DUBS SET TO BENEFIT FROM CROKER DATES
like Dublin will now controversially get two home games in the new championship format, while every other team gets one. The reigning All-Ireland champions’ clash with Donegal, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, will be preceded by the match between the two qualifiers in their group – the winners of Armagh v Roscommon and Cork v Tyrone – games which form a double-header in O’Moore Park this Saturday. However, it’s the decision by the GAA to allow the clash between the Munster and Connacht champions go into direct competition with the tournament finale in Russia that has raised most eye-brows. The attendance also won’t be helped by the fact that Kerry and Galway are considered to be generally notoriously poor travellers at this stage of the summer. The other two teams in Kerry and Galway’s group will be decided this weekend in Navan. A re-vitalised Kildare will meet Fermanagh, the beaten Ulster finalists, on Saturday evening while Monaghan will be fancied to beat Laois at the same venue on Sunday afternoon. The winners of those two qualifiers will play the curtain-raiser to Kerry v Galway.