Cleary's Cork footballers likely to face four Division 2 away trips
Cork manager John Cleary. Pic: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Cork’s footballers will likely have to play four away games in Division 2 next year as they look to guarantee top-flight status for the first time since 2016.
Although it is the end of a two-year cycle and there usually would be a chance of having four home games in successive seasons, five of the other seven counties in the group next year played four away matches in 2025 – Derry and Tyrone who were relegated from Division 1, Division 3 finalists Kildare and Offaly and Cork’s fellow Division 2 team Meath.
The three other remaining Division 2 teams, Cavan and Louth along with Cork, had four home fixtures last season and, as the Central Competitions Control Committee, where possible, reverse the home-away balance the following season, the trio would appear to have little chance of having as much home comforts again.
Division 1 champions Kerry will be expected to enjoy four home fixtures in 2026, seeing as how they had three last year and only Dublin and themselves were the only remaining Division 1 counties to secure their place in the elite, having played four away matches.
Both they and the two promoted teams Monaghan and Roscommon are set to have an extra home fixture in 2026.
Unusually, none of the four divisional champions this past season had more home matches. In winning the Division 1 title, Kerry became the first county since Dublin in 2015 to lift the cup despite playing more games on the road.
However, of the six relegated sides just Leitrim and Westmeath had the extra fixture on their own turf and no team with four home fixtures has been demoted from Division 1 since Roscommon in 2016.
The uneven home-away split came in for criticism from Down selector Mickey Donnelly earlier this year before the county were relegated from Division 2.
“We only have three home games,” said Donnelly in February. “That has to be looked at because the three-four split is ridiculous – last year every team that was relegated played at least four games away from home and that’s not fair.”
To ensure a three-three split, Donnelly called for one of the games to be played in Croke Park or at a neutral venue.
The draft league fixtures for 2026 are expected to be distributed to counties in the coming weeks.
The top seven finishers who don’t qualify for their respective provincial final will be pitted on one side of the first round of the Sam Maguire Cup against the top two from Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster.
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