A proposal to move the 2024 All-Ireland senior football final to the first weekend of August was heavily defeated at a meeting of the GAA’s Central Council last Saturday.
Instead, next year’s football decider will again be played at the end of July, meaning that there will be no move towards an August Bank Holiday final, an option that had been mooted in recent weeks.
With Central Council agreeing to follow the Central Competitions Control Committee recommendation that the status quo be retained for next year, it means that the Allianz Leagues will begin at the end of January, with the divisional finals to be played at the end of March.
The championship will commence on the weekend of 6/7 April and the All-Ireland football final will round the season off at the end of July.
Central Council will now table a motion to next year’s Annual Congress to officially put in rule that the All-Ireland finals will be played by week 30 of the inter-county season.
Currently, the rule book states that the All-Ireland senior finals shall be played in Croke Park on or before the 29th Sunday in the year, on dates determined by Central Council.
Over the last few years, special permission has been sought to extend to week 30 and, for clarity’s sake, the motion to next year’s Congress will officially seal that date.
Last Saturday’s meeting saw a detailed discussion on the shape of the 2024 season.
This followed a comprehensive consultative process between the CCCC and counties on how best league finals could be retained whilst avoiding finalists having to play provincial championships without a break.
The proposal to add a week to the inter-county calendar by extending the date for the All-Ireland football final to the first weekend in August received just 32% of votes.
The option to persist with having no guaranteed gap between league finals and start of provincial championships gained 28%.
Starting the football league in 2024 a week earlier (20/21 January) received just 20% while the proposal to discontinue football league finals only received 16% support.
Meanwhile, the option to reduce the window for the provincial football championships garnered just 4% support.
While Central Council adapted the CCCC’s recommendation to reflect the 2023 template again next year, it was agreed to again solicit the views of counties on proposals for the 2025 season.
