Cork drawn against Derry in All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals

Game will take place at Croke Park next weekend

MON, 26 JUN, 2023 - 08:46

Cork drawn against Derry in All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals
Game will take place at Croke Park next weekend

( ECHO LIVE : DENIS HURLEY )

Cork will face Derry in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland SFC after the draw took place this morning on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland programme.

John Cleary's side and the other three winners of the preliminary quarter-finals - Mayo, Monaghan and Tyrone - were on one side of the draw, with the winners of the round-robin groups - Armagh, Derry, Dublin and Kerry - on the other.

With repeat pairings from the round-robin prohibited, Kerry could only face Monaghan or Tyrone and so that pairing was finalised first, with the Kingdom drawn against the Red Hands. Armagh and Monaghan came out together before Cork drew Derry, leaving Dublin-Mayo as the final pairing.

The games will take place at Croke Park next Saturday and Sunday, with the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee finalising details later on Monday. The seven divisional finals of the Cork Credit Unions Football League will then be scheduled so as not to clash with Cork's match.

It will be the first senior championship meeting of Cork and Derry since the 1993 All-Ireland final, which Derry won. Cork were forced to play much of the game with 14 players after the harsh sending-off of Cork's Tony Davis. Cork manager John Cleary scored 1-4 as the county beat Derry in the 1981 All-Ireland minor final.

In this year's Allianz Football League, a late fightback earned Cork a draw with the already-promoted Derry at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The Quarer Final Pairings for next weekends games are

CORK V DERRY ARMAGH V MONAGHAN KERRY V TYRONE DUBLIN V MAYO

RTE SPORT : MONDAY MORNING INTERVIEW WITH EAMON FITZMAURICE ( KERRY )

Dublin and Mayo are set for the latest chapter in their dramatic championship history having been drawn together in the All-Ireland quarter-final while Kerry will meet Tyrone in a repeat of the 2021 semi-final encounters.

Both those matches required extra-time with Mayo and Tyrone prevailing, and the quartet will be heading back to Croke Park this weekend for a spot in this season's last four.

There will be another big Ulster derby in store as Armagh and Monaghan will clash while the last quarter-final will see Derry lock horns with a resurgent Cork.

Reflecting on the draw on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, RTÉ GAA analyst Eamonn Fitzmaurice said that we could be in for a special weekend.

The Dublin-Mayo rivalry has been football's most prominent over the last decade or so with the pair serving up thriller after thriller with Dublin usually prevailing.

After Mayo's 2012 semi-final win, Dublin would go on to win four All-Ireland finals and two semi-finals between 2013 and 2020 with the 2015 semi-final and 2016 final requiring replays.

Mayo did finally earn a big win in the 2021 All-Ireland semi-final despite trailing by seven points in the first half.

Dublin have had a weekend off after topping their All-Ireland group while Mayo had to come through a hectic preliminary quarter-final with Galway on Sunday.

GAA President Larry McCarthy hinted on Morning Ireland that Kevin McStay's side would get a Sunday slot at Croke Park to give them an extra day to recover.

"A huge game obviously," he said of Dublin’s clash with Mayo.

"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 that Mayo-Galway yesterday, a huge team are going to be going out at the quarter-final stage."

"Dublin were sitting pretty this weekend watching events unfold," he added. "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."

This will be the ninth championship meeting of Tyrone and Kerry with the overall score evenly poised at 4-4.

Between 2003 and '08, Tyrone won three massive encounters – a semi-final and two finals – before Kerry won three in-a-row between 2012 and 2019 in what at times turned into a particulalry feisty rivalry.

It was Tyrone, after David Clifford had to retire injured, who won a dramatic semi-final two years ago and they went on to claim a fourth Sam Maguire title against Mayo.

They went close to exiting this season's competition in the group stages with Westmeath's John Heslin missing a last-gasp free to eliminate them, and they took advantage of that reprieve with a crushing win over Donegal in Ballybofey on Saturday.

"It was kind of written in the stars, wasn’t it?," said Fitzmaurice, who felt the full force of Mickey Harte's Tyrone as a player.

"For Tyrone, they always raise it for Kerry. They were impressive at the weekend [v Donegal] and in the league game earlier on in the year, it kind of turned their season around where they had a huge performance up in Omagh.

"Kerry are going to have a bit of a revenge factor in their minds, particularly for the players.

"It's a different management team [from 2021], but for the players they’re going to be keen to have another cut at Tyrone this weekend."

Monaghan and Armagh’s last championship clash also came in the 2021 campaign as the Oriel County edged a thrilling Ulster semi-final in the baking heat of Newry.

The Orchard County did edge a league match earlier this season, but they would end up plummeting into Division 2 while Monaghan performed to annual Houdini act to survive.

"Another very even contest again that anything can happen in," Fitzmaurice opined.

"They played earlier on in the year in the league where Armagh won narrowly that even by a point or two maybe, so there's nothing between the sides."

Derry’s clash with Cork will spark memories of the Oakleaf County’s sole All-Ireland success when they triumphed 1-14 to 2-08 in 1993, Seamus Downey with their goal.

Fitzmaurice is expecting the result to be the same even though Cork have earned impressive wins over Mayo and, most recently, Roscommon in the last fortnight.

"Cork have been going very well and they are coming with confidence but, look, I've fancied Derry for a long time. I fancy them to do big things for the remainder of the championship.

"I think they're going to take a lot of beating so I’d have a slight fancy for Derry in this one."

Fixtures will be confirmed on Monday by the GAA.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice was speaking to RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland