This year’s race for the Sam Maguire Cup has, by some distance, stolen the limelight from its hurling counterpart. Week after week, the championship has produced thriller after thriller, dramatic twists and genuinely remarkable performances and outcomes.
The introduction of the new rules has completely transformed Gaelic football, opening up the game and injecting a fresh sense of unpredictability into what had felt increasingly stale in recent years.
However, with two All-Ireland semi-finals selling out within minutes of tickets going on sale, another blockbuster weekend awaits. If this championship has shown us anything, it is to expect the unexpected, and all signs point towards another pair of enthralling encounters in what is rapidly becoming one of the greatest summers of Gaelic football in living memory.
As we enter the penultimate weekend of the season, it feels as though the championship has delivered almost everything supporters could have asked for. The new structure, combined with the rule enhancements, has created a campaign of seemingly endless drama and one that has captured the imagination of supporters across the country.
Following a festival of football at Croke Park a fortnight ago, just four teams remain standing in the battle for Sam Maguire. Kerry, Dublin, Mayo and Louth have emerged from a bruising championship campaign and now find themselves just seventy minutes away from an All-Ireland final appearance.
Quite remarkably, despite this being perhaps the most open championship in recent memory, complete with provincial champions from Armagh, Westmeath and Roscommon and a host of unexpected twists along the way, it somehow feels completely against the grain that Gaelic football’s oldest rivalry takes centre stage on Sunday afternoon, as Kerry and Dublin will lock horns for the first time since the 2023 All-Ireland final, when the Dubs captured their thirty-first Sam Maguire title and a ninth All-Ireland crown in thirteen years.
The return of manager Ger Brennan to the sideline following a 12-week suspension has transformed Dublin’s fortunes”
Yet given where they found themselves only a few weeks ago, Dublin’s presence in the final four feels almost as unlikely as any outcome this summer. Following their Leinster final defeat to Westmeath, few would have given the Dubs any chance of reaching this stage. The Lake County ended a 22-year wait to claim only their second-ever provincial title, while Dublin looked like a side in transition and one whose championship was heading towards an unremarkable and early end.
Fast forward a matter of weeks and Hill 16 is packed once again. The return of manager Ger Brennan to the sideline following a 12-week suspension has transformed Dublin’s fortunes. The St Vincent’s man has restored belief and energy to a squad that appeared devoid of both and has overseen an impressive revival that has suddenly made the men from the capital genuine contenders once again.
Successive defeats to Westmeath and Louth had left Dublin reeling, but Brennan’s return has coincided with superb victories over Donegal and Galway. While it would be simplistic to attribute the turnaround solely to one man, it is impossible to ignore the influence his presence has had.
Core
Dublin’s renaissance has not been built exclusively on fresh impetus from the sideline. While the changing of the guard continues following one of the most dominant eras in Gaelic football history, there remains a strong, experienced core within the squad. Ciarán Kilkenny, Con O’Callaghan and Colm Basquel have all been shining lights during this championship run and continue to provide leadership for a side deep in transition.
Yet perhaps no player has embodied Dublin’s resurgence more than 32-year-old Niall Scully. The former All-Ireland winner has rolled back the years this summer and produced a performance for the ages against Tyrone, kicking two vital two-pointers and dictating proceedings from midfield.
Following a league defeat to Mayo in February, Scully was among a number of experienced players whom many believed had reached the end of their inter-county journeys. Instead, he has reinvented himself as one of Dublin’s leading creative forces and become central to their remarkable revival.
Yet if Dublin’s quarter-final victory was impressive, then Kerry’s epic encounter with Tyrone may well go down as the game of the championship. The Red Hand county pushed the reigning All-Ireland champions to their absolute limit in one of the finest football spectacles witnessed at Croke Park in recent memory. Momentum swung wildly from end to end, and, as the game entered its closing stages, the outcome remained entirely in the balance. Yet, as great champions so often do, Kerry found another gear when it mattered most.
The foundations of their victory were laid all over the field. Mark O’Shea and Paudie Clifford were immense under the high ball, while David Clifford once again reminded everyone why he is Gaelic football’s pre-eminent player with a magnificent haul of 1-8. However, the defining moment arrived in the sixty-ninth minute.
There remains an undeniable belief within the capital that they can rise to the challenge once again”
With Tyrone threatening to level matters, Michael McKernan wound up for what looked like a certain equalising two-pointer. Out of nowhere came Keith Evans, hurling himself into a courageous block to turn over possession. Seconds later, Kerry broke at pace. Clifford turned provider, slipping the ball into the path of Armin Heinrich, who spotted the opening beyond Niall Morgan and calmly found the net just as the hooter sounded.
Containing David Clifford will, unsurprisingly, be absolutely paramount if Dublin are to pull off what would be a major upset. In truth, however, the reigning champions will arrive on Jones’ Road as deserved favourites. They look every inch a side operating at the peak of their powers, brimming with confidence and chasing a first successive All-Ireland title since 2007.
Yet if there is one county that a resurgent Dublin side would relish facing, it is Kerry. The old rivalry has produced some of Gaelic football’s greatest occasions, and there remains an undeniable belief within the capital that they can rise to the challenge once again.
Kerry
A packed Croke Park will only add to the sense of occasion. Hill 16, draped in blue and navy, has so often been the heartbeat of Dublin’s greatest days and could yet prove a factor if the contest goes down the stretch. Even after enduring perhaps their most difficult season in a generation, a team in transition and written off by many remains just seventy minutes away from another All-Ireland final.
Kerry, however, possess the look of champions with unfinished business. Dublin will undoubtedly ask serious questions of them, but the Kingdom seem to have an extra gear that very few teams can match, and it may well be enough to carry them back to the steps of the Hogan Stand once more.
There’s guaranteed to be an outsider in the decider, however, as Louth and Mayo battle for a place in the final. For the Wee County, it is an occasion of enormous significance. Louth are appearing at this stage of the championship for the first time since 1957 and now stand just seventy minutes away from reaching an All-Ireland final for the first time in sixty-nine years.
In many ways, Louth have been the story of this year’s championship. Their rise has been one of persistence, resilience and the gradual rebuilding of a footballing county that for so long looked destined to remain on the periphery of the game’s elite.
One need not look too far into the past to remember the heartbreak of the 2010 Leinster final against Meath. It seemed as though a once-in-a-generation opportunity to claim a first provincial title since 1957 had finally arrived, only for Joe Sheridan’s controversial late goal to shatter Louth dreams and spark chaotic and unsavoury scenes at Croke Park after the final whistle. For many in the county, it was a wound that lingered for years.
Having repeatedly defied expectations, there is little reason to believe they will be overawed by the occasion”
Fifteen years on, however, the mood around GAA in the county could hardly be more different. With a new long-awaited county stadium under construction in Dundalk and a renewed sense of optimism sweeping through the Wee County, Louth have established themselves as genuine contenders. The pain of that infamous afternoon has also been eased somewhat by recent events, with the county finally gaining sweet revenge over their neighbours by defeating Meath in last year’s Leinster Final.
Gavin Devlin’s men have repeatedly shown throughout this championship that they possess both quality and character in abundance. That was perhaps best illustrated in their remarkable quarter-final victory over Monaghan.
Everything appeared to be conspiring against Louth when midfielder Sean Callaghan was dismissed after just seven minutes. Reduced to fourteen men for virtually the entire contest, many assumed the Wee County’s remarkable run had finally met its end. Instead, the Boynesiders summoned a display of extraordinary resilience and attacking quality, posting an incredible 0-27 in the remaining sixty-three minutes to overcome Monaghan, who themselves were deprived of their most influential figure in goalkeeper Rory Beggan through injury.
This Louth team possesses an innate fearlessness and will relish the prospect of an All-Ireland semi-final showdown with Mayo. The Wee County have embraced the role of underdogs throughout this remarkable campaign and, having repeatedly defied expectations, there is little reason to believe they will be overawed by the occasion.
Mayo
Standing in their way are a Mayo side who appear to have rediscovered the momentum and belief that once made annual trips to Croke Park commonplace. The Westerners produced just enough quality to overcome Cork in the quarter-finals and book their first appearance in the final four in five years, rekindling hopes that another crack at Sam Maguire may yet await.
That optimism seemed a long way off only twelve months ago. Mayo failed to reach the knockout stages in 2025 and had earlier this year been dumped out of the Connacht Championship by Roscommon, leading many to question whether the county’s latest cycle had already run its course.
Instead, a fresh generation has breathed new life into the green and red jersey. Teenage sensations Darragh Beirne and Kobe McDonald have emerged as two of the most exciting young forwards in the country and have injected a fearlessness and attacking flair that has transformed Mayo’s fortunes.
The dream of ending a famine stretching back to 1951 therefore remains alive. Since lifting Sam Maguire seventy-five years ago, Mayo have suffered the agony of losing an astonishing eleven All-Ireland finals, with their most recent appearance coming in 2021.
Mayo’s full-forward line is now arguably the most vaunted element of the team”
Interestingly, the makeup of this Mayo side is almost the complete opposite of the teams that repeatedly came up short during the 2010s. Back then, Mayo’s defensive unit and formidable half-back line were widely regarded as the foundation of their success, while questions often lingered over whether they possessed enough firepower in attack. That script has been completely flipped in 2026.
Mayo’s full-forward line is now arguably the most vaunted element of the team. The attacking trident of Ryan O’Donoghue, Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne combined for a remarkable 0-19 in their victory over Cork, with the vast majority of that tally arriving from play. They have become one of the most potent forward units left in the championship and will undoubtedly test a Louth defence that has already shown immense resilience this summer.
The counties have met just twice previously in championship football, with Mayo emerging victorious in the 1950 All-Ireland final and again during the group stages in 2023. However, this weekend’s encounter marks entirely new territory. Never before have Louth and Mayo faced one another in an All-Ireland semi-final, ensuring that regardless of the outcome, a fresh chapter in the history of both counties will be written on Saturday evening.
