SUNDAY 27 JULY
All-Ireland SFC final
Kerry v Donegal, Croke Park, 3.30pm
ONLINE
Live blog, match report and reaction on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
TV
Live coverage of the 2025 All-Ireland SFC final commences at 2.15pm on Sunday on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.
Full Irish language coverage from 2.55pm on RTÉ News channel and RTÉ Player. The game is also broadcast on BBC2 NI, with coverage starting at 3pm.
Watch highlights and interviews from the All-Ireland winners' banquet (barring a draw) on The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RADIO
Live commentary and reaction on Sunday Sport, RTÉ Radio 1, and Spórt an Lae on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. Local radio listeners will be catered for on Radio Kerry, Ocean FM and Highland Radio.
WEATHER
Sunday: There'll be some rain for a time in north Ulster for those travelling, otherwise there'll be plenty of dry weather with a mix of sunshine and a few scattered passing showers. Highest temperatures of 17 to 20 degrees in mostly moderate westerly winds, fresh in the north and northwest. For more go to met.ie.
And then there were two
Game 99 in this championship will bring down the curtain on a campaign where football has been reborn. Open surgery was required, no tinkering around the edges. The sport, quite simply, was slipping into a pale imitation of its former self. Those looking on found the scene somewhat nauseating. Jim Gavin and the rest of the Football Review Committee were tasked with resuscitating the patient.
A successful operation was carried out, with a final decision on what stays in place due in the autumn. So we have a game where scoreboard operators are kept busy, where a lead of seven or eight points is no longer seen as safe, and contests that more and more hinge on the accuracy of restarts. More pressure on those souls between the posts to find their man.
Lee Keegan: Kerry's tactical adaptability could be the difference in coin-flip final
Kerry and Donegal, for the first time since 2014, will contest the decider. The two best teams in the country facing off for Sam. That's how it should be, as both possess the strongest squads.
Eleven years ago, the decider was a reminder of football's grimness. Donegal, after blitzing Dublin in the semis (we won't say ambushed), found Kerry's cuteness and let's call a spade a spade, pragmatism, an obstruction in the road they just could not penetrate.
No way were the Kingdom going to leave avenues for Donegal to exploit, just as they did against the Dubs. What we got was a turgid encounter, where the standout moment of the day was Kieran Donaghy's message to a then RTÉ pundit: "Well Joe Brolly, what do you think of that?!"
Summer 2025, and it's a whole new world
When games are there to be won, both Kerry and Donegal have the ability to put that foot down and, crucially have the talent off the bench to enhance their scoring surge. They also tend to get greater joy off long kickouts. Yet when all is said and done their application of the new rules is just adding a layer to what traditionally has served both counties well. That is playing with the head up, supporting each other with strong running and then finding the space in the 3 v 3 scenario to fire over a quick run of scores that puts the game to bed.
Kerry, after Armagh's capitulation from restarts during a 15-minute spell in last month's quarter-final, hit 0-14 without reply. It was the Kingdom at their sublime best, emphatically answering their critics who questioned their wellbeing after an earlier loss to Meath. Manager Jack O'Connor also had a few words for those who dared to cast doubts.
A day earlier, Donegal looked in trouble against Monaghan but found their groove in the second period, hitting 0-11 without reply. Afterwards, Jim McGuinness lauded the way his players "found a way", in that he had the utmost confidence in his squad to turn things around. That they did with aplomb. It was a similar case against Meath in the semis; a goal rush in the second half putting the gloss on a victory that was more or less in the bag at the break.
The 20-point margin at the finish was the largest in over three decades, equalling Cork's 5-15 to 0-10 win over Mayo in 1993.
Kerry had numerous goal chances to kill off Tyrone in the other semi; Niall Morgan's heroics keeping the Red Hands in touch. Again, it was run of scores without reply after half time, 0-09, that saw the Kingdom ease home. Obvious trends here. The cream of the crop producing a scoring surge that others simply can't live with.
It all equates then to a high-scoring shootout on Sunday?
You would hope so, though finals can often take on a a somewhat bizarre look. The hurling decider was hard to fathom given Cork's second-half no-show, though it would be bordering on incredulous that either finalist here would wilt.
Kerry, by the way, only scored two points in the second half of their All-Ireland semi-final loss to Meath in 2001. That addition brought their overall tally to 0-05. A dark day for the Kingdom!
What will they be wearing?
Well, jerseys and togs, of course. Made by one of the GAA's approved suppliers, naturally. However, unlike the 2014 decider, where they both wore their 'home' kits, on Sunday the counties will be wearing their 'away' or alternative colours.
So, blue jerseys and white togs for the Kingdom and white jerseys with yellow shorts for Donegal. Ss modelled below by Mike Breen and Oisín Gallen below, during their Allianz League clash in Killarney back in February.
It's the first time since Cork beat Down in 2010 that both teams will be in their alternative kits for an All-Ireland final.
New rules.. and so a greater focus on the numbers
On their way to winning the Division 1 title, Kerry fired over nine two-pointers across eight games. Come championship, that figure has risen to 25 across the same number of games, thanks to the efforts of David Clifford and Seánie O'Shea, though their opposition raised 29 orange flags.
Tom O'Sullivan, Tony Brosnan and Shane Ryan have also chipped in with two-pointers for the Kingdom.
As for Donegal, their spring campaign yielded 19 two-pointers in their seven fixtures. Of their 10 championship games played to date, that number has risen to 24 but with almost as many, 23, conceded.
Michael Murphy, Ciarán Thompson, Michael Langan, Daire Ó Baoill and Patrick McBrearty have aided the Ulster champions in that regard.
*Jack O'Connor leads Kerry into the All-Ireland final for the eighth time, having presided over wins in 2004 (Mayo), 2006 (Mayo), 2009 (Cork), 2022 (Galway) and defeats in 2005 (Tyrone) 2011 (Dublin) and 2023 (Dublin)
As for goals, Kerry netted 17 during their league campaign but that number dropped to 15 over the same amount of championship games played so far.
Jim McGuinness's men only registered two green flags in the spring but have amassed 13 since, with those three-pointers more prevalent in their recent games.
The overall scoring rates has Kerry averaging 27.5 points per eights game and conceding 21.5. Across 10 games, Donegal's average is 26.8 points; they've conceded 19.
What are Donegal going to do with you know who?
It was always going to be the obvious question in advance of the final. How do you curb the influence of one David Clifford? A player who looks back to himself after a 2024 season where he did not hit the heights, though in the case of the Fossa clubman the bar is high. So far in '25, Clifford has scored 8-53, he's averaging close to nine points per game. At times against Tyrone, he was close to unmarkable, despite the best efforts of Pádraig Hampsey, with Red Hand boss Malachy O'Rourke lamenting that others did not provide adequate cover for Hampsey.
The general view is that Brendan McCole will be tasked with the role on Sunday. But crucially Donegal will also be homing in on how they can cut out the supply of ball towards Clifford, his older brother Paudie and Seánie O'Shea. Jim McGuinness, as we all know, is very wedded to the 'system' and the current system is working incredibly well. You can expect McCole to have greater cover in his man-marking role, with Donegal to also have a plan in place to curb the other Kingdom scoring threats.
It's a high-stakes game and the obvious sacrifice is the concession of scores; expect some leakage, though Donegal will hope that their quick transition, and with it the rewards that follow, can keep them in touch during the expected shootout. McGuinness's bench has greater options and that too may be telling as we head down the stretch.
Kerry unchanged - Diarmuid O'Connor included in panel
On the latest edition of the RTÉ GAA Podcast, former Donegal player Kevin Cassidy expressed the view that David Clifford may be let at it and that greater attention will be placed on "going after the likes of Seán O'Shea, your Gavin Whites, your Joe O’Connors". It's one approach. Will they double-tag Clifford? You would doubt that. It's risk v reward. Watching it all play out will be fascinating.
It promises to be a fascinating decider. A final worthy of what has gone in the months before.
It's Kerry v Donegal. Expect some pragmatism, but not too much!
Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Donegal v Kerry, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
