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BBC News
30-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Beaten Ulster finalists face All-Ireland 'Group of Death'
This year's beaten Ulster SFC finalists - Armagh or Donegal - will drop into the so-called 'Group of Death' in the All-Ireland series. The losers of the Ulster final on 10 May will be placed into Group Four alongside the Galway/Mayo losers, Dublin and Derry. "Can I be the first to call it the 'Group of Death', please?" said GAA Director of Player, Club and Games Administration Feargal McGill during Wednesday's Ulster champions will drop into Group One with the winners of Sunday's Connacht final between Galway and Mayo, Tyrone and Cavan if they beat Donegal in the Ulster SFC final on 10 May. On paper, Group Four certainly looks to be the toughest on paper with all eight potential teams having reached last year's knockout rounds. Derry and Dublin are guaranteed to be a part of it with both counties hoping to rebound from disappointing provincial campaigns. Derry lost to Donegal in the Ulster preliminary round, while Dublin were stunned by Meath in last weekend's Leinster semi-finals, setting up a first Leinster final without the Dubs since 2010. The first round of Sam Maguire games will be played on the weekend of 17/18 May, with the Connacht and Munster finalists among those in action. The Ulster and Leinster finalists will begin their campaigns the following week. Armagh are hoping to retain their All-Ireland title after winning Gaelic football's biggest prize for the second time last summer. Down, who earned a spot in the Sam Maguire series by winning last year's Tailteann Cup, will face the Leinster winners, the Munster runners-up and Monaghan in Group SFCGroup One: Armagh/Donegal winners, Galway/Mayo losers, Tyrone, CavanGroup Two: Kerry/Clare winners, Louth/Meath losers, Roscommon, CorkGroup Three: Louth/Meath winners, Kerry/Clare losers, Monaghan, DownGroup Four: Galway/Mayo winners, Armagh/Donegal losers, Dublin, DerryTailteann CupGroup One: Kildare, Sligo, Leitrim, TipperaryGroup Two: Offaly, Laois, Wicklow, WaterfordGroup Three: Westmeath, Limerick, Antrim, LondonGroup Four: Fermanagh, Wexford, Carlow, Longford
Irish Independent
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Wexford Senior footballers to learn Tailteann Cup fate in Wednesday's draw
The only thing that can be said with any degree of certainty in advance is that they will not be playing Laois, Limerick or Sligo – their fellow second seeds. Four groups of four will be selected, with the draw to be conducted by Brian Carroll from Roscommon, Chairperson of the Central Competitions Control Committee, and Leitrim native Feargal McGill, GAA Director of Player, Club and Games Administraton. The confirmed seedings for the Tailteann Cup, after Louth secured the last remaining spot in the Sam Maguire Cup in Tullamore on Sunday, are – First seeds: Fermanagh, Kildare, Offaly, Westmeath. Second seeds: Laois, Limerick, Sligo, Wexford. Third seeds: Antrim, Carlow, Leitrim, Wicklow. Fourth seeds: Longford, London, Tipperary, Waterford. Wexford's first involvement in the Tailteann Cup was in 2022, its inaugural year, when they lost the preliminary round to Offaly by one point in Bellefield in a straight knockout format. The group structure was introduced in 2023, when a draw with Fermanagh, loss to Antrim, and win against Leitrim, led to a preliminary quarter-final against Offaly. Revenge for the previous year was secured with a five-point success in Tullamore (1-22 to 2-14), only for eventual champions Meath to burst the bubble with a commanding 2-23 to 0-12 victory in the last-eight tie in Navan. Wexford will be motivated by a strong desire to atone for last year, when they made a tame exit with three straight group losses to Sligo, Antrim and Tipperary respectively. The format is similar to 2024, with each team playing one group game at home and one away, before the third round ties are staged at neutral venues. The four group winners will advance direct to the quarter-finals, while the preliminary quarter-finals will feature the second-placed teams (with home advantage) against either New York or one of the three third-placed sides with the best record. The action will begin on the weekend of May 10-11, with round two a week later and the groups set to conclude on May 31-June 1. The preliminary quarter-finals are on June 7-8, with the last-eight ties on the 14th and 15th. Croke Park will host the semi-finals on June 21-22, which is also All-Ireland Senior hurling quarter-final weekend like last year. Headquarters will also stage the final on Saturday, July 12 prior to an All-Ireland Senior football quarter-final. Westmeath defeated Cavan in the inaugural Tailteann Cup final in 2022, with Meath overcoming Down in 2023 before the Mourne County went one better against Laois in 2024.
RTÉ News
29-04-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Explained: Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cup draws
The draw for the group stages of the Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cups will take place on Wednesday. The draw, which will be steamed live at 1.30pm on the GAA's YouTube channel, occurs before the provincial finals so we won't know the complete groups in the All-Ireland series until the Munster and Connacht finals (Sunday) as well as the Ulster (Saturday week) and Leinster deciders (Sunday week) are complete. The Tailteann Cup groups will be more straight forward as the 16 teams and their seedings have been confirmed. The draws will be conducted by Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) chairperson Brian Carroll and Feargal McGill, GAA Director Player, Club and Games Administration. Sam Maguire First seeds (provincial winners) Clare/Kerry, Galway/Mayo, Armagh/Donegal, Louth/Meath Second seeds (provincial runners-up) Clare/Kerry, Galway/Mayo, Armagh/Donegal, Louth/Meath Third seeds Dublin, Monaghan, Roscommon, Tyrone Fourth seeds Cavan, Cork, Derry, Down This marks the third and final edition of the current format, with a qualifier structure in place for both the All-Ireland series and the Tailteann Cup. With three from the four teams in each group progressing from the current 'Super 16' format, it hasn't been without its fair share of criticism. Last year, Derry and Roscommon qualified for the knockout stages despite losing three of their four games. Louth became the 16th and final team to book their place in the All-Ireland series with their Leinster semi-final victory over Kildare. It was the other semi-final that created all the headlines as Meath ended Dublin dominance to book their place in a provincial decider and a place in either Pot 1 or Pot 2 depending on how they fare out against the Wee County. The provincial winners (first seeds) and runners-up (second seeds) won't be known fully until Sunday week, though Kerry will be overwhelming favourites to get the better of Clare this weekend. Dublin's shock defeat means they find themselves in Pot 3 in with a number of other teams more than capable of landing some big results. Meath and Dublin could be a repeat pairing in the All-Ireland series group stage Tyrone will lament their late loss to Armagh at the weekend. Without ever playing to their potential, they reeled the All-Ireland champions back in before being edged out at the death. Ulster rivals Monaghan showed against Donegal in patches that they justifiably have ambitions of further progress while the side that joined them in climbing out of Division 2 this spring, Roscommon, complete the third pot. Based on a small sample size, Cork appear to the strongest of the teams in Pot 4. The Rebels pushed Kerry all the way in an absorbing Munster semi-final, coming undone after goals from Sean O'Shea and Joe O'Connor. It's all-Ulster after that with Derry and Cavan – both soundly beaten in their provincial defeats to Donegal and Tyrone respectively – joining a Down side coming off the back of a defeat to Donegal. While provincial finalists cannot be drawn in the same group, teams who have already played each other earlier in this year's championships can be pitted together again, raising the possibility of Dublin getting the chance to exact revenge on Meath, Cork the opportunity to take on Kerry again (the Rebels would have home advantage) and Armagh the possibility of facing Tyrone for the second time in a matter of weeks. You could get groups such as: Kerry, Armagh, Dublin and Cork, or Galway, Donegal, Tyrone and Cork all pitted together. The opening round of games will see provincial winners host a team from Pot 3, while provincial runners-up will have home advantage against a fourth seed. Dates Round 1 - 17/18 May, 24/25 May, home team first – Seed 1 v Seed 3, Seed 2 v Seed 4 Round 2 - 1/2 June, – Seed 4 v Seed 1, Seed 3 v Seed 2 Round 3 - 14/15 June, neutral venues – Seed 1 v Seed 2, Seed 3 v Seed 4 All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals – 21/22 June. All-Ireland quarter-finals – 28/29 June. All-Ireland semi-finals – 12/13 July. All-Ireland final - 27 July. Tailteann Cup First seeds Fermanagh, Kildare, Offaly, Westmeath. Second seeds Laois, Limerick, Sligo, Wexford Third seeds Antrim, Carlow, Leitrim, Wicklow. Fourth seeds Longford, London, Tipperary, Waterford. Similar to the Sam Maguire draw, 16 teams are drawn into four separate groups. The seedings have already been confirmed and are based off finishing positions in the league. Each group features a team from pots 1-4, while New York will enter at the preliminary quarter-final stage. Teams who have already met in this year's championships can be drawn to the same groups. Down players celebrate victory in last year's Tailteann Cup final Dates Round 1 - 10/11 May, home team first – Seed 1 v Seed 3, Seed 2 v Seed 4 Round 2 - 17/18 May, home team first – Seed 4 v Seed 1, Seed 3 v Seed 2 Round 3 - 31 May/1 June, neutral venues – Seed 1 v Seed 2, Seed 3 v Seed 4 Preliminary quarter-finals - 7 June. Quarter-finals – 14/15 June. Semi-finals – 21/22 June. Final - 12 July Watch a provincial football final double-header, Kerry v Clare (1.45pm) and Mayo v Galway (4pm) on Sunday from 1.15pm. Follow a live blog on and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
