Donegal handed short straw as Dublin’s path to final is clear

One side of the Quarter and Semi-final draws for the All-Ireland Football Championship looks really tough, while Dublin look like they may dominate the other after the draw was made last night

Donegal, despite their impressive of Ulster-final win, seem to have drawn the short straw and will face rejuvenated Kerry, fresh from beating long-term rivals Tyrone last week. The winners of that sure-to-be-hard-fought encounter will have to do it all over again and face the winners of Cork and Kildare.

The rebel county steamrollered their way to a Munster title, while Kildare despite some inept showings in Leinster have since overcome Cavan, Limerick and Sligo in the qualifiers, though Conor Counihan’s men definitely represent a step-up in class for the Lilywhites.

All four of the counties in that side of the draw would be rated as four of the top five teams in the country.

Meanwhile the other member of the top five, the All-Ireland champions Dublin, will have to beat Laois in their quarter final, the O’Moore County men secured a shock quarter final berth having beaten the Leinster final runners-up to Dublin, Meath by 1-15 to 1-12 in the shock upset of the day.

Dublin will fancy their chances to reach a second consecutive All-Ireland final, the winners of Dublin versus Laois will face the winners of Mayo and Down. Down were hammered by Donegal in their Ulster final match, while Mayo, despite the shock departure of Conor Mortimer.

It’s a draw of two halves, but as Laois proved yesterday with their shock win – don’t take anything for granted, especially now we’ve reached the business end of the Championship season.

All-Ireland Quarter-Final draw

Cork v Kildare 
Dublin v Laois 
Donegal v Kerry 
Mayo v Down

All-Ireland Semi-Final draw

Cork/Kildare v Donegal/Kerry 
Dublin/Laois v Mayo/Down