Munster GAA overwhelmingly votes to postpone football championship seeding

It had been proposed that the top two ranked teams in the league would receive separate byes to the Munster SFC semi-finals.

Tue, 11 Nov, 2025 - 10:52

John Fogarty

The Munster Council have voted overwhelmingly to postpone the new league seeding system for their senior football championship until 2027.

At an online meeting on Monday night, the proposal to park their earlier decision in late July to award separate semi-final byes to the top two league finishers was passed, 15 votes to two.

It means the 2026 Munster SFC draw set to take place on Thursday, November 27 will follow the pre-existing seeding mechanism whereby the previous year’s finalists are drawn in the semi-finals but there is no guarantee that they won’t face each other.

Following further consultation with counties and players, the executive proposed that the league seeding be delayed. It means Clare and Limerick have an opportunity to earn a semi-final bye providing they are promoted from Division 3 next spring and Cork are relegated from Division 2.

Champions Kerry and runners-up Clare will be seeded in the last four for the third year in a row while Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford fill the quarter-final slots. Those games are scheduled for April 11, two weeks after the National Football League finals, with the semi-finals down for April 25. The final is fixed for the weekend of May 10.