Limerick will compete in the Division 4 against Wexford on Saturday afternoon
As is tradition, Croke Park will play host to this weekend’s Allianz Football League finals as eight teams enter Jones’ Road aiming to claim the season’s first piece of national silverware.
The action kicks off on Saturday evening as the Division 4 and 2 finals will take centre stage, with Limerick facing off against Wexford at 5 pm, followed by Roscommon taking on Ulster outfit Monaghan from 7:15 pm.
Sunday sees Midlands rivals Offaly square off against Kildare in the Division 3 decider, with the main event of the weekend being Jack O’Connor’s Kerry going face to face with Kevin McStay’s Mayo for the Division 1 title.
With all that in mind, let’s take a look at the fixtures:
Wexford v Limerick – 5 pm in Croke Park
Having won all seven of their league games, including an impressive four point win over tomorrow’s opponents in round two, Wexford will go into this encounter as favourites, having had a solid season thus far. The Yellowbellies have been in fine scoring form this campaign, as they scored 9-121 in just seven games and only conceded 4-73. When it comes to scoring as well, Wexford are not shy to mix it up, and pose some real scoring threats from all across the field, which include the likes of Paraic Hughes, Sean Nolan, Sean Ryan and Mark Rossiter.
Limerick secured their promotion back to Division 3 with a comprehensive win over Waterford last Sunday and did so with a major help from star player James Naughton, who popped up with 4-12 out of his side’s total of 4-24. He’s been in super form throughout the league campaign, having netted five goals and registered 48 points in the process. Darragh O’Hagan and Emmet Rigter have also shown great promise during the league campaigns, and will be hoping to shine on the biggest stage again.
It’s a big season for both counties, as both will be aiming to go as far as possible in their provincial championships, with Wexford set to face Laois next weekend, whilst Limerick host Cork next Saturday.
Roscommon v Monaghan – 7:15 pm in Croke Park
Having been the early favourites to secure promotion and seemingly cruising their way to doing so with four wins from their opening four games, Roscommon can call themselves slightly fortunate to be competing in this weekend’s Division 2 decider. Back to back defeats away to Meath before stumbling at home to Cavan left Davy Burke’s outfit still needing to win in Mullingar to secure their spot at Croke Park this weekend and despite leading by six with 10 minutes to, Kieran Martin’s last second two pointer almost spoilt the Rossie’s party.
Thankfully for them, the draw would be enough with Meath and Cavan failing to capitalise in their respective games, so Roscommon can breath a side of relief that they will be competing in football’s top tier in 2026 and have a chance to put their names on a piece of silverware in late March. To the surprise of no one, the Murtagh brothers Diarmaid and Ciaran have lead the way in their charge, having acquitted for a combined 3-57 so far. Other stand out names include Enda Smith, Donnie Smith and Cian McKeown. Although three their last four games have been disappointing, they do have the advantage of already beating Saturday’s opponents earlier this season.
Monaghan were a team that some people felt were in for a tough few weeks and could have been starring down the barrel of potential relegation. Instead, it has been a remarkable campaign, with big names like Conor McManus departing the panel, Monaghan have been able to blood new players and have been in super form since late January.
They’ve recorded big wins away to Louth, Cavan and Meath and picked up wins at home against the likes of Cork and Westmeath. With the likes of Michael Bennigan, Conor McCarthy and incredibly, goalkeeper Rory Beggan topping the scoring charts with the new rules being a massive advantage to this side, it could be a big weekend for the Farney army.
Kildare v Offaly – 1:45 pm in Croke Park
2024 was a rough year for both Kildare and Offaly, with both sides suffering damaging defeats in the Tailteann Cup, and both enduring extremely disappointing league campaigns. Kildare found themselves relegated to Division 3, whilst Johnny Kelly’s first year at the helm saw them just about avoid a drop to the bottom tier.
This year has been a different story, while Kildare will be concerned with their two away defeats to both Clare and Offaly and needing a big second half performance to see off Antrim, they have achieved their first goal of securing Division 2 football for 2026. Being on the more so-called ‘favourable’ side of the Leinster Championship draw in which reaching the decider most likely against Dublin will guarantee them a spot in competing for the Sam Maguire for 2025.
Mickey Harte’s arrival alongside Kelly has brought much needed energy to Offaly football and after all but securing promotion with a home win over Sunday’s opponents, the Faithful only had to avoid an 11 point defeat away to Clare, which they managed to do and claim promotion back to the second tier for the first time since 2022. Keith O’Neill, Dylan Hyland, Paddy Dunican and Cormac Egan have been the big standout performers over the seven league games and they will need to put in big shifts this weekend if Offaly are to win a first ever title in this Division.
Kerry v Mayo – 4 pm in Croke Park
This game needs no introduction as these two teams have given many great memories over the years. From All Ireland finals, semi final replay drama, fan pitch invasions, fist fights etc. You always walk away from a Kerry and Mayo fixture with something to talk about and this Sunday promises to be no different.
Both sides can remarkably count themselves lucky to be here, not in terms of their abilities or credentials, but for the mere fact that at certain stages last Sunday afternoon, both Kerry and Mayo found themselves staring down the barrel of relegation, but instead are competing for the biggest title you can fight for in Spring.
Last weekend showed the best of competitiveness there is in Division 1 and will give us a great idea of who we can expect to see entering the conversation of All Ireland glory come July.
Mayo come into this game off the back of a big win over Donegal last Sunday, in a game where had Dáire O’Baoill converted his spot kick, Mayo would have been preparing for tier two football next year, but they did get the job done, as they did at home to Tyrone and Kerry, whilst also picking up an entertaining draw away to Armagh and win in Derry. Matthew Ruane and Ryan O’Donoghue have been the main men for the Connacht outfit this season, whilst Colm Reape has been a steady keeper too.
Anybody who watches football and has a big interest in it will know the name David Clifford. A player still very young and already established into a bracket of all time greats, with so many years of his prime to go, the Fossa man was the main attraction when these sides met in the 2022 league final, and will be once again a menace in the Kerry attack and having to deal with him alongside brother Paudie, Tony Brosnan, Paul and Dylan Geaney just to name a few will be a real test of Mayo’s defence, which hasn’t conceded more than two goals in any game so far.
Mayo were the victors in 2019, Kerry had their vengeance in 2022, with the trilogy set to bring a big crowd to Croker and hopefully an entertaining end to one of the best league campaigns in decades.