Clare fail in motion for home advantage rule in Munster football 

Tadhg Morley of Kerry in action against Brendy Rouine of Clare during the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship semi-final match between Kerry and Clare at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in Ennis, Clare. Photo by Paul Phelan/Sportsfile

The Munster Council has voted down Clare’s proposal to give unseeded counties in the province's senior football championship permanent home advantage at the semi-final and final stage of the competition.

In advance of the new League-based seeding format taking effect from next year, Clare unsuccessfully brought a proposal to last week’s Munster Council meeting that would have denied Cork and Kerry home advantage in their respective Munster semi-finals whenever they are the province’s two seeded teams.

Moreover, the Clare motion also proposed that if any of the four unseeded counties were to win through to the provincial decider, they would also enjoy home advantage for the final.

Prior to the vote going against them, Clare chairman Kieran Keating had told the Irish Examiner that their motion was about levelling up the Munster SFC after the very obvious “leg up” given to Cork and Kerry.

“It is an ask for Cork and Kerry to have to travel every year for their Munster semi-final while they are the seeded teams, but if they want to take advantage of the seeding, then that is what we’re asking of them,” said Keating.

“And if they say, ‘No, we’re not interested in that’, well then we’d be saying, dispense with the seeding and go back to an open draw and let it fall on home and away arrangements as before. Because if you’re going to take one advantage, give back some advantage. This proposal is about levelling up.

“Most of the time, the Munster final will be in Killarney or Cork, but if one of us happens to prove that the seeding isn’t a fair reflection and if we can take advantage of the semi-final home advantage we are proposing, then that would get us a home Munster final. It won’t happen often, but it could occasionally.” 

With Cork and Kerry currently two rungs higher on the league ladder than Clare in Division 3, it is locked in that Cork and Kerry will be the two seeded teams for the 2027 and ‘28 editions of the Munster SFC.

Coming in on an initial three-year period, 2029 will be the sole Munster championship where there is a possibility of having a seeded county that is not the province’s two traditional powerhouses.