We put a focus on each county’s form over the past five seasons to see who might be in the shake-up for the 2023 GAA All-Ireland senior football championship.
There’s little doubting who is the number one team in Ireland if the past five seasons are to be considered.
Dublin finished out their six-in-a-row with that most recent trio of titles from 2018 to 2020 inclusive.
Since then, Dessie Farrell’s men have found the All-Ireland semi-final hurdle to be their final stop, with Mayo and Kerry ending their journeys in each of the past two seasons.
Kevin McStay’s troops have been in an All-Ireland quarter-final or better from 2019 onwards, while the reigning champions are consistently towards the latter stages (with 2020 being the exception).
Galway came up short at the Connacht final stages in 2020 and 2021 and, due to Covid and the lack of a backdoor route, had no opportunity to recover.
Having played so well last season, before qualifying for a league final this term, they will feel they can get back to the business end of the championship.
ALL-IRELAND WINNERS AND RUNNERS-UP BEGIN 2023 CAMPAIGN
The pace quickens in the GAA Football provincial championships this weekend with semi-finals in Connacht and Munster and quarter-finals in Leinster (4), and Ulster (2).
It marks the arrival into the championship of defending All-Ireland champions, Kerry, beaten finalists, Galway and Leinster champions, Dublin.
Kerry host Tipperary in the Munster semi-final in Killarney; Galway will be ‘away’ to Roscommon in the Connacht semi-final in Dr Hyde Park while Dublin take on Laois in Portlaoise.
The ten games on the busy schedule as follows:
Connacht Semi-finals:
Saturday: Sligo v New York, Markievicz Park, 2.30PM.
Sunday: Roscommon v Galway, Dr. Hyde Park, 4.00PM.
Munster Semi-finals:
Saturday: Kerry v Tipperary, Fitzgerald Stadium, 4.00PM; Limerick v Clare, TUS Gaelic
Grounds, 7.00PM.
Leinster Quarter-finals:
Sunday: Westmeath v Louth, Pairc Tailteann, 2.00PM; Kildare v Wicklow, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2.30PM; Laois v Dublin, Laois Hire O’Moore Park, 3.30PM; Offaly v Meath, Glenisk O’Connor Park, 4.00PM
Ulster Quarter-finals:
Saturday: Cavan v Armagh, Kingspan Breffni, 6.30PM
Sunday: Down v Donegal, Newry, 2.00PM
