Munster set to seed Cork and Kerry in 2026 football championship

Irish Examiner

a day ago

MUNSTER GAA top-brass are in favour of seeding Cork and Kerry in next year's Munster SFC, with a full provincial council vote on the matter to take place next month.
Under the current structure, which seeds the previous year's finalists, Clare and five-in-a-row Munster champions Kerry are to receive semi-final draws for the third year in succession in 2026. Kerry and Clare can still be paired against one another in the last-four stage, but this has not happened on the two occasions they were the seeded duo.
This current structure has been in place since 2015, but in the wake of Kerry overcoming the Banner by 14, seven, and 11 points respectively in the last three provincial deciders, Munster's management committee is now recommending a change to the existing format and instead seeding Cork and Kerry in 2026.
The seeding of Cork, over beaten Munster finalists Clare, would be linked to Cork's higher League position this year. Cork finished fifth in Division 2, whereas Clare just missed out on promotion to the second tier when winding up third in Division 3 for the second year running.
League positions, similar to the criteria for Sam Maguire involvement, would be the new Munster model of determining what two counties are seeded for the following year's provincial draw.
There is quiet optimism the recommended seeding of Cork and Kerry will be passed, even in the face of expected Clare opposition. The proposal was outlined to counties at the most recent Munster Council meeting, with a vote to take place at the next meeting in July.
In his match programme notes on the day of the Munster football final, provincial chairman Tim Murphy wrote: 'It is incumbent on us as a provincial council to review and consider what we can do better to further enhance Gaelic football as a spectacle within Munster and create the conditions and structures necessary to improve and enhance the game for players and spectators alike.
'We will be discussing this and working on what we can do to achieve the best possible outcome over the coming weeks and months.' The total attendance figure for this year's Munster SFC - 33,491 - was less than that which watched the drawn Munster final of 10 years ago.
The Munster final crowd of 13,181, while bigger than the Kerry-Clare deciders of the past two years at Ennis (12,059) and Limerick (12,499) respectively, was still 59% down on the last non-Covid Munster football final - 2017- to take place in Killarney.
It is now seven years - stretching back to the 2018 Cork-Kerry final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh - that a Munster football fixture has drawn a crowd in excess of 20,000. The average per game attendance for 2025 equates to a paltry 6,700.
The Munster MFC also looks certain to be altered next season, the likely outcome that its structure will mirror the U20 format where Cork and Kerry are guaranteed a minimum of three games. At present in the minor championship, Cork and Kerry are guaranteed two championship outings, compared to three for Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford. The corresponding Munster MHC guarantees counties a minimum of four games.
Cork minor football manager Keith Ricken touched on the issue following their nine-point All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tyrone at the weekend.
'I said previously that the more games these lads play the better they will get, and that has been true. But they've played three games in Munster and one in the All-Ireland. Tyrone have played around 10 games between the Ulster league and championship.
'Until we kind of address that issue with the lack of games in Munster, then it's going to be a problem when you get into the All-Ireland series. Croke Park have called this minor, it's not minor, it's U17.'
Elsewhere at Tuesday's behind-closed-doors Cork county board meeting, there was further criticism of both the executive's Munster hurling final ticket distribution and Munster Council's year-on-year ticket price increase for the game.
The Cork executive was criticised for not allocating a single stand ticket to football-only clubs in their initial breakdown of ticket distribution. In the build-up to the game, St Nick's football club chairman Robert Brosnan told the Irish Examiner there was no need to distinguish between codes.
'There's enough people do that already without any good ground for it. Hurling is obviously No 1 in Cork, it is a sad state of affairs when the county board is backing that up,' said Brosnan.
'Even for an All-Ireland final, whether your county is involved or not, every club in the country receives two stand tickets. Our county is in the Munster final and we are not getting a stand ticket, not one.'
Cork GAA CEO Kevin O'Donovan, in reply, said that due to demand, priority had to be given to hurling clubs over their football equivalents.
The €50 and €40 stand and terrace tickets for last Saturday's game was also looked upon unfavourably by delegates, with comparison made to the €40 price for Leinster hurling final stand tickets.