Here is the recap of the draw by Gordon Manning:
[ Armagh and Tyrone to meet in Ulster preliminary round next yearOpens in new window ]
That’s all from me, good night!
Ulster
A big one to start off! Old rivals Armagh and Tyrone. Monaghan and Cavan two more rivals to be going up against each other
Preliminary Round
Armagh v Tyrone
Quarter-finals
Derry v Antrim
Monaghan v Cavan
Donegal v Down
Fermanagh v the winners of Armagh v Tyrone
Leaving the best to last, in this writer’s non-biased opinion, the Ulster Championship. Donegal’s Ciarán Thompson there to draw the lots.
Munster
Kerry and Cork avoid each other in the draw until the final, should they make it, after all that fuss, it could have been seeded.
Quarter-finals
Tipperary v Waterford
Limerick v Cork
Semi-finals
The winners of Tipperary v Waterford v the winners of Limerick v Cork
Clare v Kerry
More chat with members of the audience as it gets the Up for the Match treatment. Next up will be Munster. Mike Breen from Kerry there to draw the lots.
Leinster
Some interesting local derbies there, tough draw for Carlow and Wicklow you’d think. Potentially Dublin against holders Louth in a semi-final.
First round
Carlow v Wicklow
Westmeath v Longford
Offaly v Laois
Quarter-finals
Kildare v winners of Offaly v Laois
Meath v winners of Westmeath v Longford
Louth v Wexford
Dublin v winners of Carlow v Wicklow
Next up is the Leinster draw. Sam Mulroy, the Louth captain, there to chat about it and draw the lots.
Connacht
Mayo and Galway have been kept apart in the Connacht championship draw. Roscommon may need to beat them both to win the title.
Quarter-finals:
New York v Roscommon
London v Mayo
Sligo v Leitrim
The first two were already pre-determined.
Connacht semi-finals:
The winners of London/Mayo v winners of New York v Roscommon
The winners of Sligo v Leitrim v Galway
GAA giving it a bit of the Fifa/Uefa treatment to the draw, plenty of chat, as Jack Carney is there from Mayo to talk and draw the lots. Connacht is up first.
Next up is Michael Meehan to chat about Galway, Stefan Campbell to talk about Armagh and someone for Leinster soon no doubt. Yep, it’s John Heslin from Westmeath.
The draw broadcast has started, hosted by Gráinne McElwain, who will be hoping for a good draw for her native Monaghan. There is a live audience, a bit more showbiz than before, Marc O’Sé chatting now about Kerry.
The 2026 provincial football championship draws is under way at Croke Park.
The draws are being streamed on the GAA’s online channels and can be viewed at the top of this article.
In other GAA content, check out Ciarán Murphy’s column about GAA’s relationship with Allianz and what he thinks should happen:
[ Ciarán Murphy: GAA should not be cowards and must cut ties with Allianz over GazaOpens in new window ]
In case you’re wondering, no draws are required for the Leinster and Munster Senior Hurling Championships as the round-robin fixtures are scheduled annually on a rotating basis.
The provincial championships have the biggest impact later in the championship for teams outside the top division and who finish in the lower rungs of Division 2, or are in Division 3 or 4. Reaching a final could be the difference between playing in the All-Ireland series or the Tailteann Cup, particularly relevant for Munster without a seeding system.
The round-robin stage will be scrapped under the new format this year.
The eight winners from Round One will move into Round 2A, while the eight losers will enter Round 2B. The winners of the four Round 2A ties will advance directly to the quarter-finals. The four Round 2A losers will meet the four Round 2B winners in Round 3, serving as preliminary quarter-finals to decide the remaining quarter-finalists.
Donegal, Louth, Kerry and Galway were the four provincial winners for 2025 and will look to defend their titles.
Jim McGuinness guided Donegal from the preliminary round to win the Ulster football title but as teams drawn in the preliminary round are exempt from the opening stage for the following two years, Donegal, Derry, Monaghan and Cavan are guaranteed a quarter-final starting point for 2026. The teams in the draw for the preliminary round are Tyrone, Armagh, Down, Antrim and Fermanagh.
The four semi-finalists from this year’s Leinster Championship – Louth, Meath, Dublin and Kildare – will go straight to the quarter-final stages next season. The remaining seven counties – Offaly, Laois, Wicklow, Westmeath, Longford, Carlow and Wexford – will be drawn into three first-round pairings.
The Munster championship will go ahead unseeded, despite original plans to make it so.
In Connacht, the two quarter-final pairings are already predetermined as Mayo will travel to face London on April 11th while it is Roscommon’s year to take on New York at Gaelic Park.
