I was watching Meath beat Dublin in the Mercat de Colon, a beautiful open-air market in Valencia, with a Meath man who had long fallen out of love with his county footballers.
He had been rather conflicted. He wanted to watch the game, but was also prepared to admit that dedicating two hours of his holidays to it was an accursed venture – a late-afternoon diversion that would temporarily sour the mood of an otherwise delightful weekend away.
Let’s face it, no one would have blamed him if he’d just decided not to bother. But he was drawn once again to the possibility, however remote, and it paid off.
This was a win for the whole country, and nothing would ever take the gloss off the beautiful feeling it gave us all . . . until the draw for the All-Ireland championship group stages on Wednesday afternoon, obviously.
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The Connacht champions and the Ulster runners-up in the same group already looked tasty in Group 4, before Dublin, and then last year’s league champions Derry were added into the mix. There are ‘groups of death’, and then there are real ‘groups of death’. This is a classic of the genre.
There will be four teams in that Connacht winners’ group that started the year in Division One, and in the Leinster winners’ group – no matter who wins it – there won’t be a single team of whom that could be said.
Your correspondent tried to walk a mile in the shoes of an increasingly desperate and fatalistic Galway football fan today (purely as a thought experiment, to be clear). And some questions arise. Foremost among them are – is this Connacht final worth winning on Sunday?
Win, and Galway underline their status as an elite side (this scenario would also entail beating Mayo in a football game, a situation which could never be described as sub-optimal). Their reward for that provincial title is a schedule that brings Dublin to Salthill first up, followed by Derry away, with the Ulster runner-up at a neutral venue to finish. That is fiendish.
Lose the Connacht final, and your schedule is – Cavan at home, Tyrone away, and Donegal or Armagh at a neutral venue. Dublin might be on the slide, but Cavan still looks a far easier home game to get yourself up and running than having to deal with a pissed-off Con O’Callaghan.
Tyrone may be a more difficult away assignment than Derry, based on what we’ve seen in 2025 so far, but then you look at Galway’s stellar recent record against Tyrone (three wins and a draw in their four league games this decade, with a win in the championship group stages in 2023 for good measure), and you really start to think – is this Connacht final worth winning on Sunday?
The choice is more clear-cut for the Ulster finalists. The bookies have Mayo as 2-1 outsiders. Whether or not you believe that, the feeling is that Galway are ahead of Mayo at the moment, and are thus better avoided.
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It could have worked out worse for the GAA. The choice between winning the Connacht final and getting into that group with Dublin and Derry, or losing and getting a far easier one, could have been even more stark. Tyrone, Cavan, and the Ulster champions isn’t a doddle by any manner of means for the Connacht final losers.
But a couple of key problems with this group stage rear their head again. The draws shouldn’t happen until after the provincial finals are played. It’s a shame that instead of looking ahead to Sunday’s game in Castlebar, Galway and Mayo fans will be doing exactly what I’ve been doing, and speculating idly as to whether they’d be better off losing.
And, of course, the group of death would be a lot more fatal if three teams weren’t destined to get out of each group in any case. I am part of a dwindling cohort that actually still believes in the group stage. If we had just tried two teams qualifying from each group, even for one season, I think it could have given us plenty of drama. It will be gone from next year, and it is not destined to live long in the memory, but it was an attempt to try to even up the difficulty of teams’ routes to the All-Ireland semi-final. That was a noble ambition.
Difficulties persist even in that area however. It is absolutely possible that Donegal will qualify for an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final having beaten Derry, Monaghan and Down in Ulster, before losing the provincial final to Armagh; beating Dublin and Derry, and then losing to Galway. That’s seven games (six of them against teams that either started or finished the 2025 league in Division 1), five wins and two losses.
Clare’s route to the same spot could well be – beat Tipperary, lose to Kerry, lose to Louth, draw with Down, and lose to Monaghan. Five games, three losses, one win against Division 4 opposition, and one draw against a team relegated from Division 2.
That’s not fair, and a combination of the provincial system, and three teams qualifying from the group, is what makes it unfair. These are the compromises and accommodations we’ve made.
The woebegone inhabitants of Group 4 might not be fans of preliminary quarter-finals either, but they’re grateful for any such small mercies now.
