All-Ireland Series Sam Maguire 2026

[moonster]

Will Dublin be using their home ground or "neutral Croke Park"?

Play it in Parnells. Won't even fill that.

[armaghniac]

TV/streaming coverage deal for the All-Ireland Football Series:

Round 2 (8 Games):

3 - GAA+
2 - RTÉ

Why only 5 games covered for this round? Some teams will be leaving that day, while other games will feature the winners from Round 1 so possibly attractive combinations e.g. Mayo/Galway,  Donegal/Tyrone or Armagh/Dublin. Surely GAA+ can rise to cover them all this stage?

[David McKeown]

I think the first thing that needs addressed is the ability of provinces to seed teams which directly impacts on the All Ireland series. For example had Cork drawn Kerry in an open draw in the Munster Semi final Cavan would now be in the Tailtean cup. That to me seems extremely unfair.

As does this idea of half avoiding repeat fixtures. Again impacted by seeding control by a province. It creates an unlevel playing field.

Disagree, don't think it helps the integrity of a competition if a Division 4 team by virtue of a lopsided  provincial draw ends up in the AI series, giving stronger teams an easy draw.

Take London the year they made it to the Connacht final (2012?). In this format that only benefits the teams that are drawn out against them. At least this year Down were excluded at the expense of Westmeath. Imagine they were excluded at the expense of London by virtue of wins over Sligo & Leitrim.

Ps - had Leitrim made the Connacht final this year, they would have been there on merit! 

So you think the integrity is maintained by ensuring that some team have an advantage over others on a non merit basis?  I'm really not sure I follow.

[Armagh18]

I think the first thing that needs addressed is the ability of provinces to seed teams which directly impacts on the All Ireland series. For example had Cork drawn Kerry in an open draw in the Munster Semi final Cavan would now be in the Tailtean cup. That to me seems extremely unfair.

As does this idea of half avoiding repeat fixtures. Again impacted by seeding control by a province. It creates an unlevel playing field.

Disagree, don't think it helps the integrity of a competition if a Division 4 team by virtue of a lopsided  provincial draw ends up in the AI series, giving stronger teams an easy draw.

Take London the year they made it to the Connacht final (2012?). In this format that only benefits the teams that are drawn out against them. At least this year Down were excluded at the expense of Westmeath. Imagine they were excluded at the expense of London by virtue of wins over Sligo & Leitrim.

Ps - had Leitrim made the Connacht final this year, they would have been there on merit! 

So you think the integrity is maintained by ensuring that some team have an advantage over others on a non merit basis?  I'm really not sure I follow.

I'd rather it was weighted to avoid say Tipp getting to a Munster final by beating Waterford and Limerick, they'd be wasting their own and everyone elses time in Sam. Same in Connacht, the big 3 should never be on the same side of the draw. 

[armaghniac]

I'd rather it was weighted to avoid say Tipp getting to a Munster final by beating Waterford and Limerick, they'd be wasting their own and everyone elses time in Sam. Same in Connacht, the big 3 should never be on the same side of the draw. 

Munster is weighted this year, but that just ensures that Cork and Kerry are inevitably in Sam. Kerry would anyway, but Cork might not be.

[moonster]

I'd rather it was weighted to avoid say Tipp getting to a Munster final by beating Waterford and Limerick, they'd be wasting their own and everyone elses time in Sam. Same in Connacht, the big 3 should never be on the same side of the draw. 

Munster is weighted this year, but that just ensures that Cork and Kerry are inevitably in Sam. Kerry would anyway, but Cork might not be.

Munster even amended their rules Cork could be on opposite side of Kerry in the draw.

[blanketattack]

I'd rather it was weighted to avoid say Tipp getting to a Munster final by beating Waterford and Limerick, they'd be wasting their own and everyone elses time in Sam. Same in Connacht, the big 3 should never be on the same side of the draw. 

Munster is weighted this year, but that just ensures that Cork and Kerry are inevitably in Sam. Kerry would anyway, but Cork might not be.

Munster even amended their rules Cork could be on opposite side of Kerry in the draw.

Clare and Kerry were the seeded teams in Munster this year, as they were last year's finalists.
Next year will be based on league position i.e. Cork and Kerry

[APM]

I think the first thing that needs addressed is the ability of provinces to seed teams which directly impacts on the All Ireland series. For example had Cork drawn Kerry in an open draw in the Munster Semi final Cavan would now be in the Tailtean cup. That to me seems extremely unfair.

As does this idea of half avoiding repeat fixtures. Again impacted by seeding control by a province. It creates an unlevel playing field.

Disagree, don't think it helps the integrity of a competition if a Division 4 team by virtue of a lopsided  provincial draw ends up in the AI series, giving stronger teams an easy draw.

Take London the year they made it to the Connacht final (2012?). In this format that only benefits the teams that are drawn out against them. At least this year Down were excluded at the expense of Westmeath. Imagine they were excluded at the expense of London by virtue of wins over Sligo & Leitrim.

Ps - had Leitrim made the Connacht final this year, they would have been there on merit! 

So you think the integrity is maintained by ensuring that some team have an advantage over others on a non merit basis?  I'm really not sure I follow.

Why is any competition seeded? So the final has the best teams and the top seeds aren't knocking each other out only to leave a one sided spectacle in the final. Galway and Roscommon are there on merit.

The first round of the qualifiers is all the better not to have London  there because of a handy draw (say Leitrim & Sligo). The only beneficiary of that would be whoever draws them in rounds 1 and 2 as they might as well have a bye. You get an uneven contest and the overall tournament is skewed because other teams won't have a such a handy draw. 

The real question is why would you want teams in there that can't compete? I would seed based on league position by the way.

[David McKeown]

I think the first thing that needs addressed is the ability of provinces to seed teams which directly impacts on the All Ireland series. For example had Cork drawn Kerry in an open draw in the Munster Semi final Cavan would now be in the Tailtean cup. That to me seems extremely unfair.

As does this idea of half avoiding repeat fixtures. Again impacted by seeding control by a province. It creates an unlevel playing field.

Disagree, don't think it helps the integrity of a competition if a Division 4 team by virtue of a lopsided  provincial draw ends up in the AI series, giving stronger teams an easy draw.

Take London the year they made it to the Connacht final (2012?). In this format that only benefits the teams that are drawn out against them. At least this year Down were excluded at the expense of Westmeath. Imagine they were excluded at the expense of London by virtue of wins over Sligo & Leitrim.

Ps - had Leitrim made the Connacht final this year, they would have been there on merit! 

So you think the integrity is maintained by ensuring that some team have an advantage over others on a non merit basis?  I'm really not sure I follow.

Why is any competition seeded? So the final has the best teams and the top seeds aren't knocking each other out only to leave a one sided spectacle in the final. Galway and Roscommon are there on merit.

The first round of the qualifiers is all the better not to have London  there because of a handy draw (say Leitrim & Sligo). The only beneficiary of that would be whoever draws them in rounds 1 and 2 as they might as well have a bye. You get an uneven contest and the overall tournament is skewed because other teams won't have a such a handy draw. 

The real question is why would you want teams in there that can't compete? I would seed based on league position by the way.

I don't want teams in there that can't compete. I want all teams to have as fair a crack as possible. 

It's not a level playing field for one side to have to win one game against any where between the 3rd and 5th best team in their province in order to guarantee the same thing that a team from Ulster  might have to beat the three best teams in their province to achieve.

I think any system for the all Ireland has to address this issue.

Personally I'd run the provincial competitions as a completely separate competition

[APM]

I think the first thing that needs addressed is the ability of provinces to seed teams which directly impacts on the All Ireland series. For example had Cork drawn Kerry in an open draw in the Munster Semi final Cavan would now be in the Tailtean cup. That to me seems extremely unfair.

As does this idea of half avoiding repeat fixtures. Again impacted by seeding control by a province. It creates an unlevel playing field.

Disagree, don't think it helps the integrity of a competition if a Division 4 team by virtue of a lopsided  provincial draw ends up in the AI series, giving stronger teams an easy draw.

Take London the year they made it to the Connacht final (2012?). In this format that only benefits the teams that are drawn out against them. At least this year Down were excluded at the expense of Westmeath. Imagine they were excluded at the expense of London by virtue of wins over Sligo & Leitrim.

Ps - had Leitrim made the Connacht final this year, they would have been there on merit! 

So you think the integrity is maintained by ensuring that some team have an advantage over others on a non merit basis?  I'm really not sure I follow.

Why is any competition seeded? So the final has the best teams and the top seeds aren't knocking each other out only to leave a one sided spectacle in the final. Galway and Roscommon are there on merit.

The first round of the qualifiers is all the better not to have London  there because of a handy draw (say Leitrim & Sligo). The only beneficiary of that would be whoever draws them in rounds 1 and 2 as they might as well have a bye. You get an uneven contest and the overall tournament is skewed because other teams won't have a such a handy draw. 

The real question is why would you want teams in there that can't compete? I would seed based on league position by the way.

I don't want teams in there that can't compete. I want all teams to have as fair a crack as possible. 

It's not a level playing field for one side to have to win one game against any where between the 3rd and 5th best team in their province in order to guarantee the same thing that a team from Ulster  might have to beat the three best teams in their province to achieve.

I think any system for the all Ireland has to address this issue.

Personally I'd run the provincial competitions as a completely separate competition

I get that! I wouldn't as I think you would end up with a glorified McKenna Cup. However, we may already be there. Are Kerry completely focused on the Munster Final with Donegal waiting in the wings?

[Main Street]

Re the provincials, the semi finals are now more important than the final itself for the team aspiring to do well in the championship.

[Main Street]

Is there anything to be said about just going back to the original back door system?? Open draw and one more chance.

The old back door qualifier round system had tumbleweed blowing right through it. Whether this new round system is an improvement on the group stages remains to be seen, but thankfully there's no going back to the back door.

[onefineday]

Re the provincials, the semi finals are now more important than the final itself for the team aspiring to do well in the championship.

Probably more meaningful anyway. The draws being made at this time have really undermined the finals imo. Especially Kerry v cork, it's hard to imagine that Kerry will be totally focused on winning that 87th munster when they have donegal looming large on the horizon.

[marty34]

Re the provincials, the semi finals are now more important than the final itself for the team aspiring to do well in the championship.

Probably more meaningful anyway. The draws being made at this time have really undermined the finals imo. Especially Kerry v cork, it's hard to imagine that Kerry will be totally focused on winning that 87th munster when they have donegal looming large on the horizon.

Fair point regarding knowing the draw before the provincial final. Not great in my opinion.

[Armagh18]

With the exception of Kerry and maybe Galway, the other provincial finalists will be buzzing to win a provincial medal. (I'm including Dublin in that given they've so many new lads in and they didn't win it last year)