*Ronan Lanigan tackles Kerry’s Killian Spillane. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
MUNSTER GAA have confirmed the senior football championship will not be seeded for 2026.
An online meeting of Munster Council on Monday night voted to postpone for one year the decision taken in July to alter the seeding of the Munster SFC for 2026.
As a result, the seeding process which has been in place in recent years will apply which gives the finalists of the previous year direct access to the semi-finals. The Munster championship draws take place on Thursday November 27th with Clare and Kerry now receiving byes to the semi-finals, they could be paired against each other in an open semi-final draw.
Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford will be competing in the quarter-finals which are scheduled to be held on April 11th with the semi-finals down to be played on April 25th.
Following a vote in July, Munster Council had intended to keeping the top two-ranked counties in the National Football League in opposing semi-finals. This was to result in Kerry and Cork receiving byes to the semi-finals. Such plans were never raised when Clare were competing in Division 2 of the League for eight seasons.
Intent still remains from influential figures to use league standings to determine who qualifies for the semi-finals with a statement from Munster GAA confirming the postponement was “for one year”. This makes the upcoming National League campaign of even greater importance for Paul Madden’s Clare side. Under Mark Fitzgerald and Peter Keane, Clare have finished in third position of Division 3 in 2024 and 2025.
The Clare Echo previously reported on the plans to scrap the proposed seeding format. Officials in the provincial body and Clare’s representatives on the Munster Council were unaware that moves were afoot to pause the structure changes when contacted by The Clare Echo at the end of October.
Strong pressure is understood to have been put on Munster GAA by the GPA not to relent from their plans.
