The Qualifiers Round 1

highking · May 23, 2007, 12:44:59 AM

The Mayo Club Championship will be nearly over by July at this stage. There has already been seven rounds of the league played and the first round of the championship will be on next weekend. Over the next few weeks there will be a few more rounds played.

As for the Murphy Cup, there is a long term plan for this competition. In the past four years it was forced through by HQ even though there was no interest from counties. Dont be surprised if within three years, Division 3 teams will be going straight to the Murphy Cup also. The long term goal is to make a two tier intercounty football setup, similar to what is has happened with the hurling with three tiers. Id agree that the Murphy Cup could do with a bit of extra profile and possibly a stand alone sponsor with a holiday on offer for the winning team and a few thousand for the winning county board. That might get the smaller counties to take notice and would be something they could aim to win.

If my county is in Division three I would be interested in getting promotion asap...

Croí na hÉireann · May 23, 2007, 10:33:53 AM

Quote from: Rossfan on May 22, 2007, 06:51:03 PMAs I said before the new arrangements were meant to allow the Counties to play loads of Club Championship games. How many will do so 1 ? 2?

First round of the Westmeath Senior Football Championship was held last weekend.

Dinny Breen · May 23, 2007, 05:49:32 PM

Damn, I suppose I should really join this thread now..

Kildare haven't even held their draw for the Senior Football Championship. A county is disarray

Muzz · May 23, 2007, 06:08:03 PM

Tyrone managed to get their Club Championshiop under way 2 weeks before County team played. So second round is taking place this weekend. 6 days after County played. Fun and games. I would imgine that would be the last of the county games until the semi-final is over. i could be wrong offcourse.

Rossfan · May 23, 2007, 06:42:35 PM

First round in Ros starts 14/15 July - one week after the Connacht Final

Although I suspect the Co Board were looking at one week after we exit the Qualifiers.
We played our last NFL game 29 April - play first Championship game 17 June - 6 free weekends where we could easily have got the 3 rounds of the group stage played.
But no -I suppose the Commandant said no as he wants to continue his army training not to mention the week in Portugal.
I wonder will he or O'Hara have the best tan on the 17th.

Gnevin · May 24, 2007, 10:32:46 AM

How do this thing work, going on current form with will have 13 teams in round 1

* Cavan
* Fermanagh
* Limerick
* Mayo
* Kildare
* Westmeath
* losers of Longford v Laois
* losers of Donegal v Armagh
* losers of Monaghan v Down
* losers of Meath v Dublin
* losers of Laois v Longford
* losers of Louth v Wicklow***
* losers of Winner of Louth/Wicklow v Wexford
No wicklow if they lose
which give 7 teams to play 8 in round 2 ?

magpie seanie · May 24, 2007, 03:52:47 PM

QuoteI wonder will he or O'Hara have the best tan on the 17th.

My money is on O'Hara. Honeymoon in January, good weather at home in April and the week in NYC just gone. Tough to beat preparation like that!

criostlinn · May 24, 2007, 04:56:31 PM

Quote from: Gnevin on May 24, 2007, 10:32:46 AM
How do this thing work, going on current form with will have 13 teams in round 1

* Cavan
* Fermanagh
* Limerick
* Mayo
* Kildare
* Westmeath
* losers of Longford v Laois
* losers of Donegal v Armagh
* losers of Monaghan v Down
* losers of Meath v Dublin
* losers of Laois v Longford
* losers of Louth v Wicklow***
* losers of Winner of Louth/Wicklow v Wexford
No wicklow if they lose
which give 7 teams to play 8 in round 2 ?

what I can make of it is, any team that doesnt get to a provincial final final goes into the draw except for the teams in division 4 next year. ie. 32 counties - 8 provincial finalist =24

24 - 8 division 4 teams =16

But the fun starts if either tipperary, waterford, offaly, antrim, london, wicklow or carlow qualify for a provincial final we now have 17 to 23 teams in the draw.

I presume the draw will have to be made after the 24/6/07 after all provincial semis are played and with the 1st round of the qualifiers fixed for the 7/7/07 does this mean we could be looking at a preliminary round or two on the weekend of the 1/7/07

Barney · May 25, 2007, 07:53:54 AM

The other thing to remember is that Round 1 and 2 of the Qualifiers are on a home/away basis. First out of the hat gets home advantage so that is a big prize.

From a Mayo point of view, a bit of club championship, focussed minds, and a break can let us treat the qualifiers as a fresh start. Hard to see us make huge progress but the players have to be hurting, they showed their pride when they picked themselves up for the start of the league and hopefully now with some tweaking to the team, and a re-focused manager we can make a push for the quarter-finals. However you would think that is as far as we would probably get.

Another problem which has not been mentioned as I understand it teams who have met can meet again in the qualifiers. So if Galway lose the next day Mayo and Galway could play in a winner takes all game! Again in Salthill!!

INDIANA · May 25, 2007, 09:05:25 AM

But the fun starts if either tipperary, waterford, offaly, antrim, london, wicklow or carlow qualify for a provincial final we now have 17 to 23 teams in the draw."

how likely though?- only offaly have any sort of a chance- and its a slim one based on this years form. the gaa are safe in the knowledge that bar offaly there is absolutely no chance of the others progressing.

Will Hunting · May 25, 2007, 10:03:00 AM

Is the draw for Round 1 of the qualifiers a complete open-draw or is it split in any way? i.e. are all the first round losers/semi-final losers together - so that two first round losers could play each other and two semi-final losers could play each other?

Dinny Breen · May 27, 2007, 06:31:16 PM

Who ever comes through these have to fancy their chances in the quarter-finals...some big teams in there..

* Cavan
* Fermanagh
* Limerick
* Mayo
* Kildare
* Westmeath
* Armagh
* losers of Longford v Laois
* losers of Monaghan v Down
* losers of Meath v Dublin
* losers of Laois v Longford
* losers of Louth v Wicklow***
* losers of Winner of Louth/Wicklow v Wexford

lfdown2 · June 10, 2007, 07:05:02 PM

when is the draw?

AhFeckRef · June 11, 2007, 12:01:21 PM

Shouldn't the losers of Leitrim v Galway also be included in the Qualifiers Round 1 draw?

Hardy · June 11, 2007, 12:14:03 PM

Yes. The "extra" qualifier arises if Offaly beat Meath/Dublin, in which case there will be 17 teams in the qualifiers and there will have to be an extra game. A draw will be made with two hot balls to ensure it's Meath and Dublin and another €1M.