Limerick club winners to receive Munster bye for reaching Tailteann Cup final

Same pass will be afforded to Cork, Kerry and Tipperary if they qualify for deciders.

NET GAIN: Limerick goalkeeper Josh Ryan celebrates scoring a two-pointer from a free late in the second half during the Tailteann Cup semi-final. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

This year’s Limerick senior, intermediate and junior club football winners will receive a bye to the Munster semi-finals courtesy of the county’s qualification for Saturday week’s Tailteann Cup final.

The Munster Council last week granted a request from the Limerick County Board to afford their teams a pass from playing in the opening round of the club competitions by virtue of reaching inter-county football’s second tier championship decider against Kildare on July 12.

The first round of the Limerick club football championships were due to commence on June 19 but were delayed as a result of reaching the semi-final against Wicklow. On foot of winning that game, the start has now been rescheduled for Thursday, July 17.

Comprising 12 teams split into two groups of six, the round-robin stages of Limerick’s senior football championship is now set to be completed by early October. In both August and September, there are three-week break between rounds with some of those periods being taken up by hurling championship action.

Kerry’s representatives across the three grades will also be granted the same exemption from being drawn in the quarter-final stages should the county beat Tyrone in Saturday week’s All-Ireland final.

The same bye will be afforded to Cork and Tipperary’s hurling champions in the event they both win their respective All-Ireland semi-finals against Dublin and Kilkenny this weekend.

As a result of reaching last year’s All-Ireland senior hurling final, Clare and Cork’s winners did not have to play in the quarter-final stages of the Munster club hurling championship and therefore entered the competitions in mid-November.

Introduced to allow All-Ireland finalists more time to complete their club championship programmes, the dispensation is a relatively new regulation. In 2022, Kerry’s football and Limerick’s hurling clubs were drawn in the semi-finals as their county sides made the ultimate stage in each code.

It had been in place in 2021 for Kerry’s football representatives on foot of their All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone twice being postponed due to a covid outbreak in the Tyrone camp.