Quarter-final Draw

Johnny_the_fox

Mayo -v- Tyrone
Armagh -v- Fermanagh
Dublin -v- Kerry
Westmeath -v- Derry

cournioni

I would say the winners will be
Tyrone
Armagh
Dublin
Derry

Flukey

I was in Croke Park today. Roscommon were good, but we had enough to beat them. Laois were woeful! Tyrone made light work of them. They'll have it tougher the next day against Mayo, but will go in as favourtites. Kerry don't look great this year and although they will have Moynihan back and be relieved to have avoided an Ulster team, they will not have it easy. Dublin are on a roll and a date against Kerry will certainly be something to relish. It is bound to be in Croke Park. Armagh should account for Fermanagh, but I wouldn't rule out a Westmeath win. If they can keep their heads together after winning Leinster they certainly have a chance. Páidí will keep them focussed and I think they will be happy enough with drawing Derry.

Imposter

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Will they play Kerry V Dublin and Westmeath V Derry as a double header in Croker? That, to me, doesn't make much sense as they'd sell more tickets having them seperately.

The other options are Clones and Thurles, but isn't Clones a mess at the moment? (The town (traffic wise) not the pitch).

Anyways I suppose all will be revealed soon.

por

Imposter wrote:

Get your official hats, scarves, headbands (and more importantly your predictions in) here.

Will they play Kerry V Dublin and Westmeath V Derry as a double header in Croker? That, to me, doesn't make much sense as they'd sell more tickets having them seperately.

The other options are Clones and Thurles, but isn't Clones a mess at the moment? (The town (traffic wise) not the pitch).

Anyways I suppose all will be revealed soon.

Prior to the draw the GAA had originaly planned to play all games on 2 Saturdays, Mayo and Armagh on the 7th, Kerry and Westmeath on the 14th. I don't presume this will change, wait for official confirmation on Tuesday

Flukey

They are on the next two Saturdays as the Hurling Semi-Finals are on the next two Sundays. It is Armagh v Fermanagh and Mayo v Tyrone next Saturday and Westmeath v Derry and Dublin v Kerry the following Saturday. The games will be in Croke park, as all the quarter finals are, so that the provincial champions get to play there, which did not happen in the first year of the qualifiers.

Yavvy

I think the draw for the QF is excellent, all of the games look like good ones ...its easy to tell we are at the business end of the championship.

I really can see Dublin beating kerry, but only because Dublin havemore match practice and I think kerry are somewhat in transition. If kerry show up in top form the dubs are gonners. espically if that start scoring goals

I think Armagh have their work cut out for them, fermanagh have been playing wonderful football and if armagh arent at the races we could be looking at a major upset.

I see tyrone easing past Mayo, I knwo tyrone will be a little more tired and Mayo are playing lovley stuff... But it will be in Croker and tryone have a little more class IMO.
I expect to see a 5-6 point margin for tyrone

I fancy westmeath to hammer derry into the ground ... I think Westmeath a a better side and Derrys dispatch of limerick wasnt that impressive... I know people are saying it going to be close, but i see westmeath as the superior team here.

Flukey

I've got my tickets ordered for Saturday and Sunday next. Armagh should beat Fermanagh although they should be given a bit of a game. Mayo have good forwards, but Tyrone have a good defence. Mayo usually find it hard to play well in Croke Park and it will be a new experience for many of the current bunch. Mayo forwards can also be woeful at times. They won't get much space against the Tyrone backs. They will need to move the ball quick and have good support play or the Tyrone defence will swarm all over the man in possession. I hope Mayo win but it is hard to see them doing so.

Flukey

Dublin have a good chance against Kerry. This tie will be a great motivator for both teams. Kerry have looked a bit suspect this year and Dublin are on a roll with their confidence building. They need to concentrate on this game if they are to do the business. If they can contain the Kerry forwards they have a great chance.

Derry and Westmeath is an interesting one and hard to call. Derry are on a roll but so are Westmeath. They have to keep themselves focussed after the Leinster Final win, but Páidí is a good man to help them do that. They have their eyes on Sam but I don't see either of these teams doing that.

stevemac

was at the match and the Dublin full back line looked very dodgey. They were getting the run around from the Roscommon full forward line the whole match.
Was that just a bad game for them or are they vulnerable to fast forwards?

Flukey

I had a good view myself. They had a few problems alright, but Roscommon didn't get a goal and some of the good chances that they had were snuffed out by the Dublin defence. There was some good Dublin defending on view too, but it will have to be significantly improved for the Kerry game.

stevemac

roscommon also seemed to run the ball into the dublin defense a lot, they seemed desparate to get that goal back

Flukey

I was on the upper deck of the Hogan, looking right down on the Hill 16 end goal. Dublin did close them out for some of those chances are there were better options for Roscommon, with men available. So it was a combination of what they failed to do and what the Dublin defence did, that made them miss out. They were never far behind Dublin and should have taken a few points from some of the chances they missed. They did look the more likely to score a goal throughout. They missed a lot of other chances of points as well.

cournioni

Alany wrote:

I fancy westmeath to hammer derry into the ground ... I think Westmeath a a better side and Derrys dispatch of limerick wasnt that impressive... I know people are saying it going to be close, but i see westmeath as the superior team here.

:eek:

I think you are totally underestimating Derry there. They have some of the best backs, midfielders and forwards in the game. SM Lockhart will have Dolan in his pocket as he does with anyone else he plays against (Mattie Forde is another example). Bradley will run riot.

cruiserweight

PORNAPSTER wrote:

:eek:

I think you are totally underestimating Derry there. They have some of the best backs, midfielders and forwards in the game. SM Lockhart will have Dolan in his pocket as he does with anyone else he plays against (Mattie Forde is another example). Bradley will run riot.

Lockhart is a good back but if I remember correctly did not play against Wexford this year! I think that Westmeath will just edge out Derry but it will be a close game.

As for the others, I expect Armagh to beat Fermanagh. Although Fermanagh are doing well I do not think that they are quite at Armaghs level. But they can hope that Armagh have an off day after their awesome performance versus Donegal.

Mayo versus Tyrone will be interesting and could quite possibly be the tie of the round. If the mortimers and of course McDonald are on form then who knows especially with Tyrone having played this weekend.

As for Dublin versus Kerry, sigh, Dublin fans believe they can win. After seeing their performance versus Roscommon I cannot see anything but a Kerry victory. Dublin have no midfield or half back line, and with the exception of Sherlock and Brogan yesterday no dangerous forwards

Yavvy

Dublin have no half back line ? Brian Cullen shane ryan
Dublin have no midfield ? didnt you wantch the second half against roscommon ?
No dangerous forwards ? Connell hasnt even kicked into gear yet, Robbo is getting better evey game, whelan hasnt had a huge game yet... He usually has one

cruiserweight

Alany wrote:

Dublin have no half back line ? Brian Cullen shane ryan
Dublin have no midfield ? didnt you wantch the second half against roscommon ?
No dangerous forwards ? Connell hasnt even kicked into gear yet, Robbo is getting better evey game, whelan hasnt had a huge game yet... He usually has one

I will admit Cullen looks good but I would have questions about the defending ability of the half back line. As for midfield the distribution was woeful. Connell has not impressed me, in fairness to Roberston he did distribute the ball well.

Whelan had his usual game some good scores but goes missing for to long! Look at Cavanagh of Tyrone for the way Whelan should play.

I was not that impressed with Dublin and I think that Kerry will take them, it may be a close match but Kerry are superior in most departments

Mighty_Mouse

I don't know how dubs are so confident. Roscommon left it behind them more than Dublin went out and won it the last day IMO.

A dodgy back unit, non-competitive midfield and one scoring forward that was never marked probably doesnt make for all-irelands

threebeards

All the pundits have said that Tyrone will give a good hiding to Mayo. That's probably with some element of justification considering Tyrones performance against Laois, but as a Mayo man, I'm not hugely upset at the draw.

There's no great 'Bring back Sam' expectation here as there was in 96 and 97. As a result, there's no huge pressure on the team to perform. They'll be very much considered the underdogs on the day which is a tag that has nearly always suited Mayo.

Kieran McDonald produced his greatest ever footballing display in Croke Park a few years ago with Crossmolina and won't fear the big stage especially with no weight of expectation on his shoulders. Trevor Mortimer will be new to it but has a cockiness bordering on arrogance that hopefully will stand him in good stead. A number of the others have played in Croker before so with a sizeable contingent wearing Red & Green (plus the Armagh and Fermanagh fans as well I'd guess) roaring support, I would be very quietly (sshhhh) confident of an upset on the day. Here's hoping. I might just have a little punt on Mayo winning by between 1 and 3 points at 9/2!!

In the other games, it's hard to see an upset coming in the Armagh game. W/Meath should take Derry but it will be close and Kerry v Dublin, I think it depends on which Kerry and which Dublin show up - could go either way.

The Rooster

Alany wrote:

whelan hasnt had a huge game yet... He usually has one

We beat Derry 5-15 to 0-11 in a challenge game about 6 weeks. Whelo scored something like 1-4, including a goal that started with a 40 yard solo run and finished with a 20 yard pile driver into the top corner.

Maybe that was the "one"!! :rolleyes:

The Rooster

Mighty_Mouse wrote:

I don't know how dubs are so confident. Roscommon left it behind them more than Dublin went out and won it the last day IMO.

A dodgy back unit, non-competitive midfield and one scoring forward that was never marked probably doesnt make for all-irelands

Who is the "one scoring forward"? I cant think of him at all...

Is it Jason Sherlock, who destroyed Roscommon, or Alan Brogan who hasnt scored less than 3 points in any championship game this year and has amassed 2-18 in total over the 5 games?

Or maybe you're thinking of Whelan who has scored 5 points in his last 2 games since moving to the forwards? Or maybe you're just thinking of the league, when Connell scored 15 points in the last 4 games or when Keaney scored 5 points against Kerry when being marked by Moynihan?

Yavvy

havent talked about mossy Quinn either !

MM - you really do hate the Dublin team dont you. I reckon its bordering on some sort of hate obsession. I bet your willing to see the strenghts in every county of Ireland... bar dublin. why is that ? do you live in Dublin and hate the traffic or something ?

Anywho, I would imagine most dubs are not over confident about beating kerry
but I think we can be a little bit confident of Dublin haveing more than a fighting chance.

TBH I dont think you really knwo the dublin team otherwise you would see thay have a good chance against the kingsdom

The Rooster

Despite what some are saying about "over-confident Dubs thinking they are going to win the All Ireland", there is not one Dub on this board who have claimed that the Dubs are going to lift Sam - certainly not me, Flukey, Waylander, Trojan, ThumperLong or Alany.

I think the general feeling among Dubs is we've about a 40% chance of beating Kerry. We know they are favourites, but we think, if things go well on the day, we'll give it a good rattle. If we did beat Kerry, I think we'd generally give ourselves a 50/50 shot of winning the semi. If we did get to the final we know we'd be overwhelming underdogs against, say, Armagh or Tyrone. No more than a 25% chance of victory.

Adding all that up, gives Dublin a 5% chance of winning Sam (i.e. 95% chance we wont!). Hardly overconfidence

Flukey

I'd still think that Armagh will win the All-Ireland. They are the best team I've seen to date and they are very determined to do it. I am a GAA fan, more than just a Dublin fan. I go to any match in Croke Park and have doen for years. It is great to see other counties like Armagh, Tyrone, Derry and Donegal winning the All-Ireland for the first time. It would be great to see Fermanagh or Westmeath get their first ever or for Mayo to get their fist win since 1951. Kerry have 32 All-Irelands, which is plenty so if any one of the other 7 remaining counties win it, that will do for me. I just hope Kerry don't and of course it would be nice if we are the ones to put them out, even if we don't go on to win the All-Ireland itself.

The Rooster

1. Dublin
2/3. Westmeath / Mayo (not sure who I'd support if this was the final, I'd usually have a slight preference for WM, but the Paidi and Rory factors would pull Mayo closer)
4. Fermanagh
5. Derry
6. Kerry
7/8. Armagh / Tyrone (I supported Armagh in the 02 final and Tyrone in 03, but I'm sick of them now, not sure who I'd support if they met in the semis)

Flukey

Micheál O' Muirecheartaigh tipped Armagh and Tyrone on the radio this morning.

*Sinéad*

Dublin's performance seems to sway ever so often but I think we have a fair chance against kerry, I haven't been wowed by them much so far this year and i feel Dublin has definitely got the ability and hopefully we'll show it. As for lifting the Sam there's little doubt who I'd love to win, but if it's not Dublin, I reckon Armagh. I think they've played a better game in general this year than last, and they don't have that added pressure of taking such a big chance away from their neighbours to worry about.

kilasser

Fair play to Mayo. Can they go all the way?

Flukey

They could, but there is a lot of work to be done! Great stuff. Very enjoyable. Two great matches. After the first game everyone was wondering, could the second game live up to that? It did. Pure football was the winner today. Fast ball and support were the things to required to beat the blanket defence as many people have been saying for the past two years and Mayo and Fermanagh in particular showed that today. It will be an interesting sem-final. As for the Dubs, well we have to look after Kerry first. One to look forward to, but it will be hard to top what I saw in Croke Park today.