Kerry quest for back-to-back begins as Galway eye All-Ireland title
The 2025 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Championships kicks into action this weekend with 33 counties aiming to get to Croke Park for finals day on Sunday, 3 August.
The senior championship will commence on Saturday, 7 June with three fixtures, as Galway take on Tipperary, Kerry meet Mayo, and Meath face Armagh, with Waterford's clash against Dublin taking place on the Sunday.
Defending champions Kerry, aiming for back-to-back titles and fresh from retaining their Munster title at the weekend, are in Group 2 alongside Mayo and Cork.
Group 1 features Connacht champions and 2024 All-Ireland finalists Galway, Donegal and Tipperary, with Ulster champions Armagh, Meath and Kildare in Group 3.
Group 4 contains Leinster champions Dublin, Waterford and Leitrim.
. @MartyMOfficial heard from defending champions Kerry and some of the teams looking to take their title at today's launch of the All-Ireland Ladies Football Championships #LGFA pic.twitter.com/2cSl88ShIk
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) May 27, 2025
Speaking at the launch of this year's championship, Kerry captain Cáit Lynch reflected on the joy of winning in 2024 having already lost on two occasions, and she believes that her side should be able to play with a bit more freedom as a result.
"It was just a wonderful, wonderful day for us to finally get over the line after 31 years of trying and knocking at the door," Lynch told RTÉ Sport. "I suppose after losing two All-Irelands we started to wonder would it over happen for us.
"This year there is a little bit less pressure but obviously the goal and the hope for us is to win another All-Ireland.
"I can't wait for it to start, the championship has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years and there is nothing between the top teams at the moment.
" There was a massive turnaround at the start of the year and 12 players left the panel, either retiring or taking a year out," she added, when asked about this year's panel.
"But it's testament to the strength of the panel that we've been building over the last few years.
"A lot of players have now come back in after taking a year or two out, the likes of Rachel Dwyer is flying at the moment, also Caoimhe Evans, Niamh Broderick. It's great to have players back that were team-mates a couple of years ago."
Galway captain Kate Geraghty believes that her team are well-placed going into the competition, buoyed by the success of winning the provincial championship.
" Everyone's aim is to get to the All-Ireland final. We have Tipp and Donegal in the first two rounds and hopefully get good performances there. I think after winning Connacht and then the league final everyone is buzzing," said Geraghty.
" We have a lot of depth in the panel. From last year the Noones (Lynsey and Eva), Siobhán Divilly, Kate Slevin and Kate Thompson are back and a few younger girls are coming through."
Dublin and Waterford find themselves in the same group this year and both sides are looking to improve on last year's performance in the championship.
The Dubs won the Leinster and topped the group, however, they were knocked out at the quarter-final stage, losing by a point to Galway after extra time.
"We weren't happy with our performance last year, so I think it's about redemption and just doing ourselves and the county proud," said Dublin captain Niamh Donlon.
"Waterford put in a really tough fight against Kerry in the Munster final and Leitrim are intermediate winners, so there is no backing off, and while it's going to be tough, we're looking forward to the challenge."
The Déise also made their exit in the last-eight stage, losing to Cork, and captain Emma Murray believes that her side have the momentum behind them to go further in the competition this year.
"We had a fairly successful league campaign, and a fairly successful Munster campaign, so there is a bit of momentum there," said Murray.
"A lot of us have been there for about ten years so we have a lot of experience at this level and we have a good group of younger girls who are getting used to the flow of things.
"We'll take it game by game, and if you get top of the group, you're getting a home quarter-final, and if you're second you still get into the quarter-finals, which we got to last year, so this year we'll be hoping to go a step further, at least."
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