With the start of the Women's All-Ireland senior football championship a little over a week away, hopes and ambitions are high among a number of counties
The three clear frontrunners for the Brendan Martin Cup are holders Dublin, league finalists Galway and a Kerry side that bowed out at the penultimate stage in 2025 after three successive final appearances.
Dublin will put their title defence on the line in Group 3 where they will have Mayo and Donegal for company.
It has been a rather turbulent period since captain Carla Rowe climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand last August after victory over Meath.
Hannah Tyrrell and Nicole Owens called time on their respective inter-county careers, Martha Byrne has stepped away after collecting a sixth Celtic Cross while Sinéad Goldrick and Eilish O'Dowd will be concentrating on AFLW duties in Australia.
The Dubs also fell through the Division 1 trapdoor before bouncing back with a 13th successive Leinster title.
Their All-Ireland series gets underway on 7 June against Mayo, and defender Niamh Donlon says her team-mates are primed for another All-Ireland tilt.
Ahead of the launch of the 2026 Ladies Football Championships – which begin this weekend – @MartyMofficial reports from Croke Park where a number of counties harbour silverware ambitions pic.twitter.com/wUpnwutSXm
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) May 26, 2026
"I think it's easy to motivate yourself because we're kind of a new team this year," she told RTÉ Sport.
"Last year's win was exceptional, but we could have to park that now and we have a new team."
Many are tipping Galway as the side most likely to wrestle the Brendan Martin Cup away from the capital.
After accounting for Donegal and Tipperary in last year’s group stages, the Tribes were squeezed out after extra-time in an absorbing All-Ireland semi-final defeat to eventual champions Dublin.
Twelve months previous it was defeat in the showpiece and despite losing to Cork in the recent Division 1 final, victory over Mayo secured a Connacht three-in-a-row and they head into a group containing Meath and Tyrone with confidence.
"You can always take learnings from losing," Galway’s Kate Geraghty said on the recent league reversal. "Cork are a really good team, there are definitely things we took from that game that we would hope to take into the championship."
Kerry’s progress this year will be watched with a close eye.
Following successive All-Ireland final defeats to Meath (2022) and Dublin (2023), the Kingdom roared back to end a 31-year drought for success on the biggest day on the calendar.
Their title defence ended at the hands of Meath in 2025, with questions swirling as to whether they can replicate the highs of 2024.
"Coming in off the back of a Munster championship success (they had the bare minimum to spare over a spirited Waterford is massive) for us as a group," Síofra O’Shea said.
"It was disappointing for us to lose last year’s semi-final to Meath and not making the final. It’s a big motivating factor to get back to an All-Ireland final."
Outside of the Big Three, Waterford look to be next in line, with the likes of Cork, Meath, Ulster champions Armagh and Mayo among the chasing pack.
The Rebels’ 2016 All-Ireland success was an 11th in 12 years, but a couple of final appearances in the intervening nine years is as close as they have come to getting their hands back on the trophy.
League silverware came courtesy of a fine win over Galway, but a crushing 11-point defeat to Kerry in Munster served as a reminder of the work needed to seriously challenge once again at the business end of the season.
The Rebels have a tricky group, pitted alongside Waterford and Armagh.
Emma Cleary, whose father John is manager of the men’s team, can’t wait to get stuck into the All-Ireland series, starting at home to the Orchard County on 7 June.
"There were loads of positives to take from the league, even though we had a disappointing Munster championship," she said. "We have had a few weeks to reset now and we have to build towards Armagh and Waterford."
