The fixtures (All live on RTE 2)
Roscommon v Cork Sunday 2pm
Meath v Kildare Sunday 4pm
The previews
Roscommon v Cork
Any Roscommon fan who predicted at the start of the season that their beloved Rossies’ would be in the All-Ireland quarter-final is either wildly optimistic by nature or a close associate of Paul the Octopus.
And although Sligo may have done the giant killing in the west, taking care of traditional powerhouses Mayo and Galway, Fergal O’Donnell’s men have done what they had to, overcoming London and Leitrim with the minimum of fuss and playing some lovely football when defeating strong favourites Sligo a fortnight ago.
Of all the draws they could have got for the quarter-finals, Cork is probably the most difficult and the size of the task in front of them is highlighted by the fact that the Rebels go into Sunday’s game as massive favourites at 1/14, with Roscommon available at a tempting 8/1.
This is all in spite of the fact that Conor Counihan’s side have been far from impressive so far this year. If Limerick were more decisive in the final third of the pitch last week they would have claimed a famous victory, while 0-12 against Wexford in Round 3 is a poor return for a forward line packed with such talented performers.
Cork have plenty of experience at this stage of the championship in recent years, however, whereas Roscommon feature in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2003. Like Kerry, last year Cork will hope to blow off the cobwebs in Croke Park after an unconvincing trek through the back door route.
Michael Shields will have been well warned about the threat of Donie Shine (pictured above), while if the likes of Daniel Goulding, Donncha O’Connor, Paddy Kelly and Colm O’Neill can fire, Cork should have more than enough to spare.
Fergal O’Donnell has named an unchanged side from the Connacht Final with Geoffrey Claffey and David O’Gara shaking off injuries to take their place in the starting fifteen. Cork boss Conor Counihan has also named an unchanged side for Sunday’s clash.
Teams:
Roscommon: Geoffrey Claffey; Sean McDermott, Peter Domican, Stephen Ormsby; Sean Purcell, Cathal Dineen, David Casey; Michael Finneran, Karol Mannion; David Keenan, David O’Gara, Cathal Cregg; John Rogers, Donal Shine, Ger Heneghan.
Cork: A Quirke; R Carey, M Shields, J O’Sullivan; N O’Leary, G Canty, P Kissane; D Kavanagh, A Walsh; P Kerrigan, P O’Neill, P Kelly; D Goulding, C Sheehan, C O’Neill.
Odds:
Cork 1/14, Roscommon 8/1, Draw 14/1
JOE Prediction: Cork to get their All-Ireland challenge back on track with a comprehensive victory.
Meath v Kildare
Three weeks after the Leinster Final and Meath return to Croke Park and to the scene of one the most unjust events in the history of Gaelic Games. The calls for a replay which followed the calamitous last few moments in the Royals’ clash with Louth were completely valid, but it was the fault of the officials and not of Meath that the Wee County were denied their rightful title and the footballers from the Royal County were well within their rights to forget about the whole matter and move on.
The unsavoury scenes at the end of the Leinster Final deflected attention away from the fact that Meath were extremely poor on the day. The forward line that sprung to life so explosively against Dublin failed to fire against Louth, aside from Graham Reilly, who scored four points from play and has been a revelation at wing-forward so far this year.
They were also obliterated at midfield and far from taking pride in the fact that they won without playing well, Meath are probably a little wary about all the things that went wrong on the day, especially considering they are coming up against a Kildare side very much in form.
Victory over Monaghan at Croke Park last Saturday was the third on the trot against Ulster opposition and although the Farney men looked very much like a side licking their wounds from the Ulster Final defeat to Tyrone, that still represents some achievement.
This is the third year in a row that Kieran McGeeney’s side have reached the quarter-finals in a row and it looks like their best opportunity of reaching the last four considering that Tyrone and Cork represented their opposition at this stage in 2009 and 2008 respectively.
James Kavanagh’s man of the match display last week showed that they are no longer reliant on Johnny Doyle up front, Dermot Earley remains a huge influence around the middle of the park, while as you would expect from any side associated with McGeeney, every player seems to have a ferocious appetite for hard work.
Eoghan O’Flaherty comes into the Kildare side at left half forward, replacing Ken Donnelly, while Dermot Earley is fit to start after overcoming a hamstring strain. Royals boss Eamonn O’Brien has kept faith with the same fifteen that defeated Louth in the Leinster Final three weeks ago.
Teams:
Kildare: S McCormack; P Kelly, H McGrillen, A MacLochlainn; M O’Flaherty, E Bolton, B Flanagan; D Flynn, D Earley; J Kavanagh, P O’Neill, E O’Flaherty; J Doyle, A Smith, E Callaghan.
Meath: B Murphy; C O’Connor, K Reilly, E Harrington; A Moyles, G O’Brien, C King; N Crawford, B Meade; S Kenny, J Sheridan, G Reilly; C Ward, S O’Rourke, S Bray.
Odds:
Meath 1/1, Kildare 1/1, Draw 15/2
JOE Prediction:
Kildare to build on the momentum gained through an impressive run in the qualifiers and come out on top by three points or less.
