The Leinster senior hurling championship could be extended to eight teams next year if a proposal from a special workgroup review committee is accepted. Currently, the Leinster senior hurling comprises six counties: Kilkenny, Wexford, Dublin, Kildare, Offaly and Galway but the workgroup which is chaired by former Kilkenny manager and GAA president Nickey Brennan, is seeking to involve two more counties in the round-robin series to help developing counties get up to the next level.
National Head of Hurling Willie Maher said: ‘‘Everything is at consultation stage and that process is still ongoing within Leinster GAA. The workgroup committee has looked at every possibility and now all of the main stakeholders have to review proposals before they go to the next stage. Leinster has taken the lead in this regard to the development of the game and hopefully the work group recommendations will now come to a conclusion soon.” Apparently the preferred proposal would see two groups of four, including the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists. Group 1 would include the top-placed four teams in the previous year’s Leinster series and the teams would all play each other with the top two earning semi-final spots, with the last two teams playing quarter-finals against the top two in the weaker Group 2.
HARTE IS BACK
Mickey Harte is back. The 72-year-old three-time All-Ireland winning manager is returning to club management after Down club Kilcoo confirmed last week that he’s their new manager. The 2022 All-Ireland club champions are out of the 2026 championship after losing to Burren in the semi-final and naturally they are hoping that Harte can bring them success in 2027. Harte has been without a senior managerial post after stepping down as Offaly joint-manager in July. After managing the Tyrone minor and under 21 teams to All-Ireland glory, Harte led Tyrone to win the Sam Maguire Cup in 2003, 2005 and again in 2008. He was deposed as manager at the conclusion of the delayed 2020 season. Mickey subsequently managed Louth, where he oversaw their rise from Division 4 to Division 2 and took the Wee County to the Leinster final in 2023 where they lost to Dublin. That was followed by a short but high-profile season in charge of Derry, which yielded a National League title but which was followed by a failed championship campaign in 2024.
RECORD-HOLDER
O’CONNOR QUITS
The GAA inter-county season is over and the club scene is in the latter stages, so naturally experienced players are thinking of next year and a few have already made the decision that they won’t be playing inter-county hurling or football in 2027. Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor, who has struggled with injuries in recent times, was the first to go public. The football championship’s all-time leading scorer steps away from the game at elite level after enjoying the crowning glory of being part of Mayo’s All-Ireland final squad that lifted the Sam Maguire Cup in July, although he didn’t play. The Ballintubber clubman played 75 championship games for Mayo, scoring 32 goals and 364 points in that time. He is regarded as one of Mayo’s greatest forwards of all time.
Kerry’s Tadhg Morley has also retired. He was also on the bench in Croke Park on July 26 and like O’Connor didn’t see any action. But he has two winners’ medals, lining out at central half back in 2022 when Kerry beat Galway and coming as a sub in their 2025 win over Donegal. Kerry manager Jack O’Connor said that the Templenoe defender could have big coaching potential. He said: ‘‘Tadhg was the lynchpin of our defense in my first year back in 2022. He organized boys around him and had the respect of everybody on and off the field. Tadhg has a career as a coach/manager ahead of him because he has the presence and leadership qualities in abundance.’’
Two big hurling names are also leaving the stage. Kilkenny goalkeeper Eoin Murphy was rated as one of the top five goalkeepers in the country in recent years and in Cork Seamus Harnedy follows former colleague Patrick Horgan, who quit last year, into retirement. Two great Cork forwards, but none of them won an All-Ireland senior medal as it’s now 21 years since Cork won the MacCarthy Cup.
MCENTEE TAKES THE
REINS IN MONAGHAN
John McEntee has been appointed as the new manager of the Monaghan footballers where he replaced Gabrial Brannigan. An All-Ireland winner with his native Armagh in 2002, McEntee has previously managed two Monaghan clubs, Inniskeen and Clontibret. The was some speculation that John’s twin brother Tony, might be added to his backroom team, but for now it looks like he is staying on as a part of Conor Laverty's backroom team in Down. Meanwhile Longford are still looking for a manager. For a few weeks it looked like former Abbeylara manager Frankie Dolan would replace Mike Solan in Longford, but Dolan said that following a chat with the Longford County Board Chairman, he would not be putting his name forward. In Kerry Jerome Stack has quit as manager of East Kerry club Fossa, a few weeks after they were crowned Kerry Intermediate champions. There was speculation in Kerry that Stack was annoyed that some of the squad were training with Divisional side East Kerry and not with their club. Fossa is the home club of David and Paudie Clifford.
ROARTY JOINS
COLLINGWOOD
Donegal have been dealt a blow for their 2027 prospects after defender Finnbarr Roarty last week agreed a two-year rookie contract with Aussie Rules club Collingwood. The 20-year-old, who was named Young Footballer of the Year in 2025, will head down under at the end of this month. Jim McGuinness gave the Naomh Conaill player his senior inter-country debut in this first game back as Donegal manager in Jan.2024.
MAGUIRE CENTENARY
TO BE MARKED IN ‘27
The Doheny GAA club in West Cork has announced a series of commemorative events to mark the centenary of the death of Sam Maguire. The Cork-born patriot was one of the most influential figures in the history of the GAA and the man whose name is forever associated with Gaelic football’s most coveted trophy. Inspired by the Ardagh Chalice, the Sam Maguire Cup was first presented to Kildare captain Bill “Squires” Gannon after they beat Cavan in the 1928 All-Ireland final, a year after his death. Maguire had died of tuberculosis in his native West Cork in February 1927 at the age of 49. A group of Maguire’s friends and admirers under the chairmanship of Dr. Pat McCartan commissioned a trophy in his honor.
A series of commemorative events are planned for February next year. Doheny GAA club will bring together members of the GAA family, historians, community organisations, schools, public representatives and visitors from across Ireland and overseas. The weekend has the support of the GAA’s National History & Commemorations Committee and will be attended by GAA president Jarlath Burns. There is already a statute of Maguire in Dunmanway, which was unveiled in 2002, but now a specially commissioned bronze bust of Sam will be unveiled next February creating a permanent tribute to one of Dunmanway’s most distinguished sons.
MAYO’S STAUNTON
FOR HALL OF FAME
Mayo legend Cora Staunton will inducted into the Ladies Gaelic Football Association Hall of Fame at their banquet in Dublin on Nov. 14. Staunton made her senior debut for Mayo in 1995 at the age of 13, the start of a county career that spanned more than two decades. Her honours include four All-Ireland senior titles with Mayo, 11 All-Star awards and six All-Ireland senior club Championships with Carnacon. She scored more than 60 goals and 300 points over the course of her career. She also played soccer for Ballyglass Ladies and Rugby Union for Castlebar and later spent three years with Aussie Rules club Great Western Sydney Giants.
