All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers

[x-armagh-x]

I think that Kildare can beat Meath with the form that they are in at the moment, since they were dumped out by Louth in the Leinster C'Ship, they have been improving steadily with good wins over both Derry and Monaghan in the Qualifiers!! McGeeney has his team were he wants them and a good "Derby" game again their neighbours will have the makings of a good competitive game of football, but i will fancy Kildare to edge it by 2-3 points!!

Cork V Roscommon
Would have to give the "Rebels" this game, considering that they were pushed all the way by Limerick on Saturday, but they look powerful and will be too strong for an up and coming Roscommon team who edged out Sligo in the Connacht Final, will feel that the occasion could get to them, with a quite inexperienced team, so Counahan's men to march on to the semis!!

Kerry V Down
You would have to give Kerry this one, but if they have players like Galvin and O'Se not available, it just mightn't be plain sailing for Kerry, so that may give the Mourne Men to give it a good lash at the Kingdom, but Kerry just have too much quality ad depth within their squad, and that the game is at "Croker!, Kerry will be hard to beat but i would expect Down to put it up to them!!

Tyrone V Dublin
Probably the "tie of the round" which the Dubs will be looking to take another scalp from Ulster football, with already putting Armagh out in the earlier Qualifier round, but this will be as good as it gets for the Dubs!! Tyrone have been nothing short of impressive in the Ulster C'Ship, which Micky Harte's men have regained their hunger for another AI!! Tyrone will know that Dublin only have one marksman in Bernard Brogan, and if they neutralise him from playing, Dublin's scores will be few and far between!! So Tyrone to win this one quite comfortably!!

[Hope4UsYet]

Meath V Kildare:

After the Leinster Final, I think Meath will be out to prove that they are worthy Leinster Champions. Meath have some lovely forwards, but I think they can be suspect in the full back line. Kildare have made steady improvement throughout the qualifiers, if they can get over their habit of slow starts and cut down on the amount of wides (they had 16 wides on Saturday) they could beat meath. They are capable of building up a lead in a short space of time.

Tyrone V Dublin:

He he he The draw that Dublin did not want to get! I feel Tyrone will be too tough and cute for Dublin again. They will swarm Brogan and O'Gara to eliminate the scoring threat. Dublin still don't have a settled midfield , both players were taken off again, but I think Maccauley isn't a bad player. Armagh should have beaten Dulbin expcept for some stupid shooting and taking wrong options, and not putting someone on Brogan to stop him scoring 9 points. When they needed to against Down Tyrone were able to up a gear and pull away.

Kerry V Down.

Can only see one winner here. I know Kerry will be minus Galvin and O'Se for this one, buut I stuill feel there is too much experience in the Kerry team to let this one slip, and they have been grumbling about been hard done by the CCC, you can be sure it will be used as a motivator this week in the run upto the game. They will also not want to lose this one as it would set them up for so called "easier" semi final against Meath or Kildare. Down played well for 30 minutes against Tyrone, but when Tyrone uped the tempo, they were found to be clueless and had no idea how to cope with it, either the players or the management. James McCartan admitted after the gme he had no idea what to do in the second half to match Tyrone!!!! So you would have to wonder what would happen if kerry come out all guns blazing and try to blow Down away in the first 20 minutes like they did to Dublin last year!!!! Would Down be able to live with it, or come up with an answer to it? I don't think so

Cork V Roscommon

having been at the Cork Limerick game on Saturday, Cork played badly but still won, helped largely by Limerick playing a stupid game of handpassing the ball in a circle between the halway line and the 40, it usually ended up in a Limerick player having to shoot for impossible angles or being disposessed by a Cork Player. for most of the second half Limerick also withdrew 2 forwards to play around midfield, the Cork backs did not follow them, this left 2 Limerick forwards facing 4 Cork backs. Limerick had success at the start when they palyed 1 to 1 and ran at the Cork backs so by changing this tactic Limerick were the biggest contributors to their own downfall. At the start of the year Cork would have been one of my picks for the All Ireland, but having seen them this year, I still think they lack the killer instinct that a Kerry or Tyrone has,, and some of their forwards have the tendency to go missing in games when they are needed most. Having said all that I think they will beat Roscommon comfortably. Roscommon were too reliant Frees to beat Sligo, and I see them as the weakest team in the qualifiers


My Semi Final Line up is

Kildare V Kerry

Cork V Tyrone

[borderfox]

Hope4usyet/Munstergirl what did the crowd in Limerick think of Paudie Hughes performance on saturday night? just curious!

[Hope4UsYet]

Hi Borderfox,

Don't know if you are related to Paudie Hughes, but if I am to be truly honest with you Paudie didn't gain any new members to his fan club from either county on Saturday night. His decision not to award Limerick a penalty in the 6th minute of the game ater a blatant foul on Seanie Buckley, it was a bad start for him with the Limerick fans, and though he gave a penlty at the end of the game for a push on John Galvin, Limerick supporters weren't singing his praises after the game. General consensus was that he was much to fussy and yellow card happy, and he didn't let the game flow enough. Which I think is a criticism that can be levelled at most refs this year.

There was also confusion around the amount of extra minutes to be played at the end of the final period of extra time. The linesman first put up a sign saying 1, then about 30 seconds later changed it to 2. Personally I thought there should have been more possibly 4, as quite a number of players on both teams went down with cramp in extra time.

Much as I would like to say he was wrong to send Steven Lavin off, Lavin actually left Paudie no choice, he had been booked for a stupid tackle in the first half, and them deep into injury time in extra time he catches the cork player around the neck with another clumsey foul,yellow card, so the red card had to follow.From the free Cork got the point that won the game for them. Corks last 2 scores came from frees for stupid fouls committed by 2 of our most experienced players, John Galvin and Steven Lavin.

The Cork management didn't ssem all that happy with Pauide either. We were sitting a few rows behind the Cork Management, and a number of times during the game Connor Counihan went to the lines man Gearoid O Canaimhe to complain about things. The Cork management seemed to think that they had been denied a number of frees by the ref, where they felt Limerick were gulity of over carrying or of incorrect hand passing on a number of occasions during the game (If i was reading the handsingnals and gestures correctly). Of course I was wearing my Limerick coloured glasses and I only saw the bad handpass on 2 occasions

Hope that answers your question Borderfox,

My love to Pauide!!!!!

A broken hearted but still hopefull Hope4UsYet

[borderfox]

No Im definitely not related Munstergirl ! just interested in how hes doing, Thanks for the in depth reply!

[Armaghgeddon_02]

I have a bad feeling it is going to be a Tyrone and Down final :/

[bjmk]

I have a bad feeling it is going to be a Tyrone and Down final :/

Looks like your depressing premenition could come true, although I would fancy Kildare to make it to the final. Down completely destroyed Kerry today. I'll not be heading to the Bank tonight, thats for sure.......

[Armaghgeddon_02]

Looks like your depressing premenition could come true, although I would fancy Kildare to make it to the final. Down completely destroyed Kerry today. I'll not be heading to the Bank tonight, thats for sure.......

If Kildare do get through they will be beaten in the first 10 minutes - unless they get off to a quick start.

[bjmk]

Is it just me or do hurling matches seem better at Thurles than in Croke Park..

[Begbie]

Is it just me or do hurling matches seem better at Thurles than in Croke Park..

Without a doubt!