{"id":430525,"date":"2026-05-03T17:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/430525\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T17:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:44:14","slug":"ciaran-whelan-has-one-concern-with-new-all-ireland-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/430525\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciar\u00e1n Whelan Has One Concern With New All-Ireland Format"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"129\" data-end=\"299\">Ciar\u00e1n Whelan has questioned whether reaching a provincial final will actually be an advantage under the GAA\u2019s revamped All-Ireland series format.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"301\" data-end=\"565\">Speaking on RT\u00c9 during live coverage of Down v Armagh, Whelan suggested that the benefits of making a provincial decider may not be as clear-cut as in previous years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"567\" data-end=\"776\">The new structure sees the eight provincial finalists drawn against the other eight qualified teams, those who progress via league standings or as Tailteann Cup winners, in Round 1 of the Sam Maguire series.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"778\" data-end=\"810\">From there, things move quickly.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"812\" data-end=\"1018\">Win your Round 1 game, and you move into Round 2A, where victory again sends you straight through to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Lose, and you drop into Round 2B, where another defeat means elimination.<\/p>\n<p>\n        Recommended\n    <\/p>\n<p>                        <a :href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/gaa\/article.url\" :title=\"article.title\" :aria-label=\"article.title\" class=\"not-prose col-span-2 md:col-span-1 ga-event\" data-category=\"Recommended Article Tracker\" data-action=\"click\" :data-label=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/gaa\/article.url\" :data-value=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/gaa\/article.url\"><\/p>\n<p>                                            <img class=\"aspect-video\" width=\"130\" height=\"73\" :src=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/gaa\/article.image\" :alt=\"'Image for: ' + article.title\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1020\" data-end=\"1090\">In simple terms, teams now need just two wins to reach the last eight.<\/p>\n<p>Ciar\u00e1n Whelan Has One Concern With New All-Ireland Format<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1092\" data-end=\"1236\">But with so little between teams this year, Ciar\u00e1n Whelan believes the traditional reward of reaching a provincial final may not carry the same weight.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1238\" data-end=\"1414\">I think it\u2019s going to be a really interesting format and whether we\u2019ll reflect later on in the year and wonder was it a real advantage getting to a provincial final.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1416\" data-end=\"1508\">I know teams want provincial titles and they can look back at the end of the year on them\u2026<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1510\" data-end=\"1613\">However, the unpredictability of this year\u2019s championship could change how teams view that achievement.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1615\" data-end=\"1697\">What we have seen over the past few weeks is that any team can take out anybody.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1699\" data-end=\"1868\">With the draw set to determine match-ups between provincial finalists and the rest, there is no guarantee of an easier route, something Ciar\u00e1n Whelan is eager to see play out.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1967\" data-end=\"2015\">For now, provincial finals still carry serious prestige.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2017\" data-end=\"2126\">But in this new system, their true value might only become clear when the dust settles later in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>SEE ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/gaa\/sam-maguire-all-ireland-draw-gaa-653857\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The 16 Teams Confirmed For The 2026 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship<\/a><br \/>\nSEE ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/gaa\/munster-hurling-championship-2026-fixtures-table-permutations-653599\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 Munster Hurling Championship: Fixtures, Results, Permutations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ciar\u00e1n Whelan has questioned whether reaching a provincial final will actually be an advantage under the GAA\u2019s revamped&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[188051,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-430525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ciaran-whelan","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}