Early November start needed if pre-season competitions return
Páirc Ui Rinn before the 2024 McGrath Cup final between Kerry and Cork. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have argued inter-county players will have to return to collective training on November 8 if the provincial pre-season competitions are returned.
The official players body, who successfully lobbied for the January tournaments to be suspended this past season, believe footballers and hurlers will require the eight-week run-in to be ready for the likes of the McGrath, McKenna and Walsh Cups at the start of the new year.
Last year, players were permitted to collectively train on December 7, seven weeks before the National Leagues. In 2023, ahead of a 2024 season that included the pre-season competitions, they were allowed to come back on November 24, a build-up of almost six weeks.
“Sports science recommends at least a six-week preparation period to ensure that players are physically ready for competitive matches like the McKenna Cup,” the GPA claimed last year.
The GPA fought for a zero-contact month of November last year where players would not be required to train by their county set-ups. However, they later admitted a number of counties contravened the training ban.
The draft master fixtures list for 2026 also has the National Leagues starting on the weekend of January 17/18, a week earlier than usual. However, that commencement is contingent on the pre-season competitions remaining suspended.
The vote by Central Council 12 months ago for them not to go ahead was based solely on 2025 and therefore any attempt for them to remain suspended will require 60% majority support at the Ard Chomhairle on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the body putting forward the idea of the All-Ireland SFC final moving to the weekend after the August Bank Holiday from 2027 are considering giving the champions a bye in their respective provincial club championships.
The practice is already in place in Munster where All-Ireland finalists from the provinces, this year Cork and Tipperary’s hurlers as well as Kerry’s football champions and Limerick’s Tailteann Cup runners-up, were afforded byes.
The group put together by GAA president Jarlath Burns are seeking agreement from Central Council on the wording of a proposed motion to allow the inter-county season conclude the second weekend in August with a mind to it being debated at Congress in February.
Also at Central Council this weekend, Galway are requesting permission to facilitate Galway United at Pearse Stadium for a number of home fixtures next season as their Eamonn Deacy Park is set to undergo drainage works.
“Galway GAA is agreeable to the proposal, but it is a decision for Croke Park,” county chairman Paul Bellew told the “Connacht Tribune”. "We fully back the proposal, it has our unanimous backing, and I am hopeful that Croke Park will approve it.”
