2021 Club Action

Do we have any details on the leagues yet, when they will start or when we will see fixtures? I wonder will the junior championship be finished out?

Beginning to chomp at the bit now!

Nothing as of yet but going by what is happening at national level, the plan will be to complete all 2020 competitions. Hopefully fixtures will be released next week or so. Games less than a month away.

June 7th

2020 Reserve B Football Semi Finals and Reserve A, D, and F Finals to be played.


June 11th

2020 Reserve B Football Final to be played.


June 12th

2021 Senior Football Leagues will commence. Format(s) will be sent out shortly.

2020 Junior Football Championship Round 5 to be completed.



June 14th

2021 Reserve Football Leagues will commence. Format(s) will be sent out shortly.

June 15th

2021 Senior Hurling D1 League will commence. Format will be sent out shortly.

June 16th

2020 Junior Football Championship Quarter Finals to be played .

June 17th

2021 Senior Hurling D2 League will commence. Format will be sent out shortly.

June 18th

2021 Friday Night Reserve Football Leagues will commence.
June 20th

2020 Junior Football Championship Semi Finals to be played.  

2020 Intermediate Football Championship Relegation Semi Final to be played.
June 27th

2020 Intermediate Football Championship Relegation Final will be played,

2020 Junior Football Championship Final will be played,
PLEASE NOTE : Other Key dates

2020 Senior Hurling Championship Final - July 25th

2020 Intermediate Hurling Championship Final - July 25th

2020 Senior Hurling Championship Relegation Final - July 24th

2020 Junior Hurling Championship Final - July 24th

2020 Minor Competitions will be completed when the Kildare U20s have completed 2021 competitions.

2021 Minor Football and Hurling Leagues (U18) will commence July 25th.

2021 Football Championships will commence in early August or after Senior County Team Exit the All-Ireland series.

2021 Hurling Championships will commence Early / Mid-August.

2021 Minor (U18) Championships Football / Hurling will commence mid to late August.

2021 Reserve Football Championship will commence Early to mid-August.

I thought we were moving to u/17 at minor this year? No mention of that above.

topcat wrote:

I thought we were moving to u/17 at minor this year? No mention of that above.

No, Kildare are keeping minor at U18. And rightly so IMO.

There is an U17 competition planned for June to be played without county minor hurlers and football squad members.

I think it is silly to be out of step with rest of country bar Dublin particularly in terms of organising challenge games etc. I know by rule Kildare county board have to run u/15 and u/17 competitions are their primary underage competitions going forward so not sure what they are waiting for.

There will be U15 and U17 ran anyway but it's good to have the U18. I wouldn't be worried about what everyone else is doing. Most counties have adopted the U17 plan under duress.

I would be interested to hear you thoughts on why we should go to 17??

Main reason would be to be in log step with other counties so that arranging challenge games outside the county would be easier, I would also add an u/19 competition in July (after Leaving) as I think the potential to lose players at the 18 year old age group is quite significant and should worry most G.A.A people. I think keeping at u/18 rules out the whole month of June and most of May for competition which I don't think is ideal for anybody.

Fair points.

I agree with you on the issue of losing players from U18 age group if no competition and that is my main reason for supporting minor @ U18

Not sure if U19 will work. Especially in smaller clubs where lads start to train and play with adult teams and it can then be very hard to get them to commit to the younger team. In principle though I would agree with you.

If they could move the club u20 competition to earlier in the season, maybe lads would train on with the adult teams afterwards. At present some lads are waiting around all year till October to play a knockout competition. I know these same individuals should be playing reserve football but apart from a few interested ones thats not the case from my experience anyway.

Yep, u/19 may not work but I do think that if/when we move to u/17 a bridge group between u/17 and adult will be required. I think clarity around the u/17 competition is required, if it is to be played without county players then my own belief would be it is better off being scrapped as it demeans the competition if teams can't field full or close to full teams at underage. I know that creates an issue for u/16 players as there is currently no comp for them as Bord na nÓg has moved to u/15 so we can have a team to participate in national feile in July.

Yes a dangerous road to travel playing underage competitions without county players. In their defence I'd imagine it's only for this year with time so tight.

Bord na nóg, while adopting the 13 and 15 age groups will aslo be playing 14s and 16s in a split season type model. These latter 2 comps will be prob played in Autumn.

If we move to U17 and don't replace with a bridging competition you might start to see clubs treat the reserve leagues differently. They might naturally become a sort of U23 competition.

Trials for County in Dec & Jan when players are not playing competitive clubs games are not always a true guide to ability.
As County Minor is u17 & then its u20, with both being played early in the year, before meaningful club minor & U20, would an U16 in the summer/autumn not be ideal preparation for the following years County Minor, giving players a chance to show and giving selectors the chance to assess and select.
Then U19 could be used in a similar way to allow players show for the following years U20 ?

kelf wrote:

Trials for County in Dec & Jan when players are not playing competitive clubs games are not always a true guide to ability.
As County Minor is u17 & then its u20, with both being played early in the year, before meaningful club minor & U20, would an U16 in the summer/autumn not be ideal preparation for the following years County Minor, giving players a chance to show and giving selectors the chance to assess and select.
Then U19 could be used in a similar way to allow players show for the following years U20 ?  

I'd say that's what will happen Kelf. The U13s and U15s will replace the old slot for U14 and U16 in the early part of the year and then 16s and 18s or 19s perhaps will be played from August onwards

National Feile is u/15 so u/15 will be replacing u/14 going forward I would imagine. National feile typically takes places in July so you could be right 13/15/17 for the first half of the year and 14/16/18 in latter part of the year with 18s starting after county minor team finishes.

Agree with all of the above except for when the wind blows from the north and a half moon appears in the night sky when the 2nd of the month is a Tuesday... when this happens then minor goes to U10 and only U10's can play U20 (but its still called U20) except for national competitions where if you're the seventh son of a seventh son you can play in the ladies league (not championship) wearing no shorts, jersey, socks or boots in the first half but you must wear the other teams kit in the second half and play for them, but you're still playing for your team....

Lord Jaysus....

June 12th
2020 Junior Football Championship Round 5 to be completed.

June 16th
2020 Junior Football Championship Quarter Finals to be played.

June 18th
2020 Junior Football Championship Semi Finals to be played.

This is crazy for teams that have not played any football 9 months, what's the hurry and were is the player welfare.

To be fair 1928 it’s the same for both sides so one side is not ffurther advantaged then the other.


On the u/17 u/18 debate changing the grading just to facilitate challenge games is such a narrow minded view. In Kildare we have a large young population comparatively to most other counties. We have more urban teams than most where it’s unlikely an 17 year old will break into a senior team as most of our teams are not struggling for numbers. Confey only senior team I know of that have numbers issues. Move to u17 and a lot of lads miss a lot of football.

Gaa1928 wrote:

June 12th
2020 Junior Football Championship Round 5 to be completed.

June 16th
2020 Junior Football Championship Quarter Finals to be played.

June 18th
2020 Junior Football Championship Semi Finals to be played.

This is crazy for teams that have not played any football 9 months, what's the hurry and were is the player welfare.

Not really the same for all teams, the group winners do not play in the quarter finals.

Senior League draw and format below

https://kildaregaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2021/05/DRAFT-EMS-Copiers-Senior-Football-League-Draws-and-Formats-2021.pdf

Looks similar to last year.

No last year 2&3 were split into groups of 5 and you played the 5 teams in the opposite group .. so as far out as Kish lighthouse to what it is this year

TheManInTheStands wrote:

No last year 2&3 were split into groups of 5 and you played the 5 teams in the opposite group .. so as far out as Kish lighthouse to what it is this year

Apologies, I missed the throwaway line at the bottom of the document re Divs 2&3.

Heard eanna o Connor no longer with moorefield

Old news

Transfer cleared in May

5/31/2021 Eanna O'Connor Kildare Leinster Moorefield Kerry Munster St Michaels - Foilmore

kelf wrote:

Old news

Transfer cleared in May

5/31/2021 Eanna O'Connor Kildare Leinster Moorefield Kerry Munster St Michaels - Foilmore

is it ture 2 players from Cork are with club