SATURDAY 29 JUNE
Armagh v Roscommon, 4pm, Croke Park
Dublin v Galway 6.15pm, Croke Park
SUNDAY 30 JUNE
Donegal v Louth, 1.15pm, Croke Park
Kerry v Derry, 3.30pm, Croke Park
ONLINE
Live blogs on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Highlights also available across the weekend.
TV
GAAGO will broadcast Saturday’s action, with RTÉ One and RTÉ Player live for Sunday’s game, from 12.45pm. Highlights of all the weekend’s action on The Sunday Game, RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, from 10.15pm.
RADIO
Live commentary and updates throughout the weekend on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae.
WEATHER
Saturday: A damp, locally wet start with overnight rain and drizzle gradually clearing away southeastwards. Sunny spells will develop across the northern half of the country. Highs of 15 to 19 degrees in mostly moderate northwest breezes.
Sunday: Some showers will affect Ulster with showery rain arriving into Atlantic counties during the afternoon. Driest and mildest across the Midlands, South and East with sunny spells. Highest temperatures of 13 to 20 degrees, all in light to moderate westerly breeze. For more go to met.ie.
And so things get serious amid a season of much discontent
Overheard conversations from few GAA fans somewhere in the country, days out from these quarter-finals:
“Thank God, we’re down to the business end”, said one middle-aged man. Well, in fact he said another word in place of God, but it was far too crude to be published here.
Another individual, up a ladder painting a gutter, added: “I used to like these games on the August Bank Holiday, there was a bit more of a buzz about it. Still, should get a few good matches, but football is gone to the dogs, I’m afraid”.
Continuing the theme of not being pleased with what’s on view, a parish priest in the midlands, on his way to blessing the graves, remarked that many of those who’ll be blessed “played football the way it should be played”, but praised the likes of Dublin and Kerry for still “playing it the right way”.
A snapshot of the likely mood then as Croke Park plays host to a weekend where this much-maligned championship season cranks up a gear. The expectation is that over 100,000 souls will move through the turnstiles at GAA HQ; at last the famous venue may rock and then roll to a fitting soundtrack in this year’s championship of much discontent.
Four group winners – Dublin, Kerry, Donegal and Armagh – have had a week off. A much-valued period of quiet preparation. The other quartet – Galway, Roscommon, Derry and Louth – were worked to varying degrees last weekend. The squeezed season putting a greater requirement on how quickly the batteries will be recharged.
The group winners get the nod to advance, though you could not rule out a surprise or two, something to put a shudder in the perceived natural order.
Across ten meetings up to now, Galway have only beaten Dublin twice in the championship, the last of those wins came in 1934.
Lee Keegan: Rossies’ Carlsberg weekend and Armagh date with destiny
It’s 33 years since Roscommon last contested an All-Ireland semi-final and you have to go back to 1980 for the last time the Rossies won a championship match at Croker. They beat Armagh back then and it’s the sight of the orange jersey that faces them again in the first of the last-eight clashes. McGeeney’s men, so good against Derry, were then lucky to get the point they got against Galway. Much room for improvement then as Armagh eye a first semi since 2005.
Donegal and Louth facing off is a first in Sam Maguire combat. Louth, building on the work of Mickey Harte, are now a stage further than they were 12 months ago, under Ger Brennan.
And then Kerry-Derry; a repeat of the semi-final pairing from last year, the best game of 2023. Victory was there for the Ulster side, but they couldn’t grab it firmly. The brilliance and assuredness of David Clifford and Shane Ryan seeing the Kingdom through.
Timing, question marks, and sweet memories
On the weekend when Euro 2024 reaches its knockout stage, what has gone before may matter little as we near the conclusion. Hope for the likes of England then! Southgate’s side of much talent have been listless so far. You could, perhaps, equate them to Derry, that Derry that lost three games on the spin, an outfit that was particularly leaden-footed against Armagh. We thought the end was coming. They barely got past Westmeath, but last Saturday, they were more of their true self when accounting for Mayo after extra-time and then penalties.
It’s wasn’t quite the Derry we saw in the spring or the side that nearly reached last year’s All-Ireland final, but signs of life nevertheless – and the gung-ho approach that resulted in much calamity against Donegal and Armagh – seems to have been dispensed with – though it was full-back Chrissy McKaigue who fisted over the point that forced extra-time in Castlebar.
Speaking on The Saturday Game, Enda McGinley hailed the Oakleaf collective, elevating them to a team that will now be feared.
“The hole that they’ve been in; the attitude they showed today to turn that around, it’s purely the group,” he added.
💬 “Derry are a team to be feared from here on in”
Enda McGinley pinpoints how Derry were able to get vestiges of their old selves back in the win over Mayo
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“It’s purely the group within the dressing room, on that training pitch, up in Owenbeg, away from everybody, listening to all they’ve been listening to. They have got it together and have welded that circle tight. Whenever a team comes through a difficult spell they come out a different team and Derry are a team to be feared from here on in.”
So, can Harte’s men follow through on McGinley’s assessment of their current state? Can they play their part in the match of the weekend?
Derry challenge just what Kerry need – Fitzmaurice
Cork did ask a few questions of Kerry in the Munster semi-final, but since then they have had a comfortable run. And they are starting to score goals again after a late spring/early summer drought. All told against Louth the last day, they had 11 different scorers. There was a sense the Kingdom were starting to crank things up, in spite of the view within the county that there is too much bombing forward from defence. More care will be needed to counter Derry’s own running game and the in-form duo of Shane McGuigan and Lachlan Murray in attack.
Serving up a dish similar to last year’s offering will again satisfy all.
There are still questions as to whether Armagh can again show the levels that floored Derry. They regressed against Galway a fortnight later, letting the Connacht side dictate affairs in spite of playing with the breeze. What felt like a half an hour half-time break for the Orchard didn’t appear to stir them that much, that was until a Tiernan Kelly goal after a poor Galway kickout, sparked their revival. It would be somewhat kind to see they actually deserved a draw. Still, it was enough to get them this far and McGeeney’s men will be disappointed if they don’t go a step further.
Enda McGinley analyses how Roscommon got the better of Tyrone in their preliminary quarter-final
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— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 22, 2024
That said, Roscommon’s confidence will be up after repelling Tyrone’s late surge in Omagh. Murtagh, Cregg, Cox and Smith are scoring freely for the Rossies, the same combination that found the range with much aplomb the last time they played in Croker. Dublin would eventually push clear but Davy Burke and co will expect to be still in the mix going down the stretch.
And what of the side that came close to winning the whole thing two years? Pádraic Joyce’s Galway are not quite at the level they were at in ’22. Injuries haven’t helped but the sight of Damien Comer running onto the pitch just after half-time against Monaghan was welcomed.
It was far from vintage stuff against the Farney, with Paul Conroy the only real standout. Shane Walsh did go off injured but we believe it’s not too serious.
Comer’s return gives Galway a real focal point and he can create space for others to exploit. In defence, the side, bar that careless goal they gave away against Armagh, have kept the door shut. The test of keeping it shut against the Dubs is a harder task; dealing with the triumvirate of Kilkenny, Costello and O’Callaghan proves that.
Galway have shown a bit more grit this year, they’re up for the battle. The toughest task of the year awaits them.
It’s ten years since Donegal last reached an All-Ireland final, a decade on from the ‘ambush of Dublin’. Supporters no doubt dining on those memories. Jim McGuinness has returned and the side are winning silverware again. Jimmy has brought new life to Donegal. There was that blip against Cork, but the side are scoring heavily, with Ryan McHugh proving to be dynamo in his raids from wing back.
Ciaran Thompson, Patrick McBrearty and Oisín Gallen exert a dominance presence in attack.
They will expect to overcome the Louth challenge and reach a semi-final, just like McGuinness did in his first year at the helm in 2011. We’re unlikely to see ‘puke football’ if that materialises. Another ‘ambush’, perhaps?
As for Louth, it’s progression from last year, another step up on the footballing ladder.
Boss Ger Brennan is looking to limit Donegal’s shots at the posts, while hoping that his side’s scoring return can improve. The Wee County only chalked up 1-09 in the win over Cork.
Brennan told RTÉ Sport: “You’ve got to be getting mid 20s and close to 30 shots off, a lot of the Dublins and the Kerrys manage to do.
“They’re getting the shot to score ratio around 65% and Donegal are very good in their three games during the All-Ireland series, even going back to the Ulster final where it finished 0-20 apiece after extra-time.
“Cork got the three goals on them in round 2 but Donegal have been averaging 18 or 19 points in their last four championship matches to date so we know Donegal will be looking to hit something similar.
“If we can kind of get them down to the low teens, it would be a big achievement for the group from the view of getting a few more scores on the board in Croke Park and hopefully get out with the result.”
