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Mayo - after a 75 year wait, 2 buses could come at once! Could be the first county since Kerry 06-07 to win back to back titles outside of their home league ground.
Tyrone - impressive winners over Dublin in Croke Park in the 2025 quarter final. Narrowly lost out in this year's quarter final. With young players to come through, they could take some stopping.
Dublin - a dangerous animal in their home league ground at the business end of the championship.
Kerry - the great Kerry team of 06-07 were the last to achieve back to back titles outside of their home league ground. The current side haven't been able to match that.
Galway - are they nearing the end of their championship window.. Drew the short straw of Dublin in Dublin's home league ground in the quarter finals.
Donegal - also drew the short straw of Dublin in Dublin's home league ground in Round 3. They'll be back with a vengeance next year.
Armagh - Won Ulster. Tough loss in Round 3. With the new format there will be heavyweights knocked out before the quarters.
Dangerous opponents:
Meath - won Division 2 and were knocked out by Mayo. They'll be a threat to the so-called main contenders.
Cork - got promoted to Division 1 and were knocked out by Mayo. They could be inspired by Roscommon and Westmeath to give Munster a right rattle next year.
Roscommon - shook up Division 1 and the Connacht championship. The task now is to follow it up in the All Ireland championship.
Louth - impressive victories in 2026. Improved on 2025. Tough loss in the semi final but they'll bounce back.
Derry - weren't far off promotion.
Down - if they can get back to the All Ireland championship, they'll be a tricky opponent.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 10052 - 05/08/2026 19:00:10
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Monaghan as well. A dangerous opponent. Interesting Division 2 next year:
Dublin
Monaghan
Derry
Louth
Tyrone
Cavan
Down
Wexford
Could be the top 5 to qualify for the All Ireland. Provincial shocks cannot be ruled out.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 10052 - 06/08/2026 09:22:00
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I would rank the contenders as follows
1. Kerry, mainly because they have scoring ability in spades, and only just missed out this year
2. Dublin, they will have a few retirements but the performances when they started to get injuries back are ominus for the rest of us.
3. Donegal/Galway/Mayo, 3 good squads with a little tweeking for Donegal/Galway would not shock anyone if they lifted SAM, Mayo are here because of the sheer amount of celebrations they will enjoy for the next 12 months
4. Armagh/Tyrone, I think Armagh underperformed even though they won Ulster which in my book is a great achievement, Tyrone performed well with the injuries to key forwards, if they get all their men on the field without injuries they will have a big say
5. Louth, really impressed this year getting to Semi final, backing up the previous years form
6. is everyone else, while we will see some good performances out of the rest, there are no true all ireland contenders outside of the above
ulsterrules (Donegal) - Posts: 330 - 06/08/2026 09:24:23
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Replying To legendzxix: "Mayo - after a 75 year wait, 2 buses could come at once! Could be the first county since Kerry 06-07 to win back to back titles outside of their home league ground.
Tyrone - impressive winners over Dublin in Croke Park in the 2025 quarter final. Narrowly lost out in this year's quarter final. With young players to come through, they could take some stopping.
Dublin - a dangerous animal in their home league ground at the business end of the championship.
Kerry - the great Kerry team of 06-07 were the last to achieve back to back titles outside of their home league ground. The current side haven't been able to match that.
Galway - are they nearing the end of their championship window.. Drew the short straw of Dublin in Dublin's home league ground in the quarter finals.
Donegal - also drew the short straw of Dublin in Dublin's home league ground in Round 3. They'll be back with a vengeance next year.
Armagh - Won Ulster. Tough loss in Round 3. With the new format there will be heavyweights knocked out before the quarters.
Dangerous opponents:
Meath - won Division 2 and were knocked out by Mayo. They'll be a threat to the so-called main contenders.
Cork - got promoted to Division 1 and were knocked out by Mayo. They could be inspired by Roscommon and Westmeath to give Munster a right rattle next year.
Roscommon - shook up Division 1 and the Connacht championship. The task now is to follow it up in the All Ireland championship.
Louth - impressive victories in 2026. Improved on 2025. Tough loss in the semi final but they'll bounce back.
Derry - weren't far off promotion.
Down - if they can get back to the All Ireland championship, they'll be a tricky opponent." Kerry have to be favourites, they'll be well rested after coming out of the hurling province of Munster !
DUBJOHN (Dublin) - Posts: 971 - 06/08/2026 11:18:31
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Hopefully none of those 7.
Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 821 - 06/08/2026 11:27:55
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The All Ireland is now an 8 horse race, with the home draws being critical in getting to Croke park.
Any team that wants to get through the early rounds of the All ireland race, need to be either at home, or fresh for the challenge.
If I'm a county manager in Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal. I'm thinking, play your full panel through the league, rotating players in and out to try out different combinations to cover injuries down the road.
Pick up an odd victory then play the full team in last 2 rounds and try to avoid relegation and get tuned up for championship.
Then focus on getting to provincial final - ensuring home draw. Rotating squad to try out lads pushing close to starting team.
Introduce U20's and any players who played All Ireland club semis or finals and put them out in Round 1 of All Ireland.
Once round 2 starts, play your preferred team, keeping older lads (O 30's) to 40/50 mins a match and letting the younger lads put it in week to week.
Get to quarter finals and then play full strength team in qfinal - so they are prepped and ready for semi and final in July.
In a 42 man squad, you'll have 5/6 tied up with U20's / sigerson for first 4 months of the year. Might have another 3/4 on club duty. Then 5/6 missing with injuries most weeks.
So that's having 42 but playing with 26/28 any given week.
Playing the same players every week in the league will result in them not being where they need to be in June and July.
tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 2015 - 06/08/2026 11:41:12
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Replying To tirawleybaron: "The All Ireland is now an 8 horse race, with the home draws being critical in getting to Croke park.
Any team that wants to get through the early rounds of the All ireland race, need to be either at home, or fresh for the challenge.
If I'm a county manager in Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal. I'm thinking, play your full panel through the league, rotating players in and out to try out different combinations to cover injuries down the road.
Pick up an odd victory then play the full team in last 2 rounds and try to avoid relegation and get tuned up for championship.
Then focus on getting to provincial final - ensuring home draw. Rotating squad to try out lads pushing close to starting team.
Introduce U20's and any players who played All Ireland club semis or finals and put them out in Round 1 of All Ireland.
Once round 2 starts, play your preferred team, keeping older lads (O 30's) to 40/50 mins a match and letting the younger lads put it in week to week.
Get to quarter finals and then play full strength team in qfinal - so they are prepped and ready for semi and final in July.
In a 42 man squad, you'll have 5/6 tied up with U20's / sigerson for first 4 months of the year. Might have another 3/4 on club duty. Then 5/6 missing with injuries most weeks.
So that's having 42 but playing with 26/28 any given week.
Playing the same players every week in the league will result in them not being where they need to be in June and July." Next years champions will come from Division 2. Pick your poison.
ORIELMAN85 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1191 - 06/08/2026 13:22:07
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Replying To tirawleybaron: "The All Ireland is now an 8 horse race, with the home draws being critical in getting to Croke park.
Any team that wants to get through the early rounds of the All ireland race, need to be either at home, or fresh for the challenge.
If I'm a county manager in Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal. I'm thinking, play your full panel through the league, rotating players in and out to try out different combinations to cover injuries down the road.
Pick up an odd victory then play the full team in last 2 rounds and try to avoid relegation and get tuned up for championship.
Then focus on getting to provincial final - ensuring home draw. Rotating squad to try out lads pushing close to starting team.
Introduce U20's and any players who played All Ireland club semis or finals and put them out in Round 1 of All Ireland.
Once round 2 starts, play your preferred team, keeping older lads (O 30's) to 40/50 mins a match and letting the younger lads put it in week to week.
Get to quarter finals and then play full strength team in qfinal - so they are prepped and ready for semi and final in July.
In a 42 man squad, you'll have 5/6 tied up with U20's / sigerson for first 4 months of the year. Might have another 3/4 on club duty. Then 5/6 missing with injuries most weeks.
So that's having 42 but playing with 26/28 any given week.
Playing the same players every week in the league will result in them not being where they need to be in June and July." It'll never work out like that and it doesn't matter anyway. Look at your own Mayo 2026, willingness to win matters.
Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2921 - 06/08/2026 14:00:34
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Munster success in the qualifier era was impressive.
Donegal were knocked out of Ulster by Down. Armagh won Ulster. Both were knocked out in All Ireland Round 3.
Home game in Round 3 was crucial. Mayo, Dublin, Kerry and Monaghan benefited from that.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 10052 - 06/08/2026 16:02:44
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Replying To Saynothing: "It'll never work out like that and it doesn't matter anyway. Look at your own Mayo 2026, willingness to win matters." Exactly. Galway did all of that, got to a provincial final, got the home draws and handier ones at that and it didn't do us any good. Mayo got beaten early, had 5 weeks to fully reset and change wasn't working.
There's no perfect formula.
WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2993 - 06/08/2026 17:47:55
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Replying To legendzxix: "Munster success in the qualifier era was impressive.
Donegal were knocked out of Ulster by Down. Armagh won Ulster. Both were knocked out in All Ireland Round 3.
Home game in Round 3 was crucial. Mayo, Dublin, Kerry and Monaghan benefited from that." Has to be changed to Neutral venues!
Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 821 - 06/08/2026 19:03:44
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