Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Cathal Noonan/INPHO AnalysisAll-Ireland Football Championship Here we go: The eight teams that start the race for Sam Maguire this weekend Ahead of the first round of games in the group stages, we take a look at the runners and riders. 2.43pm, 15 May 2025 Share options Declan Bogue Group 2: with Roscommon, Meath and Cork Manager: Jack O’Connor Captain: Gavin White Munster championship: Beat Cork by two points in the semi-final before an 11-point win over Clare in the final. Verdict: Look, they are blessed with the group they are in. Chances are they will breeze into an All-Ireland quarter-final without having faced a single side that togged out in Division 1 in 2025. Then again, that’s been the natural advantage that Kerry have enjoyed for as long as this thing has been going. The difficulty then for Jack O’Connor is judging exactly where they are at. While Donegal came through two top-flight teams to win Ulster, Kerry are uneasy. Kerry celebrate their Munster final win over Clare.Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO They are enjoying the significant improvements in Joe O’Connor and Graham O’Sullivan, while Paul Geaney is in the form of his life. All-Ireland contenders. Group 2: with Kerry, Meath and Cork Manager: Davy Burke Captain: Brian Stack Connacht championship: Beat London by 19 points in the quarter-final before going down to Galway in the semi-final by nine points. Verdict: Promotion from Division Two was followed by a meek Connacht exit to Galway. Last year, one win over Cavan brought them a preliminary round appearance, when they travelled to Omagh and beat Tyrone, before a credible loss to Armagh. Advertisement Brian Stack.Leah Scholes / INPHO Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO The crunch will come in their home tie in the second round against Cork, before facing Meath in a neutral venue. Another quarter-final appearance is not beyond them but in Davy Burke’s third season, they have kept up a level of expectation and performance that outstrips the sum of their parts. Group 4: with Dublin, Armagh and Derry Manager: Padraic Joyce Captain: Seán Kelly Connacht championship: Beat Roscommon in the semi-final by nine points before edging Mayo in the final by two. Galway jubilant after the Connacht final.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Verdict: One of four teams to finish on eight points by the end of the league, only losing out on a final place due to score difference, Galway have been quietly building precisely the way you’d expect Padraic Joyce would have hoped. Even their Connacht title win has been buried under the attention afforded to the Ulster and Leinster finals. Question marks remain over the fitness of attacking duo Shane Walsh and Damien Comer, a perpetual debate most summers, but their individual or collective loss has been corrected by the ability of reigning Footballer of the Year Paul Conroy to land two-pointers. All-Ireland contenders. Group 4: with Galway, Armagh and Derry Manager: Dessie Farrell Captain: Con O’Callaghan Leinster championship: A nine-point win over Wicklow in the quarter-final before they lost their crown of 15 years with semi-final defeat to Meath by four points. Verdict: No matter what Dessie Farrell achieved as a manager, you suspect it would never meet full approval as he came in and inherited the squad that Jim Gavin curated. Just keeping things between the ditches was guaranteed to bring a Sam or four. Question marks now surround Stephen Cluxton and Dessie Farrell.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Well now things are different. Defeat to Meath in Leinster must be seized upon as an opportunity for Farrell. You’d also imagine that the dark hearts of competitive beasts in Stephen Cluxton, Con O’Callaghan, Ciaran Kilkenny, Sean Bugler, Davy Byrne, Brian Howard and on and on and on have been stung by the delight the nation took in that day in Portlaoise. Unquestionably, they are All-Ireland contenders. Group 3: with Louth, Monaghan and Down Manager: Peter Keane Captain: Eoin Cleary Munster championship: Qualified for the final by beating Tipperary in the semi-final by six points, but wiped in the final against Kerry by 11 points. Verdict: The lowest-graded side in the Sam Maguire Cup this year, Clare have the benefit of a home draw in round 1 against a Down side that will fancy their chances also, but essentially they are on a par. Clare manager Peter Keane.Natasha Barton / INPHO Natasha Barton / INPHO / INPHO In what looks to be the most finely-balanced group, Clare will be targeting a win, after successive whitewashes in the 2024 and 2023 group stages. Group 3: with Louth, Monaghan and Clare Manager: Conor Laverty Down manager Conor Laverty.John McVitty / INPHO John McVitty / INPHO / INPHO Captain: Pierce Laverty Ulster championship: Lucky to snatch a win over Fermanagh by two points before bowing out at the semi-final to Donegal by six. Verdict: Last year’s Tailteann Cup winners will be seen as the weakest side in the Sam Maguire Cup. Relegated to Division 3 this spring, they had to stage a complete smash and grab to beat Fermanagh in Ulster. That doesn’t mean that they cannot get out of their group. Manager Conor Laverty knows that he cannot afford any more backward momentum in his third year and their away trip to Clare becomes vital this weekend. Getting out of the group would be an achievement. Group 1: with Donegal, Tyrone and Cavan Manager: Kevin McStay Related Reads Next set of All-Ireland SFC fixtures announced with Donegal Tyrone on GAA+ The feeling, the heart, the soul: Clones and Croke Park get us in the guts 'Why not us?' - Sam Mulroy on Louth's belief as they end 68-year wait for Leinster glory Captain: Stephen Coen Connacht championship: Beat Sligo by three points in the quarter-final, Leitrim in the semi-final by seven, and were nipped in the final against Galway by two. Mayo rue a miss.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Verdict: Do Mayo’s wides count for more than any other county in Ireland when they lose a tight game? Certainly, they seem to form the start, middle and end of every analysis as Paul Towey’s trio and ultimately Matthew Ruane’s buzzer-beater all went wide in the Connacht final. Despite that blow, they have shown up well in parts of this year, though continue to pay for their lack of tactical sophistication. While it is true that styles make fights, Mayo’s habit of windmilling all the puff out of themselves makes for defeat. They are not contenders for Sam, but they could offrail one that are. Group 1: with Donegal, Mayo and Tyrone Manager: Raymond Galligan Captain: Padraig Faulkner and Ciaran Brady Ulster championship: Defeated by Tyrone in the quarter-final by seven points. Verdict: There’s no easy way to put this, but for Cavan to get a win in this group would represent a fair shock. Oisin Kiernan after a defeat.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Another of the four teams to finish on eight points in Division 2 of the league, their defeat to Tyrone in the Ulster championship felt as inevitable as it did flat, with just 6,700 attending, a figure down from 10,000 the previous year. Runners-up in the first Tailteann Cup final of 2022, they only got up to Sam Maguire level in 2024, and lost all three games against Dublin, Mayo and Roscommon. It could happen again. 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