Final games of SFC round-robin format will be more fun than a piñata at a children's party

Irish Times

2 days ago

It's time to mention the J word.
No, not Jimmy's winning matches again. Or Joyce's Galway salvaging a draw from the clutches of championship elimination. Or Jarly Óg kicking points against the Dubs in Croker.
No, the J word. Jeopardy. You wanted it, you got it.
The final round of games in what is to be the last iteration of this All-Ireland senior football championship round-robin format will be stuffed with as much excitement as a piñata at a kids' birthday party.
READ MORE
The permutations and possibilities at play for the round-three matches in two weeks are a number-cruncher's fantasy – for peril awaits behind the gates of all the neutral venues that will host these fixtures.
Armagh
, the 2024 All-Ireland champions, are safe.
Kerry
, the 2025 All-Ireland favourites, are also safe.
Monaghan
,
Down
and
Meath
are also assured of a place in the knock-out stages.
For the remaining 11 teams, a plethora of outcomes remain on the table. Mostly, though, the dice will be rolled for progression or elimination.
This format in which three teams from each group progress has generated justifiable criticism, but there is no denying the shake-out leaves so much up for grabs in the last round of games.
Group one is as tight as a sailor's knot. All four teams –
Donegal
,
Mayo
,
Tyrone
,
Cavan
– are tied on two points. In the final round of matches Donegal will play Mayo while Tyrone face Cavan.
'It's a huge game, absolutely huge,' Jim McGuinness, the Donegal manager, said when asked about the prospect of facing a previously dead but now resurrected Mayo side.
That 'huge game' won't be an outlier. There will be knock-out football taking place all across the four groups in a fortnight.
Take this season's group of death, group four.
Galway
, last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists, were on Sunday within seconds of becoming the only team with nothing left to play for in the competition.
Had they succumbed to
Derry
at Celtic Park, coupled with Armagh's victory over
Dublin
, the Connacht champions would have been cut adrift from finishing in the top three. With Derry and Dublin playing in the final round of games, even a Galway victory over Armagh wouldn't have been enough to overtake Derry or the Dubs because of their head-to-head record.
But Matthew Tierney's late goal has kept them alive, for now. Derry did subsequently get back down the field where Conor Doherty kicked an equaliser, but having hung over the cliff edge for so long in Derry, Galway were relieved to accept the salvation of a draw.
Derry's Diarmuid Baker and Galway's Robert Finnerty at Celtic Park on Sunday. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/INPHO
'Gladly take a point there the way we played in the game, to be honest,' Galway manager Pádraic Joyce said afterwards.
'Fair play to Derry, we knew they were going to bring a big fight and they did, they were really good.
'And I'm delighted to get out with a point because if we didn't get a point we'd be out of the championship, so at least we have something to play for in the last game.
'We're in the toughest group in it, there's no doubt about that. If we're not good enough to come out of the group we're not good enough to go on and do whatever we want to do in our own heads.'
With Armagh (four points) already qualified, one wonders does manager Kieran McGeeney now rotate his squad? The game might be a repeat of last year's All-Ireland final, but it's a match for which the stakes are much greater for Galway than they are for Armagh. Galway have just one point after two games.
And what now of the Dubs (2pts)? Derry (1pt) have shown signs of life again during this round-robin series. For both teams, everything is on the line in two weeks.
'That's the challenge for us now,' Dubs manager Dessie Farrell said. 'We're into knock-out football at this stage and that was always coming, maybe two weeks earlier than we would have liked.
'But that possibility was always there, so we're in it now and we just need to put the best foot forward and embrace the challenge.'
As for group two, Kerry (4pts) will play Meath (3pts) in their final match while
Roscommon
(1pt) and
Cork
(zero points) will fight it out to see who joins them in the knock-out stages.
In group three, Down (4pts) and Monaghan (4pts) will face off in a straight shoot-out for top spot. The carrot for the four table-toppers is direct advancement to the All-Ireland quarter-final stages, which comes with the added prize of a week's break after the round-three matches.
The second and third-placed teams will play a preliminary quarter-final that weekend – meaning the successful sides there must deliver three weeks on the trot.
At the other end of group two,
Louth
(zero points) and
Clare
(zero points) will contest an elimination match – winner stays on, loser goes home.
Cavan suffered the heaviest defeat of any team over the weekend, a 19-point hammering, yet because of their surprise victory over Mayo two weeks ago they too remain standing
'Look, we live another day,' Cavan manager Raymond Galligan said. 'We have two weeks to get ourselves prepared. And, you know, so much is still possible.'
Isn't that the truth.