Wicklow GAA football championship semi-finalists to be seeded in new groups of six

A proposal to have four seeded teams in the 2023 Senior, Intermediate and Junior ‘A’ football championships met some resistance at last Monday night’s county board meeting in Bray Emmets GAA Club.

With the championships consisting of two groups of six teams this year, Paul Wilson was seeking approval to have four seeded teams, the semi-finalists in Senior and the semi-finalists plus the relegated team from above in the Intermediate and Junior ‘A’, two in each group.

“There are a couple of things I want to clear up, I’ve had some questions back on formats for leagues and the proposed formats for championships. I just wanted to clarify them.

“The first one is that the Intermediate hurling league is a straight round robin and the winner of the league wins, there’s no play-off at the end. It’s a straight-forward league.

“The second thing is the Division 1 and 1A, where it splits into two at the end, the points carry from your first round of games into the second round. You’re not at a loss.

“And the final thing, and the most important thing, is the Senior, Intermediate and Junior ‘A’ championships, that the semi-finalists from last year or in the case of the Intermediate and Junior ‘A’ the team relegated down, would be seeded in the two groups of six. So, you would have four teams seeded, two in each group,” he added.

However, Rathnew’s Pat Doyle asked if that situation with the seeding of four teams in the Senior, Intermediate and Junior ‘A’ championships had been passed at the previous county board meeting.

Doyle and his Rathnew colleague Bobby Dignam said that just the county finalists had been seeded in previous years.

Colm Finnegan said that Paul Wilson was asking for approval for four seeded teams at the meeting in Bray Emmets GAA Club.

“So, you’re just changing it from where it was approved after two county board meetings?” asked Doyle.

Wilson said he wasn’t, and delegates were told that there had been no mention of seedings in the previous meetings.

Pat Doyle said that he thought that the two finalists being seeded were enough in the groups of six.

County Chairman Damien Byrne asked if Pat Doyle was proposing that only the county finalists be seeded and the Rathnew delegate replied that he was.

A vote was then taken and Paul Wilson’s proposal for four seeded teams was successful.