Croke Park double header Saturday evening

itsalltrue

4pm Kildare v Derry
6pm Down v Cork

Should be a good days football. Hoping Kildare will have the better of Derry. I would hope they will have 3 or 4 points to spare if they can keep the defence as tight as Donegal did yesterday. The 2 Bradleys are a huge loss.

The other game should be good. As a Neutral not sure how it will go. Cork won't have played in a few weeks and Down are on a bit of a roll. The fact that it was so close last year should make this a good game.

DH2K9

Hard to call the attendance for this. I would expect nothing more than 40k

Mongarra

Cork have unfair advantage. Down will surely be tired after playing Kildare.

Seriously though, likewise I would like to see Kildare advance after their last couple of displays. I don't think Down improved much from last year and I fancy Cork to win.

As long as Wexford beat Limerick I don't really mind.

DH2K9

itsalltrue wrote: »

4pm Kildare v Down
6pm Down v Cork

Should be a good days football. Hoping Kildare will have the better of Derry. I would hope they will have 3 or 4 points to spare if they can keep the defence as tight as Donegal did yesterday. The 2 Bradleys are a huge loss.

The other game should be good. As a Neutral not sure how it will go. Cork won't have played in a few weeks and Down are on a bit of a roll. The fact that it was so close last year should make this a good game.

ha

df1985

Kildare will bring a good following to this,the whole of leixlip,celbridge and maynooth will be on the maynooth train to drumcondra, very handy for people to go. the rest im not so sure. Derry out of all 4 id imagine wont bring an awful lot.

Im confident of a Kildare victory based on the weekends win and derrys performance yesterday. 6 day turnaround, no bradleys, heads may have dropped.

Cork v Down. I wouldnt be shocked by a Down upset here. About time one of the big guns fell......


Quinns early doors

lukin

Being a Corkman it pains me to say this but I expect Down to come through. It's perfectly set up for them; they had a hard game against Clare which will have brought them on a ton and they just had a handy win against Antrim which boosted their confidence.
Add to that the fact that Cork are missing Ciaran Sheehan and don't have Nick Murphy, Derek Kavanagah or Colm O Neill to spring from the bench.
Down have to be favourites for this one.
The worst thing is after we get knocked out people will dismiss last years All-Ireland win as a one-season wonder.

keane2097

Any team that can claim to have had a hard game against Clare won't be a threat in the Championship.

Cork will beat Down comfortably, Down played well above themselves last year and have performed more to their level this year.

lukin

keane2097 wrote: »

Any team that can claim to have had a hard game against Clare won't be a threat in the Championship.

Cork will beat Down comfortably, Down played well above themselves last year and have performed more to their level this year.

I would consider the Clare game to have been difficult for Down; it's a long trip and Ennis is a tight pitch.

jamsieboy86

Great that it's in croker, so much handier than having to travel to Cavan, as was rumoured.

shiibata

keane2097 wrote: »

Any team that can claim to have had a hard game against Clare won't be a threat in the Championship.

Cork will beat Down comfortably, Down played well above themselves last year and have performed more to their level this year.

Totally agree, think Cork will win easy. Folk saying Down won easy against Antrim is rather misleading, Antrim were well in the game into the 2nd half, turning point was that they missed a good goal chance to go 2 or 3pts up when they were on top, Down then took their goal chance and Antrim heads dropped, Down blitzed them then.

dcr22B

jamsieboy86 wrote: »

Great that it's in croker, so much handier than having to travel to Cavan, as was rumoured.

Mad to think that Dublin hurling fans have had to travel more than Kildare's football fans this year

I think Derry would've stood more of a chance playing in Breffni or even Clones but Kildare will probably run amok in Croker and win by 4-6 points.

Think Cork will win the other qualifier with a bit to spare too.

tossy

Any word on the Kildare/Derry match being on TV as it looks like i'm working.

penexpers

tossy wrote: »

Any word on the Kildare/Derry match being on TV as it looks like i'm working.

Looks like only the Cork vs. Down match is on TV3.

roy rodgers

There only showing the cork V down on t.v...

ShamoBuc

The first match in Croker should be a tight enough affair with Kildare going through by about 5.
I expect Cork to win the second match as I think Down had their shot at glory last year and won't be able to take Cork over 70 odd mins - Cork by about 6, really glad it's on te box!

evo20

Cork and Kildare to progress further.

StupidLikeAFox

Its a longshot, but theres hardly anyone streaming it online?

baztard

Thats a bit of a ****ty draw for Derry. They get the 6 day turn around and they have to travel way further than their opposition. Unless they can somehow use all this to their advantage, they probably won't win on Saturday. Kildare by 3 or 4 points.

I'd love to see Down beat Cork. Cork are an excellent team but very beatable on the right day. This will be a cracker of a match I'd say. Down play a nice open fast attractive type game. Hopefully Cork won't fist pass the game to death though. Its a bit ****ty that one of these teams will be knocked out so early, they're both easily capable of progressing further had they not met such strong opposition in each other.

Expect half the crowd to be from Kildare, and the other half from Down. With a splattering of Cork fans and the odd deflated Derry supporter. 40k max attendance I say.

teednab-el

Should be very tight against Cork and Down, I would not like to call it. IMHO I think Cork should progress though, especially after what happened in the Munster final, they will want to put things right again. Cork should win by 2-3 points.

If Cork played Antrim last week they would have blitz them no doubt and Down struggled to do that until the very end of the match. But every match is different and Cork are certainly beatable on any given day.

Squareball2010

keane2097 wrote: »

Any team that can claim to have had a hard game against Clare won't be a threat in the Championship.

Cork will beat Down comfortably, Down played well above themselves last year and have performed more to their level this year.

Fair point but its all about what happens on the day and on any given day one team can beat the other whether its Clare Down or London Fermanagh! :cool: Down certainlty overperformed last year and had a tremendous run but they have gone backwards this year and havent really pushed on!! Cork however were absolutely appalling in first half vs Kerry and have now lost Sheehan a key fulcrum of their attack! Can see this being tight for 50 mins or so with Cork pulling away in last 20!!

Panrich

With the four provincial winners from last year all getting beaten, it seems a strange decision to hand the qualifiers from the backdoor the advantage of a recent Croke Park outing. I suppose that money is more important to the GAA than a level playing field.

bruschi

Derry are being completley screwed here. it may as well be a home tie for Kildare, fixing the game for croke park is ridiculous. and add in the 6 day turnaround.

jemser

6 day turn around is a disaster,its happened to Kildare a couple of times before and lost both times

jacko1

Down building up a head of steam and with a big crowd beind them could do it

Jaysoose

Squareball2010 wrote: »

Fair point but its all about what happens on the day and on any given day one team can beat the other whether its Clare Down or London Fermanagh! :cool: Down certainlty overperformed last year and had a tremendous run but they have gone backwards this year and havent really pushed on!! Cork however were absolutely appalling in first half vs Kerry and have now lost Sheehan a key fulcrum of their attack! Can see this being tight for 50 mins or so with Cork pulling away in last 20!!

What are you basing the bold part on out of interest they are improving every game! I dont get the whole down overperformed last year angle being thrown about aswell they beat two top teams on route in Kerry, Kildare and lost the final by a point after losing practically every kickout. Credit were it is due lads they are a good side and McCartan is doing good work up there.

You can play out of your skin for one match but to do it against the best teams in the country for a month means they must have something about them.

aidan24326

DH2K9 wrote: »

Hard to call the attendance for this. I would expect nothing more than 40k

There won't be anything near 40K. Derry will bring no support, and I don't see a big crowd travelling from Cork either. It will be mostly Kildare with a couple of thousand Down supporters thrown in. I'd say no more than about 25K max


As for the games themselves I can see Kildare winning comfortably.

In the second match Cork should win if they play to their potential, and Down have been very unimpressive this year. But Down love Croke Park and they have a habit of upping their game when they get there, so this is a very tricky draw for Cork.

LostBoy101

If Cork play up to their standard then I do see them going through but Down are no push over.

Kildare played very well against Meath and I see them beating Derry by a couple of points as Derry have a massive blow (Bradley brothers).

corny

Derry won't recover from Sunday and in fairness their hand passing game was made for Kildare. I'd be amazed if they win.

I'm not sure about the other game tbh. Cork might be vulnerable, Down might not be as good as last year. Its too easy to side with the favs so i'll go for Down to do to Cork what they did to Kerry last year.

barbarians

I think that Down are going to catch Cork on the hop Saturday evening.

They have been flying below the radar with unimpressive wins in the qualifiers but with three Championship wins under their belt they seem to be setting themselves up for a big performance and they could have no greater motivation than taking on Cork to try and avenge the defeat last year.

Cork meanwhile, have played only one serious Championship match and lost, not playing well in the process.

The match against Down will be Cork's first in three weeks while Down are coming off the back of three do-or-die qualifier matches.Also, the injuries Cork have sustained will hurt them and I firmly believe Down are waiting in the long grass for Cork and will defeat them in a perfect storm.

Down by 5 points.

---

As for Kildare and Derry, well the loss of the Bradley brothers, the disappointment of losing the Ulster Final and the short recovery time for Derry will mean a handy enough win for Kildare as they plough their way to the Quarter Finals.

Kildare by 8 points.

keane2097

barbarians wrote: »

I think that Down are going to catch Cork on the hop Saturday evening.

They have been flying below the radar with unimpressive wins in the qualifiers but with three Championship wins under their belt they seem to be setting themselves up for a big performance and they could have no greater motivation than taking on Cork to try and avenge the defeat last year.

Cork meanwhile, have played only one serious Championship match and lost, not playing well in the process.

The match against Down will be Cork's first in three weeks while Down are coming off the back of three do-or-die qualifier matches.Also, the injuries Cork have sustained will hurt them and I firmly believe Down are waiting in the long grass for Cork and will defeat them in a perfect storm.

Down by 5 points.

---

As for Kildare and Derry, well the loss of the Bradley brothers, the disappointment of losing the Ulster Final and the short recovery time for Derry will mean a handy enough win for Kildare as they plough their way to the Quarter Finals.

Kildare by 8 points.

Good post.

I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion about the Cork Down game but it's certainly food for thought ahead of the week's betting. TY.

JohnnyBomb

Anyone know wheter there going to open the hill or not? pretty pointless i feel not opening it for the game, brings a much better atomsphere to the occasion! think its crazy people saying its unfair on derry to have to play in croker when really any team should be delighted to play there. i know its a far trek down but sure over the years kildare support has been brilliant when we've had to travel up north or down south! its up to there fans to show their team support

K-9

JohnnyBomb wrote: »

Anyone know wheter there going to open the hill or not? pretty pointless i feel not opening it for the game, brings a much better atomsphere to the occasion! think its crazy people saying its unfair on derry to have to play in croker when really any team should be delighted to play there. i know its a far trek down but sure over the years kildare support has been brilliant when we've had to travel up north or down south! its up to there fans to show their team support

Derry generally don't get great support, GAA isn't that strong in the City though they are making strides there, it's more in the South of the County, plus you've a section of the population who wouldn't really follow it!

JohnnyBomb

K-9 wrote: »

Derry generally don't get great support, GAA isn't that strong in the City though they are making strides there, it's more in the South of the County, plus you've a section of the population who wouldn't really follow it!

yeah i know i understand that there is not a whole lot of support in derry for the football. but i dont feel that means that it shouldnt be played in croker. look at even carlow a few weeks back who are a team who never get to play on the big days. talking there fans after they game they didnt care in the slighest just were delighted to see carlow playing the big occasions. I think derry players and support wont mind playing it in croker.

any idea if there opening the hill? think would kill some of the atomsphere not to have it open. does be a great day when the fans are mixed on the hill!

themossinator

barbarians wrote: »

I think that Down are going to catch Cork on the hop Saturday evening.

They have been flying below the radar with unimpressive wins in the qualifiers but with three Championship wins under their belt they seem to be setting themselves up for a big performance and they could have no greater motivation than taking on Cork to try and avenge the defeat last year.

Cork meanwhile, have played only one serious Championship match and lost, not playing well in the process.

The match against Down will be Cork's first in three weeks while Down are coming off the back of three do-or-die qualifier matches.Also, the injuries Cork have sustained will hurt them and I firmly believe Down are waiting in the long grass for Cork and will defeat them in a perfect storm.

Down by 5 points.

---

As for Kildare and Derry, well the loss of the Bradley brothers, the disappointment of losing the Ulster Final and the short recovery time for Derry will mean a handy enough win for Kildare as they plough their way to the Quarter Finals.

Kildare by 8 points.

Interesting. I think Cork have a bit to prove even though they are the champions, sure they were poor against Kerry but if that ball had gone in instead of hitting the post??

I think Down are a shadow of the team they were last year - Cork to go through

kerosene

Another week off for Down would have helped them a lot, Rodgers, Maginn. Rafferty and Hughes could do with an extra week rest. Might be enough to swing it Corks way. Remember Cork struggled to get past roscommon and limerick this stage last year

Carthy303

barbarians wrote: »

I think that Down are going to catch Cork on the hop Saturday evening.

They have been flying below the radar with unimpressive wins in the qualifiers but with three Championship wins under their belt they seem to be setting themselves up for a big performance and they could have no greater motivation than taking on Cork to try and avenge the defeat last year.

Cork meanwhile, have played only one serious Championship match and lost, not playing well in the process.

The match against Down will be Cork's first in three weeks while Down are coming off the back of three do-or-die qualifier matches.Also, the injuries Cork have sustained will hurt them and I firmly believe Down are waiting in the long grass for Cork and will defeat them in a perfect storm.

Down by 5 points.

---

As for Kildare and Derry, well the loss of the Bradley brothers, the disappointment of losing the Ulster Final and the short recovery time for Derry will mean a handy enough win for Kildare as they plough their way to the Quarter Finals.

Kildare by 8 points.

I can see why you came to the conclusion of Down beating Cork but I'm not sure about 5 points.I wouldn't be too shocked if Down did beat Cork but I would be if it was by more than a point or two.

Carthy303

JohnnyBomb wrote: »

Anyone know wheter there going to open the hill or not? pretty pointless i feel not opening it for the game, brings a much better atomsphere to the occasion! think its crazy people saying its unfair on derry to have to play in croker when really any team should be delighted to play there. i know its a far trek down but sure over the years kildare support has been brilliant when we've had to travel up north or down south! its up to there fans to show their team support

Doubt the hill will be open.Cant see a massive crowd travelling as both winners will be in Croke Park a week later,which is alright for Kildare fans but a bit of an expensive trek for Cork/Down/Derry supporters.Alternative venues would have been fairer but it comes back to the one thing that rules the GAA...greed,greed and more f***ing greed!

redarmy

hill is not open saturday;)

TopofSlemish

itsalltrue wrote: »

4pm Kildare v Derry
6pm Down v Cork

Should be a good days football. Hoping Kildare will have the better of Derry. I would hope they will have 3 or 4 points to spare if they can keep the defence as tight as Donegal did yesterday. The 2 Bradleys are a huge loss.

The other game should be good. As a Neutral not sure how it will go. Cork won't have played in a few weeks and Down are on a bit of a roll. The fact that it was so close last year should make this a good game.

I thought last year Kildare were the dark horses of the All-Ireland and although maybe not just as good this year they could yet sneak through to the final ... and win it!

TopofSlemish

Does anybody know if it would be safe enough to travel to Dublin without buying a ticket online and still get a father and son for 30 Euro ... the online tickets are now offering the bottom of the stands as far as I know ... what is the weather forecast?!

thefa

TopofSlemish wrote: »

Does anybody know if it would be safe enough to travel to Dublin without buying a ticket online and still get a father and son for 30 Euro ... the online tickets are now offering the bottom of the stands as far as I know ... what is the weather forecast?!

This ain't going to sell out so you'd be pretty safe. Ticketmaster has only been offering the bottom tier all week...I'd bet the top won't be open.

Why can't they at least take a fiver off the Hill 16 tickets instead of having them the same as any seat for these games? The canal end being the same price as the cusack and hogan has been another one they've never bothered seperating.

TopofSlemish

thefa wrote: »

This ain't going to sell out so you'd be pretty safe. Ticketmaster has only been offering the bottom tier all week...I'd bet the top won't be open.

Why can't they at least take a fiver off the Hill 16 tickets instead of having them the same as any seat for these games? The canal end being the same price as the cusack and hogan has been another one they've never bothered seperating.

Thanks

Carthy303

TopofSlemish wrote: »

Does anybody know if it would be safe enough to travel to Dublin without buying a ticket online and still get a father and son for 30 Euro ... the online tickets are now offering the bottom of the stands as far as I know ... what is the weather forecast?!

I have a ticket from Tickets.ie that they emailed me out because I have a season ticket.I cant travel now and Im willing to give the ticket away as long as somebody gets use out of it and my attendance record is kept up.Its for the lower Cusack if you're interested.

thefa

Carthy303 wrote: »

I have a ticket from Tickets.ie that they emailed me out because I have a season ticket.I cant travel now and Im willing to give the ticket away as long as somebody gets use out of it and my attendance record is kept up.Its for the lower Cusack if you're interested.

Me Please!

shiibata

Carthy303 wrote: »

I have a ticket from Tickets.ie that they emailed me out because I have a season ticket.I cant travel now and Im willing to give the ticket away as long as somebody gets use out of it and my attendance record is kept up.Its for the lower Cusack if you're interested.

If Down beat yez, can I have it for QFss, SF and Final pleeaasee..:)

Carthy303

shiibata wrote: »

If Down beat yez, can I have it for QFss, SF and Final pleeaasee..:)

I take it you dont know how a season ticket works then!

http://www.gaa.ie/tickets-and-merchandise/tickets/gaa-season-ticket/how-will-the-season-ticket-work/

penexpers

thefa wrote: »

This ain't going to sell out so you'd be pretty safe. Ticketmaster has only been offering the bottom tier all week...I'd bet the top won't be open.

Why can't they at least take a fiver off the Hill 16 tickets instead of having them the same as any seat for these games? The canal end being the same price as the cusack and hogan has been another one they've never bothered seperating.

Looks like the Hill won't be open for this game.

nedsgarden

On the way down from Derry today, cannot see much joy for either Ulster team today, anyway beautiful morning and croker is always a treat.

Games at a good time for pints after, cannot be bad !!!!

ShamoBuc

nedsgarden wrote: »

On the way down from Derry today, cannot see much joy for either Ulster team today, anyway beautiful morning and croker is always a treat.

Games at a good time for pints after, cannot be bad !!!!

Agree with all the above!!

teednab-el

Well Done Cork, great performance. We are back on track. Hopefully Goulding isnt out, we have enough injuries to good players as it is.

ShamoBuc

Savage performance from Cork - well worth their win and looked fairly impressive given the changes they had to make throughout the game - very happy camper!!