The 2023 All Ireland Senior Football Championship (Sam Maguire Cup)

I wouldn't give Armagh much of a chance based on what we've seen so far this year.

I'd have Derry, Tyrone & Galway all in with a decent shout along with Mayo, Dublin & Kerry - has to be the most open championship in years. I think winning your group is going to be crucial as finishing 2nd means you'll play the 3rd placed team the next week and the quarter final the following week and I think that'll catch up with most teams.

Anyone got the dates for the AI series? The fixtures section on gaa.ie is farcical and pathetic

Taken from gaaboard

All-Ireland Senior Football Round 1 (Group Stage)

Counties Participating

• The following 16 Counties shall be eligible to participate in the All-Ireland Championship Round 1 (Group Stage).

(a) The 4 Provincial Champions (1st seeds)

(b) The 4 Provincial Runners-Up (2nd seeds)

(c) The next 4 highest-ranked teams at the conclusion of the National League (3rd seeds)

(d) The next 4 highest-ranked teams at the conclusion of the National League (4th seeds)

Exception to (d): The previous year’s Tailteann Cup Winners if not already qualified as one of the teams in (a) to (d) above, shall be eligible instead of the team in (d) with the lowest National League ranking at the conclusion of that year’s National League.

• Note: The ranking of teams in the National League referred to above shall be on the basis of the outcomes of the National League, including those of Promotion and Relegation, of the Competition Year. For the avoidance of doubt, a league final winner will be considered a higher seed than the team they defeated in the final.

Group Composition and order of games

• The All-Ireland Group Stage shall be on a League basis of four Groups of four teams (Groups A, B, C and D), with each team in a Group playing the other teams in their Group once. Teams will be awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw.

• The composition of each group shall be decided by means of a draw.

• Each Group shall consist of one team from each of the seeded classifications in (a) to (d) above. Teams who have already met in that year’s provincial final cannot be drawn to the same group.

• Each team shall play one Home game, one Away game in Round 1 & 2 and one game at a neutral venue in Round 3.

• The order of games;

Round 1: Seed 1 v Seed 3, Seed 2 v Seed 4

Round 2: Seed 3 v Seed 2, Seed 4 v Seed1

Round 3, Neutral venues: Seed 1 v Seed 2, Seed 3 v Seed 4

• Home Venues shall be subject to approval by the Central Competitions Control Committee and shall meet the criteria set down by the National Facilities/Health and Safety Committee.

Tie-Breakers – Group Stage

In the event of teams finishing on equal points in the Groups, the tie shall be decided by the following means and in the order specified below;

(vi) Where two teams only are involved – the outcome of the meeting of the two teams in the group

(vii) Score difference – subtracting the total Scores against from the total Scores for;

(viii) Highest Total Score For;

(ix) Highest Total Goals For;

(x) A Play-Off.

In the event that two teams or more finish with equal points, but have been affected by a disqualification, loss of game on a proven objection, retirement or walk over, the tie shall be decided by the following means and in the order specified below:

(iv) Score Difference from the games in which only the teams involved, (teams tied on points), have played each other. (subtracting the total Scores Against from total Scores For)

(v) Highest Total Score For, in which only the teams involved, have played each other, and have finished equal in (i)

(vi) A Play-Off

Schedule of Games

Round 1 (Home & Away)

20-21.05.2023 (Sat/Sun) or 27-28.05.2023 (Sat/Sun)

Seed 1 v Seed 3

Seed 2 v Seed 4

Round 2 (Home & Away

03-04.06.2023 (Sat/Sun)

Seed 3 v Seed 2

Seed 4 v Seed1

Round 3 (Neutral)

17-18.06.2023 (Sat/Sun)

Seed 1 v Seed 2

Seed 3 v Seed 4

Preliminary Quarter-Finals

24-25.06.2023 (Sat/Sun)

(Four Games)

The four second-placed teams from Round 1 shall be drawn to play at home against the four third-placed teams, subject in the first instance to the avoidance of repeat Provincial Final pairings and where possible repeat pairings from Round 1.

Home Venues shall be subject to approval by the Central Competitions Control Committee and shall meet the criteria set down by the National Facilities/Health and Safety Committee.

Quarter-Finals

01-02.07.2023 (Sat/Sun)

(Four Games)

The four first-place teams from Round 1 shall be drawn to play against the four Preliminary Quarter-Finals winners, subject in the first instance to the avoidance of repeat Provincial Final pairings and where possible repeat pairings from Round 1.

Semi-Finals

15-16.07.2023 (Sat/Sun)

(Two Games)

The four quarter-final winners shall play against each other in the Semi-Final based on a draw, subject to the avoidance of repeat pairings from the championship, where possible.

Final

30.07.2023 (Sun) | (Replay: 12.08.2023 (Sat))

(One Game)

The winners of the All-Ireland Semi-Finals shall meet in the All-Ireland Final.

Note: All-Ireland Final will have Extra time in the original fixture and will be winner on the day in the event of a replay only.

Venues

Venues for the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final shall be determined by the Central Competitions Control Committee.

Winner on the Day

The All-Ireland Football Preliminary Quarter-Finals, Quarter-Finals & Semi-Finals will be winner on the day.

The PDF download on the GAA covers everything in 43 pages. There is a chart on Page 3, but maybe not very useful. It had to be drawn up in December 2022.

https://www.gaa.ie/news/gaa-master-fixtures-for-2023-published/

The Galway keeper handed Armagh 2 goals in injury time last year and Armagh still couldn't beat them. They've followed this up with winning 2 league games and getting relegated in the process.

Yet they're somehow one of the 4 best teams in Ireland?

I wouldn’t say they’re one of the four best teams in Ireland but don’t forget they did beat Donegal & Tyrone in championship last year.

Interesting piece in the Indo by Colm Keys asking whether losing to Roscommon would improve Mayo's AI chances. It's an interesting discussion thats going to be had this winter in some counties if provincial success isnt followed by a successful AI series campaign. Either way i think this could be the last summer where the provincials carry such importance. An Armagh selector has already said that ulster isnt their priority.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/with-a-hectic-schedule-made-even-tougher-is-there-any-real-benefit-to-mayo-winning-the-connacht-championship-42417075.html

They were second only to Derry in scoring concessions in the league, beat Armagh away, scored more from play than Mayo did last Sunday. (Also, highest scorers in the league overall last year). Mayo had arguably a stronger team out last Sunday and were further along in their fitness and struggled to pull away for long stretches.

For a county playing in their first AI final in 21 years last year and for all of these players, their first ever, they didn't perform too badly last year, even in spite of a lot of sub-par performances on the day. There's a lot of bang-average sides out there by most metrics.

Re Armagh, I wouldn’t be fooled by “manager speak” at the moment. Mickey Graham said last week he didn’t think there should be League Finals but then put out his strongest team available in the Div 3 Final when even Cavan supporters expected him to rest a few lads carrying knocks.

Dara McVeety walked around Breffni Park in a fracture boot at the last game of the League vs Fermanagh but made a miraculous recovery to play 70 minutes against them in the Final a week later!!

Leave him alone, just a bitter mayo man..

It's unlikely to avoid dead rubbers in the group that the Connacht runners-up are in. If Sligo or Leitrim lose their first two group games against Division 1 and Division 2 opponents, they could be playing a provincial winner in Round 3 who have won 2 games. In that very highly likely scenario, the provincial winner is already group winner and Sligo or Leitrim are already eliminated.

This is a reason for the 4 provincial runners-up and the 8 league qualifiers being seeded on league placing. If Sligo or Leitrim are seeded 4, after 2 losses away to Seed 2 and at home to Seed 1, they would still play Seed 3 with the possibility that a win could take third place.

I think the way things pan out will determine how teams view the provinicials in a big way - if the Connacht/Ulster winners do well/poorly, it will set the narrative for the following year(s)

That part remains to be seen. When two teams are qualified, will they go all out for home advantage?

Will repeat fixtures be allowed once we get to the group series? I would presume the first and second seeds from each province will be kept apart?

Will they be allowed in the groups after the provincial system is finished or in the quarter final draw from the province and/or group games?

So Westmeath go into Sam instead of Cavan (unless they get to an ulster final) ??

You'd fear the Division 3 teams will be too strong for most of the Division 4 teams

Westmeath have been in this years Sam Maguire since they won the Tailteann Cup last July.

Cork, Clare and Limerick were in Division 2 this year. Clare and Limerick have dropped out but they should be able to put up a strong challenge.

I think there may have been complacency setting in during the league a level of expectation that they should be in the top 2. The same will happen in Leinster were they will probably be playing at less intensity. They will raise there game in the knockout series. Sure Kerry only beat them by a point last year and if Dublin beat Kerry they more than likely would have won Sam.