County Committee look set to vote on three Reserve football proposals in January  

Donegal GAA Clubs have been presented with three proposals to help address the state of reserve football. 

Close to 30 clubs attended a fixtures information evening at the Villa Rose Hotel, Ballybofey on Wednesday night with CCC chairman David McLoone presiding over matters. 

The CCC previously established a working group to examine the state of reserve football in the county and the findings of the panel were presented on the night.

The challenges presented by decoupling reserve football from senior was widely discussed as well as other difficulties that same aim might bring. 

The general consensus was that the status quo can’t remain and that an alternative solution has to be found prior to the start of the 2025 season. 

Some of the difficulties that were discussed in relation to decoupling were matters like the convenience of a double-header and the stress decoupling might put on players in that intersection where they’re on a senior panel but starters for their second string. 

Spreading club volunteers even thinner at weekends, possibly on the same day, for two adult games as well as putting extra burden on Donegal’s match officials were also raised as potential problems.   

As a result of Wednesday night’s meeting, three options were presented and those options look set to be brought before county committee in January with a vote deciding which one is adopted. 

Two of the options centre in on regionalised reserve leagues, which would mean less travel for second-string adult teams. 

The third option would see Division 1 reserve of the All-County League become the new Division 4, Division 2 reserve become the new Division 5 all the way down to a Division 7.

Promotion and relegation would apply in that third scenario.