Sunday Qualifiers July 31st

'Not very excited today'

I'm heading to Croker now but I'm not too excited. The bookies have Kerry favoured at +9 and Cork at +5. I think both matches could be much worse. The Kerry panel is the best its been all year with Paul Galvin making his first start of the year and Tomas O'Se returning from suspension. They are going to crush Limerick. The Cork match might be a bit closer but I don't expect a real challenge from Mayo. Then again, I've only seen Mayo once this year and the conditions were awful. I'm going to put on a handful of bets just to keep it interesting. I suggest you do the same.

Qualifiers - Saturday July 23rd

'We're going to Croker!'

This is a great weekend for football with some interesting clashes. The Croke Park double-bill is a hot ticket as first Derry take on Kildare followed by a rematch of the last year's All-Ireland Final with Cork v. Down. The other two matches are Tyrone v. Armagh and Wexford v. Limerick. The winner of the Tyrone v. Armagh match has a meeting with Roscommon the following week to determine the last spot of the final eight.  Let's take a look at the match-ups...

Overheard in the Snug: March 6th

Wanna snuggle?

A quiet week in inter-county Gaelic football as the National League has only one fixture. The Sigerson Cup, which is the university tournament, was decided this weekend. A big congratulations to the UCC team. They came together and beat teams from UUJ and UCD which consisted of much better known inter-county players. It was a great example of how cohesion and teamwork are more important than individual stars. Great work from the young group. My topics for the week...

Lazy Sunday Thoughts

I have a few thoughts I thought I'd mash into a single post this afternoon before the start of the County Championship Final in Kerry at 3pm. (Big 'Thank You' to TG4 for carrying the Austin Stacks v Dr. Crokes match)

Match Predictions: 24 July 2010 - Round 4 Qualifiers

Monaghan v Kildare  Verdict: Kildare
Monaghan will get back to their fast-paced attacking style after running into a brick wall wearing a Tyrone jersey last week.  Monaghan have to be questioning their quality and Kildare are just the side to match them score for score and finish them off in the end.  I was impressed with Kildare's win over Derry last week.  They fell behind 1-02 to 0-0 early but composed themselves and the match ended in a lopsided beating.  Of course, Derry self-destructed this summer with internal personality problems but that is another story.

Dublin v Louth  Verdict: Dublin
Dublin all the way.  Louth may have gotten robbed by that horrible mistake v Meath but their fragility was exposed in that match.  Croker is going to be rockin' and the baby-faced Louth squad will be overwhelmed.  I don't think Dublin are particularly good this year.  I just think Louth are the weakest team left in the qualifiers.

Limerick v Cork  Verdict: Cork
I would pick Limerick against any other team in the qualifiers.  I have been impressed by their balanced but aggressive play.  John Galvin is a beast in midfield and really exposed the weakness of the Kerry 8 & 9.  At the end of the MFC against Kerry, if a few kickouts didn't somehow find their way to the immobile Micheál Quirke, Limerick may well have won that match.  Still, Cork are just too good not to pick them to win.  They have the strength and skill to make it to the final again.   

Sligo v Down  Verdict: Down
I like Down in this one.  Sligo are reeling from their loss to Roscommon and don't have the physical strength to match up with Down.  Benny Coulter should have a big day provided the rest of the team feed him the damn ball.  Sligo's finesse will be slowly beaten out of them and the tank will be empty in the last 10 minutes when they need it most.