Dublin and Kerry plum pairing as heat turned up

KERRY and Dublin are set to clash in a standalone fixture in Croke Park in next weekend’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, after the counties were drawn together in the glamour tie of last night’s draw.

GAA chiefs will today release the scheduling details of the fixtures but with GAA President Christy Cooney intimating last Friday that every effort would be made to accommodate the huge demand for Dublin’s quarter-final tie, the clash looks set to be given prime billing on its own in Croke Park.

The other two quarter-finals for next weekend would then most likely be a double-header after All-Ireland champions Tyrone were drawn against Kildare while Cork were paired with Donegal.

The fourth quarter-final will not take place until the weekend of August 8/9 with Connacht champions Mayo facing the winners of next weekend’s Round 4 tie between Limerick and Meath.

Kerry’s trend of drawing low-tier counties in the qualifiers this summer ended last night as they now face the Leinster champions of the past five years in Dublin.

Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe admits it will be a game to savour.

“Kerry Dublin matches are always good games. There’s great rivalry between the counties and people will be talking this week about the great matches of the past between the two counties. It’s always something to look forward to. In the last couple of years, Kerry have done well in the games but it’s all to play for next weekend.”

Cork will face a repeat of their 2006 All-Ireland quarter-final clash against Donegal, which they narrowly emerged victors in by 1-11 to 1-10. Manager Conor Counihan is wary of the momentum Donegal have picked up in recent weeks with qualifier wins over Derry and Galway.

“They’ve a lot of momentum having won big games recently. They’ll take a lot of heart from those sort of wins. Any team in the last eight has to be respected and Donegal have plenty of experienced players who have been around before. A lot of our lads would have played three years ago and we’ll be expecting a tough battle again.”

Donegal boss John Joe Doherty believes his side face a difficult task.

“The truth is Cork are very highly tipped to go all the way. They’ve been closing the gap on Tyrone and Kerry a lot over the last few years. The reality is you’re not going to get any easy team at this stage and there’s no point complaining. We’ll look forward to it.”

All-Ireland champions Tyrone will put their crown on the line against Kildare, a side fresh from their Round 4 qualifier triumph over Wicklow on Saturday.

The counties have not met each other regularly in the championship in the modern era, but Kildare boss Kieran McGeeney will be hugely familiar with Mickey Harte’s team from his playing days with Armagh. Harte believes the McGeeney factor will be focused on.

“It’s at the stage where they are no easy draws and where there usually is some kind of connection between the teams. The link between Kieran McGeeney and ourselves is something that will be focused on but we know it’s going to be a tough test. They looked very impressive in the Leinster final and did well to carve out a result against Wicklow on Saturday night.”