2025 GAA season comes into view

We might be approaching the end of the 2024 playing season but the starting gun on the 2025 GAA inter-county season will sound next Saturday.

By Shane Brophy

December 7th next sees the official start of collective training at senior level where the gates of Coolmore Morris Park can be opened to the Tipperary hurling and football teams who have been heretofore working on their training programmes individually, bar a pre-screening session over a weekend was permitted in October for medical assessments and distribution of S&C/running block programs.

There will be no training allowed from December 22nd to 27th during Christmas week while Challenge games will be allowed from January onwards.

“All of this has been approved by top sports science professionals, allowing for individual preparation ahead of the pre-season, followed by six weeks of contact training before the first competitive game,” said the GAA and GPA in a circular to counties ahead of the 2025 season.

With the pre-season competitions having been removed from next year, Tipperary’s first competitive games will be in the opening rounds of their respective National Leagues.

The GAA has yet to formally announce the fixtures, but it is expected that Liam Cahill’s senior hurlers will begin their campaign on Sunday, 26th January away to Galway in Salthill.

The new seven-team division 1A will see Tipperary have home games against Wexford, Cork and Clare with trips to Limerick and Kilkenny with their bye round coming in round 5 on March 1st/2nd.

The senior footballers, under new manager Philly Ryan will begin away to Carlow on the evening of Saturday, 25th January, one of four road trips with their home games coming against Longford, London, and Wicklow. Philly Ryan intimated that he would like to bring some of the home games around the county, but it appears the London game will be played in FBD Semple Stadium as part of a double-header with the senior hurlers clash with Cork on Saturday, 22nd February.