With the GAA season currently on the Christmas Break, the countdown is on to the pre-season tournaments at the begining of January. 2026 will see the return of the Bank of Ireland Dr. Mc Kenna cup with the usual format of the 9 counties been split into 3 groups. The top team from each group will go through to the semi final stage where they will be joined by the highest placed runner up. Section A will open with Armagh hosting Tyrone at the Box-It Athletic grounds with Down the other team in that group. Cavan and Monaghan meet in Section B on Saturday the 3rd of January at 6pm in Kingspan Breffni. Fermanagh enter the fray on Wednesday 7th when they host Cavan and then make the trip to Castleblayney to face Monaghan on January 11th. Donegal and Derry are the opening game in Section C with Antrim also in that group.
Ulster GAA have also confirmed that the games in the competition will be 60 minutes in duration with no extra time in the knock-out stages with it going straight to penalties should a fixture end in a draw. There will also be no hooter used in the competition.
On the hurling front, the Conor Mc Guirk cup competition will be held as a pre-seaons tournament. The opening round will see Monaghan hosting Louth on Saturday the 3rd of January at 1:30pm at Cloghan. The winner of that fixture will face Down on Wednesday the 7th of January. Cavan will get their campaign underway with a trip away to Derry also Saturday the 3rd with Queens University Belfast awaiting the winners in the next round.
