Quarter Final Draw-no to advantage provincial winners

Gael85

Mayo manager James Horan made a very valid point about Quarter Final Draw.
1.didnt know until who his side would be facing until sunday
2.and then wait another day for game to be fixed

Surely the Quarter Final draw should take before the last 8 teams are known?Its no advantage for provincial winners waiting around 3/4 weeks for game and then only find who there playing next 5 days before a game.I know the Armagh/Wicklow reply meant games had to be delayed but surely GAA sholud of started qualifers for round 1&2 earlier to avoid fixture congestion.Like Antrim lost preliminary game and had wait then 6 weeks for qualifers and Derry lose provincial final and have game 6 days later

corny

Add to that. Last year all 4 provincial winners lost their Quarter final. I'm nearly sure that if you go back in history the qualifiers generally have the advantage at the quarter final stage too. If i was an inter county manager i'd wonder is it worth winning a provincial title. Fixture list is ****ed but nothing is going to change.

wow sierra

I imagine they wait as long as possible so they know the qualifier teams, and therefore which pairings can't happen. Because they keep beaten finalists away from winning finalists they need to do this. I suppose if they didnt have to worry about this the entire draw could be done at the beginning of the year.

To be honest I reckon Mayo's biggest problem is having to play Cork and not the timing of the draw.

As regards not being worth winning your province - there are only a very few teams in the country for whom winning your province isn't a huge huge deal - ask Donegal!! I suppose the likes of Kerry Cork Dublin and Tyrone might not be bothered - but outside of that. Most teams have very little chance of winning the All Ireland but most have a hope of winning the province and thats what they dream of.

Syferus

The second compliant is just filler - everyone who isn't blind knows all quarter-finals will be in Croke Park.

bm1993

For teams who don't have a realistic chance of winning the AI or teams who don't usually win their province then winning a provincial title is great. However I think it is a disadvantage for teams like Cork Kerry Dublin Tyrone who want to win Sam to win their province, the lack of match practice being the problem. I am very confident that 3 of the qualifiers will win their quarter with Kerry being the exception

traecy1

Yes, interesting to note that since the qualifiers were introduced in 2001, there has never been a year where all 4 provincial winners qualified for semi finals. Here are the provincial winners who have appeared in the semis.

2001: 2 Kerry, Meath. Tyrone lost to Derry. Roscommon lost to Galway
2002: 3 Dublin, Armagh, Cork. Galway lost to Kerry
2003: 2 Tyrone, Kerry. Laois lost to Armagh. Galway lost to Donegal.
2004: 2 Kerry, Mayo. Armagh lost to Fermanagh. Westmeath lost to Derry.
2005: 2 Kerry, Armagh. Dublin lost to Tyrone. Galway lost to Cork.
2006: 3 Dublin, Mayo, Cork. Armagh lost to Kerry.
2007: 2 Kerry, Dublin. Sligo lost to Cork. Tyrone lost to Meath.
2008: 1 Cork. Dublin lost to Tyrone. Armagh lost to Wexford. Galway lost to Kerry.
2009: 2 Tyrone, Cork. Dublin lost to Kerry. Mayo lost to Meath.
2010: 0 Tyrone lost to Dublin. Kerry lost to Down. Roscommon lost to Cork. Meath lost to Kildare.

Certainly Connacht seems to be the weakest link. Only twice (Mayo in 2004 & 2006) have the Connacht Champions qualified for semis. On the other hand Munster's champions have only failed to make the semis once (Kerry in 2010).

Panrich

Another advantage handed to Kildare and Cork this weekend is a recent runout at HQ.

traecy1

Only 4 times in the 10 seasons of the qualifier system has a provincial winner won the All Ireland. Armagh in 2002, Tyrone in 2003, Kerry in 2004 and 2007. So only once in the last 6 seasons has a provincial winner been crowned All Ireland Champions. Makes you wonder how different things would have been pre 2001 if there had always been qualifiers.