Red Hands' senior fixtures confirmed

THE GAA has confirmed the National League fixture schedules for Tyrone’s senior footballers and hurlers for the 2026 season.

The NFL Division Two campaign begins with a home tie against Kildare on Sunday, January 24, followed by a trip to Celtic Park on Saturday, January 31 to take on Derry.

Following a two-week break, another Ulster side will provide the opposition, with Cavan making the short trip to Omagh to take on their provincial rivals on Sunday, February 15.

On Sunday, February 22, there’s an away clash with Louth in round four, followed by a home tie against Offaly under the Healy Park floodlights on Saturday, February 28.

There’s another two-week interval ahead of the penultimate tie on Saturday, March 14, a trip to Dublin to face Meath, who are to play all their home games at Croke Park next season as development work continues at Pairc Tailteann.

The game will be played as the curtain-raiser to the Division One meeting of Dublin and Armagh.

All games in the final round on Sunday, March 22 will throw in at the same time, with promotion and relegation issues to be decided.

The hurlers, who will be managed again by Stephen McGarry, get their league campaign under way with an NHL Division Three meeting with Donegal at O’Neills Healy Park on Sunday, January 25, the first of three Ulster derby ties.

Next it’s a trip to Leinster to take on Louth on Saturday, January 31, followed by a home clash with Wicklow on Sunday, February 8.

Following a two-week break, they return to action with a short trip to Enniskillen to take on Fermanagh on Saturday, February 21, and they’re on the road again a week later for a meeting with Roscommon.

And the six-game schedule concludes on Saturday, March 7 with a meeting with neighbours Armagh in Omagh.

Full details of the fixtures programme for all competitions are included in the GAA Master Fixtures for 2026.

The plan has been devised by the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), who faced the onerous task of piecing together a schedule that includes 67 teams in two codes across nine divisions playing 226 fixtures over 11 weekends.

“It’s a massive amount of work,” said CCCC chairperson, Brian Carroll.

“There are so many different pieces of the jigsaw that has to be put together to get to the final fixtures plan. In the league particularly, there's just a massive amount of work involved in it because there's so many pieces that have to fit together between the two codes,” he told GAA.ie.

“When you're putting together 226 fixtures in football and hurling, it's always going to be a huge challenge because there's only so many dates there.

“A lot of work goes into it with all the counties and they would acknowledge that. You can't keep everybody happy, unfortunately, because there's so many different angles we have to take.”

He added: “We always try and make sure that in the first two rounds a team will always have a home and away game to keep it fair that way.

“We aim that no team will have more than two home or away games in a row as well.

“And then for the cycle change some counties think that they'll automatically have the opposite of what they had the previous year, and for the ones at the end of the cycle that doesn't always work out because we start a new cycle every two years.

“Venues are a huge thing because when you're playing these games in late January and February and March, weather is obviously going to be an issue and there's not too many venues at that time of the year that can take double-headers.

“Croke Park and Páirc Uí Chaoimh are nearly the only two that can take them at that time of the year.

“Then you'll have issues with floodlights. There are some Division 1 teams in both hurling and football that don't have lights. So that straightaway has an impact on what games you can put on a Saturday evening.

“Then there are some counties that don't want a direct clash between the football and hurling.

“When it comes to promoting the game, you want to try to start and end the League with big games and tie all that in together to our work with the TV companies and our contract obligations with them.

“Our aim is to have six games for TV each weekend and that's not easy because the broadcasters want high profile games and you need venues of light to be able to do the games on Saturdays. So that's a challenge as well.”

Meanwhile, Tyrone’s Benny Hurl has played a central role in a major study which has resulted in the publication of a set of recommendations aimed at targeting the dramatic demographic changes which have taken place in Ireland, and which are having a significant impact on rural and urban clubs.

The report of the Association’s National Demographic Committee was launched by GAA president Jarlath Burns at Croke Park.

It sets out the scale of the challenges facing both rural and urban clubs in an Ireland that now has a population of more than 7 million people, which is its largest since 1851, and one that is concentrated in cities and towns.

Chair of the National Demographics Committee, Benny Hurl, said: “For decades the issue and the threat posed by demographics has been signalled as a warning for us in the GAA.

“We believe that this report paints a very clear picture of the dangers posed to us and the urgent need for action. Demographic change is not a future threat - it is a present reality.

“This report provides a roadmap for renewal, ensuring Gaelic games remain inclusive, resilient and central to Irish life.”

The GAA’s response to Ireland’s demographic shift is based on several years of analysis which shows how population trends, mapping rural decline and issues such as the mass migration of people to east Leinster means that many rural GAA clubs are struggling to field as many teams as before, while in urban areas, clubs are trying to cope with huge numbers which places burdens on their volunteers and specifically access to playing and training facilities.

GAA president Jarlath Burns said: “In the last 100 years no bigger issue has emerged as a threat to our ability to stay relevant to our members than the subject of demographics.

"Many of these challenges are outside of the GAA’s remit to control. But what we must do is have a conversation about how capable we are to be able to still have a foothold and pulse in our cities, towns, villages and rural communities.

“A constant in the remarkable history of the GAA has been its robustness; its ability to meet challenges and find a way to stay at the heart of Irish life.

"I say that not out of complacency but out of a conviction that we can plot a path forward.”