Leinster pre-season competitions set for return in January

Pre-season GAA competitions were suspended or 2024. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Leinster’s pre-season competitions are scheduled to return in January following a council meeting on Monday.

The likes of the O’Byrne and Walsh Cups are set to take place having been suspended this year along with the other pre-season competitions.

It is understood the Ulster Council will shortly give the go-ahead to the McKenna Cup and Connacht GAA are also keen to revive their football competition. The Munster Council have not yet decided if they will bring back the McGrath Cup and hurling league.

However, exactly which players will be permitted to play in the competitions remains to be seen. The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) want the pre-season tournaments limited to development players with front-line footballers and hurlers only returning to training in December.

The GPA are proposing inter-county collective training for those players not involved prominently with teams last year or facing extended club commitments at the moment recommence on November 7.

The GAA are believed to be in favour of a later date in November but the details of the confirmed return dates and who can participate in the January competitions are to be confirmed shortly.

Should a motion to push the All-Ireland SFC final into August from 2027 be passed at Congress in February, part of the agreement is pre-season competitions will be disbanded permanently. The August finish is a compromise the GPA are willing to make providing there are no provincially organised matches before the start of the National League.

The Leinster Council are also set to alter the format of their U20 and minor hurling championships for 2025 with a conference-like structure being floated in the former. Currently, there are two three-team groups with each county having two games before their finishing position determines at which stage they enter the knock-out phase of the competition.

Meanwhile, Kieran McGeeney, as expected, has been ratified for a 12th season in charge of Armagh’s senior footballers. The decision was confirmed at a county board meeting on Monday.

There was never a question about the 2002 All-Ireland SFC winning captain remaining at the helm for 2026 after guiding the county to only their second ever Sam Maguire Cup last year.

The question is who will be Kieran Donaghy’s replacement as forwards coach and whether veterans like Rory Grugan, Aidan Forker and Stefan Campbell will remain involved for the upcoming season. Ciarán McKeever, Conleith Gilligan and Ciarán McKinney are expected to remain involved.