'I wouldn't I agree with it. You've to earn your right': Lee opposes Munster SFC seeding
The proposed change is that the two highest-ranked counties from the league receive byes to the Munster semi-final and, additionally, be kept apart in that semi-final draw.
If the league-based seeding is voted in later this month, Cork and Kerry would be the seeded pair for 2026 on account of Cork's fifth-place finish in Division 2 earlier this year bettering Clare's third-place finish in Division 3.
The current structure, which has been in place since 2015, seeds the previous year's Munster finalists.
Clare and Kerry, as a result of reaching the 2024 Munster decider, were given semi-final byes for the 2025 draw, albeit they could still have been paired against one another in that last-four stage.
'I wouldn't agree with it,' said Jimmy Lee when asked for his views on the recommended change that will go before the full Munster Council later this month.
'Why wouldn't I agree with it? You've to earn your right. If it was the same across all four provinces, I'd probably be fine with it. But if you were to look at it coldly, who would be seeded next year? It would be Cork and Kerry. Our neighbours Clare, Munster finalists this year and for the two years before that, they have done nothing wrong. So for me, it is a no.
'I'd be happy out with that [current system]. Clare, and I am just using them as an example, they have worked so hard to get there and maintain it, they have been consistent for years.
'They've earned the right to be there and that's the only issue I'd have with it. You've got to earn these rights. You can't hand them out.'
Although Munster GAA have yet to clarify the motivation behind the proposal, it is understood to be linked to a sharp fall in Munster final attendances across the three most recent Kerry-Clare deciders, as well as the one-sided nature of two of those games.
Clare chairman Kieran Keating recently told the Irish Examiner that putting Cork and Kerry up on a 'pedestal' will do nothing to improve the standard of football in Munster.
'Improving the standard in Cork is not going to fix Munster football, it is by helping other counties, giving a leg up to other counties, rather than putting Cork and Kerry on the pedestal up above them and saying to the others, you fight for the scraps.'
With Clare and Limerick set to vote against the proposal, they would require similar opposition from Tipperary and Waterford to ensure the status quo is retained in 2026.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Munster domination of hurling set to continue says All-Ireland winner
Munster's domination of hurling may continue for some time yet, Larry O'Gorman has warned. The province has provided the last eight All-Ireland champions and while much of that was driven by a Limerick team for the ages, Clare and Tipperary have now won the last two titles with both this year's final and last year's all-Munster affairs. Kilkenny were the last Leinster county to win an All-Ireland in 2015 and their failure to bridge that gap this year means that they have now entered their longest ever stretch without a title. Galway, who have competed in Leinster since 2009, won their only All-Ireland in the last 37 years in 2017. No other Leinster county has even reached a final since Offaly back in 2000. 'It's a little bit worrying,' says former Wexford star O'Gorman. 'In our time, we didn't really worry about too many in Munster. Because we thought Kilkenny, they were the best team in it, if we could beat Kilkenny, you could beat anyone. That's what we were thinking back in our day. 'Now, if you beat Kilkenny, you say, 'Hold on, this is only going to get harder'. Because when you look at Munster hurling for the last number of years, it's been so strong, so tough, even Kilkenny are finding it difficult to beat them. Wexford and Faythe Harriers legend Larry O'Gorman at Croke Park for the launch of the 2025 Beko Club Champion, an initiative to reward and celebrate local Leinster GAA club heroes who go above and beyond to help their local community and club. For more information visit (Image: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile) 'Kilkenny don't find anyone in Leinster difficult to beat but now when they go to Munster, they're the only team in Leinster that can upset a Munster team. But of late, Kilkenny find that hard to do now because of the way the likes of Limerick and the Corks and the Tipperarys have rebounded. Kilkenny were the hurling craft boys of the game. Then they came up again, physicality, strength, and good hurling as well. 'Limerick did produce some top-class hurlers. It's hard to break them big teams down. And at the moment, Munster hurling has jumped so high. We're looking up at them, unfortunately. Where before, we were looking level-eyed with them. And if it keeps going like that, Munster hurling could dominate for the next number of years.'
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Seán Moran: Sabotaging the often dashed and lonely dreams of Limerick football
The late Liam Kearns was in great humour in Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in May, 2003. The former Kerry footballer, who guided Limerick to an All-Ireland Under-21 final in 2000, was now in charge of the Limerick seniors. They had just beaten Munster champions Cork in the provincial first round. It was the county's first A-list championship scalp – Cork or Kerry – since 1965. A big deal. More startlingly, it was achieved pulling away at the end of a comprehensive 10-point victory. By now, we were into the third year of the All-Ireland qualifiers and Kearns testified to the extent to which the new format had psychologically liberated underdogs from the pressures of sudden death and helped them perform. 'The qualifiers helped us big time,' he said. 'They gave us confidence last year.' READ MORE It wasn't the only source of confidence within the previous year. In the 2002 league – when that year's All-Ireland finalists, Armagh and Kerry, had spent the spring in Division Two before getting promoted – Limerick beat Kerry for the first time in an elite football competition. In fact, under today's rules, Limerick, having finished level on 10 points, would have gone up on the basis of head-to-head results. I was reminded of these days by the ongoing disagreement in Munster concerning the changing of championship rules to the advantage of Cork. By settling on a qualification process about which the contestants can now do nothing – seeding determined by final league position when Cork are the only county besides Kerry in either of the top two divisions – the provincial council has caused unhappiness in the other four counties' football teams. Crucially, that unhappiness wasn't shared by Limerick's administrators, who voted to introduce the new format despite the objections of their football team. Limerick's John Quane and Seamus O'Donnell celebrate their victory against Cork in the Munster Senior Football Championship first round in 2003. Photograph: Tom Honan/Inpho That is an ongoing matter but it focuses attention on the whole question of provincial championships. In many ways, former Clare manager Colm Collins was correct when expressing on these pages the opinion that the Munster championship was broken. It was, in his more blunt assessment, 'a joke' that pitches the best team in Ireland against an array of lower-division opponents. As manager of his county for 10 years, Collins had Clare in Division Two of the league for seven of those seasons – finishing as Munster's second county ahead of Cork on five occasions. Within two years of Clare getting relegated to Division Three, suddenly league positions will determine semi-final seeding. It is easy to see why Collins and others might see little justice in the provincial system, but whereas Clare in 1992 and Tipperary 28 years later managed to break through the barrier of disadvantage and win Munster, Limerick footballers have been the ones most consistently tilting at the windmill. As far back as the first open draw in Munster 34 years ago, Limerick reached the provincial final and lost by just two points under the management of another former Kerry player, John O'Keeffe. They followed up the above referenced sensational win over Cork in 2003 by losing the provincial final to Kerry by just five points, having failed to make a fiery opening pay on the scoreboard and also having missed two penalties. A year later, it took a phenomenal catch by Darragh Ó Sé over his own bar to prevent Kerry losing the final in Limerick. They prevailed a week later in Killarney. Dara Ó Cinnéide was the Kerry captain who would lift Sam Maguire two months later in Jack O'Connor's first year in charge. He said that Limerick had pushed them all the way in a year when they felt they were well in contention for the All-Ireland and that their opponents should reset immediately because they had nothing to fear in the qualifiers. Limerick's Tommie Childs is tackled by Kildare's Brendan Gibbons and Brian Byrne in the Tailteann Cup final at Croke Park. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho That practical advice to put the disappointment to one side and get on with it was easier for serial winners Kerry than for a county which would have seen little difference between the Munster title and an All-Ireland – at least in the journey to be travelled between one and the other. In history, Limerick footballers have two 19th-century All-Ireland titles, including the very first one in 1887, which was open draw, and 1896. So the county actually has more All-Irelands than Munsters. They have been desperate to win the provincial title. After the 2004 draw in the Gaelic Grounds, Kearns convened a meeting in a Limerick hotel and the mood suggested that they had been beaten, making the replay immensely challenging. Five years later, back in the final under the management of another Kerry great, Mickey Ned O'Sullivan, they lost by a point to Cork. The following season, another final in Killarney and another one-score defeat by All-Ireland champions Kerry despite John Galvin ripping it up at centrefield and having the shout of a last-minute penalty. He summarised afterwards: 'Another Munster final we have, I suppose, not thrown away, but another one we could have won.' For good measure, the qualifiers threw Limerick in against a Cork team on the way to winning their most recent All-Ireland. It took extra-time and two points to escape that evening. Twelve months on and the county finally navigates the qualifiers all the way to Croke Park for All-Ireland quarter-finals. Their draw: Kerry. This year, Limerick have been building again. Promotion from Division Four and the divisional title as well as a creditable Tailteann Cup final appearance. The footballers, now contending with their county's most successful hurling team, asked that the county support them in voting against a proposal intended to rewire the Munster championship against them and the others. In their history and specifically this century, that trophy is all they have ever wanted – and they were turned down. No wonder manager Jimmy Lee told the Irish Examiner that it felt like they 'had been knifed in the back'.
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Cork hurling fans' spending in Dublin plummeted following All-Ireland defeat
Disappointed Cork hurling fans' spending in Dublin plummeted following their county's All-Ireland final defeat compared to how much they splashed out following their semi-final win. According to its data, AIB's Cork customers spent €920,000 in Dublin on July 5, the day of the All-Ireland semi-final victory over Dublin. However, on July 20, the day Cork lost to Tipperary in the final, it fell by 13%. In contrast, Tipperary fans spent 27% more on the day their team claimed the Liam MacCarthy Cup than they had on the day of their semi-final win over Kilkenny on July 6. During the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final on July 27, Donegal fans spent 12% more in Dublin compared to the Kerry fans, despite their team losing on the day. Overall, AIB's Spend Trend showed customer spending in July was up 9% compared to the same month in 2024. Online spend has been growing more strongly, up 14%, than in-store spend, up 4%, over the 12 months. The average in-store transaction was €28.80 compared to €96.90 for the average online transaction. AIB's head of consumer Adrian Moynihan said the data highlighted the 'resilience of consumer confidence'. 'While the hospitality sector experienced mixed results, with pub spending down but restaurant and hotel spending up, the data underscores the dynamic nature of consumer behaviour during the peak tourist season,' he added. Spending in pubs was down 9% compared to last year, whereas restaurant spend was up 10% and the amount of money spent in Irish hotels was up 3%. Groceries was one of few sectors where in-store spend held up strongly, with spending 6% higher overall, and 93% of those purchases made in stores rather than online. Spending on clothing rose just 1% in July compared to the same month a year ago. Entertainment spending was up 8% in July, while health spending rose by 7%. The data was compiled from 78 million card transactions carried out by AIB customers in store and online during July 2025.
