Finally, it’s time for the real business

Former Kerry footballer Eamonn Fitzgerald previews this weekend’s All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals

The real championship begins this weekend with preliminary quarter-finals. The pool games are over, thank God. From now until All-Ireland final day on July 30 it is straight knockout.

Table-toppers Dublin, Kerry, Armagh and Derry will all enjoy this weekend off. Kerry got a real lifeline when Cork surprised the high-flying Mayo, allowing The Kingdom to top their group. This is a Godsend for the Kerry management and players. With the games com- ing thick and fast, the danger of injury increases and particularly with the exceptionally, hot dry weather (even if the thunderstorms have eased the going). Kerry will not have a home game here in the Fitzgerald Stadium but await one of the winners of this weekend’s knockout games. Whatever happens, they won’t be playing either of the teams they have already encountered in the championship in the last eight.

Predictions

Galway v Mayo (Sunday 3pm) is the obvious choice for match of the weekend. Pádraic Joyce was very disappointed to lose last year’s final to Kerry, particularly with Shane Walsh in such scoring form. Mayo and Galway were flying early on but some weaknesses emerged in recent weeks.

Despite the superb performance by Mayo when they humiliated Kerry in the Park, my preference is Galway. Even McStay will not end the Mayo famine stretching back to the 1950s.

Donegal v Tyrone (Saturday 7pm) is also a local derby, and the Ulster teams don’t even need a local derby to ratchet up the intensity.

Tyrone are a better team in my opinion. Donegal did beat Kerry in the opening round of the league, but they have had terrible difficulties off the field. The county board are under scrutiny from Croke Park. Their manager resigned for personal reasons. They are poor scorers. Kerry would defeat a low scoring Donegal side, the originators of the blanket defence which is strangling the game of modern football. Home venue won’t be enough for Donegal. Kerry will not like to see Tyrone advancing. Meanwhile, Cork have been playing so well. They have been hammered by Kerry in recent years yet almost beat us recently.

I think the change of manager has benefitted Cork. John Cleary was a fine forward in his heyday and did great work with the Cork U20s for a number of years, but he was kept out of the senior job until this year Why? Sin scéal eile. This is not a bad Cork team and they badly want to get out of the shadow of kingpins Kerry. On paper the much-improved Roscommon should win, but I still give Cork the nod. That game takes place on Saturday at 2pm.

Kildare host Monaghan at 4.45pm on Saturday and this will be where you stick a pin in the list of horses for the Grand National.

Kildare have been consistently inconsistent this season, but still may have too much for a Monaghan team I saw in the Fitzgerald Stadium. They were missing certain players for that game, but their quality was poor.

Kildare are always a gamble but they get shaky vote of confidence from me.

Kerry Prepare

In the meantime, Kerry will get a much-needed rest and Jack O’Connor has most of his players back fit for action.

Paul Geaney will be fit for Croke Park. Gavin White was rested for the Louth game, giving him more recovery time. The All-Star is a key link man between defence and attack and his natural speed is invaluable.

Mike Breen was out with injury for so long that we tend to forget that he is still on the panel. He started at wing back in the rout of Louth, contributing an early goal. Paul Murphy, the star in the 2014 All-Ireland win, has been rejuvenated and has done well so far this season. Graham O’Sullivan is best-placed as a corner back instead of being at wing back. He is well able to go upfield but, unlike Tom O’Sullivan, he does not neglect the primary duties of a corner back. He closes the door behind him for those upfield linkages. Tom O’Sullivan leaves it open and flings away the key. Jason Foley has the pace to go forward but not at the expense of his primary role of guarding the central defence area.

Midfield is the Achilles heel of this team. I am surprised how little game time is given to Barry Dan O’Sullivan. I still believe the Dingle vet is a better prospect i lár na páirce than Jack Barry. The Kerry forwards revolve around the Clifford brothers and Seánie O’Shea. Strangely enough, the number of frees conceded by defenders inside the 45 has been reduced dramatically, so O’Shea is not the big scorer of previous years. The main scorer is David Clifford. Jack O’Connor can work as he wishes for the next week or so knowing his team should be close to full-strength for their first match in Croker in 2023.