GAA confirm 16 teams who will take part in Sam Maguire round-robin stage

The 16 teams taking part in the round robin last 16 stage for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship has been confirmed following the last of the provincial semi-finals over the weekend.

Donegal will be in pot four, following confirmation of the seedings for the group stage draws in the Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cups, which will take place at 1pm on Tuesday, May 2, and will be broadcast live on GAA.ie, GAANOW, and available on the @OfficialGAA and @GAAGO social media channels.

Derry’s victory over Monaghan in the Ulster SFC on Saturday means the Farney County are in pot three, while Down have dropped to the Tailteann Cup after losing out to Armagh, 4-10 to 0-12. Louth confirmed their place in the Leinster final and the Sam Maguire race, having overcome Offaly.

The first and second seeds will be confirmed following the provincial finals, with the four winners going into pot one and the sides that lose going into pot two. Derry take on Armagh in the Ulster SFC final, Galway face Sligo in Connacht, Dublin are in action against Louth in Leinster with the Munster showpiece between Kerry and Clare.

The remaining eight places go to the teams who did not make the provincial finals, with the top seven from the Allianz League joining last year’s Tailteann Cup, Westmeath.

So, Mayo, Roscommon, Tyrone and Monaghan are in pot three and Donegal, Cork and Kildare join Westmeath in pot four.

Seeds one and two: Derry/Armagh; Dublin/Louth; Galway/Sligo; Kerry/Clare
Seeds three: Mayo, Roscommon, Tyrone, Monaghan
Seeds four: Donegal, Cork, Kildare, Westmeath

Teams who are due to meet in a provincial finals (seeds one and two) cannot be in the same group. However, teams who have already played each other earlier in this year’s championships can be drawn to the same groups.

The schedule of games for the group stages of the Sam Maguire Cup will be:
Round 1 (first named team at home)

Round 1
May 20 and 21
Seed 1 (Munster/Connacht Champions home to Seed 3)
Seed 2 (Munster/Connacht Runners Up home to Seed 4)

May 27 and 28
Seed 1 (Leinster/Ulster Champions home to Seed 3)
Seed 2 (Leinster/Ulster Runners Up v Seed 4)

Round 2
June 3 and 4
Seed 3 home to Seed 2
Seed 4 home to Seed1

Round 3 (Neutral venues)
June 17 and 18
Seed 1 v Seed 2
Seed 3 v Seed 4

Full fixture details will be confirmed by the C.C.C.C on Friday, May 5.