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The action takes place at Croke Park this weekend.
The All-Ireland Football Championship quarter-finals take place this weekend at Croke Park, with Derry facing Clare, Dublin against Cork, Armagh versus Galway and Kerry against Mayo.
The action gets underway with a double header this Saturday, stream live exclusively with a NOW Sports Membership.
Derry v Clare.
The first of Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-finals sees Derry face Clare at Croke Park. Coverage begins at 3:15 pm and stream live with a NOW Sports Membership.
Derry have been a sleeping giant for decades. Rory Gallagher, however, has not only woken the beast within the Oakleaf county but has tamed it, trained it and unleashed it.
After beating Donegal to become Ulster champions for the first time since 1998, no matter what happens in the rest of the season, 2022 will go down as an undeniable success for this team.
With Gallagher at the helm, however, they certainly won’t be resting on their laurels.
Derry could have been drawn against Mayo, Dublin, or Kerry. So, they would have been delighted to have drawn Clare, a side that would be deemed to be very much at their level.
Clare will be equally enthused to have drawn Derry and avoid the plethora of Division One teams that are also still in the hunt.
After an astonishing win against Roscommon, a side that beat Galway twice in the league and reached the Connacht final this season, the Munster team won’t fear anyone.
If you had said at the start of the season that Clare or Derry would have been in the semi-finals of the All-Ireland series, you would have been laughed at.
But credit to both of these teams as a place in the top four teams of the country awaits the winners. The throw-in is at 3:45 at Croke Park and stream live with a NOW Sports Membership.
Dublin v Cork
Immediately following the conclusion of Derry versus Clare, Dublin face Cork at Croke Park in the second half of Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-finals double header.
This Dublin team have crammed in about three years’ worth of transitioning into nine months. They went from the unbeatable, indestructible and unrelenting force of Gaelic football, to a team that some were saying are “past it” and disgruntled in the camp.
A disastrous start to their league campaign made the normally outstanding capital look less than average, and the knives were being sharpened for Dessie Farrell.
However, wins against the All-Ireland champions Tyrone and a run of form in the league saw headlines of “Dublin are back” be printed on the back pages. That was until a Jack McCarron miracle performance relegated the Boys in Blue to Division Two.
Now, following a summer training camp and the return of Con O’Callaghan, it really does seem like they’re back. Dublin have not just beat everyone who has stood in their way in Leinster, but they are streamrolling them like the old Jim Gavin teams would have done.
They look back to their very best, while Cork’s struggles on the pitch have been much more linear in the sense that they hit rock bottom, and gradually climbed their way back into contention.
A terrible start in the league made Division Three look like a very real possibility for The Rebels, but a run of form and then a very impressive outing against Kerry in Munster has rejuvenated the team.
With some wins in the qualifiers under their belt, they are in as good a position as they would ever have been to play the mighty Dubs. But you would still have your money on Hill 16 being the happier set of fans after the game.
Stream Dublin v Cork live in the All-Ireland Football Championship quarter-finals with a NOW Sports Membership.
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