All Ireland Senior Football Qualifiers 2012

[omagh_gael]

Initial reaction to our draw was "Ah feck!" However, after a bit of thought i'm happy enough, there's no point in hoping for handy draws the whole way through and then be blown out of the water come qf time. This will be battle royale with Kerry desperate to exorcise their red hand demons, only pity is we don't have home advantage. Anyway a week to prepare and get the heads right, a lot of our team will be facing Kerry for the first time in senior championship. I predict a new generation of kingdom slayers will emerge next weekend. Come on Tyrone!

[Aristo 60]

+1 Cosmo

[bannside]

When are dates, venues, times announced for this qualifying round?

[Hardy]

Initial reaction to our draw was "Ah feck!" However, after a bit of thought i'm happy enough, there's no point in hoping for handy draws the whole way through and then be blown out of the water come qf time. This will be battle royale with Kerry desperate to exorcise their red hand demons, only pity is we don't have home advantage. Anyway a week to prepare and get the heads right, a lot of our team will be facing Kerry for the first time in senior championship. I predict a new generation of kingdom slayers will emerge next weekend. Come on Tyrone!

Royale with cheese, man.

[AQMP]

Fortress Casement would have been nice but can't complain with Tipp away.  Definitely winnable tho' Tipp had a great win over Wexford.  50/50 game I suppose.  If we get through this then bring on Londondown!!

[Declan]

Wouldn't mind a trip to Carrick-on-Shannon

Though who will O'Rourke cheer for if the Royals have to head there?

[Aristo 60]

Fortress Casement would have been nice but can't complain with Tipp away.  Definitely winnable tho' Tipp had a great win over Wexford.  50/50 game I suppose.  If we get through this then bring on Londondown!!

Ye sound like a bit of a castle catholic yourself .....

[AQMP]

Fortress Casement would have been nice but can't complain with Tipp away.  Definitely winnable tho' Tipp had a great win over Wexford.  50/50 game I suppose.  If we get through this then bring on Londondown!!

Ye sound like a bit of a castle catholic yourself .....

And ye sound like a bit of an Aristo..off with your head!!

[Aristo 60]

Wonder where an Antrim - Down game would be AQ?

....I suppose we'll cross that drawbridge if/when we come to it !

[AQMP]

Wonder where an Antrim - Down game would be AQ?

....I suppose we'll cross that drawbridge if/when we come to it !

4th round supposed to be neutral??  Anyway it could end up Tipp v Donegal!!

[Aristo 60]

Yes 4th round is neutral and yes it's all at the "if" stage for now.

But the main thing is both counties have football in July...

[AQMP]

Agreed, Down well used to it but nose bleed stuff for Antrim!!

[Croí na hÉireann]

Another moral victory for Westmeath yesterday, feck all use though, game was there for us but we simply didn't have the panel on the day whereas Kerry could afford to leave Barry John Keane on the bench. Same feeling as coming out of Navan after, lost a game we should have won, sickening. Injuries didn't help, but we need the lads who choose not to make themselves available this year available for next year.

There's been a lot said about the referee already but he wasn't the winning and loosing of the game IMO. Sure it was the harshest of harsh calls to penalise Foley for over carrying but it was after Kerry worked the goal where we should have acted. I thought then was the right time to introduce McCormack and I still maintain that. We needed to kick back at Kerry as they were always going to build from the momentum of that goal. I didn't realise McCormack was carrying an injury and he certainly didn't look laboured in his many warm-ups. Like Kerry with Darren O'Sullivan we should have risked him there and then as we always had the option of taking him back off rather than risking him with about 5 mins to go, where he didn't have a chance to make an impact. That inaction after the Kerry goal was the winning and loosing of the game IMO. I see over on the Kerry boards a fella was saying he was sitting behind the accessors and that your man won't be getting any more games this summer. I'll leave the last word on him to @doronharte "easy give out about a referee but telling us we had another play after @johnheslin free and blowing it up straight away is a joke"

It was a very brave effort from Westmeath. I held out little hope when I saw Foley starting and Corroon playing inside but Foley in fairness to him had a great game around the middle and Corroon was winning everything inside. I thought Sharry was unreal through. Got on the ball endless times, held the center well, great carrier of the ball and his arrowed deliveries were inch perfect. Same for Heslin, Maher tried to outmuscle him but John was able to stand his ground and took down some beautiful balls one handed. Gave great deliveries inside and took some lovely scores. Another man to have his finest hour in a Westmeath jersey was John Gaffey. I've always thought of him as being too loose but he absolutely dominated a much taller Donaghy yesterday, fed him on farts. Glennon when he was able to take the ball in and not fumble it was causing all sorts of problems for Killian Young, needed to take him on the outside though instead of running back into traffic. Scored a monster of a point in the second half but Kerry then switched Marc O Se onto him and wasn't as lively then. Was holding the hamstring again yesterday, needs to give that up. Maguire and McCallon kept it tight at the back and Natchie had his best game in a long time in his most customary position of half back. Ger Egan, Kieran Martin and David Glennon put in decent shifts and weren't found wanting.

Yesterday was a brilliant day for Kerry. They were off form and were only interested in winning this game with as little effort as possible. Nobody would be talking about them only for the fact they've now drawn Tyrone. Best of luck to them and their supporters who comfortably outnumbered us in the Park. Shame on the Westmeath support who stayed away and didn't get behind the team, the Kerry players were thanking their supporters after for helping them across the line, who says they don't travel?

Westmeath at a major crossroads now, do they stick or twist with Flanagan? The fact numerous players weren't available yesterday tells its own story but he did manage to get a serious performance out of them yesterday on the back of a horrendous week for him personally and they stayed up in Div 2. There is the makings of a good young team there and with the right setup a Leinster title is achievable next year. If Jason Ryan or John Evans was available I'd love us to push the boat out for them, otherwise Flanagan probably deserves another year. Still the future is brighter than it was this time last year. Iarmhí Abú.

[Dinny Breen]

Croí, do Westmeath respond better to tough love or gentle arm approach because Jason Ryan is a bit of a mollycoddler but I think he is a talented manager.

[Jinxy]

Wouldn't mind a trip to Carrick-on-Shannon

Though who will O'Rourke cheer for if the Royals have to head there?

Ah stop, I'm getting flashbacks to the last time we played there and only for Ollie Murphy taking it to extra-time we were gone.
In the middle of a shagging monsoon too.