GAA body considering August All-Ireland football final in 2027

Hurling decider would be played a week later than currently

SUNDAY BEST: The action during the All-Ireland Senior Football final between Kerry and Donegal at Croke Park in July. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

The GAA’s leadership is giving serious consideration to moving the All-Ireland senior football final into August from 2027.

A sub-committee put together by and including GAA president Jarlath Burns, which also features former director general Páraic Duffy, is looking at the All-Ireland hurling and football finals being staged on the weekends either side of the August Bank Holiday, which in 2027 would be Sundays July 25 and August 8.

This year’s All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals took place in Croke Park on July 20 and 27 respectively, with the ladies football and camogie deciders staged there over the following two weekends.

Due to concerts already being booked in for Croke Park next August, it is not possible for the inter-county season to conclude a month later in 2026. However, as Burns indicated in June, the timeframe of the championship was going to be reviewed and a proposal could soon be forthcoming.

Such a recommendation would ultimately require endorsement by Congress: the current rule states the All-Ireland senior finals “shall be played on or before the last Sunday in July on dates determined by the Central Council”.

It would also be met with strong opposition by some dual counties who need 14 weeks to stage their club championships as well as the Gaelic Players Association (GPA), who are against the inter-county season going into a ninth month including the current pre-season month of December.

The GPA are already facing a battle as pre-season provincial competitions, which they convinced Central Council to suspend for this year, are expected to return in 2026.

There is also the possible complication of replays applying to All-Ireland finals tied at the end of normal time. Withdrawn earlier this year, a motion to that effect could resurface and combined with a shift in the All-Ireland football final potentially see the inter-county season conclude at the end of August.

Without changing the parameters of the inter-county season, the GAA have already found space in it for 2026. There will be a two-week gap between the National Football League finals and the start of the provincial championships as a result of the new All-Ireland SFC football format next year, an enhanced qualifier system replacing the group structure.

All-Ireland finals have been played on successive weekends since 2022. The previous year’s football final was arranged for the week after the hurling decider but a covid outbreak in the Tyrone camp meant the game wasn’t played until September. The 2020 finals were also played within seven days of each other.