GAA All-Ireland Football semi-finals: How to watch and follow on BBC TV, iPlayer and online
- Published
Gaelic football takes centre stage at Croke Park this weekend with the All-Ireland semi-finals - and the BBC will have comprehensive coverage across TV, iPlayer, online and the mobile app.
The first semi-final sees Dublin take on Monaghan on Saturday at 17:30 BST.
Then on Sunday, holders Kerry - the competition's most successful team with 38 titles - face Ulster Champions Derry at 16:00.
Kerry defeated Galway in last year's decider at Croke Park.
Here's how you can follow the semi-finals on the BBC this weekend.
On Saturday, Sarah Mulkerrins will present coverage of Dublin v Monaghan from 16:55 BST on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Two Northern Ireland.
On Sunday, join Sarah for the build-up to Kerry v Derry on the iPlayer and BBC Two Northern Ireland from 15:30. Thomas Niblock will be on commentary for both games, while Orla Bannon will provide pitchside updates.
They will be joined by an unrivalled team of pundits which Armagh, Donegal and Dublin All-Ireland winners Oisin McConville, Michael Murphy and Philly McMahon plus gaelic football managerial great Mickey Harte and former Derry star Conleith Gilligan.
You can also follow the semi-finals on the BBC Sport website and app. Both games will also be streamed on the website. In addition, there will be live text commentaries of both matches with in-play clips, analysis and reaction.
There will also be match reports and highlights of both games after full-time.
What other coverage will there be?
The BBC will be building up to the semi-finals all week which will include a column on the semi-finals from Michael Murphy.
The coverage has already started with this week's The GAA Social Extra podcast on BBC Sounds where Oisin McConville gave his thoughts on the prospects of Derry and Monaghan upsetting the semi-final favourites.
There will be much more throughout the week including Friday's in-depth preview of both games which will have the all team news.
You can also stay up to date with all the latest news via BBC Sport NI's social media accounts.
How did they get here?
After winning their provincial championships, Kerry, Dublin and Derry topped their round-robin Super 16s groups to reach the quarter-finals stage despite not looking altogether convincing.
Kerry suffered a home defeat defeat by Mayo in their group stage opener but after an unimpressive narrow win over neighbours Cork, a thumping success over Louth saw them snatch top spot in Group One after Mayo were shocked by Cork in their final round-robin match.
However Kerry looked right back to their very best as they thumped a fancied Tyrone side 2-17 to 0-12 in the quarter-final.
Derry were being tipped as potential All-Ireland champions when they hammered Monaghan in their Ulster semi-final in late April but then had to come to terms with the sudden departure of manager Rory Gallagher after his former wife made serious domestic abuse allegations against him in a social media post.
The Oak Leaf County, with assistant boss Ciaran Meenagh by now in charge, needed extra-time and penalties to see off Armagh in the Ulster Final but after an unimpressive draw against Monaghan in their Super 16s opener, victories over Donegal and Clare saw them progress to the All-Ireland quarter-finals where they beat Cork 1-12 to 1-8.
Like Kerry, Dublin's form was unimpressive during the early stages of the campaign as they were fortunate to beat Kildare 0-14 to 0-12 in their Leinster semi-final before hammering Louth 5-21 to 0-15 in the provincial decider.
Dublin's fluctuating form continued as they drew their Group Three opener with Roscommon after trailing by four point at half-time before comfortable wins over Kildare and Sligo saw qualify directly for the quarter-finals.
However the Dubs looked back to the kind of form which saw them clinch six successive All-Ireland titles between 2015 and 2020 as their ruthless second-half display saw off a Mayo team many had tipped to land the county's first All-Ireland title since 1951.
Monaghan are very much the wild cards of the semi-finals line-up.
Despite their opening Ulster Championship win over Tyrone, few would have backed their Farney County to have a lengthy campaign after they were outclassed by Derry in their provincial semi-final.
They regrouped to draw with a below-par Derry in the Super 16 opener a month later and a subsequent win over Clare proved enough to reach the last 12 despite losing their final Group Four contest against Donegal.
However, Conor McCarthy's last-gasp point saw them edge past Kildare 1-11 to 0-13 in their preliminary quarter-final before they inflicted more penalty shootout misery on neighbours Armagh on 1 July to clinch their surprise semi-finals spot.
What's in store this weekend?
The four football teams will do very well to produce the kind of drama that was on show in last weekend's All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Finals but Monaghan and Derry will be determined to upset the formbook which suggests that a renewal of Kerry and Dublin's decades long rivalry is inevitable on All-Ireland Final day.
After provincial and Super 16 campaigns in which they looked to be shadow boxing at stages, the Kingdom and Dubs cut loose when old-fashioned knockout football finally arrived two weeks ago and repeat performances from the big two will surely leave the two Ulster counties floundering.
But Derry fans will be hoping that their team have been keeping something in reserve in recent matches and that they can regain their verve and vigour which characterised their almost perfect Ulster semi-final display against Monaghan in late April.
Monaghan fans, meanwhile, will cling to the memory of the county's last meeting against Dublin at Clones 16 months ago when Jack McCarron's last-gasp point snatched the dramatic win that maintained the Farney men's Division One status and relegated the Dubs to Division Two.
The Dubs are the second most successful team in All-Ireland Football Championship history with 30 titles - eight behind Kerry's record total.
Derry's sole All-Ireland Final triumph came 30 years ago when they defeated Cork at Croke Park while you have to go way back to 1930 for Monaghan's only All-Ireland Final appearance when they lost 3-11 to 0-2 against Kerry.
When is the final?
The final will take place at Croke Park on Sunday, 30 July (time TBC).
The BBC will show the match on TV, iPlayer and online.