All-Ireland Football Championship Preview

The Gaelic football season is starting to heat up as the 2025 All-Ireland Football Championships takes shape. The top 16 teams in the country—based on their National League standings or provincial championship performances—will battle it out for Sam Maguire glory.

Following the recent draw, the teams have been split into four evenly balanced groups of four. Each side will play three group-stage games: one at home, one away, and one at a neutral venue. The scoring system remains standard—two points for a win, one for a draw.

The top three teams from each group will progress to the knockout stages. Group winners head straight to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, while the second and third-placed sides enter the preliminary quarter-finals.

With the format set, let’s break down each group and assess who’s best placed to make a serious run at the knockout stages in this year’s championship.

Group 1

Group 1 throws up an intriguing mix of provincial pedigree and familiar rivalries. Donegal enter as Ulster champions, having edged out Armagh after extra time in a gripping final. That success makes them the early favourites to top the group.

Mayo, meanwhile, come into the All-Ireland series off the back of a Connacht final defeat to Galway. They’ve shown flashes of quality this season, though consistency remains a concern. Tyrone were knocked out of the Ulster Championship by Armagh at the semi-final stage, but remain a dangerous side with big-game experience. Cavan, who were beaten by Tyrone in the Ulster quarter-finals, look like the outsiders here.

Donegal will be confident of pushing on, while both Mayo and Tyrone have the tools to mount a serious challenge for top spot. Cavan may struggle to keep pace with the intensity of this group.

I expect Donegal, Mayo, and Tyrone to progress to the knockout stages—but the final standings are too close to call. My full prediction is below.

1. Donegal
2. Tyrone
3. Mayo
4. Cavan

Group 2

Group 2 of the All-Ireland Championship has the Munster Champions Kerry, the Leinster Championship runners up Meath, and the semi-finalists from the Connacht and Munster Championships respectively, Roscommon and Cork. This group is interesting because Kerry and Cork already met in the Munster semi-final with Cork producing a great performance but narrowly losing in extra time. Roscommon are improving year on year and came up against a very strong Galway side in the Connacht semi-final. Meath shocked the GAA world by beating Dublin in the Leinster semi-final before losing to Louth in the final. Will this dent their confidence?

Group Prediction:

1. Kerry
2. Roscommon
3. Cork
4. Meath

Group 3

Group 3 is an intriguing group for different reasons than the others. The previously mentioned groups feature genuine All-Ireland contenders such as Kerry, Donegal and Mayo but this group is more open and will see teams who might not have been considered contenders at the start of the year reach the knockout phase. The group consists of Leinster champions Louth, Clare, Monaghan and the 2024 Tailteann Cup winners Down. Despite being the third seed in this group, I see Monaghan as the favourites. They had such a strong league campaign and just came up against a really strong Donegal side in the Ulster quarter final. Louth will be full of confidence following their provincial triumph, so I expect them to get second spot. The third spot could go either way with both Down and Clare showing signs of form this year.

Group Prediction:

1. Monaghan
2. Louth
3. Down
4. Clare

Group 4

Group 4 is arguably the most intriguing of the championship, with a blockbuster rematch of last year’s All-Ireland final on the cards. Current Connacht champions Galway—last year’s All-Ireland runners-up—will renew rivalries with defending champions Armagh, who fell just short in this year’s Ulster final against Donegal.

The third team in this group is Dublin who must try and regroup after their shock Leinster semi-final defeat to Meath, their first provincial defeat in 15 years. The fourth team is Derry who have had a disappointing year so far, being relegated from Division 1 and losing the Ulster preliminary quarter final to Donegal. I expected their year to come to an end after this group phase with them finishing bottom. Galway and Armagh look very good, and I expect them to be too strong for a reeling Dublin side and those two teams will battle it out for first with Dublin getting out of the group with a third place finish.

Group Prediction:

1. Galway
2. Armagh
3. Dublin
4. Derry

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