All-Ireland SFC 2024 - all you need to know
David Clifford (left) hopes to lead Kerry to victory over Monaghan on Saturday before Derry captain Conor Glass (centre) and Galway forward Damien Comer face each other in Salthill
- Published
The inter-county season continues at breakneck speed with the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship getting underway this weekend, six days after the end of the provincial competitions.
It is the second year of the football championship's current guise as 16 counties once again jostle for position in the race for the Sam Maguire Cup in four groups of four.
While the second-tier Tailteann Cup's round-robin games started last week, the All-Ireland group stages begin with four matches on Saturday.
In the All-Ireland series, a total of 34 matches will be played over the next 10 weeks before the final at Croke Park on 28 July. Dublin are the defending champions after beating Kerry in last year's final.
Who has qualified for the All-Ireland round-robin series?
The four provincial champions - Dublin, Kerry, Galway, Donegal
The four beaten provincial finalists - Louth, Clare, Mayo, Armagh
The 2023 Tailteann Cup winners - Meath
The seven next-ranked teams based on final positions in the 2024 National Football League - Derry, Tyrone, Roscommon, Monaghan, Cavan, Cork, Westmeath
Which counties have been drawn together?
Group One: Galway, Armagh, Derry, Westmeath
Group Two: Dublin, Mayo, Roscommon, Cavan
Group Three: Donegal, Clare, Tyrone, Cork
Group Four: Kerry, Louth, Monaghan, Meath
When will the games be played?
The round-robin fixtures will be played on 18 May, 25/26 May, 1/2 June and 15/16 June.
What are this weekend's games?
All four games take place on Saturday (times BST)
Kerry v Monaghan (Group Four, 15:00, Killarney)
Mayo v Cavan (Group Two, 17:00, Castlebar)
Galway v Derry (Group One, 17:30, Salthill)
Clare v Cork (Group Three, 18:00, Ennis)
When will the knockout stages take place?
Preliminary quarter-finals - 22/23 June
All-Ireland quarter-finals - 29/30 June
All-Ireland semi-finals - 13/14 July
All-Ireland final - 28 July
What is the format?
Sixteen teams are drawn into four groups of four teams with each team playing the other counties in its group once, earning two points for a win and one for a draw. Each team plays one home, one away and one neutral fixture.
The top three in each group advance to the knockout stages; the first place teams to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, and second and third-placed teams to the preliminary quarter-finals.
The four second-placed teams play against the third-placed teams in the preliminary quarter-finals.
The winners of the preliminary quarter-finals progress to play the group winners in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Two semi-finals and a final follow.
What about this weekend then?
Galway ended Derry's All-Ireland dream when the sides met in the 2022 semi-finals
The opening game in the All-Ireland series sees last year's beaten finalists Kerry hosting Monaghan in a Group Four fixture in Killarney.
Monaghan have struggled in recent months. While they opened 2024 with victory over Dublin, they fell to relegation from Division One before being dumped out of the Ulster Championship in the preliminary round by Cavan.
And while Monaghan have never beaten the Kingdom in the championship, they should never be discounted especially given they weren't far off reaching last year's All-Ireland final.
But Kerry, who beat Clare to win their 84th Munster crown a few weeks back, are expected to win this one.
In Group Two, Cavan - whose Ulster campaign was ended by Tyrone - travel to Castlebar to face Mayo.
While any trip to MacHale Park is daunting, Cavan do so without key forward Paddy Lynch, who will be out for an extended period with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Also heading west are Derry, who have had four weeks to reset after a bruising Ulster quarter-final defeat by Donegal. The Oak Leafers, still considered strong All-Ireland contenders, face three-in-a-row Connacht champions Galway in Salthill.
Like Cavan, Derry have lost a player to an ACL injury in Padraig McGrogan but they still have more than enough quality throughout their panel to mount another serious challenge for Sam after semi-final defeats in 2022 and 2023.
That 2022 loss was at the hands of Galway, who Derry have never beaten in the championship. Padraic Joyce's side were edged out by Kerry in the 2022 decider, and while they failed to reach the quarter-finals last year, they looked back to somewhere near their best in the Connacht final win over Mayo.
Saturday's other game sees Clare hosting Cork in Ennis in Group Three in what is a good opportunity for both teams to get points on the board before Donegal and Tyrone begin their round-robin campaigns next week.
Team news - two changes for Derry; Rory Beggan starts for Monaghan
Derry make two changes from the side that started the defeat by Donegal. Gareth McKinless replaces McGrogan at left wing-back while Niall Toner is named at right corner-forward with Niall Loughlin - replaced by Toner in the first half against Donegal - not named in the 26.
Odhran Lynch, whose willingness to venture out of his goal contributed to Derry's Ulster downfall, is retained.
Galway star Shane Walsh is named to start by boss Padraic Joyce. The 2022 All-Star came off the bench to kick three points in the Connacht final. John Maher is named at centre forward with Kieran Molloy on the bench.
Galway: Connor Gleeson; Johnny McGrath, Sean Fitzgerald, Jack Glynn; Dylan McHugh, John Daly, Liam Silke; Paul Conroy, Sean Kelly; Johnny Heaney, John Maher, Cein Darcy; Robert Finnerty, Damien Comer, Shane Walsh.
Subs: Conor Flaherty, Sean Mulkerrin, Eoghan Kelly, Daniel O'Flaherty, Cian Hernon, Patrick Egan, Kieran Molloy, Liam O Conghaile, Cillian O Curraoin, Matthew Tierney, Cillian McDaid.
Derry: Odhran Lynch; Conor McCluskey, Chrissy McKaigue, Diarmuid Baker; Conor Doherty, Eoin McEvoy, Gareth McKinless; Conor Glass, Brendan Rogers; Ethan Doherty, Ciaran McFaul, Paul Cassidy; Niall Toner, Shane McGuigan, Lachlan Murray.
Subs: Ryan Scullion, Emmett Bradley, Marty Bradley, Declan Cassidy, Mark Doherty, Shea Downey, Ruairi Forbes, Donncha Gilmore, Danny McDermott, Cahir McMonagle, Eunan Mulholland.
Rory Beggan starts in goal for Monaghan's trip to Kerry after his tryout with the Carolina Panthers last week. Beggan has been chasing his dream to become an NFL kicker but also started the Ulster SFC defeat by Cavan.
Kerry make two changes. Shane Ryan returns between the posts with Shane Murphy dropping to the bench, while Paul Geaney features in the full-forward line with Cillian Burke among the subs.
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Tom O'Sullivan; Brian O Beaglaoich, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White; Diarmuid O'Connor, Joe O'Connor; Tony Brosnan, Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan; David Clifford, Sean O'Shea, Paul Geaney.
Subs: Shane Murphy, Cillian Burke, Sean O’Brien, Adrian Spillane, Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Dylan Casey, Stephen O’Brien, Mike Breen, Killian Spillane, Darragh Roche, Armin Heinrich.
Monaghan: Rory Beggan; Ryan Wylie, Kieran Duffy, Ryan O'Toole; Karl O'Connell, Killian Lavelle, Conor McCarthy; Gary Mohan, Micheal McCarville; Stephen O'Hanlon, Micheal Bannigan, Michael Hamill; Ciaran McNulty, Sean Jones, Conor McManus.
Subs: Darren McDonnell, Jack McCarron, Stephen Mooney, Dessie Ward, Ryan McAnespie, David Garland, Jason Irwin, Andrew Woods, Barry McBennett, Joel Wilson, Thomas McPhillips.
Mayo make two changes for the visit of Cavan to Castlebar. Darren McHale replaces Fergal Boland and Diarmuid O'Connor is in for Rory Brickendan.
Cavan boss Raymond Galligan makes two changes to his full-forward line. Cormac O'Reilly replaces the injured Lynch at 14 with Caoimhin O'Reilly replacing Cian Madden.
Mayo: Colm Reape; Jack Coyne, David McBrien, Donnacha McHugh; Stephen Coen, Sam Callinan, Eoghan McLaughlin; Matty Ruane, Diarmuid O’Connor; Jack Carney, Darren McHale, Jordan Flynn; Aidan O’Shea, Tommy Conroy, Ryan O’Donoghue.
Subs: Rob Hennelly, Fergal Boland, Rory Brickenden, Paddy Durcan, Enda Hession, Conor Loftus, Conor McStay, Cillian O'Connor, Padraig O'Hora, Paul Towey, Bob Tuohy.
Cavan: Gary O’Rourke; Cian Reilly, Killian Brady, Brian O’Connell; Padraig Faulkner, Niall Carolan, Conor Brady; James Smith, Oisin Kiernan; Ciaran Brady, Gerard Smith, Oisin Kiernan; Oisin Brady, Cormac O’Reilly, Caoimhin O’Reilly.
Subs: Liam Brady, Mark Magee, Luke Fortune, Paddy Meade, Killian Clarke, Ryan Brady, Conor Rehill, Jason McLoughlin, Tiarnan Madden, Cian Madden, Darragh Lovett.
How can I follow on the BBC?
The BBC Sport website will provide live text commentaries, reports and reaction on Saturday.
There will also be score updates from the second round of Tailteann Cup games, including Carlow v Fermanagh (15:00), London v Down (18:00) and Wexford v Antrim (16:00).