Paul Fynn's football championship predictions

Before we look ahead, we have to start with a tip of the cap to the provincial championships.

We saw scenes in the last fortnight—with Roscommon, Westmeath, Armagh — that reminded everyone why these titles still hold such massive weight for the players and their communities.

But as we pivot to the All-Ireland series this weekend, there's a real conversation to be had about the structure.

There is a glaring flaw in the system that needs to be ironed out by next year, and it’s the disadvantage of reaching the provincial finals.

While the provincial finalists were out there putting their full hands on the table, the challengers — the teams who exited a week or two earlier — have been sitting in the long grass. They’ve had the luxury of time.

They’ve had extra weeks to review their opposition in microscopic detail, while the provincial winners have had to manage recovery, celebrations, and a very short turnaround. In my time with Dublin, we traded heavily on that kind of deep, player-led analysis.

If you have three weeks to prep for one team, but they only have five days to prep for you, that’s a massive head start. I’d be keeping a very sharp eye out for a 'provincial final hangover' this weekend.

I’ll be down covering the Meath and Cork game for RTÉ radio, and it should be a cracker It’s currently sitting at one-all this season. Meath took the spoils in the league final.

This is going to be incredibly tight. We know how difficult it is to travel down to Cork and try to dig out a result - but I sense a real 'bounce-back' factor in this Meath group.

They’ve had five weeks to reset, to look at where things went wrong against Westmeath, and I think we’re going to see a much more clinical and dominant Meath team.

Elsewhere, you’d expect Galway to have too much physicality and fire-power for Kildare, but don't count the Lily Whites out completely.

They’ll be hurting after that Westmeath game—a match they really should have put to bed—and they’ll take some positives from the chances they created – now they need to execute those chances.

Then you have Roscommon and Tyrone, which is a total toss-up.

Can Roscommon keep that incredible momentum and belief going? Or will we see the 'aggrieved' Tyrone?

They had Armagh on the ropes in Ulster and let it slip, and a Tyrone team with a chip on its shoulder is a dangerous animal.

But the game everyone is talking about—the one that really defines the weekend — is Kerry versus Donegal. It’s a fascinating tactical battle.

We remember Donegal blowing Kerry away in the league final; they completely shut down the kickout options for Shane Murphy and dominated that middle sector.

Kerry didn’t have Shane Ryan that day and he is still out, and they were missing the likes of Brian Ó Beaglaoich, who is on the bench and Gavin White (missing again) as short options.

Kerry have regrouped since then, of course, but the psychology here is weighted toward Donegal. They’ve had the time to build up that healthy hunger we saw from Down recently.

They’ve been able to sit back and analyse Kerry’s provincial final while Kerry were still focused on Cork.

Kerry couldn't even think about Donegal until the Monday morning. It’s a game of massive jeopardy—the loser goes into a lethal loser’s pot where an unfavourable draw could end your season prematurely.

To be honest, all of these games could go either way; the margins between these teams are thinner than they’ve been in years.

Paul Flynn was speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland.

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Watch Galway v Kildare in the All-Ireland Football Championship first round on Saturday from 7.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1

Watch a provincial hurling double-header, Dublin v Kilkenny (2pm) and Cork v Clare (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1

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