Provincial football championship draws pushed back to late November

The draws may be broadcast on GAA+. In recent years, they had been made on RTÉ Radio 1.

Since 2022, the provincial football championship draws had taken place at the end of October. Pic: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE

The draws for the 2026 provincial football championships are to be made at the end of next month.

Since 2022, the Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster competitions have been drawn in October. However, the GAA have pushed back the date this year and they could yet be broadcast on GAA+.

In recent years, the details have been revealed on RTÉ Radio 1 but Croke Park are understood to be keen to promote selling 2026 season tickets for their streaming service. Last year, the GAA missed out on the Christmas market as they were in the process of buying RTÉ’s 50% share of GAAGO before rebranding it GAA+ in February.

There is heightened excitement around the majority of next year’s provincial championships. For the first time in 15 seasons and only the second occasion in 21, Dublin will not be going into the Leinster SFC as defending champions. As this past season’s semi-finalists, Delaney Cup holders Louth along with Dublin, Kildare and Meath will be seeded in the quarter-finals.

As a result of Munster’s new seeded system, the province’s two best league finishers, Cork and All-Ireland champions Kerry, will be kept apart in separate semi-finals. Cork and Kerry’s championship campaigns will commence on April 25 with the quarter-finals occurring on April 11. The final has been pencilled in for the weekend of May 10. Clare, provincial runners-up in the last three seasons, and Tailteann Cup winners Limerick will be hoping to be picked out on Cork’s side of the draw.

In what could be the final time, New York compete in the Connacht SFC, Roscommon will travel to play them in Gaelic Park for their preliminary round game on April 12. The previous day, Mayo will go to London for their quarter-final.

The Connacht semi-finals have been provisionally scheduled for April 25 and 26 and the final arranged for the same May weekend as the Munster decider.

In Ulster, two of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone will face off in the preliminary round. Cavan, Derry, Donegal and Monaghan are exempt having started their championships at that stage over the past two seasons.

Meanwhile, hurling counties as well as football sides competing in the Munster pre-season competition could face three games in the space of 10 days. It had been thought the National Hurling League was going to start a week later than the football competition but both now are due to commence on January 24/25.

The option of a knock-out structure has been offered to counties, but it is believed the majority of them are in favour of the group format, ensuring they will have at least two outings.