Their first Championship encounter, a 2012 quarter-final, led to victory for Donegal, who marched on to lay claim to that year's Sam Maguire Cup.

Kerry, with goals from Paul Geaney and Kieran Donaghy, won their 37th title after a 2–9 to 0–12 win against Donegal.

In the first year of a deal running from 2014 until 2016, a total of 45 provincial and All-Ireland championship matches in hurling and football were broadcast live on television in Ireland.

Sky Sports also broadcast live the All-Ireland hurling and football semi-finals and finals along with RTÉ.

[5][6][7][8][9] Rachel Wyse and Brian Carney were announced as presenters of Sky's coverage, with Dave McIntyre and Mike Finnerty as commentators.

[15] All 45 televised games from the football and hurling championships, as broadcast by both RTÉ and Sky were available to watch on GAAGO.

For the Round 4A games no draw was necessary as Sligo had already faced Galway, while Tipperary had previously played Cork.

A similar situation occurred on the B side of the draw, with Armagh unable to meet Monaghan, and Kildare having played Meath previously.

The pairings saw last years finalists Dublin and Mayo take on Donegal and Kerry respectively.

Kerry became the first team to reach the 2014 final following a win in extra time in a replay at the Gaelic Grounds,[21] while Donegal joined them the following day after seeing off the reigning champions Dublin by six points.

[22] The Kerry–Mayo replay was moved to Limerick because Croke Park had been booked for a college American football game between Penn State and UCF.