Four counties meet with GPA over Munster Council decision to seed Kerry and Cork in provincial football championship

Irish Times

2 days ago

Resistance to Munster GAA's controversial decision to change the basis of seeding in the province's football championship has moved a step farther.
A statement from the
Gaelic Players Association
(GPA) on Monday confirmed the four non-seeded counties – Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford – held a meeting with the GPA last week.
The statement added 'players from all four counties are deeply disappointed and concerned' by the decision which will see the province departure from the old seeding of the previous year's two provincial finalists.
The panels are now seeking meetings with their respective county boards 'to ascertain the full circumstances around the vote taken' before 'evaluating potential next steps in response,' the statement read.
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Munster delegates took the decision that the top two counties, judged by league standing, should be drawn in the semi-finals and kept apart on the basis that it would boost gate receipts by optimising provincial attendances between Kerry and Cork, the two most successful counties, who would have an enhanced chance of reaching the final.
The decision was ratified for a three-year period beginning in 2026.
It was immediately criticised by Clare GAA chairman Kieran Keating, who speaking on Clare FM said it was 'unjust and indefensible'.
'It's disappointing that it's been introduced now in this sort of short order based on positions in a league that's already finished before the decision has arrived at.
'That's rather unjust and indefensible, really. You know that there's certainly an injustice in that as we would see it anyway and I think as any right-minded person would see it.'
Limerick manager Jimmy Lee, whose county delegates voted in favour of the change, was also critical of the move.
'It feels like a vote of no confidence in us. That's just the way we feel, the way I feel. To be fair about it, we feel disrespected,' Lee told Live 95.
'I don't want to put words in the rest of the management teams' or the players' mouths, but that's the feeling I get from it. We got to a Tailteann Cup final, we won a league final, you can argue we weren't far off Cork (in the Munster championship) when we had 15 on 15, and this is what the county board turn around and do.'
Former Clare manager Colm Collins, a member of the
Football Review Committee
, went farther and called for the disbandment of the championship.
'The Munster Championship is a complete joke,' he said, 'in the sense that you've got a Division One team, probably the best Division One team, playing counties that are below them.
'Munster Council, in their profound wisdom, have decided to give Cork a leg up the ladder by seeding them.
'The point is that the Munster finals haven't been competitive, but they're not going to solve it by doing this. I wouldn't mind if there were two Division One teams in Munster and they were consistently doing well.
'I don't know how some of these delegates will go back and face their football squads after voting for this.'