Kildare GAA: major club championship changes in football and hurling approved

The February meeting of Kildare GAA County Board, met last night, Tuesday 3 February, and a proposal to revamp the senior, intermediate and junior fooball championships, along with the hurling championship, were passed unanimously.

The following are the changes which will see the pre-quarter finals in football being discontinued wile the semi-finalists from the previous will be seeded.

The new format is as follows and will come into force for the 2026 action.

Proposal 1 - Adopted: That the Senior, Intermediate & Junior Football Championship proposed formats and all Hurling Championship proposed formats be adopted for a three-year period.

Proposal 2 - Adopted: Seeding system to be introduced for the 2026 Championships

Senior Football Championship: The four semi-finalists from the 2025 Senior Football Championship shall be seeded

for the group stage draw of the 2026 Senior Football Championship.

Intermediate Football Championship: The 2025 Senior Football Relegation Final losers, along with the losing finalist and

two losing semi-finalists from the 2025 Intermediate Football Championship, shall be

seeded for the group stage draw of the 2026 Intermediate Football Championship.

Junior Football Championship: The 2025 Intermediate Football Relegation Final losers, along with the losing finalist

and two losing semi-finalists from the 2025 Junior Football Championship, shall be

seeded for the group stage draw of the 2026 Junior Football Championship.

Senior Hurling Championship: The two finalists from the 2025 Senior Hurling Championship shall be seeded for the

group stage draw of the 2026 Senior Hurling Championship.

This proposed seeding system shall come into effect for the 2026 Championship season and shall remain in place for the duration of the three-year Championship format period approved under Proposal 1. Seeding shall be determined annually using the same criteria.

SENIOR/INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Senior/Intermediate Football Championship (16 teams) Championship Format – Round Robin Group Games; 16 teams divided into 4 groups of 4 teams; 4 seeded teams, one to each group. 12 teams open draw into groups

All Groups – Three Round Robin games

The 1st and 2nd placed teams in each group progress to the Quarter Finals.

1st placed teams will be drawn at random to play 2nd placed teams. No Repeat Pairings

Quarter Final winners progress to the Semi-Finals No Repeat Pairings in Semi Finals

Semi Final winners progress to the Senior/Intermediate Final

(Winners go forward to respective Leinster Club Football Championships).

B CHAMPIONSIP/ RELEGATION FORMAT

The 3rd and 4th placed teams in each group progress to the “B” Quarter Finals

3rd placed teams will be drawn at random to play 4th placed teams. No Repeat Pairings

“B” Quarter Final winners progress to the “B” Semi Finals

No Repeat Pairings in the “B” Semi Finals. Winners to “B” Final

“B” Quarter Final losers progress to the Relegation Semi Finals

No Repeat Pairings in Relegation Semi Finals. Losers to Relegation Final

Relegation Final Loser will be relegated to the Intermediate/Junior Championship.

This Format will be run over 6 Rounds in total. Min: 4 games per club. Total = 41 games.

JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSIHIP (12 teams)

Championship Format – Round Robin Group Games

12 teams divided into 3 groups of 4 teams

4 seeded teams (Seeding Slide 3) with two seeds in Group A and one each in Group B & C.

8 teams open draw into groups

Junior Championship - Knockout

Three 1st placed teams placed in open draw with two teams drawn receiving a bye to the semi finals

Quarter Finals: Remaining 1st placed team and three 2nd placed teams play. Open draw no repeat pairings

Semi Finals: Two 1st placed bye teams and winning quarter finalists. Open Draw with no repeat pairings

Semi Final winners progress to the Junior Final

(Winners go forward to Leinster Junior Club Football Championships)

JUNIOR A (KNOCK-OUT)

Three 3rd placed teams placed in open draw with two teams drawn receiving a bye to the semi finals

Quarter Finals: Remaining 3rd placed team and three 4th placed teams play. Open draw no repeat pairings

Semi Finals: Two 3rd placed bye teams and winning quarter finalists. Open Draw with no repeat pairings

Semi Final winners progress to the Junior “A” Final

This Format is run over 6 Rounds in total. Min: 4 games per club. Total = 28 games.

This format aligns to the Proposed Senior/Intermediate Format with 4 seeded teams and same round robin

and knockout structure.

SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP

Senior Hurling Championship (8 teams)

8 teams divided into 2 groups of 4 teams

2 seeded teams (Seeding Slide 3) one to each group. 6 teams open draw into groups

The 1st and 2nd placed teams in each group progress to the Semi Finals

1st placed teams will be drawn to play 2nd placed teams. No Repeat Pairings

Winners to Senior Final

(Winners go forward to respective Leinster Club Hurling Championship)

Relegation Format

The 3rd and 4th placed teams in each group progress to the Relegation Semi Finals

3rd placed teams will be drawn to play 4th placed teams. No Repeat Pairings

Losers to Relegation Final

Relegation Final Loser will be relegated to the Intermediate Championship.

This Format will be run over 5 Rounds in total. Min: 4 games per club. Total = 18 games.

INTERNATIONAL HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP (Formerly Senior B Hurling Champ.)

Intermediate Championship:

Rename the Senior B competition as the Intermediate

Hurling Championship

(Winners still enter Leinster Junior Hurling Champ.)

Increase the size of the Intermediate Championship over 2 years to 8 teams (Junior & Res. A Winner-up and one down)

When at 8 teams the same format as the Senior Championship would be adopted

When at 8 teams, the bottom 2 teams would be relegated to either the Junior or the Reserve Championships,

depending on whether they were stand-alone or reserve teams.

JUNIOR/ RESERVE HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP

Create a Junior Championship for stand alone clubs

Any club whose first team was not in the Senior or Intermediate Championship would be placed into a stand-alone Junior Championship.

As this stands this would be 6 teams with the possibility of Rathangan making it a 7-team competition plus any other potential entrants.

Similar to Senior and Intermediate Championships, all of these games would take place at the weekend.

The Winner of the Junior Championship would be promoted to the Intermediate Championship.

Create a Reserve Championship for the remainder of the teams

Currently this would involve 14 teams

The Reserve A Championship would involve 8 teams and follow the senior championship format, with the Winners promoted to the Intermediate Championship and 1 team relegated to the Reserve B Championship.

The Reserve B Championship would involve 6 teams, and this would allow for growth in additional teams joined. The format would be aligned to the Reserve Football Championships with 3 games drawn at random, with the Top 4 making semi finals. The Winner would be promoted to the Reserve A Championship.