Saturday
All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-finals
Cork v Roscommon, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2.0 [Live, GAAGO] – Contrasting experiences last week – to understate – with Cork building on their improvement that had been obvious against Kerry. Retrieving a six-point deficit in the last 15 minutes was a remarkable performance and based on abandoning caution and going for the jugular. Roscommon were dejected by the defeat in Tullamore but never managed to shake off Kildare. There is better in them in that some of their previously in-form forwards - Ciarán Murtagh and Ben O’Carroll - were so subdued that even another tour de force from Enda Smith didn’t get them over the line.
Eleven wides ultimately sank them and it was noticeable that not much in the way of cavalry arrived off the bench with no scores sourced there. Contrast that with Cork who managed 1-7 from replacements, the vast bulk from an irrepressible Stephen Sherlock.
Roscommon, though, have operated at a consistently higher level this year and even allowing for Cork’s seismic rebound last week, the visitors in more recognisable form have the structure to curb their opponents’ buoyancy and the patience not to let it melt as Mayo did. Verdict: Roscommon
Kildare v Monaghan, Glenisk O’Connor Park, 4.45 [Live, GAAGO] – Similar to the above fixture, Monaghan are travelling because they allowed a home fixture to evaporate against Donegal. The counties played out a rain-swept epic nine years ago in Croke Park in which Monaghan had a first championship win in 84 years (curiously also against Kildare) after extra time and they have since beaten these opponents in the 2018 round robin. It has been a strange year for the teams. Monaghan were exceptional when recovering the initiative against Tyrone in Ulster but high performance has been intermittent since, concluding with last week’s frantic recovery running out of road.
Seán Moran: League’s championship promise may be clouding but it remains bright at the top
Malachy Clerkin: The GAA should make more of St Patrick’s Day - and more of its intercounty stars
Sports Review 2023: Mary Hannigan picks the best quotes from the sporting year
GAA happy that GAAGo has ‘bedded in well’ as 2024 season launches
They did however get a spread of scores and nearly closed the gap. Kildare’s excellent opening against Roscommon got them into a commanding position, which they nearly threw away because of indiscipline and the consequent two black cards. They were impressive in how they retained composure thereafter and Alex Beirne, who picked up one of the black cards, had a stormer, shooting 1-2.
But it was Daniel Flynn and Kevin Feely who really shone in the tense finale, cooking up the mark, which Feely finished in the last minute. They have momentum after their best display of the year and at a venue they obviously like.
Monaghan are tough opponents though and only Derry, on the first day, completely opened them up. They thrive in tough conditions and can do so here. Verdict: Monaghan
Donegal v Tyrone, Ballybofey, 7.0 [Live, GAAGO] – Donegal have recovered impressively in the group stages. They kept pace with Derry until the final quarter and then posted a deserved win over Monaghan last weekend. What has caught the eye is their attacking play. Oisín Gallen has had a couple of lively outings but scoring threats came from everywhere – all starting forwards were on the mark from play – against Monaghan. They also have the boost of captain Patrick McBrearty’s return from injury even though he was kept in reserve last week.
The whole team functioned well from goalkeeper Shaun Patton’s direction to the outstanding Dara Ó Baoill in the forwards.
Tyrone haven’t enjoyed the same cohesion at any stage of the season, as they struggle to reignite the All-Ireland challenge of two years ago. There has been an obvious impact from the emergence of Darragh Canavan as a top-class shooter on a consistent basis and younger brother Ruairí joined him in the intense exchanges with Westmeath.
They will benefit from the return of Darren McCurry in attack but the problem is how difficult they are finding it to locate an A game. Donegal, having hit the bottom, are on the rebound. Maybe it’s a dead-cat bounce but it looks a more convincing momentum than anything Tyrone have produced in the past two championships. Verdict: Donegal
Sunday
All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final
Galway v Mayo, Pearse Stadium, 3.0 [Live, RTE One] – Travel back nearly three months to the aftermath of the league final and any envisaged championship rematch between these two would not have been foreseen as a preliminary quarter-final. Unlike all of the other teams in the round, they were both defeated when the assumption was they would top their respective groups and not even be playing this weekend.
On the face of it, Galway’s one-point defeat by Armagh looks more respectable than torching a six-point lead in the last 15 minutes, which Mayo managed to do in Cork.
A preliminary observation is that form usually counts for little in this fixture. Either county needs to be considerably ahead of the other to survive a bad day if their opponents are playing well.
Form here isn’t clear-cut. Galway are Connacht champions and were apparently cruising their group but snags have developed. For a start there are injury concerns about two of their best players, captain Seán Kelly, whose cocktail of defensive alertness and attacking judgement make him so valuable at either end, and All-Star full forward Damien Comer. Both are named but playing time, let alone 100 per cent fitness, is not guaranteed.
Then there are form issues for Shane Walsh, who to date hasn’t been in the imperious mood of last year. The middle three lines have been performing, especially Peter Cooke and Matthew Tierney.
Aidan O’Shea has been in fine form, late miss from a free notwithstanding, and Cillian O’Connor returns to the fray this weekend. Mayo didn’t do a lot wrong against Cork until the end. They patiently unravelled the home blanket to lead by six with nearly an hour elapsed.
Instead of chilling the game to a suitable temperature after conceding a goal, they looked more interested in getting additional scores and the contest turned into chaos, which traditionally benefits Mayo but not on that occasion.
They have, though, played steadily enough, hitting a ceiling when turning over Kerry in Killarney and falling away in recent matches but this is the sort of ultimatum contest that will draw a response and loss of home venue is comparatively meaningless.
Would anyone put money on their surviving a close finish? Probably not, but can they? Quite possibly. Verdict: Mayo
Tailteann Cup semi-finals
Meath v Antrim, Croke Park, 2.0 [Live, RTE2] – Meath have really stretched their legs in the Tailteann. Like their opponents, they won all three group matches and more importantly survived the toughest match of the schedule – in any group – against Down, who are now favourites to reach the final and renew the 1991 All-Ireland rivalry between the counties. Blistering returns from Jordan Morris and James McEntee blitzed Wexford and they now face former manager Andy McEntee, uncle of James. Antrim have also been impressive, benefiting from Dominic McEnhill’s accuracy and a confident attacking game. Verdict: Meath
Down v Laois, Croke Park, 4.0 [Live, RTE2] – Laois have transformed since scraping through the group stages with two draws. On the road for the knockouts, they defeated two of the top seeds in the Tailteann, Fermanagh and Limerick, and now face Down, who also pulled off a big away in the quarter-finals, defeating favourites Cavan. Conor Laverty is getting good performances out of them. Verdict: Down
