Donegal, the current titlists of Ulster, start their bid to retain the trophy against Derry in the opening round of the 2025 Ulster Senior Football Championship. This was confirmed during the provincial draws announced on RTÉ Radio 1 on a recent Saturday.
The team victorious in the Donegal versus Derry competition will advance to vie against Monaghan in the quarter-finals. These quarters also include a match between the national champions, Armagh, and Antrim. The last two quarter-finals will be contested between Tyrone and Cavan, as well as Fermanagh and Down.
As per the rotation of traveling, Galway will be headed to New York and London is scheduled to clash against Roscommon in separate quarter-final matches of the Connacht championship. Mayo and Sligo are to contest in the remaining quarter-final. The team that emerges victorious will compete with Leitrim in one of the semi-finals. The winners of the New York versus Galway and London versus Roscommon games will face each other in the second semi-final.
For the third consecutive year in the Munster Championship, it appears Kerry and Clare could be the finalists as they have been placed in different semi-finals. The start of this competition will kick off with Waterford and Tipperary, who made history last season when Waterford secured a significant victory. The triumphant team from this round will advance to play Clare in the semi-finals. The Kingdom, on the other hand, will be playing against the winner of the Limerick versus Cork game in their semi-final tie.
In Leinster, the first round of the championship will witness matches between Wexford and Laois, Carlow and Meath, and Wicklow and Longford. Leinster’s standing champions, Dublin, will battle the winners of the Wicklow versus Longford game (quarter-final B). The Roaring Boys from Offaly will face either Carlow or Meath (quarter-final A), while the Wee County of Louth will play against either Wexford or Laois (quarter-final D). Lastly, the game between Kildare and Westmeath will make up the remaining quarter-final (quarter-final C). The winners of quarter-final A will meet their equivalent from quarter-final B, and the victors from quarter-final C will meet the successful team from quarter-final D in the succeeding rounds.
In the quarter-finals for the championship, we have New York challenging Galway (A), London against Roscommon (B), and Mayo playing Sligo (C). Moving on to the semi-finals, Leitrim battles the victor of Mayo or Sligo (A), and whoever emerges from the matches between New York or Galway will go up against the winner from London or Roscommon (B).
Within the Leinster Senior Football Championship, Wexford and Laois (A) are up in the first round, followed by Carlow and Meath (B), and Wicklow meeting Longford (C). In the quarter-finals, we’ll have Offaly competing against Carlow or Meath’s champion (A), Dublin squaring off with the winner from Wicklow or Longford (B). Furthermore, Kildare is pitted against Westmeath (C) and Louth encounters the winner between Wexford and Laois (D) in the quarter-final rounds. Advancing to semi-finals, it’s a showdown between the winners of quarter-finals A and B, and C and D.
The Munster Senior Football Championship is set to have Waterford surge against Tipperary (A) and Limerick take on Cork (B) in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, we’ll see the victor between Limerick or Cork up against Kerry (A), and the winner of Waterford or Tipperary will compete with Clare (B).
For the Ulster Senior Football Championship, a preliminary round will transpire between Donegal and Derry. The quarter-finals entail Antrim playing Armagh (A), Tyrone facing Cavan (B), and Fermanagh going toe-to-toe with Down (C). The last quarter-final (D) will be taken by whoever prevails between Donegal or Derry and they’ll have Monaghan on the line. As for the semi-finals, it will be a clash of the victors from matches A and B, and C and D.