Mayo v Derry the standout in a quartet of knockout Championship Football
Mike Finnerty | 19 June 2024
Both teams have had contrasting fortunes since their Allianz league meeting on St. Patrick's Day
Galway look to be too good
The chances of Galway having to play in an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final seemed highly unlikely when they led by five points after 54 minutes against Armagh last Sunday.
But the concession of a goal and a string of points down the home stretch means that Padraic Joyce’s squad now face the prospect of three games in 14 days.
On paper, Galway should extend their unbeaten championship run to seven games in Salthill on Saturday and qualify for the quarter-finals.
But Monaghan, who won their first championship game in four attempts against Meath, will feel they have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, which makes them dangerous opponents.
Rossies aiming to upset odds
The impressive nature and convincing manner of Tyrone’s second half display against Cork last weekend means that the 2021 All-Ireland champions are favoured to make home advantage count against the Rossies on Saturday in Omagh.
Brian Dooher and Fergal Logan will have been delighted with aspects of Tyrone’s third win of a topsy-turvy championship, with the contributions of the likes of Niall Morgan, Mattie Donnelly and Darragh Canavan all worthy of mention.
A lot will depend too on what Roscommon can bring to the table.
Davy Burke finally led his team to a championship win after a high-scoring shoot-out against Cavan, but that may be as good as it gets for him and his team this summer.
Derry down to last chance
The sands have shifted considerably since these two teams met in a Allianz League game in Castlebar on St Patrick’s Day.
Derry went on to win the Division 1 league title in thrilling fashion against Dublin before subsequently going on a losing streak that has been them lose to Donegal, Galway and Armagh in this championship.
In fact, their unimpressive four points win over Westmeath last Sunday was their first victory since they won that aforementioned Allianz League Final exactly two months ago.
All of which means that it’s going to be ‘now or never’ on Saturday evening in Castlebar for Mickey Harte and his team.
Mayo must find a way again
Had Mayo held out against Dublin last Sunday, they would have been able to go along and watch the prelim quarter-finals in peace this weekend.
Instead, Kevin McStay will be spending this week trying to rally the troops to go again as Mayo chase a spot in the quarter-finals for the 11th time in 14 seasons.
McStay will be hoping that his players will be able to recover physically and mentally from their exertions against Dublin, especially given the different sort of challenge that Derry from a tactical and concentration point of view.
Mayo will need all the experience they can muster to fashion the win they need.
Sunday's game is hard to call
The only one of the All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-finals being played on Sunday takes place at Inniskeen in Co Monaghan, which is Louth’s designated home ground at the moment.
Their manager, Ger Brennan, will only be delighted to have home advantage against a Cork team that had Tyrone on the ropes for the first half in Tullamore.
But John Cleary will have gone back to the drawing board this week to try and figure out where his team lost their way in the second half.
This is, arguably, the hardest of the weekend’s games to call and looks set to go to the wire.