Intermediate A has become very common across the board as a fancy name for Junior. It bamboozled The Buff at a Fethard v John Lockes Leinster Junior semi-final back around 2017. He was outraged that an intermediate team was playing not realising that it was the 25th team from both counties against each other. The irony was that the second game on the menu in Wexford Park that day was actually an intermediate semi-final iirc.
3 Likes
Thereâs plenty of quantity anyway of club games at the moment anyway. Quality is another issue altogether. Clubs in the main are depleted in July/August with young lads on holidays, J1, stags and weddings.
| 01/01/2023 | Free |
|---|---|
| 08/01/2023 | Pre season Comps/Sigerson/Fitz |
| 15/01/2023 | Pre season Comps/Sigerson/Fitz |
| 22/01/2023 | Pre season Comps/Sigerson/Fitz |
| 29/01/2023 | All Ireland Club Semi Finals Football/Pre season Comps/Sigerson/Fitz |
| 05/02/2023 | All Ireland Club Semi Finals Hurling/Pre season Comps/Sigerson/Fitz |
| 12/02/2023 | NFL Round 1/NHL Round 1 |
| 19/02/2023 | NFL Round 2/NHL Round 2 |
| 26/02/2023 | All Ireland Club Finals |
| 05/03/2023 | NFL Round 3/NHL Round 3 |
| 12/03/2023 | NFL Round 4 NHL Round 4 |
| 15/03/2023 | Cadbury Provincial Under 21 Prelim Round |
| 19/03/2023 | NFL Round 5 |
| 23/03/2023 | Cadbury Provincial Under 21 Quarter Finals |
| 26/03/2023 | NHL Round 5 |
| 30/03/2022 | Cadbury Provincial Under 21 Semi Finals |
| 02/04/2023 | NFL Round 6/NHL Semi Finals |
| 05/04/2023 | Cadbury Provincial Under 21 Finals |
| 09/04/2023 | NFL Round 7/NHL Finals |
| 16/04/2023 | NFL Finals |
| 23/04/2023 | Club Leagues with County Players/Cadbury Under 21 AI Semi Finals |
| 30/04/2023 | Club Leagues with County Players/Cadbury Under 21 AI Final |
| 07/05/2023 | Club Leagues with County Players/If counties have convoluted Championships they can use a weekend or two around this time for championship. |
| 14/05/2023 | Club Leagues with County Players for counies not out in Inter County Championship until 28/05 |
| 21/05/2023 | Prelim Round Ulster/Leinster Football/Club activity in Counties not in IC Chanmpionship action until 04/06 |
| 28/05/2023 | Provincial Hurling Quarters |
| 01/06/2023 | Provincial Under 21 Hurling QFâs |
| 04/06/2023 | Provincial Quarters Football |
| 11/06/2023 | Provincial Hurling Semis |
| 15/06/2023 | Provincial Under 21 Hurling SFâs |
| 18/06/2023 | Provincial Semis Football |
| 25/06/2023 | Provincial Hurling Finals/Hurling Qualifiers Round 1 |
| 28/06/2023 | Provincial Under 21 Hurling Finals |
| 02/07/2023 | Provincial Finals Football |
| 09/07/2023 | Football Qualifiers Round 1/Tailteann Cup Round 1 |
| 09/07/2023 | Hurling Qualifiers Round 2 |
| 16/07/2023 | Football Qualifiers Round 2/Tailteann Cup Round 2 |
| 16/07/2023 | Bord Gais Energy AI Under 21 Hurling Semi Finals |
| 23/07/2023 | All Ireland Hurling Quarter Finals/Tailteann Cup Semi Finals |
| 30/07/2023 | All Ireland Quarter Finals Football |
| 30/07/2023 | Bord Gais All Ireland Under 21 Hurling Final |
| 06/08/2023 | All Ireland Semi Finals Hurling |
| 13/08/2023 | AI Semis Football/Tailteann Cup Final |
| 13/08/2023 | Club Championship Week One for Counties knocked out on or before July 23rd |
| 20/08/2023 | AI Hurling Final |
| 20/08/2023 | Club Championship Week One for Counties knocked out on or before Aug 6th |
| 27/08/2023 | AI Football Final |
| 27/08/2023 | Club Championship for Counties not involved in AI Football Final |
| 03/09/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 10/09/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 17/09/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 24/09/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 01/10/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 08/10/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 15/10/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 22/10/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 29/10/2023 | Club Championship for ALL |
| 05/11/2023 | Preliminary Provincial Club Round Football - Counties knocked out before AI QF Stages can only be drawn here. |
| 12/11/2023 | Provincial Club QFâs Hurling - Counties knocked out before All Ireland Semi Final stages can only be drawn here |
| 19/11/2023 | Provincial Club QFâs Football - Counties knocked out before All Ireland Semi Final stages can only be drawn here |
| 26/11/2023 | Provincial Club Semis Hurling |
| 03/12/2023 | Provincial Club Semis Football |
| 10/12/2023 | Provincial Club Finals Hurling |
| 17/12/2023 | Provincial Club Finals Football |
| 24/12/2023 | Free |
| 31/12/2023 | Free |
This would be a grand calendar for 2023.
Iâm awaiting all bullets from the Split Season/Play All Ireland Finalâs in July zealots
2 Likes
One of the great modern clichĂŠs in life is âitâs political correctness gone mad, isnât it?â, and 99.8% of the time, it isnât political correctness gone mad or anything like it, but one of the few examples I can think of where it is is in the naming of sporting competitions.
Everything has to be âPremierâ or âSeniorâ or âAâ.
B teams are âA teamsâ. Intermediate is âSenior Bâ. Sixth tiers are âPremierâ. The second division is Division 1. The third division is League One. âChampionsâ are not champions.
If grades are shite, and most grades are shite, give them a name which reflects their shiteness.
The current situation is political correctness gone mad.
Intermediate A is misleading as it actually implies that itâs the top Intermediate grade when itâs not.
Stumbled upon this interview from before the semis. Gas viewing. The first couple of minutes were tough viewing but we saw a small bit of their personalities thereafter. Reminded me a bit of an Irish or French oral exam except the conversation took place in English.
2 Likes
Jesus christ 
All Ireland club finals February 26th? Might aswell go back to March 17th. Miles too late.
Its not really.
Clubs should be allowed enjoy their Christmas and have a few weeks in January to prepare for a semi final. Maybe bring the final forward a week. I wouldnt have an issue with that but playing an All Ireland semi final on January 3rd isnt optimum practice.
There should always be a window in the calendar where Clubs/Colleges/Counties cross paths on the challenge match circuit in early January. Tipperary v Slaughtneil 2018, Dr Crokes v UCC 2014, Crossmaglen v Kildare 2015 & Cuala v UL 2018 are some of the good ones that spring to mind. I believe Ballyhale and WIT have an almost annual one too. The true connoisseurs of the game turn up to Templetuohy/Carriganore/Abbotstown and these places to watch these games.
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24 games is a shit load not to mind 36 a fella would be broken
12 weekends for club championship in a dual county will be tough going. Wexford had 16 rounds of championship for example over the 2 codes with vast majority of players been dual.
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Two intercounty league games in the two weeks before the club final isnât feasible under the new system. If someone like Kilcoo made the club final again then Down would be playing a minimum of 2 league games without them, which could be the difference between playing Tailteann or Sam Maguire.
The Athletics thread is hopping I see
6 soccer threads in the top 20 treads on TFK and 1 GAA thread
Thats the way its gone now
3 Likes
Flog the players for challenge games in JanuarĂ˝ does not make sense.
The game will die thanks to the split season.
The only way the clubs grow and consolidate in certain areas is by running the inter county games and the club games off in tandem.
The inter county stars will know barely be at clubs for two months and maybe play five or six games depending on the format.
Itâs complete madness. The inter county season is septic. The league should be binned at minimum.
The inter county players havenât been at their clubs for 25 years.
Usually this time of year youâd have little kids in the parks practising the latest great scores from their heroes Shane Walsh or the latest Hego move that they saw on the telly.
Now all they want to do is hang around and discuss the VAR decisions they saw on MOTD over the weekend
3 Likes
Itâs fairly clear croke park are pushing to clubs to decide between playing without the inter county players or playing all their club games in September and October.
The Wexford Championship looks a bit bloated with 5 rounds to eliminate 4 teams.
In my opinion, there should be a real cut and thrust to Championship where if you lose twice your gone. 4x4 groups works very well in a lot of places.
If counties are insisting on playing Championshipâs consisting of groupâs of 6 or 8 (in Tippâs case the Divisions), i would say use the period in May to play 2 or 3 rounds of games. The club month in April was fine in theory but it was too early in the year really and County Managers took the piss and it became a Club week instead. Max 2 weeks. The power of the inter county manager is insane and needs to be totally obliterated. Demanding full and unopposed access to players for 7 months is absolutely scandalous.
@Halfpipe thatâs a good point you make. You could play Club Semiâs one week earlier and bring Final forward a fortnight to eliminate that problem. Club Final February 12 and NFL starting a week later. (God Help and IC manager pulling lads out of a pub to play a League game a week after an AI Club Final.
1 Like