There’s been relief for Waterford, Clare, Tipperary, and Limerick with the news that a proposed seeding plan for the Munster Senior Football Championship (SFC) has been delayed for another year.
After a series of consultations between the Munster Council and the province’s counties, it has been confirmed that next year’s Munster SFC draw will not be seeded, as originally intended.
Under the initial plan, Kerry, as Division 1 National League winners, and Cork, from Division 2, were to receive automatic byes to opposite semi-finals when the draw takes place on Thursday, November 27. The provincial council had agreed in July that this system would run for three years, ensuring that the two highest-ranked league teams avoided each other until the final.
However, following further engagement with counties, The Irish Examiner has reported that the council has opted to defer the introduction of seeding until 2027. That decision offers a reprieve to Munster’s smaller footballing counties — including Waterford, Limerick, and Tipperary — who had expressed concern about the imbalance such a system might create.
Waterford manager Ephie Fitzgerald, speaking ahead of that decision, had been among those to criticise the proposed change, describing it as one that benefited the bigger counties rather than football development across the province.
“The only benefit I see to this is a financial one from having a Cork–Kerry Munster final and getting bigger crowds than you’ve had the last few years,” he said.
“They’re seeding Cork, but sure Cork haven’t won a Munster title since 2012. It has been exclusively Kerry, bar Tipp breaking through and winning one in 2020. I would be strongly in favour of reversing this and going back to an open draw system.”
He also questioned why the so-called weaker counties should be disadvantaged by a system that would effectively limit their chances of making a provincial final.
“I don’t see why there should be penalisation of the so-called weaker counties. Who is it suiting and what is it suiting from a football perspective? I don’t get that. I am very surprised too that Croke Park has stood idly by and allowed this to happen.”
For now, the Munster SFC will continue under the same open-draw format used since 2015, with the previous year’s finalists advancing automatically to the semi-finals. Kerry, the reigning champions, and Clare, last year’s runners-up, will occupy those spots.
The quarter-finals will once again include Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Tipperary, with games pencilled in for April 11, followed by semi-finals on April 25 and the Munster final on the weekend of May 10.
While the delay doesn’t resolve the broader debate about fairness in Munster football, it ensures that for 2026 at least, Waterford and others will have another year under an open draw — the kind of system Fitzgerald has long argued gives every county a fairer crack at progress.
