2025 Tailteann Cup
The 2025 Tailteann Cup was the fourth edition of the Tailteann Cup, a Gaelic football competition contested by the seventeen county teams that did not qualify for the last 16 of the 2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
Kildare were the winners, defeating Limerick in the final. Kildare will thus qualify automatically for the last 16 of the 2026 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
Format
The 17 teams who compete in the 2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship but did not qualify for the round-robin group stages competed in the competition.advanced directly to the preliminary quarter-finals. The other 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. Seeding was determined by placing in the 2025 National Football League.
Each team in a group played the other teams in their group once; each team getting one home fixture, one away and one neutral. Teams are awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw.
The four preliminary quarter-finals consisted of:
- The four second-placed teams, against
- and the three third-placed teams with the best record.
The semi-finals and final were played in Croke Park. All knock-out matches were "winner on the day". The key prize for the winner of the 2026 Tailteann Cup was to qualify for the group stage of 2026 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship regardless of their league position.
Teams
General information
Seventeen county teams competed in the Tailteann Cup. Only one,, does so as a previous winner of the cup.| County | Position in 2024 | Appearance | |||
| Antrim | — | 1951 | — | 4th | |
| Carlow | — | 1944 | — | 4th | |
| Fermanagh | — | — | — | 4th | |
| Kildare | — | 2000 | 1928 | 2nd | |
| Laois | — | 2003 | — | 4th | |
| Leitrim | — | 1994 | — | 4th | |
| Limerick | — | 1896 | 1896 | 3rd | |
| London | — | — | — | 4th | |
| Longford | — | 1968 | — | 4th | |
| Offaly | — | 1997 | 1982 | 4th | |
| New York | — | — | — | 4th | |
| Sligo | — | 2007 | — | 3rd | |
| Tipperary | — | 2020 | 1920 | 4th | |
| Waterford | — | 1898 | — | 4th | |
| Wexford | — | 1945 | 1918 | 4th | |
| Wicklow | — | — | — | 4th | |
| Westmeath | 2022 | 2004 | — | — | 2nd |
Draws
Group stage seeding
Numbers in brackets indicate ranking in the 2025 NFL.Pot 1
Pot 2
Pot 3
Pot 4
New York enter the Tailteann Cup at the preliminary quarter-final stage.
Knockout stage seeding
The preliminary quarter-final draw took place on 1 June 2025. The quarter-final draw is on 9 June. The semi-final draw is on 16 June.Seeded into quarter-finals
Unseeded in quarter-finals
Seeded into preliminary quarter-finals
Unseeded in preliminary quarter-finals
Group stage
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout stage
Bracket
Statistics
Scoring events
In Westmeath's game against Antrim, Luke Loughlin nearly broke Cillian O'Connor's record for the highest individual score in a championship match.- Widest winning margin: 25 points
- *
- Most goals in a match: 7
- *
- Most points in a match: 47
- *
- Most goals by one team in a match: 5
- *
- Most points by one team in a match: 36
- Highest aggregate score: 58 points
- Lowest aggregate score: '''22 points'''
Miscellaneous
- None of the four semi-finalists had ever reached the Tailteann Cup semi-finals before.