Few results in Gaelic games land with the clarity of Kerry’s 2025 All-Ireland football final. When Kerry and Donegal met at Croke Park in Dublin on 27 July 2025, the scoreboard settled the argument about the winners (Munster GAA, provincial body). This is the record behind the final whistle: the score, the history it changed, and the questions the game left open.

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Final score: Kerry 1-26, Donegal 0-19 ·
Date: 27 July 2025 ·
Venue: Croke Park, Dublin ·
Sam Maguire titles: Kerry 39, Donegal 2 ·
Winning margin: 10 points ·
Championship: 2025 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Quick snapshot

1Final result
2Match details
  • Sunday 27 July 2025 (Munster GAA, provincial body)
  • Croke Park, Dublin
  • 3:30pm throw-in
3Donegal context
4Betting context
  • Pre-match odds varied by bookmaker and are not part of the verified record
  • Paddy Power is part of Flutter Entertainment
  • No verified identity for the $100-to-$1.7m bettor

Nine rows, one pattern: every line traces back to an official or named source, and none of them conflict with the scoreboard.

Fact Detail
Winner Kerry
Runner-up Donegal
Final score Kerry 1-26, Donegal 0-19
Date 27 July 2025
Venue Croke Park, Dublin
Sam Maguire titles Kerry 39; Donegal 2 (Wikipedia, match summary)
Half-time Kerry 0-17, Donegal 0-10 (BBC Sport, broadcaster)
Attendance 82,300 (BBC Sport, broadcaster)
Winning margin 10 points (1-26 converts to 29 points; 0-19 to 19)

Who won the All-Ireland football final 2025: Kerry or Donegal?

The short answer is Kerry: the GAA’s official match report recorded a 1-26 to 0-19 win that gave the Kingdom the Sam Maguire Cup for the 39th time, with David Clifford contributing nine points (GAA, official body). Kerry led by seven points at the break (The Irish Times, national newspaper).

What were the All-Ireland football final 2025 scores?

  • Half-time: Kerry 0-17, Donegal 0-10 — a seven-point advantage.
  • Full-time: Kerry 1-26, Donegal 0-19.
  • Decisive moment: Joe O’Connor’s goal in the 69th minute (The42, sports news).
  • Winning margin: 10 points once the score is converted (1-26 = 29 points; 0-19 = 19 points).

Was there an All-Ireland football final 2025 replay?

  • No replay was needed.
  • Kerry won in ordinary time, so the 2025 final produced a single match and a single winner.

The implication: this was only the second All-Ireland final meeting between the two counties (The Irish Times, national newspaper), with the first coming in 2014, according to Donegal Daily (Donegal Daily, local news). Donegal’s attempt to win a third Sam Maguire title ended, as it did in 2014, with runners-up medals.

What time is the GAA match?

The 2025 final had a fixed slot on the official fixture page: 3:30pm Irish time on Sunday 27 July 2025. The senior decider stayed on its traditional date and venue, and the match was settled in ordinary time.

What is the All-Ireland football final 2025 timetable?

  • Kerry arrived as Munster champions and Donegal as Ulster champions, according to Wikipedia’s championship summary (Wikipedia, championship record).
  • Provincial finals across Munster, Ulster, Leinster and Connacht fed into the All-Ireland series through the summer.
  • The senior final was the closing fixture of the championship, played at Croke Park after the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Why this matters: the timetable held exactly as planned — a 3:30pm start and a winner inside normal time, which is the cleanest possible outcome for a one-off decider.

Who’s favourite to win all Ireland football?

Pre-match, Kerry carried 38 All-Ireland titles into the final against Donegal’s two, so the historical weight sat firmly on one side. The verified record does not include a stable odds table for the game, but the one certainty after 27 July is that the only favourite who matters — the champion — is Kerry.

What are the odds for Donegal to win All Ireland football?

  • Bookmakers offered Donegal odds before the final, but no stable, verifiable odds table is part of the official record used here.
  • The result pages confirm the outcome, not the pre-match pricing, so treat any specific number circulating online as unverified.
The catch

Odds are the least durable part of this story. Once the final whistle went, the only verified favourite was Kerry — because the favourite tag follows the trophy rather than the other way round.

The trade-off for bettors: a pre-match Donegal ticket only made sense if you believed a two-title county could out-grow a 39-title county over 70 minutes, and the 0-17 to 0-10 half-time scoreline ended that argument early.

Which county has won the most Sam Maguires?

Kerry. The 2025 win lifted the Kingdom to 39 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship titles, the most of any county, and the GAA’s official report framed the afternoon around that milestone (GAA, official body). No other county has reached that figure.

Who won the All-Ireland Football final in 2024?

  • Armagh won the 2024 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final.

Who won the All-Ireland Football final in 2023?

  • Dublin won the 2023 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final.

The pattern: the 2023 and 2024 titles went to Dublin and Armagh, and the 2025 result returned the Sam Maguire Cup to the county that owns the record outright.

Has Donegal ever won all-Ireland?

Yes — twice. Donegal won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1992 and 2012, with 2012 the most recent (BBC Sport, broadcaster). The 2025 final was their first appearance in the decider since 2014 (The Irish Times, national newspaper).

When did Donegal last win the Sam Maguire?

  • 2012.
Why this matters

The gap in silverware is the real story of the 2025 final: Kerry’s 39 titles against Donegal’s two leave a 37-title difference, and Donegal waited 13 years after 2012 to get back to the decider.

The implication: Donegal have now reached four All-Ireland finals — 1992, 2012, 2014 and 2025 — and their two titles now sit alongside two final defeats, in 2014 and 2025.

What are the bookies’ odds?

This is the murkiest corner of the 2025 final story. The verified record contains the result — Kerry 1-26, Donegal 0-19 — but no stable, authoritative odds table; pre-match prices moved between bookmakers and days, and the sources used here do not preserve them.

Who is the biggest bookmaker in Ireland?

  • Not settled by the verified record; “biggest” depends on whether you measure shops, online volume or market share.
  • Paddy Power, the best-known Irish betting brand, is part of Flutter Entertainment.

Who owns Paddy Power Bookies?

  • Paddy Power operates within Flutter Entertainment, the international betting and gaming group.

Who bet $100 to win 1.7 million?

  • Unconfirmed. The identity of anyone who placed a $100 bet with a potential $1.7 million payout is not verified in the record used here, so treat names attached to that story as unsubstantiated.

What is the maximum a bookie will pay out?

  • There is no single limit: maximum payouts vary by operator, jurisdiction and bet type, so no one figure applies across the Irish market.
Bottom line: The 2025 final is a result story, not a betting story. For bettors, the actionable read is simple: any odds figure that cannot be tied to a named, current source should be weighed against the scoreboard before it is trusted.

What this means: the betting cluster around the final — bookmaker rankings, ownership questions, the $100-to-$1.7m folklore — is exactly where the evidence runs out. Do not mistake noise for confirmation.

Six rows, one pattern: the history column is overwhelmingly Kerry’s, yet Donegal’s two titles keep the comparison from being a one-sided story.

Metric Kerry Donegal
2025 final score 1-26 0-19
Sam Maguire titles 39 2
2025 provincial championship Munster Ulster
Most recent All-Ireland title 2025 2012
Previous All-Ireland final meeting 2014 (won) 2014 (lost)
Half-time, 2025 final 0-17 0-10

All-Ireland final 2025: the timeline

  • — Kerry (Munster champions) and Donegal (Ulster champions) reached the final as provincial champions.
  • — Final at Croke Park; Kerry led 0-17 to 0-10 at half-time and won 1-26 to 0-19. Converting the score, 1-26 equals 29 points and 0-19 equals 19 — a 10-point margin, according to Wikipedia’s match summary (Wikipedia, match summary).
  • — Kerry celebrated the 39th Sam Maguire title, and no replay was required because the final was settled in normal time.

What’s confirmed, what’s still unclear

The record splits into two buckets: what the sources establish, and what they do not.

Confirmed facts

  • Kerry beat Donegal in the 2025 All-Ireland football final, 1-26 to 0-19 (GAA, official body).
  • The final was at Croke Park, Dublin on 27 July 2025 (Munster GAA, provincial body).
  • Kerry now have 39 All-Ireland Senior Football titles.
  • Donegal have won the All-Ireland twice, in 1992 and 2012.
  • This was the second All-Ireland final meeting between the counties, after 2014.li>

    What ‘ s unclear

    Specific per – match bookmaker odds for Donegal — no stable , verifiable table exists in the sources reviewed .

  • The identity of the person who bet $100 to win $1 .7 million — unconfirmed .
  • The single ” biggest bookmaker in Ireland ” by market share — not settled here .
  • Maximum bookmaker payouts across all operators — there is no single universal limit .
  • The 2025 man – of – the – match award — not confirmed in the verified sources .

    The record , in quotes

    Two lines from the coverage frame the day better than any recap .

    ” Donegal ‘ s fight to the finish ends in Kingdom glory .”
    — Donegal Daily , local news, match report headline

    Kerry led Donegal 0-17 to 0-10 at half – time .
    — The42 , sports news , live match report

    Kerry ‘ s 39th title resets the bar for every county in Ireland; no other county has more , and the 2025 final showed why. Donegal ‘ s attempt to add a third Sam Maguire title ended with runners – up medals , matching 2014 , and the wait for a title now stands at 13 years. For Donegal , the choice is clear: build a team that converts the next final appearance into a title , or watch the gap between two Sam Maguire wins stretch well past a generation .

    Related reading

    More match coverage from the same desk: Limerick vs Clare 2025: Clare Win 3-20 at TUS Gaelic Grounds and France Ireland Six Nations Rugby 2026: Results &amp ; History.

    Additional sources

    irishtimes.com, con-telegraph.ie

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    Frequently asked questions

    What is the Sam Maguire Cup ?

    The Sam Maguire Cup is the trophy presented to the winners of the All – Ireland Senior Football Championship. Kerry lifted it for the 39th time after the 2025 final .

    Who were the provincial champions in the 2025 All – Ireland Senior Football Championship ?

    Kerry were the Munster champions and Donegal were the Ulster champions entering the 2025 final .

    How many points is a goal worth in Gaelic football ?

    A goal is worth three points . That is why Kerry ‘ s 1-26 converts to 29 points and Donegal ‘ s 0-19 to 19 points .

    What was the winning margin in the 2025 All – Ireland final ?

    Ten points . Kerry ‘ s 1-26 equals 29 points , and Donegal ‘ s 0-19 equals 19 points .

    Who was the man of the match in the 2025 All – Ireland final ?

    Not confirmed in the verified sources used here — treat any name circulating online as unverified .

    Did Kerry need a replay to win the 2025 All – Ireland final ?

    No. Kerry won in ordinary time , so no replay was required .

    When did Donegal last win the All – Ireland ?

    2012 .