Counties hoping to have big years
Roscommon senior football manager Davy Burke celebrates with Ultan Harney after the Rossies' famous championship victory against Tyrone in Omagh. Picture: INPHO/Leah Scholes
With the start of the new GAA season on our doorstep, this week I’m taking a look at counties who will be hoping for a productive 2025. But they will enter the new season under pressure to deliver.
Kerry: With only one All-Ireland football championship title since 2014, Jack O’Connor is a man under pressure.
It has been a tough winter down south — heavy rain, Storm Darragh alongside snow and ice in recent weeks. The loss to Armagh in last season’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final was another multi-hazard event they had to deal with, and one that will take getting over.
If they spend another season without Sam Maguire, the manager will be facing a football storm.
Galway: Time waits for no man and while Padraic Joyce has won the last three Connacht SFC titles, they have lost two All-Ireland finals during that period to Kerry and Armagh.
While the final against the Kingdom in 2022 could have gone either way, last season’s defeat to Armagh was the one that got away. Now, they find themselves starting all over again.
Galway would swap the Nestor Cup for Sam Maguire. But, in their favour, they have long-range shooters who can work the two-point shooting arc, and classy forwards who can make hay in the 3 v 3 system.
Derry: Two years ago, Derry were the coming team, securing promotion from Division Two, and were unlucky to lose out to Kerry by a point in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final.
Entering 2024, they were perceived as one of the main players. Mickey Harte had arrived as manager and they went on to win the Division One League title on penalties against Dublin after the game of the season.
The wheels subsequently came off the wagon in dramatic circumstances. By the end, the championship became a car crash.
Paddy Tally has been entrusted as the new pilot to fly the plane. Safe landings in the league and championship are expected. With the Glen players well-rested, and if they find their form of 2023, they are capable of challenging for Sam Maguire.
Mayo: It’s the third year of the Kevin McStay project in Mayo. While the journey started with promise in 2023 with a Division One League title at Galway’s expense, that expectation didn’t manifest itself into further glory.
Since then, there has been no Connacht championship success alongside disappointing exits in the championship against Dublin and Derry.
Mayo will be keen to win the Connacht championship, despite the loss of key players to retirement. The Green and Red have only won two Nestor Cups in the past nine years.
Kildare: The only way is up for the Lilywhites as they find themselves in Division Three.
The first priority for new manager Brian Flanagan will be promotion and getting a football-mad county back in the race for Sam Maguire by securing a place in the top 16 of the championship. They will also want to turn the newly-developed Cedral St. Conleth’s Park, Newbridge, into a fortress for the league and championship.
Kildare have seen Louth pass them out in Leinster. With Dublin returning to the pack, an opportunity will arise to challenge for a provincial crown over the next few seasons.
Cork: It’s now ten years since Cork last played Division One League football. With a raft of retirements and players unavailable, manager John Cleary has a big job on his hands.
Promotion from Division Two must be a priority even before thoughts turn to the championship.
Overall, Cork football is a mystery and solving that puzzle will not be easy for a county that has more clubs than a Ryder Cup golfer.
Roscommon: Three wins out of 12 in both the league and championship meant that Davy Burke did not get a good return on Roscommon’s investment in 2024.
Relegation from Division One seemed to drain a team that looked flat for large parts of last season. The only spark arrived with a brilliant away win over Tyrone in the championship, which showed the Rossies have it in them to perform at the highest level.
They have struggled at the latter stages of the championship for the past few seasons, which is a major problem that needs addressing.
The clock is ticking. Homework was assigned last November when the new GAA football rules were passed. With no pre-season provincial tournaments to try and sort out the confusion, it’s straight into the NFL exam papers on January 25th and 26th.
Who will hit the ground running and adapt the quickest? Maths will come into play. Scorekeeping will change with one point as normal, two points outside the 40-metre arc, and the usual three points for a goal.
Player of the Year for 2024, Galway’s Paul Conroy, played for 20 minutes in a challenge game against Kildare recently. He and kicked four two-pointers, which is eight points in new currency. That’s a real game-changer for teams that have quality players like Conroy to do that.
Which teams will try and get their long-range shooters on the 40-metres arc? Which teams will have developed their goalkeeper in the 12 v 11 scenario?
The dissent rule, which will see the referee bring the ball forward 50 metres, is going to have serious repercussions as discipline will become so important.
By the time some counties have reacted and adjusted, half the league will be over. At that stage, they could be knee deep in a relegation battle.
Training schedules will be altered as fitness levels will have to be a lot higher this spring, such will be the demands of the game, especially the 3 v 3 situations.
It will take supporters time to get their heads around the new rules. No doubt, referees will get some choice words when they make decisions that supporters or players won’t have come to terms with.
Behind the scenes, anxious club referees will be watching to see how the new rules are being implemented by the top officials. In early spring, they will be in the firing line once the club leagues commence away from the glare of the media.
How will the jigsaw pieces come together in Woodmount, Knockcroghery, Cootehall or Ballyfarnon on a Sunday morning trying to get pitches marked with more white lines than an airport runway?
It’s great to be back on the horse for another National Hunt Tuesday Teaser season. As usual, there will be lots of winners and fallers along the way.
Can you name the only team to have won both the All-Ireland senior club football and hurling titles? It was St. Finbarr’s (Cork) who hold the distinction.
Michael Scally, Ballaghaderreen, was first past the post in 2025, with Liam Dooley, Ballyhaunis; Fr John McManus, PP Castlerea; Murt Hunt, Ballyhaunis; John Croghan, Bundoran; Martin Walshe, Carrowbehy; Tony Reilly, Castlerea; QPR, Frenchpark; Luigi, Ballyhaunis; John Wynne, Kilteevan; Seán Farrell, Dublin; Bernard Duffy, Longford/Loughglynn; Paddy Conlon, Taughmaconnell; David Callaghan, Castlerea; Mary Giffilian, Kilmore; Mick Fetherston, Dublin; Mary Gordon, Southpark, Castlerea; Pat Deane, Williamstown; Paddy Duignan, Castlerea; Micheal Moran, Castlebar; Carmel Redican, Aughavas/New York; Joe Donoghue, Tulsk; Pat, Sligo; Paddy Boland, Youghal; Mary McCarthy, Holloway; Kevin Flanagan, Dartford; Seán Toolan, Heston, and Michael Kearns, Clapham, also finishing strongly in the first race of the year.
This week’s Teaser: Can you name the only current senior intercounty team football manager who captained his college to win the Hogan Cup?
Answers by e-mail to willieefc@gmail.com or by text to 086 8356227. This week’s teaser came from Sligo.
Star pupil: Darragh Canavan who scored 1-6 as Errigal Ciaran reached the club’s first-ever All-Ireland senior football final.
Crucial win for: Munster who defeated Saracens in a gripping European Champions Cup clash at Thomond Park.
Must do better: Another blow for Kerry football as Dr. Crokes failed to run down the clock when in front during the closing seconds of their All-Ireland club football semi-final.
Spot of bother: After an enthralling and energy-sapping extra-time win over Dr. Crokes, can Errigal Ciaran re-set and go again against Cuala next Sunday?
Weekend highlight: David Moyes’ return to Goodison Park. It feels like Everton fans have their old club back — a club that lost its soul and identity after Moyes left in 2013.
What a cracker: All-Ireland senior club football and hurling final day in Croke Park is magical. This year, it should be extra special due to the novelty factor in both finals.
When you overthink things, remember this quote — “Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s trouble. It takes away today’s peace.”
The four teams involved in Sunday's All-Ireland club finals are all first-time finalists.
Passengers, fasten your seat belts for landing as the Canavan brothers face the O’Callaghan clan in Croke Park.
Cuala are chasing St. Finbarr’s record as the only club to win All-Ireland senior club football and hurling titles. The Dublin champions will arrive full of confidence, but sitting in the opposite corner are the lethal men from Errigal Ciaran who have survived more scraps than a street fighter on their way to the decider.
A unique All-Ireland senior club hurling final, with new winners set to be added to the roll of honour. Both are first-time finalists and first-time provincial winners of their province.
Both teams showed their resilience, courage and conviction during their respective All-Ireland semi-finals, coming from behind to shoot their respective winning points in stoppage time.
Sarsfields could make history by becoming the first club to win an All-Ireland club title after losing their county final. Once they hit Munster, however, they took out favourites Ballygunner of Waterford.
But Na Fianna have a durability about them that I like, and that might just get them over the line after a close battle.
