Football Championship 2023: A county-by-county guide

CONNACHT

GALWAY

Manager: Pádraic Joyce (fourth year)

Odds: All-Ireland 13/2, Connacht 4/5

Next up: v Mayo/Roscommon, Pearse Stadium/Dr Hyde Park, May 23rd, 4.0

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Sports Review 2023: Mary Hannigan picks the best quotes from the sporting year

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Despite a defeat in the final, Galway finished the league very much in credit. Despite losing players, the defence still has pace, structure and immense leadership from Seán Kelly plus last year’s attack is back in harness. Judgment Day coming in a fortnight against Sunday’s winners.

LEITRIM

Manager: Andy Moran (second year)

Odds: All-Ireland 2,000/1, Connacht 40/1

Next up: v New York, Gaelic Park, Saturday, 6.0 [11.0 DST]

League campaign ran to the end, just short of promotion. Buoyant heading to New York with top gun Keith Beirne averaging nearly 0-10 per match in a high-scoring attack. Draw gives them a shot at the Connacht final. Tailteann might suit better.

LONDON

Manager: Michael Maher (fourth year)

Odds: All-Ireland 5,000/1, Connacht 250/1

Next up: v Sligo, Ruislip, Saturday, 3.0

Disappointing league, finishing bottom after last year’s encouraging mid-table but London remained competitive and continue to develop home talent. Michael Maher managed to combat the usual turnover of players and face Sligo, who they took to extra time in last year’s Tailteann.

[ Ciarán Murphy: The west is awake, now Connacht teams can make dreams come true ]

MAYO

Manager: Kevin McStay (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 6/1, Connacht 6/4

Next: v Roscommon, MacHale Park, Sunday, 4.0

Could the league have gone any better? Kevin McStay’s upbeat leadership has produced the right blend of talented young players and repurposed senior footballers. Focus is on scheduling after last week’s big win but mood is positive and momentum zinging.

NEW YORK

Manager: Johnny McGeeney (second year)

Odds: All-Ireland 5,000/1, Connacht 150/1

Next up: v Leitrim, Gaelic Park, Saturday, 6.0 [11.0 BST]

Still seeking first championship win. Traditional problem with continuity exacerbated by Covid, keeping them inactive for three years. Despite that, they were fit and organised last year, running Sligo to four points. Sunday’s opponents Leitrim needed extra time on their last visit.

ROSCOMMON

Manager: Davy Burke (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 66/1, Connacht 9/1

Next: v Mayo, MacHale Park, Sunday, 4.0

Amid the hoopla of an all-Connacht league final, Roscommon finished third in Division One. Initially did enough to stay up and finished strongly. Hard working and lively in attack, where Ben O’Carroll has excelled in his rookie campaign, they travel confidently to Castlebar.

SLIGO

Manager: Tony McEntee (third year)

Odds: All-Ireland 1,000/1, Connacht 20/1

Next up: v London, Ruislip, Saturday, 4.0

Tony McEntee’s team emphatically secured promotion after four seasons in the basement. High degree of continuity in selection and high-yield forwards Seán Carrabine, Niall Murphy and Pat Spillane. Draw makes them favourites for a first provincial final in eight years.

LEINSTER

CARLOW

Manager: Niall Carew (fourth year)

Odds: All-Ireland: 5,000/1, Leinster: 500/1

Next up: v Wicklow, Aughrim, April 9th, 2.30

Two wins in Division Four of this year’s league doubled last year’s pitiful tally, but still left them adrift of the promotion race. Carlow have failed to win a championship match since the glorious summer of 2018 when they took the scalps of Louth and Kildare. Will need a kind draw in the Tailteann Cup.

[ Peter Canavan backs Dublin to win the All-Ireland but surprised to see Kerry written off by many ]

DUBLIN

Manager: Dessie Farrell (fourth year)

Odds: All-Ireland 5/2, Leinster 1/7

Next up: v Laois/Wexford, Tullamore/Wexford, April 23rd

Return of Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion is a big boost if they can avoid injury and Stephen Cluxton’s presence in the camp is another positive. Featureless promotion campaign but Con O’Callaghan got back close to best form in league final.

KILDARE

Manager: Glenn Ryan (second year)

Odds: All-Ireland 150/1, Leinster 9/1

Next up: v Wicklow/Carlow, April 23rd

In a year they have gone from being lauded as unlucky in relegation from Division One to lucky not to drop further. Don’t look to have recovered from last year’s Leinster final ransacking. Need likely meeting with Dubs to be defiant.

LAOIS

Manager: Billy Sheehan (second year)

Odds: All-Ireland 1,000/1, Leinster 150/1

Next up: v Wexford, Portlaoise, April 9th, 3.30

Failed to escape from Division Four, despite beating the eventual winners Sligo along the way, and being the second highest scorers in the division. Laois haven’t won a Leinster championship match in three years, but have a golden opportunity against Wexford this weekend.

LONGFORD

Manager: Paddy Christie (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 2,000/1, Leinster 200/1

Next up: v Offaly, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Sunday, 3.0

A big tumble from winning the O’Byrne Cup in January to relegation from Division Three. Still very reliant on senior players like Darren Gallagher and Michael Quinn but hampered by a very leaky defence, averaging league concessions of 0-20.

LOUTH

Manager: Mickey Harte (third year)

Odds: All-Ireland 300/1, Leinster 22/1

Next up: v Westmeath, Tullamore/Navan, April 23rd

Mickey Harte’s team were one place off a third successive promotion after a Division Two campaign left then second-highest Leinster county. This despite long-term absence of influential Ciarán Byrne and injury also to last year’s league top scorer Sam Mulroy.

[ Seán Moran: Questions the GAA will hope are answered in the months ahead ]

MEATH

Manager: Colm O’Rourke (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 200/1, Leinster 14/1

Next up: v Longford/Offaly, Longford/Tullamore, April 23rd

Disappointing league campaign ended with Colm O’Rourke’s side right on top of a creaking Tailteann trapdoor. Defensively, they got cleaned by Dublin and Derry. Individual talents like the ever-dependable Donal Keogan and Matthew Costello but as a collective they lack structure.

OFFALY

Manager: Martin Murphy (acting)

Odds: All-Ireland 1,000/1, Leinster 80/1

Next up: v Longford, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Sunday, 3.0

Mid-table Division Three finish having had to cope with the trauma of manager Liam Kearns’s sudden death. On the more accessible side of the Leinster draw but will ultimately, emulating last year’s Tailteann top-four finish would be a decent showing.

WESTMEATH

Manager: Dessie Dolan (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 300/1, Leinster 28/1

Next up: v Louth, Tullamore/Navan, April 23rd, 6.0

Old bugbear of inconsistency. Guaranteed Sam Maguire football, the Tailteann holders finished fourth in Division Three but bizarrely with the league’s best scoring difference and the second-meanest defence. Injury to the prolific John Heslin, who missed the last league match, a concern.

WEXFORD

Manager: John Hegarty (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 5,000/1, Leinster 400/1

Next up: v Laois, Portlaoise, April 9th, 3.30

Played most of the league without their centre back and captain Liam Coleman, and having been the only team in Division Four to drop points to London, a promotion push never materialised. Ben Brosnan and Mark Rossiter are bulk suppliers of their scores but Wexford averaged just a goal a game in the League.

WICKLOW

Manager: Oisín McConville (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 5,000/1, Leinster 400/1

Next up: v Carlow, Aughrim, April 9th, 2.30

Won promotion from Division Four for the second time in three years, overcoming a ropey start to the campaign that left them with just one point after two matches. Kildare are on obvious roadblock on their side of the Leinster draw, but primed for a run the Tailteann Cup having made no show last year.

MUNSTER

CORK

Manager: John Cleary (first full year)

Odds: All-Ireland 50/1, Munster 14/1

Next up: v Clare, Ennis, April 9th, 2.0

The highest goal scorers in Division Two, Cork were also more resilient in defence during a stabilising league campaign. The best players from the Under-20 All-Ireland-winning team of four years ago are established in the starting team now and Chris Óg Jones has been a real find in attack. Progressive.

CLARE

Manager: Colm Collins (10th year)

Odds: All-Ireland 500/1, Munster 80/1

Next up: v Cork, Ennis, April 9th, 2.0

Relegated from Division Two after a seven-year residency, Clare also finished below Cork in the league for the first time in five years. Should have beaten Dublin in Croke Park, but then failed to score for 43 minutes against Derry a week later. Consistency and obstinacy have been their calling cards. Less so now.

KERRY

Manager: Jack O’Connor (second year)

Odds: All-Ireland 7/4, Munster 1/14

Next up: v Tipperary or Waterford, April 22nd, Killarney or Dungarvan

The All-Ireland champions returned late to training and entered into a standoffish relationship with the league, losing all of their away games. Donal O’Sullivan was given a long audition in attack, but the hole left by David Moran at centre field was not resolved. Not setting an insurmountable standard.

LIMERICK

Manager: Mark Fitzgerald (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 500/1, Munster 80/1

Next up: v Cork/Clare, April 22nd, Cork/Ennis, 7.0

All the momentum of last season – reaching the Munster final, promotion to Division Two – was torched in a destructive league that saw them relegated without a win, with the worst scoring difference in the four divisions. Adding to the turmoil their manager Ray Dempsey was forced out after five matches.

TIPPERARY

Manager: David Power (fourth year)

Odds: All-Ireland 1,000/1, Munster 100/1

Next up: v Waterford, Thurles, April 9th, 2.0

Of the 20 players used by Tipp in their Munster final triumph only three years ago, 11 are no longer on the panel. Michael Quinlivan and Colin O’Riordan have been lost to the attack, along with their captain Conor Sweeney, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on the opening day of the league. Slim hopes.

WATERFORD

Manager: Ephie Fitzgerald (second year)

Odds: All-Ireland 5,000/1 Munster 300/1

Next up: v Tipperary, Thurles, April 9th, 2.0

Lost six games in Division Four, by an average of nine points. After round four of the league, their manager Ephie Fitzgerald declared that Waterford football was “at crisis point.” A week later Laois beat them by 11 points. Bombed out in the Tailteann Cup last year. A similar fate awaits.

ULSTER

ANTRIM

Manager: Andy McEntee (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 1,000/1, Ulster 150/1, Tailteann Cup 25/1

Next up: v Armagh, Athletic Grounds, Saturday, 5.0

Haven’t won an Ulster preliminary round game since 1970 – hard to see them starting here. No team had a weirder league, somehow following up a 31-point defeat to Westmeath with a win over Cavan next time out. Could be sticky in the Tailteann Cup.

ARMAGH

Manager: Kieran McGeeney (ninth year)

Odds: All-Ireland 28/1, Ulster 4/1

Next up: v Antrim, Athletic Grounds, Saturday, 5.0

Every other Ulster county has at least been in a final since Armagh’s last one in 2008. The draw has been kind but league relegation was careless. Look to have refitted their game with Derry in mind, which doesn’t feel like a long-term strategy.

CAVAN

Manager: Mickey Graham (fifth year)

Odds: All-Ireland 300/1; Ulster 14/1; Tailteann Cup 6/4

Next up: v Armagh/Antrim, Breffni Park, April 22nd

Can’t do better than back to back promotions as champions. Vastly experienced and Dara McVeety is back in all-action form. Thomas Galligan is a loss but they will fancy their chances at home to (presumably) Armagh. Ulster final a real possibility, sending Meath to the Tailteann Cup.

DERRY

Manager: Rory Gallagher (fourth year)

Odds: All-Ireland 20/1, Ulster 15/8

Next up: v Fermanagh, Brewster Park, April 15th

Haven’t done back-to-back Ulsters in almost 50 years so they’re probably uneasy provincial favourites. Crumbled when the heat got turned up against the Dubs and can’t afford Conor Glass to be out for long. Clearly still on an upswing and ought to be in the mix in late June/early July at least.

DONEGAL

Manager: Aidan O’Rourke (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 100/1, Ulster 8/1

Next up: v Down, Newry, April 23rd

No Sam Maguire team had a worse league. The first post-Michael Murphy year was always going to be tough but between getting rid of Paddy Carr and seeing Patrick McBrearty and Ryan McHugh miss so much game time through injury, it’s been an ordeal. Everything from this point on feels like a salvage job.

DOWN

Manager: Conor Laverty (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 400/1, Ulster 20/1, Tailteann Cup 11/2

Next up: v Donegal, Newry, April 23rd

Used 40 players in the course of the league, the most of any team across the four divisions (Longford were next, on 35). Injury rules out Barry O’Hagan and Caolan Mooney so they’re light on experience. Clearly improving, albeit from a low base. Getting Donegal at the right time.

FERMANAGH

Manager: Kieran Donnelly (second year)

Odds: All-Ireland 1,500/1, Ulster 80/1, Tailteann Cup 6/1

Next up: v Derry, Brewster Park, April 15th

Ultan Kelm’s return has been the clear highlight of an encouraging league campaign. Sealed promotion off the back of some cracking late victories. Showed their inexperience in last week’s final, which doesn’t bode well. Tough side of the Ulster draw too.

MONAGHAN

Manager: Vinny Corey (first year)

Odds: All-Ireland 80/1, Ulster 12/1

Next up: v Tyrone, Omagh, April 16th

Survived another year in Division One but their championship performances have been poor for a while now. Lots of new faces, particularly in defence where Ryan O’Toole and Thomas McPhillips look like fine additions. If nothing else, the league format of the All-Ireland series should suit them.

TYRONE

Managers: Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher (third year)

Odds: All-Ireland 16/1; Ulster 10/3

Next up: v Monaghan, Omagh, April 16th

Turned a crisis league into a decent one by finishing with three wins on the bounce. Still moving chess pieces around so it’s hard to be sure how their best team sets up. Plenty of familiar faces – Ruairi Canavan is the only new X-factor. Certain to be in the mix.