and there's club championship being played you are not going to listen to your county manager telling you to fake injury.
The Super 8s had 4 rounds of qualifiers before 2 groups of 4. The All Ireland 16 could have 2 rounds of qualifiers before 4 groups of 4. Sometimes things are over complicated! League seeding could have come into play for byes to Q2 and seeding draws. Seven Q2 losers and the highest ranked Q1 loser could compete in a Tier 2 - 2 groups of 4. Eight Q1 losers could compete in a Tier 3 - 2 groups of 4. It would be up to counties how they would embrace the lower tier competitions. Antrim lose to Armagh in Ulster quarter final. Antrim beat Cork in Q1. Best case scenario for Antrim is they win in Q2 and qualify for the All Ireland. Worst case scenario then is that they lose in Q2 but go into Tier 2 that has an obvious higher status than Tier 3. Waterford on the other hand lose to Tipperary in Munster quarter final. Waterford lose to Cavan in Q1. Waterford along with seven other Q1 losers compete in Tier 3. UEFA have three tiers Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. GAA can have All Ireland, Mid Tier Cup (name to be decided) and Tailteann Cup. Run all three as tiered qualification competitions. If there is ever agreement to separate provincials from the All Ireland - the three tiered competitions can evolve to be standalone with promotion and relegation. Rome wasn't built in a day!
Replying To legendzxix: "In the real world of the 2026 format, seems a weekend off after league finals might win out as a priority for the weekend freed up. If all the Round 1 games are played on the same weekend two weeks after the Leinster and Ulster finals - it will be a football only weekend, as the Leinster and Munster hurling finals are the weekend after. If they do that, there should be no need for the Round 1 draw until all football provincial finals have been played. Rounds 2A and 2B then can be two weeks after Round 1 - another all football weekend. Round 3 can be the weekend after Rounds 2A & 2B. Just a matter of deciding football round 3 and hurling quarter finals on the Saturday or Sunday. Quarter finals then the weekend after Round 3 - another all football weekend."
I think in a perfect world, championship would be every 2 weeks, giving teams adequate time to prepare for each next round. This would mean every 2nd week is an all football weekend or an all hurling weekend, giving fans a chance to follow both.
Replying To legendzxix: "The Super 8s had 4 rounds of qualifiers before 2 groups of 4. The All Ireland 16 could have 2 rounds of qualifiers before 4 groups of 4. Sometimes things are over complicated! League seeding could have come into play for byes to Q2 and seeding draws. Seven Q2 losers and the highest ranked Q1 loser could compete in a Tier 2 - 2 groups of 4. Eight Q1 losers could compete in a Tier 3 - 2 groups of 4. It would be up to counties how they would embrace the lower tier competitions. Antrim lose to Armagh in Ulster quarter final. Antrim beat Cork in Q1. Best case scenario for Antrim is they win in Q2 and qualify for the All Ireland. Worst case scenario then is that they lose in Q2 but go into Tier 2 that has an obvious higher status than Tier 3. Waterford on the other hand lose to Tipperary in Munster quarter final. Waterford lose to Cavan in Q1. Waterford along with seven other Q1 losers compete in Tier 3. UEFA have three tiers Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. GAA can have All Ireland, Mid Tier Cup (name to be decided) and Tailteann Cup. Run all three as tiered qualification competitions. If there is ever agreement to separate provincials from the All Ireland - the three tiered competitions can evolve to be standalone with promotion and relegation. Rome wasn't built in a day!"
I don't think a 3rd tier is better for weaker counties than what we have currently.
Replying To Ciaran359: "I think in a perfect world, championship would be every 2 weeks, giving teams adequate time to prepare for each next round. This would mean every 2nd week is an all football weekend or an all hurling weekend, giving fans a chance to follow both."
It is possible to extend the inter county season by two weeks. 1. Extending by one week still allows 12 weekends until the end of October for completing club championships. 2. Extending by another week can mean the All Ireland club hurling and football semi finals being on the same weekend at the start of January. This would result in: All Ireland hurling and football finals on the first two weekends of August. 12 weekends from mid August to the first weekend of November for club championships to be completed. The rest on November and December then for completing the provincial club championships in the current timescale.