Reigning All-Ireland football champions Kerry start the defense of their title in Ennis on Saturday afternoon when they play Clare. Every year Kerry folk always find a reason to win the Sam Maguire Cup; it could be a new captain or a new manager, but they haven’t won Sam two years in a row since 2007.
This year, though, the Kingdom has a special reason to retain Sam for another 12 months as they are bidding to become the first county to win the senior final for the 40th time. Kerry currently have 39 titles and Dublin are second in the roll of honor with 31 wins, so Kerry are most likely to be the first to reach the 40 mark, but will it be in 2026? Kerry won the first of their senior finals in 1903 when Tralee Mitchels, representing Kerry, beat Kildare in the “home’” final and then went on to beat London in the final. One 123 years ago London were captained by Sam Maguire, whose name would later be honored with a new trophy, which has presented to the All-Ireland football winners since 1928. In Munster, Cork and Kerry, the two biggest crowd pullers in the province, are kept apart and I reckon they will meet again in this year’s final Killarney on May 10.
Kerry will be smarting after their heavy defeat to Donegal in the National League final at the end of April, but Clare, who finished mid-table in Division 3 of the National League, are unlikely to repeat their shock win of 1992 when commentator Marty Morrissey famously said that ‘‘there won’t be a cow milked in Clare for a week.’’
Meanwhile in the second Munster semi-final, Cork after a comfortable quarter-final win over Limerick, should be much too strong for Tipperary in Thurles. Six years ago, Tipp shocked the Rebels in the Munster final when due to Covid, the final was played in the month of November, but Cork has made steady improvements since then.
