{"id":555574,"date":"2026-07-18T05:27:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555574\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T05:27:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:27:35","slug":"womens-football-semi-finals-all-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555574\/","title":{"rendered":"Women&#8217;s football semi-finals: All you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday 18 July<\/p>\n<p>All-Ireland SFC semi-finals<\/p>\n<p>Armagh v Galway; Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Longford, 3.15pm<\/p>\n<p>Dublin v Kerry; FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles, 5.15pm<\/p>\n<p>ONLINE<\/p>\n<p>Live scores updates and match reports on RT\u00c9 News App and on rte.ie\/sport<\/p>\n<p>TV<\/p>\n<p>Both All-Ireland semi-finals will be live on TG4.<\/p>\n<p>WEATHER<\/p>\n<p>The fine weather looks set to continue across the weekend. Saturday will be dry and warm for most with the best of the sunshine in the Midlands, South and East, highest temperatures of 23 to 27 degrees.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 TG4 All-Ireland football finalists will be confirmed on Saturday as the final four teams battle it out to make it to next month&#8217;s decider in Croke Park.<\/p>\n<p>Thurles and Longford are the venues for a double-header of games where all four provincial champions do battle.<\/p>\n<p>The opening tie sees Armagh and Galway go head to head at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford. The Tribeswomen overcame rivals Mayo last time out with Armagh securing their spot with victory over Kildare.<\/p>\n<p>Then at 5.15pm, defending All-Ireland winners Dublin face off against Kerry at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles.It is a repeat of the 2023 final and plays host to the last three All-Ireland champions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"21 February 2026; Leanne Coen of Galway in action against Lauren McConville of Armagh during the Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1 Round 4 match between Galway and Armagh at Duggan Park in Ballinasloe, Galway. Photo by Tyler Miller\/Sportsfile \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024b609-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nGalway came out on top when these sides met in Ballinasloe during the league<\/p>\n<p>Infrequent championship pairing<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, this is a first senior championship meeting between the counties since 2006, when Armagh won a dramatic semi-final encounter by a point.<\/p>\n<p>Both of these sides come into this one in good form, with the Orchard County getting the better of Kildare at the quarter-final stage, while Galway were comfortable winners over Connacht rivals Mayo.<\/p>\n<p>Armagh have opted for an unchanged starting line-up as they aim to make it back to the Brendan Martin Cup decider for the first time in 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>Could history repeat itself, with Armagh getting the better of Galway to reach Croke Park?<\/p>\n<p>All will be revealed at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, with Galway looking to make it back to the showpiece final for the first time since losing to Kerry two years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Galway were senior champions once before, back in 2004, and the Connacht champions, who are also unchanged, will feel they have a good chance of ending a 22-year famine.<\/p>\n<p>They were close last year, losing out against Dublin in a thrilling semi-final after extra-time, and they have All-Star forward Olivia Divilly in free scoring form, with 2-20 to date in the All-Ireland series.<\/p>\n<p>Armagh will be looking to the mercurial attacking prowess of Aimee Mackin, who\u2019s notched 5-08.<\/p>\n<p>Armagh: B Mathers; A Donnelly, C McCambridge, C Towe; E Druse, L McConville (capt), G Ferguson; B Mackin, C O&#8217;Reilly; L Marsden, A McCoy, C Marley; A Mackin, C O&#8217;Hanlon, K Mallon.<\/p>\n<p>Galway: L O&#8217;Halloran; B Quinn, S N\u00ed Loingsigh, K Geraghty (capt); H Noone, N Ward, E Power; N Divilly, S Divilly; O Divilly, K Slevin, K Thompson; E Noone, L Coen, R Leonard.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"24 January 2026; Rachel Dwyer of Kerry in action against Aoibh Doyle , 26, and Keeva Kenehan of Dublin during the Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1 Round 1 match between Dublin and Kerry at Phairc Jysk in Dublin. Photo by Tyler Miller\/Sportsfile \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024b60a-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nThurles plays host to the last two All-Ireland winners<\/p>\n<p>Clash of most recent champions<\/p>\n<p>Champions Dublin needed a stunning late rally and a couple of goals to get past Cork at the quarter-final stage.<\/p>\n<p>Now they face Munster opposition again as they aim to hold onto their All-Ireland crown, with Kerry providing the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>This is the first championship clash between the counties since the 2023 final at Croke Park, won by Dublin. Kerry bounced back a year later to claim the title, before Dublin regained it in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>This promises to be a Thurles cracker, with Kerry naming an unchanged side following a very impressive quarter-final victory over Meath, while Dublin opt for two changes in personnel.<\/p>\n<p>Into the Dublin side come captain Carla Rowe and Kate Donaghy, with Jodi Egan and Rachel Hartnett dropping to the bench.<\/p>\n<p>Kerry have skipper S\u00edofra O\u2019Shea in a rich vein of attacking form, with a running tally of 2-17 to date in the All-Ireland series, while Dublin\u2019s leading scorer is the evergreen Orlagh Nolan, with 1-14.<\/p>\n<p>Dublin: A Shiels; N Crowley, L Magee, H Leahy; S McIntyre, H McGinnis, N Donlon; N Hetherton, K Donaghy; A Timothy, O Nolan, C O&#8217;Connor; L Grendon, C Rowe (capt), K Sullivan.<\/p>\n<p>Kerry: M Ellen Bolger; R Rahilly, D Kearney, E Lynch; A O&#8217;Connell, E Costello, A Dillane; A Galvin, M O&#8217;Connell; N Carmody, N N\u00ed Chonch\u00fair, C Evans; J Lucey, D O&#8217;Leary, S O&#8217;Shea (capt).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday 18 July All-Ireland SFC semi-finals Armagh v Galway; Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Longford, 3.15pm Dublin v Kerry;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-555574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}