In the round robin AI series One Home, One Away, One Neutral like the Super 8’s. Be interesting to see how that one pans out for us venue wise…
We’ll play anywhere but the neutral rounds will presumably be double headers somewhere.
Are you going anywhere nice, Dessie?
2 Likes
Just can’t take any chances with Giller hovering in the background 
4 Likes
Hmmmmm
Now that said she did given family as one of the reason but did say other work commitments as well.
Called it 
2 Likes
With this looking a formality, only had a proper look at it for the first time today tbh (was in today’s programme) and how the various outcomes would set up the rest of our Championship, know that we know the seedings. The differences are stark. As I said on the other thread, it really is critical we win Leinster, given the way the Round Robin thing works. I’ve played Nostradamus and hypothesised the Provincial Finals go as below:
We beat Louth
Kerry beat Cork
Mayo (on same side of draw as Galway & Roscommon) beat Sligo
Tyrone (picked them over Derry and Monaghan) beat Armagh (Donegal also on that side of the draw)
After the leagues ended today, that’d leave the Seeds thus:
1 Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone and Mayo
2 Louth, Cork, Armagh and Sligo
3 Galway, Roscommon, Monaghan and Donegal
4 Derry, Kildare, Meath and Westmeath
Standout feature is the general weakness of the 2nd seed teams, with Armagh (or Donegal), coming off relegation, being the best of a very average bunch. A reminder that the Team that finishes top goes into the Quarter Final, with the 2nd and 3rd placed Teams from each group playing off in a Preliminary Quarter Final.
Assuming we win Leinster, we’d play:
Home game: Galway/Roscommon/Monaghan/Donegal
Away Game: Derry/Kildare/Meath/Westmeath
Neutral game: Cork/Armagh/Sligo
That’s pretty favourable, you get the play your strongest opponents at home as you’d want.
However, if by some catastrophe (eg going down to 14 men early in the first half or something) we were to lose the Provincial Final, then we’d be looking at:
Home game: Donegal/Derry/Meath/Kildare
Away Game: Galway/Roscommon/Monaghan/Donegal
Neutral game: Kerry/Tyrone/Mayo
That’s a whole different kettle of fish. It brings the other big guns into it and as a Seed 2 team you can’t play anyone else from that weak tier.
If we were to feck up in Leinster before the Final, we’d likely be 4th seeds. That doesn’t read much better:
Home game: Kerry/Tyrone/Mayo
Away Game: Cork/Armagh/Sligo
Neutral game: Galway/Roscommon/Monaghan/Donegal
So bottom line is, this of all years, don’t drop the ball in Leinster lads!
5 Likes
Westmeath are in the round robin as a result of winning last year’s Tailteann cup. Mordor really need to make the Leinster final to be sure of playing for Sam.
Also you have Tyrone in twice.
So Mordor should make it unless there is an upset in Munster (Clare or Limerick beating Cork) or if Cavan or Down manage to make the Ulster final by knocking out Donegal and Armagh (unlikely, but far from impossible)
Cheers for that. Had forgotten about Westmeath and Tyrone was an oversight. Though in saying that, given that they won the All-Ireland four weeks after announcing their withdrawal from the Championship a couple of years back, I wouldn’t rule out the feckers giving themselves seedings in two different groups.
2 Likes
Longford v Offaly teams
Great to see Cian Farrell back named in a Championship team after all the injuries he’s dealt with the past few years.
Martin Murphy’s first championship match as Offaly manager. Going to be an emotional day no doubt.
Great start for Offaly with a Peter Cunningham goal.
Malachy Stone’s goal has Wicklow in front of Carlow by 2 in Aughrim.
All even at HT at Pearse Park
Longford responded well after Offaly’s fast start.
Wexford in front of Laois early on with Robbie Brooks hitting the net.
Mark Barry’s major for Laois put them in front briefly but Kevin O’Grady and Ben Brosnan with late scores in the first half nudge Wexford just in front at half.
Wicklow cruise against Carlow to win by 8. Eoin Darcy with the second goal for the Garden County. They face Kildare in the Leinster quarterfinals now.
Darren Gallagher goaled for Longford to put them in front 1-8 to 1-6 but Offaly have responded well having outscored them 6-4 in the last 25 minutes. Into added time now up 2.
Offaly hold on to beat Longford by a point! They play Meath next in Tullamore for a spot in the Leinster semis. Hopefully a big crowd shows up in a fortnight’s time.
Dublin play Laois in Portlaoise this day fortnight.
1 Like
Laois started the 2nd half the better but a penalty from Ben Brosnan kept the Slaneysiders in it. Mark Barry got his 2nd goal only a few minutes after and Laois were able to see the game out and win by 4.
The prize for Laois now is a match against Dublin at O’Moore Park in two weeks time.
Handy spot to get to in Portlaoise so am happy enough .
Leinster football championship quarterfinals
Kildare v Wicklow (Newatch Cullen Park)
Laois v Dublin (Portlaoise)
Offaly v Meath (Tullamore)
Westmeath v Louth (Navan)
With Offaly playing at home it means the last quarterfinal now will take place in Meath.
Wd love to have a game in Carlow or OCP.
A 3-30 pm throw in v Leix. Just like the old days, the proper throw in time!
1 Like
Do we know when tickets will be available…I see the fixtures on Leinster GAA website …but the links are not available yet?
1 Like