Three out of our five GAA writers believe that the Sam Maguire Cup will be staying in Ulster by the end of the summer, with Donegal the favoured northern side to win it all.
Cahair O’Kane and Neil Loughran believe that Jim McGuinness will be winning matches again this summer, with Neil also touting them to retain the Anglo-Celt Cup.
Kerry are the other favourites to win the All-Ireland title among the sports desk, with Kenny Archer and Andy Watters selecting David Clifford and Co to bring Sam to Killarney. The Kingdom has been tipped as one of the teams set to benefit from the FRC’s enhancements the most.
Out of the five writers, only Brendan Crossan predicts Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh to reclaim their All-Ireland crown, with Brendan having them down to do the Ulster and All-Ireland double.
In the Ulster SFC title race, all of the journalists we asked besides Neil Loughran put Armagh to break the 17-year trend and bring the Anglo-Celt Cup back to Armagh.
As for the Tailteann Cup competition, only Kenny Archer predicts it staying north of the border, with our deputy sports editor putting Fermanagh down for winning the second-tier of Gaelic football.
The other sides that were tipped for the Tailteann Cup are Meath (Cahair and Andy), Kildare (Neil) and Sligo (Brendan).
In the upcoming league campaigns, just one journalist has one of the four divisions going to a team from Ulster. Neil believes that Tyrone have all the ingredients to climb to the top of division one this year, with Malachy O’Rourke at the wheel to lead the way.
Caahir and Kenny feel like Kerry can take the title from Derry, Andy feels like Dublin can continue their winning ways after two Dub clubs took the All-Ireland club senior football and hurling titles, and Brendan thinks that Padraic Joyce’s Tribesmen of Galway can go all the way in the league.
Such is the way with many group predictions, there are rarely consensuses, however, there are close calls in terms of the league predictions.
All but Kenny Archer, who believes the Rebels of Cork will reach Division One again, believe that Roscommon will make a quick return from Division Two to the top flight after their relegation last year.
In division three, Kildare are overwhelming favourites among the Irish News Sports Team with Andy fancying Sligo to take the division after just missing out on the third tier final last year.
In the bottom tier, Limerick seem destined to take the honours according to the predictions, with Brendan looking at Oisin McConville’s Wicklow to get out of the gutter of Division Four.
As previously stated, there are rarely consensuses, however, in the cases of the Leinster SFC and Munster SFC titles, Dublin and Kerry respectively seem nailed on to win their 14th and 5th consecutive titles.
In Connacht, it is a fairly even split between the two powerhouses in that province, with three opting for Galway and two going for Mayo.
