Allianz Football Leagues 2023 – The 3D Guide

The Allianz Football Leagues 2023 are upon us. As we near the end of January, and despite the long dark nights and post-Christmas/New Year’s blues, the start of the 2023 Allianz Football Leagues for many, marks the real start of the sporting year.

The GAA Club finals have taken place, albeit with some turns in the road yet to come for the Football finalists. This weekend sees the start of the Allianz Football Leagues while the following weekend sees the start of the Rugby Six Nations Championship.

For GAA fans around the World though, the real excitement is just starting to build. How will the County fare this year? Can we finally make that much needed breakthrough, or will we be doing well to maintain the hard-earned gains from last season? Throw into the mix the raft of new management teams in place and there is plenty to ponder for most Counties at this time of the year.

3D - Donegal Captain Paddy McBrearty in Allianz Football League action — Image: Donegal Captain Paddy McBrearty in Allianz Football League action

The preliminaries are out of the way!

With the preseason preliminaries out of the way, and no disrespect to the Dr. McKenna Cup, McGrath Cup, O’Byrne Cup and the FBD League, the real business starts this weekend.

As always, Division 1 is where it’s at for teams with an eye towards the Sam Maguire later in the summer. But this year is somewhat different with the makeup of Division 2, including Dublin, Cork and an up-and-coming Derry team. Add in Colm O’Rourke at the helm in Meath and Division 2 makes for some fascinating battles in the months ahead.

Adding more spice and importance to County performances in this year’s Allianz Football Leagues, is the existence of the Tailteann Cup. For a good explainer on the intricacies have a read of Sean Moran’s explainer in the Irish Times.

The opening Weekend’s Games

The first weekends action sees some exciting match ups in Division 1, with the big crowd draws being the visit of All Ireland Champions Kerry to Ballybofey, to face a Donegal side in transition under the new management of Paddy Carr, the clash of Mayo and Galway in Castlebar and the Ulster battle between Monaghan and Armagh in Castleblayney.

In Division 2, Dublin are out against Leinster rivals Kildare in Croke Park, while Derry host Limerick at Owenbeg and Cork take on Meath in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Allianz Football Leagues - Division 1

Round One

Saturday January 28

Monaghan v Armagh (Castleblayney, 6.30pm) 1-12 | 1-14
Mayo v Galway (Castlebar, 7.30pm) 1-11 | 2-08

Sunday January 29

Roscommon v Tyrone (Dr Hyde Park, 1.30pm) 3-11 | 1-12
Donegal v Kerry (Ballybofey, 2pm) 0-13 | 1-09

Allianz Football Leagues - Division 2

Round One

Saturday, January 28

Derry v Limerick (Owenbeg, 3pm) 0-16 | 0-04
Dublin v Kildare (Croke Park, 5pm) 1-11 | 0-13

Sunday, January 29

Cork v Meath (Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 1.30pm) 0-19 | 3-14
Clare v Louth (Ennis, 2pm) 0-13 | 1-09

3D Personnel wish our colleagues Rory Gallagher, Philip Doherty and Michael Boyle all the best for the season ahead

As a leading construction recruitment company with strong Donegal roots, we have seen many former and current colleagues represent their Counties on GAA pitches all around Ireland and in the UK.

Former members of the 3D team include current Donegal captain Paddy McBrearty and All Ireland winning Donegal goalkeeper, Paul Durcan. Former Donegal manager and current Derry boss, Rory Gallagher, is an Account Manager at 3D. Philip Doherty from our Carrick office is the latest recruit on the Donegal panel, while Michael Boyle, a commercial manager in our London office, has recently taken up a role with the London GAA backroom team.

For a greater insight into our Donegal GAA connections have a read of our tribute to Michael Murphy on his retirement as a County player.

So, as we prepare for the renewal of some great GAA rivalries this weekend, we would like to wish Rory, Philip, Michael and all County players and management teams all the best for the campaigns ahead.

And whether you manage to make it to a game this weekend, or settle to watch proceedings via TG4, RTE or GAAGo*, enjoy the action and occasion.

* GAAGo is the streaming service operated between the GAA and RTE showing 38 exclusive games over the course of the season. The season pass costs €79.

Rory’s View

Commenting on the upcoming league campaign, Rory Gallagher had this to say about the competitive nature of this years Allianz Leagues.

The Allianz football leagues are going to be really competitive again this year, through all the divisions. Final league standings will directly influence your participation in the Championship, or the Tailteann Cup. So, every game will count.
Apart perhaps from the likes of Kerry, other team will need to hit the ground running. But that adds to the excitement, and we are really looking forward to getting our league season up and running on Saturday.