How's that for a tasty weekend of top fare football! A mouth-watering clash between the Sam Maguire holders of the last two years sees Kerry and Tyrone go head to head while on Sunday, the old foes Dublin and Mayo will pack Croke Park for another epic episode in their recent history of tantalizing fare.
Both games would be worthy finals in any other year but by Sunday evening, two stellar names will be dumped out at the quarter-final stage in '23.
And if that wasn't enough, the draw on Monday morning also threw up an Ulster Derby as Armagh and neighbors Monaghan face up to each other while Ulster champions Derry will be wary of a resurgent Cork side who have beaten two Division 1 teams in the past two weeks and will fancy their chances against the Oak Leaf men this weekend.
All-Ireland SF Quarter-final draw
Armagh v Monaghan (July 1, Croke Park, 6 p.m.)
Dublin v Mayo (July 2, Croke Park, 4 p.m.)
Derry v Cork (July 2, Croke Park, 1:45 p.m.)
Kerry v Tyrone (July 1, Croke Park, 3:45 p.m.)
Although Dublin had the upper-hand in most of their games against Mayo, they are still smarting from their semi-final defeat to the Connacht men three years ago and Dessie Farrell will be hoping for revenge as he seeks another All Ireland title.
GAA President Larry McCarthy, speaking on RTE Radio after the draw said: "This is a huge game obviously. The nature of the rivalry between the two counties and going back to the last time, obviously Dublin had the upper hand for the bones of a decade but Mayo beat them two years ago so a huge game to look forward to. Both sides now, no more than Mayo-Galway yesterday, a huge team are going to be going out at the quarter-final stage."
He stressed: "Dublin were sitting pretty this weekend watching events unfold. Whether Mayo will have the energy to drive it on will be the big question but I think the sight of Dublin coming will certainly give them plenty of motivation."
Kerry and Tyrone have been one of the star pairings of the past two decades and currently the championship form reads four wins each so this weekend's game will give oneupmanship to either county. Kerry won three great encounters in the noughties before Kerry made it three-all in the next decade in this rivalry which always has plenty of angst when they clash.
This time around, it will be Kerry seeking revenge as Tyrone surprised them two years ago at the semi-final stage as the Red Hand went on to win their third Sam Maguire.
All Ireland SH Quarter-Finals
Clare 5-26; Dublin 2-17
Galway 1-20; Tipperary 1-18
All Ireland SF Pre Quarter-Finals
Cork 1-14; Roscommon 0-16
Monaghan 1-11; Kildare 0-13
Tyrone 1-18; Donegal 0-13
Tailteann Cup
Meath 2-16; Antrim 2-14
Down 8-16; Laois 2-12
Tyrone 1-18; Donegal 0-13
After journeys along the by-roads and low-roads,Tyrone are now on the highway heading to Croke Park. And that means danger for every other team, especially Kerry, who also entertain thoughts of retaining Sam Maguire this season. Tyrone won it two years ago and after last year's disappointing attempt to defend the All Ireland title, you sense there is a renewed hunger this season to get back on the winner's podium.
Any team going to MacCumhaill Park and winning by eight points against a rejuvenated Donegal deserves to be earmarked as a team to watch. After an indifferent showing against Westmeath, they were firing on all cylinders again on Saturday and while they won't be favorites at this stage to go all the way, there won't be too many backing against them either.
I like the cut of their jib and with the Canavan boys becoming more influential with every outing, this crop of Red Hand players are ripe to thrive in the wide open spaces of Croker this weekend.
From the start, Brian Dooher and Fergal Logan's men were down to work and once Ruairi Canavan almost got in for a goal in the first 20 seconds, it looked like they were on their game.,
The same man was offered a second chance within two minutes and this time the green flag was being waved by the umpire. Thereafter Donegal were playing catch up - something they valiantly tried to do but in reality, Tyrone were always in control.
Patrick McBrearty, back for his first start of the championship kept the home fans interested with his scores as he and Oisin Gallen sharing six points in the opening moiety. On top of that Odhrán Doherty and Caolan McColgan added two more so that it was close enough to be interesting.
However, once Tyrone stretched the lead to half a dozen points thanks to Mattie Donnelly and Conn Kilpatrick , the spectacle of a comeback looked more remote.
The half-time whistle had Tyrone five clear - 1-10 to 0-8 - after a very entertaining encounter. The Red Hand side also had seven first half wides.
Leading by five on the changeover, Darren McCurry and Darragh Canavan chipped in with two beauties to push the margin to seven ahead.
Pride was keeping Donegal going and Ciaran Thompson and Oisin Gallen landed points to cut the lead to five. If Rory O’Donnell's effort had ended in the back of the net instead of drawing a fine Niall Morgan save, then perhaps the spectre of a grandstand finish might have become a reality but they had to settle for a pointed 45 from Shaun Patton.
After Mattie Donnelly and Ciaran Thompson had raised flags at either end Darren McCurry pointed a free and then the energetic Conn Kilpatrick was rewarded for his industry with a point to give the winners a 1-16 to 0-12 advantage.
There was near drama late on when Patton's free ended up in the visitors net but was ruled out for a square infringement. Once the same player saw red for kicking Mickael McKiernan, the jig was up and the happy fans were the ones in red and white heading for their cars to journey back to Tyrone.
Tyrone: N Morgan; Michael McKernan (0-2), R McNamee, P Hampsey; C Quinn, M O’Neill, P Harte; B Kennedy (0-1), C Kilpatrick (0-1); C Meyler, K McGeary, R Canavan (1-1); D McCurry (0-5,0-4f), M Donnelly (0-3), D Canavan (0-5, 0-1f) Subs: F Burns for McGeary (56); R Donnelly for D Canavan (62); N Devlin for R Canavan (70+1)
Donegal: S Patton (0-1,45; M Curran, B McCole, C McColgan (0-1); C Ward, E Bán Gallagher, S McMenamin; C McGonagle, H McFadden; D Ó Baoill, J Brennan, C Thompson (0-2); O Doherty (0-1), O Gallen (0-4, 0-1f), P McBrearty (0-3, 0-2f) Subs: J McGee for O Doherty (ht); L McGlynn (0-1) for Ó Baoill (44); R O’Donnell for H McFadden (47); B O’Donnell for McColgan (62); G Mulreaney for M Curran (70+2).
Ref: C Lane (Cork).
Mayo 1-10; Galway 0-12
We got another roller-coaster ride with Mayo in Salthill on Sunday before they found their rhythm in the second-half to beat last year's beaten All Ireland finalists Galway in their own backyard on Sunday.
We could ask if the real Mayo would stand up. Was it the one who looked off the pace and scored only three points in the first half? Or was it the one who controlled the second moiety, scoring 1-5 without replay and only allowing Galway four points in the entire half, as full-back David McBrien emerged the hero of the hour with the only goal of the game.
Truth is not even Kevin McStay, their manager, and I daresay a fair few managers before him too, know what the real Mayo is. They are what they are, every other county's favorite team because of the way that they keep getting up year after year despite suffering heart-breaking defeats at the hands of Cork, Meath, Kerry, Dublin, Donegal, Tyrone in All Ireland finals since their last taste of victory in the golden age of 1950-51.
And so while the green above the red live to fight another day thanks in the main to their second-half showing, it is a sad ending to Connacht champions Galway. Their fans expected them to build on last year's showing but instead they can only bemoan the fact that injury to key players, Sean Kelly, Damien Comer and later Peter Cooke meant that even if they advanced, they would probably not be near the team that they would need to be for a quarter-final clash.
It didn't help them that Shane Walsh kicked four bad wides before the break on a day when they turned over five points ahead instead of double that margin.
Mayo will be happy that their decision to make several changes to shake up the squad after last week's loss to Cork with Padraig O'Hora, Conor Loftus, Mattie Ruane and James Carr all axed as Eoghan McLaughlin, Kevin McLoughlin, Jason Doherty and Tommy Conroy were introduced in their stead.
This was a brave decision by McStay and his management team but overall you'd have to say it worked. Mayo started the better even against the wind and were 0-3 to 0-1 ahead after seven mins. Thereafter, they went asleep and Galway took total control, and were particularly adept at winning the Mayo kick-out from Colm Reape which they forced long by pressing up on their defense.
Galway hoped to protect their lead or at least find further scores when they appeared for the second half, even with Comer in the stand after suffering a recurrence of his hamstring injury and Ian Burke taking his place.
Once Ryan O’Donoghue got Mayo’s first score early in the second half, though, the mood of the game changed totally and Mayo were the ones on the front foot as O'Donogue added a second point before McBrien struck for his goal on 44 mins.
Level at that stage, the introduction by McStay of former All Star Cillian O’Connor brought about immediate results as he kicked an unbelievable point from an awkward angle with his left peg.
The game turned on a great Reape save when Sean Kelly, despite carrying a leg, made a great run into the heart of the Mayo rearguard passed to Matthew Tierney who was denied by the visitors netminder. Paddy Durcan hit two magnificent points then to lift the huge travelling support and it was 20 minutes into the second half before Paul Conroy got Galway's first score since the short whistle.
That left Mayo 1-8 to 0-9 in front and when the excellent Tommy Conroy raced with pace to fist a point for Mayo were on a high. Walsh responded with a free to make it a two-point game and followed it up with a similar score to make it a one point game in added time.
Mayo showed great patience in holding onto possession and from one two-minute period of ball in hand, they released sub James Carr to kick what proved the winning point of the contest.
In the final onslaught as Galway three times lobbed high balls into the square in search of a goal, all they could muster was a point from John Maher as Mayo celebrated at the sound of Sean Hurson's final whistle.
Afterwards McStay was realistic about the outcome. "It could have swung either way in the end. We got the nudge. The goal was huge, a brilliant goal. Great pass by Aidan (O'Shea) opens it up and David used to threaten to do this. I've said it to him all year, he's going to get one of these. Because he does that so well. And he stuck it.
"We played it out as well as best we could. Like, it was not easy. That's a quality Galway team. And they gave us a massive contest. Half a point would have been loads!" he joked.
Mayo: C Reape; S Callinan, D McBrien (1-0), E McLaughlin; J Coyne, J Doherty, P Durcan (0-2); S Coen (0-1), A O’Shea; D O’Connor, K McLoughlin (0-1), J Flynn; R O’Donoghue (0-3, 0-1f), J Carney, T Conroy (0-2) Subs: E Hession for Doherty (half-time), C O’Connor (0-1) for K McLoughlin (45), M Ruane for Carney (59), J Carr for O’Shea (63), D McHugh for Coyne (73).
Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, J Glynn; S Kelly, C Hernon, J Daly; P Conroy (0-1), M Tierney (0-2, 0-1f); C McDaid (0-1), P Cooke (0-1), J Maher (0-2); J Heaney, D Comer (0-1), S Walsh (0-4f) Subs: I Burke for Comer (half-time), C Sweeney for Heaney (48), R Finnerty for Hernon (63), T Culhane for Cooke (69).
Ref: S Hurson (Tyrone).
Senior Hurling Championship
Galway 1-20; Tipperary 1-18
Galway recovered from the Kilkenny sucker punch of the Leinster Final to tough it out against Tipperary and qualify for this weekend's semi-final against Limerick at Croke Park.
Cillian Buckley's goal was both something to bury with this game and use as a stick to beat themselves on as Henry Shefflin praised his team's resolve in they way they bounced back. They were the better team for most of the match yet almost found themselves losing an eight-point lead as Tipp roused themselves with a John McGrath goal and threatened to do a Kilkenny on their opponents.
This time, the Tribesmen were aware of such dangers and just when they were wavering in the eye of the Premier storm, they regathered and got the scores to give them passage to the semi-final.
For the second game in a row, Conor Whelan was the go-to man for the maroons as he followed up his 1-6 against the Cats to score 1-4 in a man of the match showing, though sweeper Cathal Mannion deserves huge praise also for his influence on the game.
"It was probably a bit of a grind in there," Henry Shefflin, the Galway manager, accepted after the game. "They're not making it easy on us in the management team or the supporters the last couple of weeks. I feel we probably were the better team. We probably didn't want a free-flowing open game after watching them last weekend. So we turned it into a bit of a battle. We had the chances to put it away but to be fair to Tipp, they responded very well.
"One thing I'm immensely proud of is the question of character and resilience has been thrown at this group a lot. The sucker punch we got in the Leinster final was very difficult. I want to thank the panel of players. We went last Friday night down to Clare. All our subs played them in a challenge match and it was wonderful to see. None of our players that played in the Leinster final were there.
"But I came out of the night saying, d'you know what, we're going to go up against Tipp and we're going to get a performance. That's the resolve that's within the group.Yes, the hurling can be better. What do you look for first? Character. They showed great heart and great spirit over the last couple of weeks.
"We know there's a massive challenge ahead. But for tonight, to get to an All-Ireland semi-final again, I think it's good after what happened in the Leinster final," he stressed.
After their scoring exploits against Offaly the previous week, Tipp barely managed to register a third of the scores this time around - something their manager Liam Cahill found hard to explain. "Well beaten on the day. I know the scoreboard didn't reflect that but we were chasing the game for long periods. Bitterly disappointed for everybody involved. The players especially.You don't mind getting beaten when you turn up and perform, but again we didn't perform today for some reason. It was fairly obvious after 10, 15 minutes that the spark didn't seem to be there.
"Fierce disappointing. Galway left a lot of goal chances behind them and we would have been very lucky to be in it coming down the home straight but we were given plenty of chances to be fair and we didn't take them.
"It is hard to explain. We prepared exceptionally well. There's a serious job done with the lads and they have put in a massive effort. They're great fellas and really honest guys. They committed to it big time and it's just so disappointing for them.”
Yet for all of what he rightly said in analysis after the match, the truth is that with eight minutes to go, Tipp had somehow got the game back to a single point deficit when McGrath pulled on a loose ball to score their only goal. Oh, what they would have given for one or more of the seven they nonchalantly put away against The Faithful in Tullamore.
Shefflin was pragmatic in closing down the game so that Tipp wouldn't profit for such open play and he also played his cards right by holding back Tom Monaghan so that he could inject his scoring into the second half. When he came off the bench, the player didn't disappoint and it was he who got a brace of points after Tipp had threatened to steal the game at the death.
They put it up to Limerick in their best showing under Shefflin last year at the semi-final stage - you wonder now with Sean Finn and inspirational skipper Declan Hannon now absent through injury from the champions defence, can they go one better this time and qualify for the final.
Galway: É Murphy; D Morrissey, G McInerney, J Grealish; S Linnane, D Burke (0-1), P Mannion; J Cooney (0-1), R Glennon (0-1); B Concannon, C Fahy (0-2), C Mannion; C Whelan (1-4), K Cooney, E Niland (0-8, 0-7f) Subs: T Monaghan (0-3) for Glennon (49), C Cooney for Concannon (55), J Flynn for K Cooney (62), F Burke for McInerney (64), L Collins for Fahy (70).
Tipperary: R Shelly; M Breen (0-1), E Connolly, D McCormack; B O’Mara, R Maher (0-1), C Barrett; C Stakelum, A Tynan (0-2); S Kennedy (0-2), J Forde (0-10, 0-8f), N McGrath; J Morris, S Callanan, M Kehoe Subs: G O’Connor (0-1) for Callanan (ht), C Bowe for Kehoe (ht), Johnny Ryan (0-01) for Stakelum (50), J McGrath (1-0) for N McGrath (53), Jack Ryan for Tynan (70).
Ref: J Keenan (Wicklow).
Clare 5-26; Dublin 2-17
Dublin had a big enough challenge in facing Clare without Tony Kelly deciding to cut loose and score 3-4 as Brian Lohan's team dusted themselves down following their heartache against Limerick in the Munster final to get their MacCarthy Cup ambitions back on track.
So far this year, they have been the form team when all things are considered and on Sunday they should have too much for a Kilkenny team patched together but still able to hurl to the big occasion despite operating with limited resources.
If there is to be redemption for the Banner, then Kelly will need to use this performance as his template rather than the hot and cold showings he would be first to admit have been his lot so far this season.
His goals either side of the break left a game but outclassed Dublin team chasing shadows and without the injured Donal Burke, they had no firepower to match the slickness of their opponents front sextet.
And all this from Clare with John Conlon having to go off after suffering a head injury and Shane O’Donnell also injured while Conor Cleary, Aidan McCarthy, and David McInerney took no part due to on-going injury problems.
An 18-point victory under the circumstances shows how big the chasm in class was but even so, the game will help to fine tune the Banner boys without taking too much fuel from their legs.
Clare: É Quilligan; D Lohan, R Hayes, A Hogan; S Morey, D Ryan, J Conlon; R Taylor, C Malone (0-1); D Fitzgerald (0-4), T Kelly (3-4), S O’Donnell (1-2); I Galvin (0-2), P Duggan, M Rodgers (1-11, 0-5f) Subs: P Flanagan for Conlon (24), A Shanagher (0-02) for O’Donnell (40), D Reidy for Galvin (46), C Nolan for Hogan (58, temporary), P Crotty for Duggan (63), C Galvin for Taylor (65), S Meehan for Kelly (69).
Dublin: S Brennan; E O’Donnell (capt), P Smyth, D Gray (0-1); J Madden, P Doyle, C Burke; C Boland, M Grogan; C O’Leary, D Burke, D Power (1-0); P Crummey (0-3), C O’Sullivan (0-11, 0-10f), D Sutcliffe (0-1) Subs: F Whitely (0-1) for D Burke (8), C Donohoe for Madden (35), A Considine (1-0) for O’Leary (ht), S Currie for Boland (46), D Purcell for Power (60).
Ref: J Murphy (Limerick).
