Dates for 2008 Championship games

[Mickmack]

Master plan could mean Dubs have to share Croker
By Colm Keys
Wednesday October 31 2007


The four All-Ireland football quarter-finals will be held on the one August weekend in 2008, the GAA have announced.


The central fixtures master plan was released yesterday detailing dates for the All-Ireland U-21 semi-finals and finals, the three qualifier rounds and the All-Ireland quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals for the coming year.

In recent years the All-Ireland quarter-finals have been played over successive August weekends but with the dates for the qualifiers put back by two weeks, the quarter-finals have now been compressed into the weekend of 9/10 August.

That lack of flexibility could cause problems if Dublin are involved at that stage of the competition as they have traditionally been a stand-alone Croke Park fixture.

Committed

The GAA are not committed, however, to staging every All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park, even though it is the preferred option.

Teams beaten in the provincial championships will have a longer summer by two weeks at least, as the date for the first round of qualifiers is Saturday/Sunday 19/20 July.

This year the first round was played over the weekend of 7/8 July.

The second round will be played a week later (26/27 July) with the third round on the Bank Holiday weekend Saturday/Sunday/Monday 2/3/4 in August.

The All-Ireland football semi-finals will take place on Sunday 24th and Sunday 31st August with the All-Ireland football final on Sunday 21 September.

Counties who remain in Division 4 of the NFL after the 2008 campaign will be automatically re-routed to the Tommy Murphy Cup, unless they reach their provincial decider.

2008 Central fixtures

Saturday, April 19: All-Ireland under-21 FC semi-finals (Ulster v Leinster, Munster v Connacht).

Saturday, May 3: All-Ireland under 21 FC final.

Saturday, July 12: preliminary qualifier if necessary (in the event that a county from Division 4 reaches their provincial final).

Saturday July 19: round one qualifiers.

Saturday July 26: round two qualifiers.

Sat/Sun/Mon August 2/3/4: round three qualifiers, Tommy Murphy Cup final, All-Ireland MFC quarter-finals.

Sat/Sun August 9/10: All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Sunday August 24: All-Ireland semi-final (Connacht v Munster).

Sunday August 31: All-Ireland semi-final (Leinster v Ulster).

Sunday September 21: All-Ireland final.

- Colm Keys

[austinstacksabu]

So are the round one and round two qualifiers sudden death play offs essentially?

[Mickmack]

www.gaa.ie/page/fixtures_june_2008.html

The Munster football final is set for the 29th June 2008.
The winners will play the quarter final on the 9/10 August.

Yes folks........... another 6 weeks gap.

Another nervous quarter final beckons for the winners of the Munster Championship...... staleness will have set in.

This could be the greatest threat to Kerrys bid for 3 in a row.

[betfairking]

This is the earliest Munster Football Final ever. The latest date for it I can remember was in 1998 which was the 2nd of August but there was no qualifiers then. 6 weeks is just too long no matter how good the team is. They really struggled to find their stride against Monaghan. The other alternative is to take things easy in Munster!!!

[falveyb2k]

Christ are the GAA going out of their way to make things harder for us? Last year Tyrone played their Ulster final after our Munster final and their quarter final before our quarter final which was ridiculous. Now for the upcoming championship this hurdle will be put in our way again when there's no need for it. Pure stupidity and it only hurts Munster football

[osama]

Ive the 22nd of september booked off already

[kerrygold]

whats the hurry in starting the munster championship,theres an opportunity there to call they own own shot,no point in hanging around next summer again like spare p****s.

[Mickmack]

TV schedule dictates no doubt

[MrRasherstoyou]

Grand, if we are in the quarters I'd be delighted with a double-header at Croker, get to see potential opponents
I would prefer a quarter oustside Croker for a chancge, for Dublin, but also I feel it makes alot of sense to share them round the many big grounds, and give folks who cant travel so far a better chance to see the game

Shocked by the plan to have qualifiers 3 weeks in a row? Does this mean the provincial losers get a 2-week break before the qualifier?

[kingdomkerry]

If you win your province you should have a home quater final. It is the only way to even up the disadvantage teams have when they win their province (6 week gap=rusty)

[Mickmack]

mickmack said:

www.gaa.ie/page/fixtures_june_2008.html

The Munster football final is set for the 29th June 2008.
The winners will play the quarter final on the 9/10 August.

Yes folks........... another 6 weeks gap.

Another nervous quarter final beckons for the winners of the Munster Championship...... staleness will have set in.

This could be the greatest threat to Kerrys bid for 3 in a row.

if kerry win the munster final in 2008 they will have a 6 week layoff till the quarter final as already stated.

the county board know this................ so............. is there any reason why county championship games couldnt be pencilled in for the 6th, 13th 20th and 27th july.

That would allow two weeks break to the quarter finals.

Kerry were ring rusty against monaghan and were nearly caught. Surely playing the county championship would be worthwhile during the 6 week interegnum.

If kerry lose the munster final and have to play a qualifier it wouldnt take much to rearrange things.

Playing the county final in november is not ideal.

It could have been messy if a club were in the final as their participation in the munster club championship would have been compromised.

any takers

[austinstacksabu]

None whatsoever - if the manager is happy to release them, but this year, it's when Kerry did their hardest training - the clubs won't have time for the county players to train with them and will get fellas who are weary.

But I'm all for it.

[kerrygold]

jack o connor spoke in his book something along the lines about dreading releasing the players back to the clubs for club games,he said they lost the edge/sharpness while training with the club for club games and it took a week to 10 days to get them back up to speed.

i cant imagine the clubs going into a championship matchs on a sunday without having the players for the previous week.

[Mickmack]

kerrygold said:

jack o connor spoke in his book something along the lines about dreading releasing the players back to the clubs for club games,he said they lost the edge/sharpness while training with the club for club games and it took a week to 10 days to get them back up to speed.

they didnt look that sharp against monaghan in all fairness

[kerrygold]

mickmack said:

kerrygold said:

jack o connor spoke in his book something along the lines about dreading releasing the players back to the clubs for club games,he said they lost the edge/sharpness while training with the club for club games and it took a week to 10 days to get them back up to speed.

they didnt look that sharp against monaghan in all fairness

ya but look how sharp they were against against dublin and cork,with the way the championship is laid out kerry would have laid serious foundations duing that 6 week period to peak at the end of august to mid september.

i dont think yo could get away with a massive 4 week disruption like during the business end of the championship.Its goes back to the same old arguement of county players trying to serve two managers and being in two places at the same time.

[dstar10]

sure after d dublin game management and players were talking about how d real hard training coming up to d monaghan match stood to them. it was a risk but it turned out to b spot on.

[kerrygold]

Has anybody else noticed the unbalanced reporting by martin breheny about kilkennys and kerrys championship prospects.

He never misses an apportunity to have a snipe at kerrys run to the all-ireland final and their perceived so called handy run,this dispite the fact that both all-ireland finalists came out of munster this year and had to play each other twice.

take a look at todays indo and see what i mean,its all nicey nicey towards kilkenny and cody,i'd hate to have to read his articles if kerry had kilkennys run to the final,no contest at provencial level and a straight run into the all-ireland semi after.

it just makes you wonder,a bit of balanced fair reporting would be appreciated, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mickmack]

Breheny is singing that tune for 30 years............ i first read it in 1979

[Mickmack]

kerrygold said:

mickmack said:

they didnt look that sharp against monaghan in all fairness

ya but look how sharp they were against against dublin and cork,with the way the championship is laid out kerry would have laid serious foundations duing that 6 week period to peak at the end of august to mid september.

i dont think yo could get away with a massive 4 week disruption like during the business end of the championship.Its goes back to the same old arguement of county players trying to serve two managers and being in two places at the same time.

maybe you are right. A shrewd Dub was adament that kerry ere overtrained against monaghan and that dublin will bear the brunt of it.

i formally wish to withdraw my proposal in the interests of the 3 in a row bid!