Five teams with most at stake as squeaky bum time hits the National Football League
For some, the League is not that big a deal. Take Jim McGuinness. His Donegal side were in touching distance of a final last year and he took his foot off the pedal. Four wins out of five. Then weakened teams for rounds six and seven. Before you know it, they were out of the reckoning, all their eyes on the Ulster championship.A year on, nothing has changed. Four wins out of five again. A defeat in round six. This time he fielded a strong team, but you don’t imagine he will do that this Sunday against Monaghan. McGuinness said: "If we get there [league final], we get there. We're not that bothered. If we don’t get there, it gives us an extra week to prepare for the Down match."For others, the League — while not the be-all and end-all — does matter. A lot. Here are the five teams with most at stake this weekend.DublinOf course, Armagh and Galway would feel embarrassment if they went down. But their fall from grace would not be as pronounced. Armagh won the 2024 All-Ireland. Galway have appeared in two of the last four finals. But Dublin? Nine All-Irelands between 2011 and 2023. That kind of drop hits harder.Their apologists will point to the fact they won the All-Ireland from Division 2 in 2023 but that was different. That Dublin team still had James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey, Stephen Cluxton, Brian Fenton, John Small, Michael Fitzsimons and Dean Rock to call upon.This side doesn’t. Worse again, Con O’Callaghan - their best player - is injured as is Luke Breathnach, one of their better performers in this year’s League. The idea they would bounce back up if they got relegated isn’t terribly convincing. Look at Tyrone this year. Look at Derry. Division 2 is way harder to navigate now than it was when Dublin were last there in 2023.RoscommonWill the real Roscommon show up this Sunday against Mayo? Then again, what is the real Roscommon — the side that battled to four wins out of six this year, or the one dismantled by Dublin two weeks ago? Consistency is not their thing. Winning in Croke Park isn’t either.But if they beat Mayo — and either Donegal or Kerry lose — Roscommon will reach their first national final since 1981, with a chance of winning a first national title in 47 years. Is the League meaningless? Try telling that to a football-mad county that hasn’t won a Championship game in Croke Park since 1980.They have so many in-form forwards. Conor Hand scored 1-1 in the thrilling win over Donegal. Diarmuid Murtagh has tallied 4-30 across six games this season — 1-6, 1-5, 1-7, 0-5, 0-2, 1-5. Daire Cregg was brilliant against Kerry. Enda Smith excelled against Donegal. Eoin Colleran contributed quietly but effectively. McGuinness ‘may not be that bothered’ about the League. Roscommon would be.Cork and MeathTwo fallen giants. Two teams that dominated an era from 1987 to 1990, sharing four All-Irelands between them. Meath reached the 1991 final, Cork the 1993 final. Meath won in 1996 and 1999, Cork in 2010.Six Munster titles, four National Leagues, one All-Ireland between 1999 and 2012. But nothing since. Not in Division 1 since 2016. Meath’s fall-off is even more striking: four All-Irelands between 1987 and 1999, just one Leinster title since 2001, and only one season in Division 1 in the last 20 years.Right now they are first and second in Division 2. If they both win this weekend — Cork against Tyrone, Meath against Offaly — they return to Division 1. Meath is better equipped to stay this time than in 2020, when they went straight back down.Seven All-Irelands each, joint fourth most successful counties historically. Fourth and fifth in League wins. So the League doesn’t matter? It does, when you’ve fallen this far and have a chance to claw your way back.DownA strange one. Down have won six from six and are far and away the best team in Division 3. Yet if Kildare are relegated, it will have a ripple effect on who plays in this year’s All-Ireland.In simple terms, the 16 teams in the All-Ireland consists of the eight provincial finalists and the next eight highest placed teams in the League. As Tailteann Cup holders, Kildare are guaranteed a place in this year’s Championship.So, Down - plus Division 3 promotion hopefuls Westmeath and Wexford - will hope Kildare beat Louth and Cavan to lose to Derry. That combination sends Cavan down — and eases, rather than guarantees, the path to the Championship for the two promoted Division 3 teams.Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here.
