What’s happening, where and when?
Last year’s champions Kerry will face Mayo in the All-Ireland senior football final at Croke Park. The final will be played on Sunday, with throw-in at 3.30pm.
Where can I watch?
You can watch the final on RTÉ2 or BBC Two. RTÉ coverage starts at 2.15pm, BBC coverage starts at 3pm. On RTÉ, Joanne Cantwell is joined by Lee Keegan, Niall Morgan, Peter Canavan and Tomás Ó Sé for live coverage. Commentary is from Marty Morrissey and Éamonn Fitzmaurice.
The Irish Times will also have live updates from Croke Park, as well as reaction and analysis from our team of writers.
How can I get tickets?
As is always the case for All-Ireland finals, tickets will not go on general sale. They will instead be distributed through clubs, with the competing counties receiving the largest allocations.
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What is the team news?
Kerry manager Jack O’Connor has named an unchanged team for the game. O’Connor has kept faith with the starting side from their semi-final victory over Dublin, which means Seán O’Shea retains his place ahead of captain Paul Geaney, who is included among the substitutes.
KERRY (SFC v Mayo): Shane Murphy; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Graham O’Sullivan, Mike Breen, Gavin White; Mark O’Shea, Seán O’Brien; Joe O’Connor, Seán O’Shea, Diarmuid O’Connor; Paudie Clifford, David Clifford, Dylan Geaney. Subs: Shane Ryan, Evan Looney, Tomás Kennedy, Keith Evans, Paul Geaney, Armin Heinrich, Brian Ó Beaglaíoch, Tadhg Morley, Micheál Burns, Tom O’Sullivan, Killian Spillane.
Conor Loftus will start for Mayo as Andy Moran makes once change for the final, with Paul Towey dropping to the bench.
MAYO (SFC v Kerry): Jack Livingstone; Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Eoin McGreal; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Enda Hession; Bob Tuohy, Jack Carney; Stephen Coen, Conor Loftus, Jordan Flynn; Darragh Beirne, Ryan O’Donoghue, Kobe McDonald. Subs: Rob Hennelly, Fenton Kelly, Paddy Durcan, Rory Brickenden, Conal Dawson, Aidan O’Shea, Matthew Ruane, Paul Towey, Diarmuid O’Connor, Tommy Conroy, Cian McHale.
What is at stake?
For Mayo, a win would be everything, having not won the All-Ireland title since 1951, not for the want of trying. Since 1989, Mayo has played in 13 finals (including replays), losing 11 of them, with the others finishing level. Mayo have gone toe-to-toe with Dublin in finals, losing narrowly, but against Kerry they have been less competitive, losing by three points in 1997, by eight points in 2004 and by 13 points in 2006.
For Kerry, it would be sweet to hit the 40 mark for All-Ireland titles, it would be Connor’s sixth Sam Maguire and David Clifford’s third, bringing the great forward closer to the titles his talent deserves.
What were their paths to the final?
Kerry won the Munster title in comfortable fashion, beating Clare 2-19 to 1-14, then Cork 1-23 to 1-15. They came back down to earth with a heavy defeat to Donegal, 2-20 to 0-16, but bounced back to beat Kildare 3-22 to 0-17, Armagh by 4-18 to 0-17, Tyrone by 2-25 to 0-27 and Dublin by 2-18 to 0-20.
Mayo had their bad game early in the championship, after beating London by 0-31 to 1-15, they were thrashed by Roscommon 2-25 to 1-18 in the Connacht championship. In the All-Ireland series they held off a Monaghan comeback to win 1-24 to 2-20, then were beaten by Tyrone by a point, 0-22 to 1-18. Mayo then beat Meath 0-22 to 2-13, Cork by 0-23 to 0-18 and finally Louth by a big margin, 3-23 to 0-15.
Who is the referee?
Martin McNally will officiate the final, it will be the Monaghan man’s first senior decider to officiate and his 32nd senior intercounty championship game since taking charge of his first fixture in the summer of 2018.
