Munster Council's Munster SFC seeding decision 'a shotgun solution', insists McDonnell

TOP TWO? Cork's Sean McDonnell stopped by Kerry's Gavin White and Brian Ó'Beaghlaoich. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

Tipperary football chairman Fergal McDonnell has described last week’s Munster Council decision to seed the senior football semi-finals in favour of the province’s top two 2025 league finishers as “a shotgun solution”.

Cork and Kerry will be kept apart in the last four of next year’s championship in the first of a three-year trial. Tipperary along with Clare, Limerick and Waterford will face off in the quarter-finals.

Since 2015, the previous year’s finalists have received semi-final byes but no guarantee that they would avoid each other at that stage of the competition.

“I'm very disappointed with the way it has been done has by the Munster Council,” said McDonnell. “They've been very unfair. It's kind of a shotgun solution, or I wouldn't say a solution, the way they've put it through.

“One of our own delegates said it to me that back in the day, Tipperary drew Kerry four times in four consecutive years (2010-13 Munster quarter-finals). That was kind of demoralising for Tipperary because they knew their fate straight away.

“Whereas if they had a pass without meeting Cork or Kerry in a Munster semi-final, they had something to build on, or something to work on to get to the final.” 

Tipperary’s delegates were mandated to vote against the restructuring and McDonnell can understand the discontent in Limerick where officers backed it. He can also appreciate why Kerry have been favoured but points out that both Tipperary and Clare have defeated Cork in the last five years.

“Kerry are going to be the first seeds and rightly so – they are in the league of their own. Nearly all the counties have been very close to Cork in recent years – we have beaten them twice in the last 10 years (2016 and ’20).

“Clare have beaten them (2023) and Limerick have come close. By having the open draw, that kind of said we had closed the gap in that respect.” 

McDonnell believes the seeding is unlikely to last beyond the three-year basis. 

“There will be opposition at the end of the three years, and some are already saying at this stage it shouldn't be allowed to get that far.” 

Meanwhile, Limerick senior football manager Jimmy Lee is to meet with board officials in the coming days to discuss the county’s decision to back the new seeding format in the Munster senior football championship.

Limerick football chairman Wayne Fitzgerald is to speak with Lee before next week’s county board meeting after the county’s Munster Council delegates voted in favour of the management committee proposal.

The Limerick officials, it is understood, were given the mandate to back the seeding on the strict proviso it was introduced at a later juncture so the team could try and elevate their league position.

However, that amendment was not entertained at the provincial gathering last Thursday and Limerick delegates subsequently supported the motion.

Speaking to this newspaper on Saturday, Lee said he would seek clarity from the board on the matter. “It raises doubts in terms of, are we on the same page? And if we're not on the same page, Jaysus we have problems.”