Qualifiers Round 1

So the back door will open next Saturday evening with Down, Antrim, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Cavan/Donegal, Wicklow, Longford, Meath, Carlow/Louth, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, Clare, Tipperary, Sligo and London all looking for a second bite of the cherry.
Its an open draw and first team out have home advantage (unless they draw a team who were away in 2010 qualifiers)
Down, Meath and Laois will fancy their chances of progressing but who do people think will be the surprise package of the qualifiers? If Wicklow are in Aughrim, they will fear no-one and Longford are a tough nut to crack in Pearse Park but will the wily Micko be leaving the Garden County next week? Or will Glenn head for pastures new? Sligo were beaten by a determined Leitrim side last day out and will hope to prove that last years wins over Galway and Mayo weren't just flashes in the pan. A more disciplined Monaghan would have beaten Tyrone last week.
Should be an interesting draw.

Down the one to avoid here. Monaghan too will hope to build up a head of steam in the back door - not much else around though Laois, Sligo and Meath will be hoping to spare their 2011 blushes with a good run.

Down are in disarray I thought. One Clarke has quit and the another was rumoured to be heading back Down Under.

To be fair, their All-Ireland final appearance last year had to be the biggest fluke in years. They were destroyed by Tyrone in the Ulster Championship and struggled past Longford and Offaly. I don't know what happened against Kerry and Kildare but they were freak results of epic proportions.

If Meath got a home draw, they would comfortably beat any team in the hat tonight. O'Moore Park would be a dangerous place to go.

Clare -vs- Down -> Clare at home
Laois -vs- Tipperary -> Laois at home
Westmeath -vs- Antrim -> Antrim at home
Louth -vs- Meath -> Louth at home (possible neutral ground as no ground in Louth capable of hosting this fixture)
London -vs- Fermanagh -> London at home
Cavan -vs- Longford -> Cavan at home
Wicklow -vs- Sligo -> Wicklow at home
Offaly -vs- Monaghan -> Offaly at home

Louth v Meath - it was sticking out a mile!!

Clare v Down
Laois v Tipperary
Westmeath v Antrim
London v Fermanagh
Cavan v Longford
Wicklow v Sligo
Offaly v Monaghan

Gardai on red alert..Meath/Louth could end up a war zone

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Clare -vs- Down -> Clare at home
Laois -vs- Tipperary -> Laois at home
Westmeath -vs- Antrim -> Antrim at home
Louth -vs- Meath -> Louth at home (possible neutral ground as no ground in Louth capable of hosting this fixture)
London -vs- Fermanagh -> London at home
Cavan -vs- Longford -> Cavan at home
Wicklow -vs- Sligo -> Wicklow at home
Offaly -vs- Monaghan -> Offaly at home

Loyal don't bring the car

Rumour going around Sludden to ref this 1

I don't see the fuss about Louth and Meath. Both teams are in woeful form.

Offaly vs Monaghan and Clare vs Down are far more attractive fixtures.

There was NO CHANCE that we weren't going to get Louth.. Joe's going to get killed and if any of them even think of touching Graham..... Well lets just say RoyalGirl won't be nice. Getting the helmet and stab proof vest ready.

Nothing to do with the football at all - as you say both are crap. But with what happened last year it has added spice. Could be a nil all draw. I wonder will they move it to Croker? Don't want it in Parnell - they'll wreck the gaff ....

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:I don't see the fuss about Louth and Meath. Both teams are in woeful form.

Offaly vs Monaghan and Clare vs Down are far more attractive fixtures.

Are you mad Loyal ..Meath/Louth is going to be the game of the year by a long shot so far...Its going to be a nightmare for the Gardai to police

I would guess it will be moved to Croker for safety

Clare -vs- Down - Down to win
Laois -vs- Tipperary - Laois to win
Westmeath -vs- Antrim - Westmeath to win
Louth -vs- Meath - you couldn't make it up. Meath to win with Joe Sheridan to score in the last minute
London -vs- Fermanagh - London to win
Cavan -vs- Longford - Longford to win a tight game by the minimal
Wicklow -vs- Sligo - Wicklow to win
Offaly -vs- Monaghan - Monaghan to win

They're going to kill us (the Louth supporters and the Meath supporters not the players). My mam has already said I'm not allowed go..

Some attractive ties there alright - none of them really stick out to me. 8 teams will just end up prolonging the inevitable.

The only Leitrim man to show any ball handling skills today was Mickey Quinn when he was doing the qualifier draw .....

Jayo Cluxton wrote:The only Leitrim man to show any ball handling skills today was Mickey Quinn when he was doing the qualifier draw .....

Never lost it. I think 'LOL' (????) is what one says.

Security alert For Breffni Pk

A Heavy Gardai presence will be in force for the meeting of Meath v Louth on saturday 25 June.It is hoped the two groups can be kept a part a spokesman for the force said only 5 people had been arrested for violent behavior towards a Referee in 2010. It will be the biggest Gardai effort in Cavan since the Culchie festival was founded.

The tension in Breffni will be serious.. Meath people shouting for Longford, then Cavan shouting for Louth, the referees both nervy, the danger of a few stones being thrown..

I'll be up for Cavan.

For the first time ever we are not in the first round of the qualifiers

I'm presuming that beaten provincial semi-finalists are drawn against the winners of these 1st. round series.
Given our luck, we'll probably get the winner of the Louth/Meath game.

It doesn't matter in any event, we've never won a qualifier yet and 2011 isn't going to change that.

Apparently they are expecting it to be so rough - on and off the pitch - that they have moved it to Ulster ....

"Down are in disarray I thought. One Clarke has quit and the another was rumoured to be heading back Down Under.

To be fair, their All-Ireland final appearance last year had to be the biggest fluke in years. They were destroyed by Tyrone in the Ulster Championship and struggled past Longford and Offaly. I don't know what happened against Kerry and Kildare but they were freak results of epic proportions. "

Loyal2theRoyal .......just what were you thinking (or drinking) when you wrote that?

1 - Yes John Clarke has left the panel. No I like John, he's a nice guy and has been instrumental in keeping the Down flame just about alive in our recent barren years. But he has been totally ineffective the past couple of seasons and is not a major loss in what is already a top quality Down attack.

2- Yes Martin Clarke is to return to Australia after this season. He is a major loss to both Down and Gaelic games as a whole. He is one of those rare talents but you should not forget that Down continues to produce fantastic playmakers and although none of them can be said to be better than Clarke, they will certainly step up to the plate. The loss of Clarke may also act as a rallying call for the team to up their performance levels. Who knows. But certainly, the loss of one player will not cripple a footballing county like Down.

3- Last year Down beat Donegal in the first round after an epic performance from DESERVING ALLSTAR Benny Coulter. They went to be tactically outsmarted by Tyrone in the Ulster semi final. The following night a meeting was held by disillusioned players and management in which, having watched the game again, concluded that they could have beaten Tyrone (and they could have) and decided not to drop the heads, but to get back to training. I watched them play Longford in horrible conditions in Newry and at no point did Down look like they were going to lose that game...against Offally they were shaky but the performance of Dan Gordon at full back brought a bit of confidence into the much maligned Down defence. They went on to utterly destroy Sligo.

4. "I don't know what happened against Kerry and Kildare but they were freak results of epic proportions. " --- This was my favourite line. I'll tell you what happened. Watch the Kerry game again and compare the workrate of the Down team with the workrate they displayed against Tyrone. Their tackling was intense but disciplined, DESERVING ALLSTARS Danny Hughes and Martin Clarke commanded the pitch while DESERVING ALLSTAR Brendan McVeigh was immense in goals. Paul McComiskey and Mark Poland waited to receive the ball against Tyrone and stood and watched as Justin McMahon ran about 60 yards down the pitch resulting in a crucial score for Tyrone when Down were dominating. Against Kerry the 'wee' Down forwards tackled and hassled just as intensely as seasoned defenders. They were the better and hungrier team. Against Kildare, a disputed goal masked Down's superiority in the game, they made better use of their periods of dominance When Kildare got their goal, Down half back Kevin McKernan immediately raced up the field to score a point. Kildare were wasteful while Down, who like Kildare were missing their inspirational midfielder Ambrose Rodgers, were efficient and ultimately more skilful. And in case you didn't watch the All-Ireland final, at the end of the first half Down were in control.....but horrendous substitutions (which were not authorised by James McCartan, and quite a lot of questions have been asked since about what exactly happened here) were made. Most, including myself, would agree that in the end Cork were deserving winners, but Down certainly had the chance to claim a 6th All-Ireland, losing by a mere point after all which owed a lot to the failings of the Down midfield without the presence of one of the most inspirational players in the county Ambrose Rodgers.


Down is a proud county, with a proud history. Getting to finals is no 'fluke' for Down. In 2010 the Down footballers were a great advertisement for the the game...there was no dirt, no blanket defences, no playacting....just pure football. That's why they came close to winning Sam, because they played football the way we tell our young lads how to play.

You're post on this thread as well as some of the others would indicate that we are dealing with a very delusional supporter here. Fair play to you.

I'm not going to make a habit out of arguing the obvious with a fan that is as biased as you. Down will do well to get a result in Ennis next week. Fine team and all that, I would even rate them on a level around that of Meath or Louth, but anything more is just getting carried away. Although I do agree that Down are a county with a lot of pride. But I think that sense of pride might be going to you're head.

Delusional? Not at all! You speak very confidently about Down's performances last year, but it would seem that you did not watch their games, nor did you take into account their underage careers. The majority of the players have won All-Ireland minor titles either in 1999 (Benny Coulter, Ronan Murtagh, Ronan Sexton, John Clarke) or 2005 (Peter Fitzpatrick, Marty Clarke, Conor Garvey, Kevin McKernan etc), and many of them were on the Down u-21 team that lost the All-Ireland final in 2009 when Cork got a goal with the last kick of the game. Very unlucky some would say.

So Loyal2the Royal....in your great wisdom and your completely non-delusional state.....you claim that a Down team that had been among the strongest in Ireland up through minor and u21 level cannot be seen to have fully merited a place in last year's run to the final?

Let's run that by you again....a team whose players, for the most part, already have All-Ireland medals at minor level and were very unfortunate to be denied U-21 medals in the dying seconds of that final too somehow 'freaked' their way to a senior All-Ireland final?

Obviously, as a non-delusional guy and true GAA expert, you knew all about the Down team's exploits at minor and U21 level (or maybe you should Google it now to spare your blushes). So.....given that, and my previous comment about Down's quality performances last year, how do you justify attributing Down's run last year to a 'freak'?

Go on, give me an 'unbiased' reasoning.