GAA Betting: Hot Kerry In Three-Horse Race For All-Ireland Football Title
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Now that the first pieces of championship silverware have been handed out for 2025, the best GAA betting sites are once again pondering who the main challengers are for this year’s All-Ireland senior football crown.
After accumulating 11 of the last 12 Munster Senior Football Championship titles, Kerry were hot favourites to maintain their stranglehold on the province when they faced Clare in the competition’s final for the third season in succession at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney on Sunday.
Thanks to first-half goals from David Clifford (two), Barry Dan O’Sullivan and Micheál Burns, the Kingdom eased towards a 4-20 to 0-21 success on their home turf.
It was a much tighter affair at MacHale Park in Castlebar on the same day as Galway clashed with long-standing rivals Mayo in the Connacht Senior Football Championship decider.
Despite being 1-11 to 1-3 in front at the midway stage in the action, Galway were placed under intense pressure in the second period by their opponents, who were playing with the aid of a strong breeze after the break.
Yet, even though Ryan O’Donoghue led a strong fightback for the green and red, a 0-7 haul from Paul Conroy – supplementing a goal from penalty by Matthew Tierney in the opening half – helped the Tribesmen to secure the Connacht crown for a fourth year on the bounce.
Ulster And Leinster Finals In Weekend Bonanza
The provincial series will reach a conclusion this weekend with trophies set to be handed out on separate days in Ulster and Leinster.
Donegal and Armagh will face each other in the Ulster Senior Football Championship showpiece at St Tiernach’s Park in Clones on Saturday.
Meath and Louth are set to face each other in a mouthwatering Leinster Senior Football Championship final at Croke Park on Sunday.
Although one of the latter will be claiming championship honours at GAA HQ this coming weekend, neither of them are considered serious contenders for the All-Ireland SFC title in 2025.
Kingdom Top All-Ireland Market
The polar opposite is the case for Kerry, however, who remain the frontrunners for the Sam Maguire Cup ahead of their journey through the group stages of the All-Ireland championship.
With a National Football League Division One crown and a Munster title already in the bag, the Kingdom are expected to seal top spot in Group Two of the All-Ireland SFC – which will also include Roscommon, Cork and the losers of Sunday’s Leinster final.
QuinnBet makes Kerry 11/4 favourites to win their 39th Sam Maguire Cup crown
The form of David Clifford and Sean O’Shea is certainly very encouraging for Kerry boss Jack O’Connor and with Clifford’s brother Paudie set to return from suspension for their next game in the championship, they are in a strong position to forge another title charge.
Donegal And Galway Major Contenders For Sam Maguire Crown
O’Connor is in his third spell as manager of the Kingdom and has won at least one All-Ireland senior title in each of those stints.
His second tenure as Kerry supremo ended in a defeat in 2012 to Donegal, who went on to claim the Sam Maguire Cup in the same year.
Having led them to the promised land in the same year, Jim McGuinness is now back in the O’Donnell County hot-seat and he will be hoping to earn his fifth Ulster crown as a manager in Clones this weekend.
Last year saw them lose out to Galway at the semi-final stage of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and there will be a determination amongst McGuinness’ troops to go one or two steps further than that in 2025.
As it stands, they are regarded as one of the main challengers to Kerry for the All-Ireland – but there isn’t much to separate them from the aforementioned Galway when it comes to the outright betting for the Sam Maguire Cup.
All-Ireland finalists in 2022 and 2024, the Tribesmen are hoping to once again be in the shake up for national honours and last weekend’s Connacht final win is another shot in the arm for Padraic Joyce’s side.
Even though experienced attackers Damien Comer and Shane Walsh were missing, they still had enough in the tank to get past the challenge of Mayo.
Donegal (4/1) and Galway (11/2) with betting apps for All-Ireland glory this summer.
Holders Armagh In The Mix For Top Honours
Yet the O’Donnell men won’t be thinking that far ahead and will instead be concentrating on their bout with Armagh in Clones on Saturday.
The Orchard County are the defending All-Ireland champions, but have nevertheless found themselves down the pecking order with bookmakers when it comes to All-Ireland contenders.
Nonetheless, the odds on them have shortened to 11/1 and they remain viable candidates for a successful defence of their All-Ireland title.
Dark Horses Dublin Still In The Picture
For most of the year, Dublin would have been rated higher than Armagh in the betting for the All-Ireland SFC.
Yet a shock Leinster SFC semi-final defeat to Meath has raised doubts about how far the Metropolitans can go in this year’s championship, especially with Dessie Farrell’s side finding themselves in Group Four of the national competition alongside Galway, Derry and the losers of the Ulster final.
Dublin are 10/1 dark horses with GAA betting sites for an All-Ireland football title – something that hasn’t been the case for a very long time.
Tyrone And Mayo Viewed As Outsiders
Beyond the five counties mentioned above, Tyrone are 16/1 for the All-Ireland crown.
They head into Group One of the All-Ireland series along with Mayo, who are out to 25/1 for the title.
As we move towards the group stages of the All-Ireland SFC, the likes of Derry, Monaghan, Cork and Roscommon are all capable of producing strong performances and results.
However, like the aforementioned Meath and Louth, they are viewed as rank outsiders for an ultimate championship success in 2025.