ALL-IRELAND PRELIMINARY QUARTER-FINALS
SATURDAY
Cork v Roscommon, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2pm
Kildare v Monaghan, Glenisk O'Connor Park, 4.45pm
Donegal v Tyrone, MacCumhaill Park, 7pm
SUNDAY
Galway v Mayo, Pearse Stadium, 3pm
ONLINE
Live blogs on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Highlights also available across the weekend.
RADIO
Live commentary and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday and Sunday Sport.
TV
GAAGO will cover Saturday's three preliminary quarter-finals – Cork v Roscommon, Kildare v Monaghan and Donegal v Tyrone.
Sunday’s Connacht clash between Galway and Mayo will be shown live on RTÉ1, coverage starting at 2.40pm.
Highlights of all the weekend's action on The Sunday Game, RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, from 9.30pm.
WEATHER
Saturday: Staying humid with occasional outbreaks of rain, most frequent in western parts later in the day. Most areas will be cloudy with the best of any sunshine in the east and northeast. Highest temperatures of 19 to 24 degrees in light to moderate southerly breezes.
Sunday: A dull and wet start with widespread outbreaks of rain. The rain will clear to scattered showers by the afternoon, some of which may be heavy or thundery. Some sunny spells will develop as well. Temperatures will be a bit cooler than in previous days with highs of 17 to 21 degrees in mainly light westerly breezes.
For more, go to met.ie.
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Old-school knock-out football arrives
While the All-Ireland group stages did provide games where teams would be knocked out if they lost, we have now entered the proper last-chance saloon.
Those 24 group games saw four teams eliminated, and the same number will exit over the course of 25 hours or so this weekend.
One Sam Maguire fancy to depart
The outcome of two last-moment free-kicks looks to have had huge impacts on the seasons of Mayo and Galway.
Both these Connacht sides had been tipped to give the All-Ireland a real rattle this year. Mayo had impressed as they claimed the Division 1 title back in the spring, Galway looked very good in defending their Connacht title.
Two kicks though last weekend has placed them on a direct collision course and one county is going to be conspicuous by their absence in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
In Carrick-on-Shannon, the clock read 79:05 when Shane Walsh’s foot made contact with the ball for a difficult, but definitely scoreable, free close to the sideline.
Land over the bar and Galway earn a late draw with Armagh and have this weekend off as group winners. Walsh got under the ball though and Armagh cleared the rebound and the full-time whistle sounded, securing top spot instead for Kieran McGeeney’s side.
In Limerick, the time clock said 74:49 when Aidan O’Shea stood over a mid-range free with Mayo trailing Cork by three points. It dropped into the box and, like Armagh in Leitrim, Cork cleared and the final whistle followed.
O’Shea’s decision making was questioned afterwards, how could he possibly not know that a point would have secured second in the group rather than third and a home match this weekend? Watch back and observe his body position when kicking though, and it starts to look more like a shank rather than a bad decision.
From there, it felt inevitable that they would be paired together in Monday’s draw.
"Well, well, well. I said in the studio on Sunday evening that it was certain that Galway and Mayo would be facing off each other in Salthill on Saturday evening. And so it came to pass. It was written," Lee Keegan said in his RTÉ GAA column.
This will be the 11th season in a row the sides have met in the championship. The last season they didn’t meet was in 2012, Galway losing to Sligo in Connacht before Antrim dumped them out in a feisty qualifier in Belfast. That ultimately was Pádraic Joyce's last game for the Tribe, but he has had a huge impact as manager over the last few years.
His three games against Mayo in that time have ended in two defeats and one win, while the Westerners lead 6-4 over the last 10 encounters.
Joyce is sweating on the fitness of some key players. Damien Comer, although in the squad, didn’t appear against Armagh. Sean Kelly, outstanding throughout, hobbled off in the final moments.
Mayo supporters will eagerly be waiting to see if Cillian O’Connor is risked. He hit 2-06 for Ballintubber last Saturday night, so it’ll be a shock if he’s not involved in some capacity given what’s at stake.
Whoever lines out, expect war – it's needed now.
Derby duel
It’s not just Connacht neighbours preparing for battle this weekend, Saturday night is sure to see a real battle in Ballybofey as a resurgent Donegal host neighbours Tyrone.
These two counties have enjoyed a spikey rivalry, especially when Jim McGuinness took over Donegal in 2011 and readdressed the balance towards the Tir Chonaill County. Some residue is likely to remain, which could add an extra layer of intrigue.
Donegal’s difficulties off the pitch have been well documented, and it’s certainly been a period of transition on it too with Aidan O’Rourke, who replaced Paddy Carr earlier in the season, trying to build a new side as retirements, injuries and unavailable players took hold.
Of the 15 players that started the last championship meeting between the sides – Tyrone's 2021 Ulster semi-final win – only seven started last week’s impressive win over Monaghan.
That 0-19 to 0-17 win came off the back of a good showing at home to Ulster champions Derry, and new faces like Mark Curran and Caolan McColgan are really showing well. Oisin Gallen is starting to come to the fore too as his injuries clear up.
Tyrone are sweating on their own sharp-shooter, but Darren McCurry is expected to be back in the side after missing the dramatic draw with Westmeath. The brilliant Darragh Canavan led the line instead with 10 points, allowing him (1-20) to overtake McCurry (0-18) in the side's championship scoring charts.
Watching on, Edendork man McCurry must have thought his season was over when John Heslin stood over a late free to send Westmeath through and to dump Tyrone out. Footage is inconclusive, but Heslin’s effort was given wide and Tyrone are exactly the sort of team that can take full advantage of such reprieves.
There’s no doubting though that they’re not at the heights of 2021, when they won their fourth All-Ireland. That season they got massive returns from their half-forward line, but it’s not been as productive this season. There’s still time though.
Ballybofey is viewed as a real weapon for Donegal in this clash. But take note, Donegal were 19 games unbeaten at the venue in 2018 when Tyrone came visiting in the Super Eights, and it was Mickey Harte’s side that prevailed.
Rebels rising
A few months ago, Cork were looking over their shoulder after a mixed start to Division 2 life while Roscommon’s eyes were very much on a Division 1 final showing after opening with three wins.
Indeed, after the Rebels lost their Munster opener to Clare, the permutations started to flow and Cork were suddenly at risk of playing Tailteann Cup football. Not to demean that competition, but John Cleary’s side clearly wanted to be involved in the Sam Maguire race – and now we know why.
They’ve looked a different team in the All-Ireland group stages. Their opener against Louth always felt like the big one. Win and they’d be through, essentially. They did that, and they played really well in Navan despite a bit of a 10-minute collapse to let the Wee County back into it.
After that, they lost narrowly to All-Ireland champions Kerry, a controversial penalty proving their undoing, while last week they hit 1-03 without reply to down Mayo. Cleary has long been touted as someone who could bring back the solidity to Cork football, and those traits are now shining through.
They face the Rossies at home on Saturday knowing that they are very capable of winning and advancing to the last eight. They got to that stage last year too, but their progress to the quarter-finals, after a Munster loss to Kerry, was thanks to unconvincing wins over Louth and Limerick. They look a stronger proposition right now, for sure.
Roscommon’s season has tailed off a bit since that fast league start. They won only once in their final four league games and although there was a hugely impressive Connacht SFC win over Mayo, Galway were four points too good in the provincial semi-final. Their Group 3 campaign started well with a very credible draw with Dublin at Croke Park and a win over Sligo, but they were caught out at the death by Kildare last time out ensuring that Davy Burke’s side are on the road this weekend.
Burke hinted at a reaction on the team-sheet. He named an unchanged side from the Sligo game to the Kildare defeat and after the latter he said: "I think we need to freshen things up now."
Only one change on the named side though, Donie Smith dropping out for Ciarán Lennon, but maybe more switches to come closer to throw in.
Ciaran Murtagh (1-17), Diarmuid Murtagh (0-16) and Enda Smith (2-10) lead their scoring charge this year – but only Smith started in their last championship meeting with Cork, a 2019 Super Eight clash at Páirc Uí Rinn.
Roscommon won that dead-runner contest 4-09 to 3-09, meaning that they have only met three times in championship history with something seriously on the line.
In 1990, Cork won an All-Ireland semi-final by seven points while Roscommon snuck home in a 2003 qualifier. The Rebels were much too strong in the 2010 quarter-final en-route to their last Sam Maguire success.
Kildare's 'home' opportunity
How Newbridge would have been rocking, if available, for Kildare’s ‘home’ preliminary quarter-final against Monaghan.
The Lilywhites’ county ground is being redeveloped, so they have nominated Tullamore for their base as they welcome Vinny Corey’s Monaghan.
Like Cork and Roscommon, these counties don’t have a massively strong championship history, having met just five times before, all at Croke Park. That started in the 1929 All-Ireland semi-final when Kildare’s presumably blanket defence held the Oriel county to a single point, while their last meeting was a narrow Monaghan Super Eight victory in 2018.
Kildare should be buzzing heading into the contest. Manager Glenn Ryan had to absorb his fair share of stick after an underwhelming league campaign and an All-Ireland group draw with Sligo, so last week’s win over Roscommon would have been thoroughly enjoyed.
Two All-Ireland under-20 titles in five years and a final appearance in between certainly points to a county with great talent coming through, but their senior side remain one of the most unpredictable on the scene. Their game before that Sligo draw was a Leinster semi-final where they pushed Dublin to the pin of their collar. Dessie Farrell’s side had 24 points to spare over Sligo last weekend. No wonder predicting is often a fool’s game.
The Kildare public had definitely lost some confidence in their team, they were hugely outnumbered by Roscommon fans last weekend. Ryan and his players could do with a bit more vocal support at O’Connor Park.
If Alex Beirne is scoring goals like he did last week, who wouldn’t want to be there? Kevin Feely’s match-winning mark at the death was a joy to watch too.
Their championship meetings may be sparse, but Monaghan have held sway mostly in the league meetings between the counties. Kildare’s 2009 Division 2 win was their first over Monaghan since 1982. The Oriel county have won two of the three league clashes since. Clash is certainly an appropriate word for their 2012 meeting as the two teams took lumps out of each other. Current Oriel manager Vinny Corey tried to play peace-maker, it should be noted, even having time to sup from a water bottle in the middle of the jostling.
He would have have been less calm watching their performance against Donegal last weekend. They only really found their stride late on, but Donegal had enough of a buffer built up to resist their fightback.
Conor McManus was once again held in reserve as a finisher, but with the loser exiting the competition, Corey may be tempted to throw his Clontibret club-mate in from the start.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship quarter-finals, Dublin v Clare and Galway v Tipperary, on Saturday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Galway v Mayo in the All-Ireland Football Championship on Sunday from 3pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch the Tailteann Cup semi-finals, Down v Laois and Meath v Antrim, on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
