LAST year’s All-Ireland finalists Armagh and Galway will be reacquainted in the opening round of the 2025 Allianz National Football League in Salthill on Saturday, January 25 (5.15pm) - while Paddy Tally’s first competitive outing as Derry manager comes against his native Tyrone in Omagh on the same night.
And Davy Fitzgerald gets his managerial career with the Antrim hurlers off to an intriguing start against Dublin under the lights of Croke Park on Saturday, January 25 in a new-look Division 1B before All-Ireland hurling champions Clare host Kilkenny in Ennis the following day.
The divisional stages of both codes will conclude on the weekend of March 22/23 before deciders are fixed over the following two weekends, with the NHL Division 1A and 1B finals in the first week of April concluding the League action.
Five out of seven of Armagh’s NFL Division One games will be played on Saturday with their trip to Donegal (Ballybofey) on February 16 and their last game against Derry on March 23, at home, the only games they have on a Sunday.
Other eye-catching NFL fixtures for the All-Ireland champions are Tyrone in the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds on Saturday, February 1 (6pm) and a trip to Kerry on Saturday, March 15 (Tralee, 5.30pm).
The big games come thick and fast for new Tyrone boss Malachy O’Rourke who takes the baton from the departed Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan.
The Red Hands have two Ulster derbies – Derry and Armagh – in their Division One openers with Kerry rolling into Omagh on Sunday, February 23.
The earlier part of January will see the conclusion of the All-Ireland Club series.
The All-Ireland senior club finals will be played on the weekend before the start of the Allianz National Leagues, with the footballers involved having just a seven-day turnaround to adjust from the old playing rules to the new ones drafted in at special congress last week.
Tailteann Cup champions Down have a testing Division Two opener away to Roscommon in Hyde Park on Sunday, January 26. They have four away games and three at home – Cork (Sunday, February 2), Meath (Saturday, February 15) and Westmeath (Saturday, March 15), and they’re on their travels in two Ulster derbies against Cavan and Monaghan.
Jim McGuinness’s Donegal travel to Killarney to face Kerry in their opening Division One tie on Sunday, January 26 (1.45pm).
Meanwhile, Andy McEntee will be hoping to lead the Antrim footballers out of Division Three for the third time of asking as they open their account against Clare at Corrigan Park on Sunday, January 26.
The Sigerson Cup final has been pencilled in for the weekend of February 8/9 and the Fitzgibbon decider the following weekend.
The provincial championships get underway on the weekend of April 5/6, while in hurling the Joe McDonagh Cup begins on April 20 - with the Down hurlers facing a stiff opener away to Carlow - in a competition that concludes seven weeks later on June 8.
The All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals will be staged at Croke Park on July 20 and July 27, respectively before the inter-county season makes way from the club season.
The Tailteann Cup final is scheduled for Saturday, July 12.
