The race for Sam begins – all you need to know about All-Ireland SFC

With the dust barely having settled on an enthralling weekend of provincial finals, the race for the Sam Maguire is set to get under way.

While the Ulster and Connacht finalists are given the week off following last weekend’s exertions, eight counties begin their All-Ireland campaigns across Saturday and Sunday.

It is the final year of the football championship in its current guise as 16 counties jostle for position in the race in four groups of four, a system which will be scrapped for next year’s competition.

This year, however, a total of 34 matches will be played over the next 10 weeks before the final at Croke Park on 27 July.

The four provincial champions – Louth (Leinster), Kerry (Munster), Galway (Connacht), Donegal (Ulster)

The four beaten provincial finalists – Meath (Leinster), Clare (Munster), Mayo (Connacht), Armagh (Ulster)

The 2024 Tailteann Cup winners – Down

Group One: Donegal, Mayo, Tyrone, Cavan

Group Two: Kerry, Meath, Roscommon, Cork

Group Three: Louth, Clare, Monaghan, Down

Saturday

Kerry v Roscommon (Group Two, 14:30, Killarney)

Galway v Dublin (Group Four, 17:00, Salthill)

Sunday

Clare v Down (Group Three, 14:00, Ennis)

Preliminary quarter-finals – 21/22 June

All-Ireland quarter-finals – 28/29 June

All-Ireland semi-finals – 12/13 July

Sixteen teams are drawn into four groups of four teams with each team playing the other counties in its group once, earning two points for a win and one for a draw. Each team plays one home, one away and one neutral fixture.

The top three in each group advance to the knockout stages; the first place teams to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, and second and third-placed teams to the preliminary quarter-finals.

The four second-placed teams play against the third-placed teams in the preliminary quarter-finals.

This weekend’s opening game features Sam Maguire contenders Kerry host Roscommon in Killarney.

The Kingdom are two weeks removed from their remarkably comfortable Munster final win over Clare, while Roscommon have had four weeks to stew on their Connacht semi-final loss to Galway.

The Rossies reached the All-Ireland quarter-finals last year – where they lost to Armagh – but Kerry are expected to comfortably pick up two points.

Later on Saturday is the first blockbuster fixture between Galway and Dublin. The Tribesmen, of course, edged out the Dubs 0-17 to 0-16 in a gripping quarter-final last year.

Dublin were hurting then and they are in considerable pain at the moment after being stunned by Meath in the Leinster semi-finals last month. It led to the first Leinster final without Dublin since 2010 as Louth beat Meath to end a 68-year wait for provincial glory.

Of course, Dessie Farrell’s side are without some of their stalwarts. Brian Fenton and James McCarthy have retired while Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion are not involved this year.

Galway are fresh off winning their fourth Connacht title in a row, but while Dublin experienced pain in Leinster, they beat Padraic Joyce’s side 2-19 to 2-13 in a Division One encounter at Croke Park in March.

Galway have reigning Footballer of the Year Paul Conroy in their ranks while All-Star forward Shane Walsh is expected to return in the near future after a back injury.

On Sunday, Down play their first All-Ireland game since 2019. The Mournemen, who exited the Ulster Championship in the semi-finals, travel to Ennis to face Clare.

Down fought back impressively to snatch a dramatic Ulster last-eight win over Fermanagh in Enniskillen, and while Donegal unsurprisingly proved too strong, Conor Laverty’s side will feel they can leave Ennis with two points before games against Louth and Monaghan.

Also on Sunday, Mayo host Cavan in Castlebar. Mayo again came up short in the Connacht final against Galway, while Cavan were well beaten by Tyrone in the Ulster quarter-finals.

The BBC Sport website will provide live text commentaries on selected matches throughout the championship.