2026 Down Senior Football Championship

2026 Down Senior Football Championship
Tournament details
CountyDown
ProvinceUlster
Year2026
TrophyFrank O'Hare Cup
SponsorMorgan Fuels
Teams16
Defending champions Kilcoo
Qualify for2026 Ulster Club SFC

The 2026 Down Senior Football Championship is the 118th official edition of Down GAA's premier Gaelic football tournament for senior clubs in County Down. 16 teams compete, with the winning team representing Down in the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship. The tournament operates a double elimination format for the opening two rounds of the championship, with the winners and early round losers rejoining at the quarter-final stage.

Kilcoo came into the competition as the defending champion.[1]

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2025 championship season.

Participating teams

The following teams take part in the 2026 edition of the Down Senior Football Championship.[2]

Division One Division Two Division Three
Bredagh Round 2B Ballyholland Harps Round 2B Drumgath Round 2B
Burren Round 2A Bryansford Round 2A
Carryduff Round 2A Castlewellan Round 2B
Clonduff Round 2A Saul Round 2A
Glenn Round 2B Saval Round 2B
Kilcoo Round 2A
Loughinisland Round 2A
Mayobridge Round 2B
RGU Downpatrick Round 2B
Warrenpoint Round 2A

Bold denotes a team still active in the competition

Round 1

The 16 participating teams were placed into an open draw. The winning teams advance to Round 2A, while losing sides proceed to Round 2B.

20 August 2026 Round 1 Glenn 3–17 – 2–21 Bryansford Liatroim  
19:30 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Fontenoy Park
Referee: Conor Curran


21 August 2026 Round 1 Clonduff 1–16 – 1–11 RGU Downpatrick Castlewellan  
19:00 IST (UTC+1) Venue: St Malachy's Park
Referee: Brian Higgins


22 August 2026 Round 1 Mayobridge 2–15 – 3–15 Carryduff Downpatrick  
14:00 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Páirc Tomás Ruséil
Referee: Oliver Burke


22 August 2026 Round 1 Castlewellan 0–12 – 1–16 Loughinisland Annacloy  
16:30 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Aoibh na Ceanna
Referee: Darren O’Hare


23 August 2026 Round 1 Drumgath 0–12 – 3–18 Kilcoo Mayobridge  
14:00 IST (UTC+1) Venue: St Patrick's Park
Referee: Eddie Cuthbert


23 August 2026 Round 1 Saul 2–15 – 0–21
(a.e.t.)
(5–4 pen) 		Bredagh Carryduff  
16:30 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Páirc Aodha Dhuibh
Referee: Paul Faloon
    Penalty shootout
 
23 August 2026 Round 1 Warrenpoint 1–16 – 2–13
(a.e.t.)
(3–2 pen) 		Saval Hilltown  
18:30 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Clonduff Park
Referee: Colm Gribben
    Penalty shootout
 
24 August 2026 Round 1 Burren 3–18 – 0–07 Ballyholland Harps Newry  
19:30 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Páirc Esler
Referee: Gavin Finnegan


Round 2

Round 2A

Round 2A features the eight winning teams from Round 1, with an open draw to determine the fixtures. The winning teams progress directly to the quarter-finals, with the losing teams proceeding to Round 3.

28 August 2026 Round 2A Bryansford v Saul Kilcoo  
19:00 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Páirc Eoghan Rua


30 August 2026 Round 2A Carryduff v Kilcoo Newry  
18:30 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Páirc Esler


31 August 2026 Round 2A Clonduff v Burren Newry  
19:15 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Páirc Esler


Round 2B

Round 2B sees the eight losing teams from Round 1 compete for a place in Round 3. The losing teams from this round will be eliminated from the competition.

28 August 2026 Round 2B Glenn v Saval Burren  
19:00 IST (UTC+1) Venue: St Mary's Park


29 August 2026 Round 2B Bredagh v Castlewellan Downpatrick  
18:15 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Páirc Tomás Ruséil


30 August 2026 Round 2B Ballyholland Harps v Mayobridge Saval  
14:00 IST (UTC+1) Venue: Nan Sands Park


Relegation Semi-finals

The 4 losers of Round 2B play each other in the Relegation Semi-finals. The 2 winners will secure their Senior status for 2027, while the 2 losers will face-off in the Relegation Final.

Relegation Play-Off Semi-final v  


Relegation Play-Off Semi-final v  


Relegation Final

The winner of the Relegation Final will maintain their Senior status into 2027, while the loser will be relegated to the 2027 Down I.F.C.

Relegation Play-Off Final v  


Round 3

Round 3 is a supplementary round for teams to have a second chance at reaching the quarter-finals. This round features teams that have lost once so far in this year's competition, either winning in Round 1 and losing in Round 2A, or losing in Round 1 but winning their Round 2B fixture. The losing teams in this round are eliminated from this year's competition.

This round is seeded, meaning that in each fixture a Round 2A losing team will face a Round 2B winning team.

Round 3 v  


Round 3 v  


Round 3 v  


Round 3 v  


Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals see the two brackets rejoin, with the earlier Round 2A winners facing a Round 3 winner for a semi-final spot.

Quarter-final v  


Quarter-final v  


Quarter-final v  


Quarter-final v  


Semi-finals

The semi-finals will see the four winning sides face off for a place in this year's final. This round is an open draw from the four quarter-final winners.

Semi-final v Newry  
Venue: Páirc Esler


Semi-final v Newry  
Venue: Páirc Esler


Final

The final will be played between the two semi-final winning teams, and will take place at Páirc Esler, Newry.

Final v Newry  
Venue: Páirc Esler


References

  1. ↑ "Down SFC Final: Kilcoo win again". GAA.ie. 19 October 2025. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  2. ↑ "2026 Down GAA Senior Football Championship". downgaa.net. 1 June 2026. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.