Fixtures:
All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals
FT - Meath 2-16 Galway 2-15
FT - Armagh 1-21 Kerry 0-32
All-Ireland Semi-final draw:
Tyrone vs Kerry
Donegal vs Meath
Here is the Kerry-Armagh report from Seán Moran. That’s all from us, good night!
[ Kerry blitz Armagh and again prove masters at confounding expectationOpens in new window ]
Here’s Gordon Manning’s report on Meath’s stunning victory over Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
[Meath show calm heads to add Galway to their list of scalps]
Although Donegal and Kerry probably have the more impressive records coming into those semi-finals, but it’s all so marginal this year.
The semi-finals will be on Saturday July 12th and Sunday July 13th. The exact fixtures will be set tomorrow.
The tone of the Kerry post-match interviews really shows how important this game was to them today. Jack O’Connor’s was particularly interesting.
The draw for the semi-finals is set to take place at 6:15pm.
Seán O’Shea had a super game today, with 10 points, and won man of the match. His interview gives a good insight to Kerry’s hunger coming into today’s match.
The draw for the semi-final will happen on the Sunday Game very soon. The only draw that can’t happen is Kerry vs Meath, or Donegal vs Tyrone, as they have already played in the championship this year.
Well now, that was a surprise. Not that Kerry won, but that they ended up doing it quite easily. It was a fantastic performance from the Kingdom, especially in the middle of the park where they were perceived to be weakest.
So our semi-finalists for 2025 are: Donegal, Tyrone, Meath, Kerry
Full-time: Armagh 1-21 Kerry 0-32
68 Mins: There’s a small bit of aggro, as Kerry break out with the ball. Dylan Casey was being dragged down by Armagh men, and then Rían O’Neill came in with a bit of a nasty high hit on the corner back. A small bit of pushing and shoving ensued, but it simmered down quickly. Armagh 1-20 Kerry 0-32
66 Mins: Rían O’Neill attempts to recreate the famous Michael Meehan goal from the 14-yard line, but the defence stops it. Then McPartlan sees his effort blocked down by hungry Kerry backs as well. Armagh 1-20 Kerry 0-32
65 Mins: Armagh are totally deflated now. Seán O’Shea glides in for another point. Armagh 1-20 Kerry 0-32
64 Mins: Shane Ryan stops another goal opportunity, winning the ball as McCambridge tried to palm in from a fist pass across goal. Armagh 1-20 Kerry 0-31
61 Mins: Michael Burns is having one of his best games in a Kerry shirt, despite only coming off the bench. His speed leaves a couple of Armagh defenders behind and he gets it back eventually for a score. Conaty continues his excellent game with a two-pointer. Armagh 1-20 Kerry 0-31
60 Mins: Graham O’Sullivan coughs up possession way too easily. But Grugan’s two-point effort is hurried and goes wide. Armagh 1-18 Kerry 0-30
58 Mins: Two saves from Shane Ryan there. Neither the most spectacular, but both crucial. McConville, just on, and Turbitt both going for goal from tough angles, with time running out for Armagh. Armagh 1-18 Kerry 0-30
56 Mins: After a quiet first half, David Clifford has been outstanding so far in the second period. He gets another two-pointer under massive pressure from Barry McCambridge. Armagh 1-17 Kerry 0-30
55 Mins: Big goal chance for Armagh to get back into it. They made the chance really well, but Murnin wellies his kick and it goes out for a 45. O’Neill points that kick. Armagh 1-17 Kerry 0-28
55 Mins: Burns hoovers up another kickout. Between him, Paudie Clifford, Joe O’Connor, and the now replaced Mark O’Shea, they’ve controlled the kickouts, both clean and broken. Kerry are very happy to just hold onto the ball and probe the fence now. When they do break through, Graham O’Sullivan pops it over, making a difficult kick look easy. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-28
52 Mins: Great kick from Gavin White, blazing through and pointing. Then Burns, one of the shorter players on the field, wins the kickout and sends Paudie Clifford in for another score. Then his brother gets another! Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-27
50 Mins: Michael Burns is on for Kerry, and goes on a mazy run, and fires over for a super score. Grimley and McQuillan are off now for Armagh, with Duffy on permanently, as well as Conor Turbitt. Then Ó Beaglaoich scores a cracker too. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-24
49 Mins: Let off for Armagh as Geaney gets played through over the top for a goal chance. But Clifford was in there too, and they collided. There was also contact from McCambridge, but no penalty there. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-22
47 Mins: Suddenly, Kerry look so assured on the ball. Seán O’Brien’s dummy hop creates space, and then Mark O’Shea finds Clifford for another score. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-22
46 Mins: Jarly Óg is back on now, plus a massive head bandage. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-21
45 Mins: Seán O’Shea pops a simple free over. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-21
44 Mins: David Clifford bursts into life, casually putting a two-pointer over to put Kerry in front. Kerry are killing Armagh on Rafferty’s kickouts so far. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-20
42 Mins: Paudie Clifford finally gets on the ball, winning a vital scrap for possession. Kerry work it from side to side and eventually Seán O’Shea gets a two-pointer off his left. Then Paudie ends up with the ball from the next kickout and pops it over. Now a point in it. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-18
40 Mins: Speaking of not feeling pressure, Rían O’Neill doesn’t pay any attention to the attempts of Kerry’s defence and kicks a massive score. At the other end, Joe O’Connor gets an important point to stay in it. Armagh 1-16 Kerry 0-15
38 Mins: Oisín Conaty is on fire, savage stuff again from the corner forward. He doesn’t let the pressure from the Kerry backs get to him and slots over. Armagh 1-15 Kerry 0-14
37 Mins: Rían O’Neill hits a two-point free over, great strike. Jarly Óg Burns has gone off, with Jason Duffy on as a blood sub for him. Armagh 1-14 Kerry 0-14
36 Mins: Joe O’Connor skims the crossbar with an effort that goes over. Nearly a goal for the Kingdom. Armagh 1-12 Kerry 0-14
35 Mins: Darragh McMullan gets the first point of the second half, a fisted effort. The attendance has been announced as 70,530. Armagh 1-12 Kerry 0-13
Big news. Paudie Clifford is now on for Conor Geaney. That adds another fascinating element to this second half.
From Seán Moran at Croke Park:
A lively first half concludes with textbook hooter playing by Armagh, setting up Joe McElroy for a second point, leaving the All-Ireland champions a point ahead at the break, 1-11 to 0-13.Kerry started well and maintained pressure. Seán O’Shea was in spectacular form, kicking 0-9, including two two-pointers and just a point not from play. There were times when the champions looked a little casual in possession but it was Kerry who yielded a turnover goal in the 29th minute when Tiernan Kelly dispossessed Dylan Casey from a kick-out and sent in Rory Grugan who finished to perfection. Kerry’s response was admirable and within a minute, O’Shea had shot 0-3, including a two-pointer to annul the goal. All to play for.
A bit of a mess from Shane Ryan and Dylan Casey, but a very tidy finish by Grugan.
Half-time: Armagh 1-11 Kerry 0-13
Joe McElroy gets the final score of the half after the hooter.
32 Mins: Rafferty nails a two-point free to make things level again in Croker. Armagh 1-10 Kerry 0-13
31 Mins: Dylan Geaney adds a lovely point off his left foot. Armagh 1-8 Kerry 0-13
29 Mins: It’s Sean O’Shea’s game today so far. He’s cancelled out Grugan’s goal already, adding a two-pointer to follow up that point. Armagh 1-8 Kerry 0-12
28 Mins: GOAL FOR ARMAGH! Grugan punts it into the net after Shane Ryan’s short kickout was intercepted. Great finish. Sean O’Shea gets a point back for the Kingdom. Armagh 1-8 Kerry 0-10
27 Mins: Another brilliant score from Conaty. He’s in even better form this year, having been named as young footballer of the year last season. Then Joe McElroy opens his account too. Armagh 0-8 Kerry 0-9
25 Mins: Graham O’Sullivan gets his first point of the afternoon, doing really well to break a tackle and pop it over. Armagh 0-6 Kerry 0-9
24 Mins: Seán O’Shea gets a fifth point of the day, he’s flying. Tom O’Sullivan has to come off through injury though, bad news for Kerry. Evan Looney on. Armagh 0-6 Kerry 0-8
23 Mins: Some great dog-work by both teams in the middle of the pitch, scrapping for the ball. In the next play, O’Neill plays a colossal switch to Grimley, but then is intercepted in full-flight trying to get a return. Great effort from both defences. Armagh 0-6 Kerry 0-7
19 Mins: A screen from Niall Grimley gives Rían O’Neill a chance to pop one over under little pressure. It’s a borderline foul, but the ref lets him away with it. Armagh 0-6 Kerry 0-7
18 Mins: Kerry slow things down, with O’Shea running the attack. He slips it to Clifford, but his effort goes wide. Armagh 0-5 Kerry 0-7
16 Mins: Rían O’Neill ambitiously goes for a two-pointer and it goes wide. Crealey and Grimley keep pushing into the full-forward line when Armagh go forward, possibly to gather any loose shots. But Jarly Óg Burns’ effort is not loose at all, a two-pointer for Amragh. Armagh 0-5 Kerry 0-7
13 Mins: David Clifford has his first score of the game. He beat both Tiernan Kelly and Ben Crealey and pointed off his right boot. From that kickout he wins a free and Seán O’Shea pops it over. Armagh 0-3 Kerry 0-7
12 Mins: Gavin White adds a point for the Kingdom off his left boot. Then Armagh race forward, but a few touches go astray, and Grimley hits it wide. Armagh 0-3 Kerry 0-5
9 Mins: Amazing save by Shane Ryan! Armagh should have got a goal there, as they had free men either side, but Tiernan Kelly takes the shot himself, and it’s tipped over by the Kerry ‘keeper. Armagh 0-3 Kerry 0-4
7 Mins: Great score from Brian Ó Beaglaoich, after beating a couple of Armagh defenders. Armagh 0-2 Kerry 0-4
6 Mins: Super score by Conaty, who looks really on form today. Then a massive goal chance for Kerry, but Rafferty stops the shot from Geaney. Very open start here. Armagh 0-2 Kerry 0-3
5 Mins: Ethan Rafferty comes up from the goals to take a two-point free for the All-Ireland holders. He’s taking his time and drawing jeers from the Kerry crowd, but he misses the free eventually. Armagh 0-1 Kerry 0-3
3 Mins: Oisín Conaty gets a score after racing through for Armagh, their first of the day. Armagh 0-1 Kerry 0-3
2 Mins: Goal chance straight away for Armagh, Darragh McMullen pulling on the ball on the ground, but it goes wide. Seán O’Shea gets the first score of the match for Kerry then, into Hill 16. Then he pops over a two-pointer, seemingly very easily. Great start for Kerry. Armagh 0-0 Kerry 0-3
1 Mins: We’re off and running now, the gaps in the seats are now a lot more sparse than at any of the previous quarter-finals. Armagh 0-0 Kerry 0-0
Just time for Seán Moran’s notes before throw-in:
With the dust still settling on Meath’s sensational defeat of Connacht champions Galway, the crowd get ready for the rerun of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final between champions Armagh and Munster title holders, Kerry whose manager Jack O’Connor makes one change to the announced line-up. Mark O’Shea of Dr Croke’s replaces his clubmate Micheál Burns at wing forward. Armagh line-up as selected. The weather has cleared a bit with a big crowd in attendance. One All-Ireland semi-final place remaining and up for grabs.
Time for the national anthem now, just moments to go before this huge clash.
Kerry make one change to their lineup, but it’s not to make way for Paudie Clifford. Mark O’Shea replaces Michael Burns.
Armagh are set to play as selected today
After the first half, it seemed so unlikely that the game would explode into chaos as it did, but credit to both sides. Armagh and Kerry have a hard act to follow, but if there was ever two teams to do it...
Here’s the goal that was key to Meath’s victory, Morris and Costello connecting to put their side back in front after Galway had flurried and got on top.
Jordan Morris, who suffered a terrible injury in the league this year, is the rightful man of the match. There’s jubilant scenes in Croker as he eggs on the crowd.
Meath are through to the All-Ireland semi-finals! A wonderful and open second-half at Croke Park has seen Galway crash out and Meath triumph. Those last twenty minutes were unbelievable, absolutely thrilling!
Full-time: Galway 2-15 Meath 2-16
68 Mins: Shane Walsh gets a two-pointer to leave just one between the sides! Galway 2-15 Meath 2-16
67 Mins: Finnerty plays a quick free to Comer, who points on the turn to bring it back to two in the difference. But from the kickout, Conor Gray catches a huge high ball, and Morris gets another savage score, fisting it over. Galway 2-13 Meath 2-16
66 Mins: What a fetch from Céin Darcy there, but Paul Conroy decides to try and level things up and go for a two-pointer. It drops short, and Meath get up the pitch quickly for another point by Morris. What a player! Galway 2-12 Meath 2-15
65 Mins: Billy Hogan has a chance to make up for two poor kicks now with a 45. But it’s wide on the far side from the ‘keeper. Galway 2-12 Meath 2-14
63 Mins: Kieran Molloy is on for an injured Seán Kelly, while Conor Duke has had to go off temporarily for Meath. Galway 2-12 Meath 2-14
62 Mins: Shane Walsh misses a fairly easy chance by his standards, and now the play slows up a small bit. But Meath know when to turn it on. Cathal Hickey slips inside his man and pops it over brilliantly. Galway 2-12 Meath 2-14
61 Mins: What a save by Gleeson! Morris tried to get in on the soccer action, as the ball dropped out of him from a long pass by Costello. Good strike, but a better save. Disappointingly, Hogan puts the 45 wide after.
BUT GOAL! MEATH! They turned over the Galway defence, and Costello and Morris combine for a great goal! Galway 2-12 Meath 2-13
60 Mins: It’s not been his best day today, but Meath captain Eoghan Frayne gets a lovely score there to pull it back to two points. Galway 2-12 Meath 1-13
59 Mins: GOAL FOR GALWAY! John Maher flies through and pops a lovely pass to Liam Silke, and the corner back coolly finishes. Looks like either a foul or a throw (or both) led to Galway getting that ball back though... Galway 2-12 Meath 1-12
57 Mins: This is catching fire now. Céin Darcy hits the post in his attempt to tie things up. Then Meath break out oof defence and seem to be hampered by the positioning of the referee. They lose it and give away a free, with Finnerty popping it over to level things up. Galway 1-12 Meath 1-12
Substitute Cathal Hickey gets a yellow for a high tackle, but might be lucky to get that. It was a dangerous elbow. Shane Walsh gets a two-pointer from the free.
THEN GOAL FOR GALWAY! Cillian McDaid bursts through the middle, gets the pass from Finnerty, and McDaid blasts it beyond Hogan! Galway 1-11 Meath 1-12
53 Mins: GOAL FOR MEATH! A massive turnover sees Meath charge up the pitch. Conor Gray is held up but manages to ‘soccer’ it into the net beyond Conor Gleeson. Then Morris adds a point. Galway 0-9 Meath 1-12
51 Mins: Goal chance for Meath goes astray! Gleeson might have got a toe to it. The atmosphere is starting to crackle in Croke Park now with fans filing in for the later throw-in. Galway 0-9 Meath 0-11
50 Mins: Damien Comer and Daniel O’Flaherty are on for Matthew Tierney and Dylan McHugh. Galway 0-9 Meath 0-11
49 Mins: Beautiful bit of skill from Jordan Morris, sending his man to the shops with a lovely hop, and popping it over. Damien Comer looks ready to come in now for Galway. Galway 0-9 Meath 0-11
48 Mins: Massive mistake by Galway, only two stayed up in the Meath half. Pádraic Joyce is fuming with his players. Billy Hogan comes up from the goals, slips, and sends it wide. Galway 0-9 Meath 0-10
47 Mins: HawkEye is called into action, and the Meath fans are happy with the result. Matthew Costello with another great score there. Galway 0-9 Meath 0-10
46 Mins: Rob Finnerty strikes a free over from just inside the arc. Galway 0-9 Meath 0-9
45 Mins: Ruairi Kinsella and Ciarán Caulfield go flying into each other at a short kickout, stopping the play, so Galway can’t take advantage of winning the breaking ball. Galway 0-8 Meath 0-9
44 Mins: Meath seem to be finding it easier to get space up front so far. Another score for Jordan Morris, this time off his right foot. Galway 0-8 Meath 0-9
43 Mins: Now Cillian McDaid comes on for Peter Cooke. Some subs for Galway. Galway 0-8 Meath 0-8
42 Mins: Paul Conroy is on for Galway, replacing Cian Hernon who put in a good, hard-working display. Matthew Thompson gets into space and levels the game again. Galway 0-8 Meath 0-8
41 Mins: Matthew Costello sizes up Matthew Tierney, shimmies, buys a yard, and kicks a point. Great score. Galway 0-7 Meath 0-8
39 Mins: Shane Walsh falls on his backside attempting a dummy, so it’s obviously still wet out there despite the heat. Both teams are losing the ball a bit too easily to start the second half. Galway 0-7 Meath 0-7
37 Mins: Shane Walsh sends a two point effort wide after Galway again built up slowly. Galway 0-7 Meath 0-7
36 Mins: All level after the first play of the second half. Matthew Costello points an easy free after Conor Duke was fouled close to goal. Galway 0-7 Meath 0-7
Galway and Meath are back out on the pitch now. There’s been zero two-pointers so far, despite the hot conditions favouring shooters, and that could be crucial to winning this game.
Probably the highest quality moment of the first half, with Matthew Costello’s pinger finding Ruari Kinsella for a score.
Here’s Gordon Manning’s view of the first half from inside Croke Park.
HT: Galway 0-7 Meath 0-6
A very cagey first half in Croke Park, one of the more pedestrian paced games of the season in fact. Such is the amount of lateral play that’s almost like watching a game from last year’s championship.
It still hasn’t sparked to life with Galway in particular guilty of slow ponderous attacking play.
They have been turned over on several occasions – more because of mistakes and misplaced passes and solos than massive Meath pressure.
Meath, for their part, showed some quality foot-passing but it’s Galway who lead by the narrowest of margins at the turnaround.
The Tribesmen scored the last four points of the half to move from three behind to one in front at the break. Hopefully the game opens up in the second half.
Half-time: Galway 0-7 Meath 0-6
John Maher hand passing the final point of the half. Three in a row to end the half for Galway.
33 Mins: It’s a level game again. Walsh showed his class, selling a couple of dummies, and then slipping Seán Kelly in for an easy score. Galway 0-6 Meath 0-6
31 Mins: Matthew Tierney gets another score, gathering a mishit shot and firing it over. Galway 0-5 Meath 0-6
29 Mins: Donal Keoghan executes a graceful spin, sending Dylan McHugh after his shadow. He finishes well too. Galway 0-4 Meath 0-6
28 Mins: Matthew Tierney hand passes a point for Galway. Galway 0-4 Meath 0-5
27 Mins: Shane Walsh is turned over by the Meath defence. Matthew Costello then arrows a pass up to Ruari Kinsella, and he kicks a lovely point for the Royals. Galway 0-3 Meath 0-5
24 Mins: A lovely switch of play from Conor Duke is rewarded as Bryan Menton finishes the move off. Galway 0-3 Meath 0-4
22 Mins: Galway double up and win the ball back again. Matthew Thompson is turned over then by the Hill. It’s been that sort of game for attackers. But Jordan Morris interrupts that flow, taking on his man and then dinking one over. Galway 0-3 Meath 0-3
19 Mins: Massive miss by Galway! Dylan McHugh gets into heaps of space in front of goal, but ignores Shane Walsh who’s free inside. Billy Hogan does enough to put him off and McHugh’s shot goes wide. Finnerty pops one over after though. Galway 0-3 Meath 0-2
16 Mins: A bit of class from Matthew Costello there, taking his hop to buy a yard, and curling a left-footed shot over the bar. Matthew Thompson races down the other end and points one himself. Galway 0-2 Meath 0-2
15 Mins: It’s not the high-octane clash we’d expected or hoped for really. However, there’s some first-rate defending, this time Cian Hernon stripping Matthew Costello of the ball under the Cusack Stand. Galway 0-1 Meath 0-1
13 Mins: Another two wides from Meath. Jordan Morris’ effort goes to HawkEye, but Keith Curtis’ effort is well short. The Royals might rue these misses, as they’re dominating possession right now. Galway 0-1 Meath 0-1
11 Mins: There’s the first goal chance of the game, with Conor Gleeson touching a Seán Coffey effort over the bar. Meath’s first score. Galway 0-1 Meath 0-1
10 Mins: Meath are also building up very slowly, but then rushing their finish. This time a Conor Duke effort falls miles short. Galway 0-1 Meath 0-0
7 Mins: It took seven and a half minutes, but there’s the first score, coming for Galway by Shane Walsh. It came after they finally put a direct ball into their full-forwards. Galway 0-1 Meath 0-0
5 Mins: Galway are playing a very slow build-up style of football into the Hill 16 end so far. John Maher gets in behind but his hand pass point attempt is blocked out for a 45. Walsh misses the kick by some distance. Galway 0-0 Meath 0-0
2 mins: Galway’s Céin Darcy win the throw-in, and since then they’ve controlled the play, patiently keeping the ball. Finally, Meath get their hands on the ball. Galway 0-0 Meath 0-0
The national anthem is about to be played now in Croke Park, it’s nearly throw-in time.
Huge news there, 2024 footballer of the year Paul Conroy and 2022 nominee for that award, Cillian McDaid, are both out!
An update from Gordon Manning at Croke Park:
Good afternoon from Croke Park for day two of the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals weekend.
The Galway and Meath teams are out on the pitch going through their warm-up ahead of the 1.45 throw-in.
Both managers have made late changes to their starting teams – and significant ones at that.
Pádraic Joyce has made three switches – Connor Gleeson returns between the posts as goalkeeper in place of Conor Flaherty while out the field Jack Glynn and Peter Cooke both start. Paul Conroy and Cillian McDaid drop out.
For Meath the big news is that Mathew Costello – who missed the win over Kerry because of injury – returns to the starting team. Costello starts ahead of Cathal Hickey.
There have been some brief showers over the last couple of hours in Dublin but it’s muggy and dry right now ahead of today’s first game at Croke Park.
There’s also been plenty of big news on managers this week, with Kevin McStay’s tenure ending in Mayo, and Dessie Farrell leaving Dublin after last night’s defeat. It was McStay’s departure that garnered the most criticism though; Malachy Clerkin discusses the heavy-handed statement from Mayo GAA.
There’s been a lot of talk about Shane Walsh’s fitness, after the 32-year-old came off injured against Down last week. In the opposite inside-forward line, Royals fans will be hoping Matthew Costello is fit enough to start, having been named on the bench for this quarter-final.
And here’s the Meath side seeking to make the county’s first All-Ireland semi-final in 16 years. Remember though, there’s a good chance of changes before throw-in.
With less than an hour to throw-in here’s the Galway side named to play Meath in the first All-Ireland quarter-final today (1.45pm). We’ll bring you news of any updates before throw-in.
In his tenth season as manager, Kieran McGeeney finally brought Armagh back to the peak they reached when he was captain. There were tough times along the way, but now the Orchard County are, quite rightly, eyeing up two-in-a-row under McGeeney.
[Worth the wait: How Kieran McGeeney came through the criticism to show his managerial quality]
And here’s Seán Moran’s previews of the quarter-finals too.
This weekend’s quarter-finals mark another high point of a season where championship football has captured the imagination in a way it hadn’t for quite some time. Seán Moran discusses the quarter-finals, as well as how the FRC have breathed life back into the sport.
[Turnstiles click for a game transformed and the most open championship in decades]
Kerry face Armagh in a heavyweight clash at Croker today. Dean Rock remembers another time when Kerry came up to the capital as underdogs in a quarter-final; 2009’s hammering of Dublin. However there’s a big difference between then and now, he says: “The core problem for Kerry is that they don’t have enough players operating at the very highest level.”
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the second set of All-Ireland quarter-finals at Croke Park. Galway face Meath (throw-in 1:45pm), and Armagh will play Kerry (throw-in 4:00pm) in a rematch of last year’s semi-final classic.
There were flashes of brilliance all through yesterday’s quarter-finals, but Donegal and Tyrone both managed to come through by decent margins. Neutrals will be hoping that today’s games are a bit tighter in the last few minutes. It promises to be a great day of football, with big crowds expected at GAA HQ for the double-header.
