The Leitrim County Board are still hopeful that football manager Dessie Dolan will remain in charge for the upcoming Tommy Murphy Cup, despite his severe criticism of the competition.

Leitrim's defeat to Galway in Sunday's Connacht semi-final effectively marked the end of their championship since, as a Division Four National League team, they don't get to participate in the qualifiers - at least not until it's revised again next summer to the all-encompassing format.

"As far as we're concerned there is no change in our current management set-up," said Leitrim country secretary Declan Bohan. "And the hope is that it will remain in place for the Tommy Murphy Cup. Although we have gone out of the championship, we are still involved in that competition, and although it has got a lot of negative publicity, we intend doing the best we can in it.

"And it does look like being the last year of it, so it would be even nicer to win it. Dessie Dolan has made no great secret of what he thinks of it, but we've had no indication so far that he won't be involved, and our hope is that he will now take it on."

On Sunday evening, however, the Leitrim board issued a statement to dissociate themselves with the remarks made by Dolan in a Sunday newspaper, where he was highly critical of both the Tommy Murphy Cup and GAA president Nickey Brennan's handling of the secondary football format.

In the aftermath of Sunday's defeat, Dolan described the decision to limit all Division Four teams to the Tommy Murphy Cup as "the most stupid thing I ever came across".

In the meantime, such a format makes for a highly competitive qualifier series for one more year. The GAA has set June 29th as the date for the first-round qualifier draw, which already features some fairly uncompromising teams as Tyrone, Donegal, Meath, Monaghan, Kildare and Cavan.

The first round, an open draw, won't take place until July 19th, and will feature the 16 teams beaten up to and including the provincial semi-finals, and which also have Division Three status or higher.

As things stand, joining the six above-named teams will be Offaly, Tipperary, Longford, Roscommon, Limerick, Louth and the losers of Laois-Wexford, Dublin-Westmeath, Fermanagh-Derry, and Armagh-Down. Sligo will only go into the qualifiers if they beat Mayo on Sunday and thus make their provincial final.

Derry are looking to become the first team to secure an Ulster final berth when they take on Fermanagh in Omagh this Saturday evening, although manager Paddy Crozier has a few selection issues to sort out. Midfielder Fergal Doherty is definitely ruled out with the four-week ban handed out arising from an incident in the quarter-final against Donegal. Doherty had his appeal turned down at the Central Hearings Committee last Thursday, and he won't be pursuing his case any further.

Derry goalkeeper John Deighan is also set to miss Saturday's game with an ankle injury, allowing Barry Gillis to regain the number one shirt. Defender Seán Marty Lockhart is the only other concern with a leg injury.

Down manager Ross Carr will have his case against a sideline ban imposed during the league heard on Thursday by the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA). Carr had got that ban temporarily lifted as he pursued the matter to the DRA, allowing him to take to the sidelines for last Saturday's dramatic replay win over Tyrone, but should he fail in the DRA hearing he is still liable to serve the ban in full.

Assistant-manager DJ Kane has already been handed a six-month ban after being adjudged to have broken the terms of his original suspension when appearing in the dressingroom to the drawn game with Tyrone last Sunday week.