TIME TO SOW THOSE SEEDS FOR SUMMER
KARL O’KANE
TODAY at 3pm the trajectory of the season will become a lot clearer with some big counties anxiously awaiting the All-ireland football championship draw.
Chief among those are Derry, who despite winning Division 1 of the League are a third seed.
From apparently being well in ‘the big three’ to going to a third seed, which places you somewhere between 9th and 12th in the country, again illustrates the unfair and ridiculous provincial imbalances that exist.
And with the third seed traveling to meet the first seed in Round 1 of the All-ireland, there’s a 50 percent chance Mickey Harte’s (inset) side may have to go to Dublin or Kerry to open their campaign.
A trip to Croke Park would be particularly difficult with Dublin gunning to avenge their penalty shoot out League final defeat by Derry.
Monaghan – an All-ireland semi-finalist last year, like Derry – are another side handicapped by the Ulster Championship.
They lost out to Cavan in the Ulster preliminary round and are also a third seed.
The top eight seedings are taken by the eight provincial finalists.
Roscommon and Tyrone are the other third seeds.
All four of them finished above second seeds Clare and Louth in terms of final league placings.
It’s likely that Clare will lose to Kerry in next weekend’s Munster final, and the same goes for Louth the following weekend against Dublin.
Louth or Clare would be viewed as a better draw for the third seeds – and everyone else – than Galway or Mayo, or Donegal or Armagh, and thus give them a better chance of finishing higher in their group.
Derry are the third seed team to avoid, although Tyrone may not appeal to a lot of sides either.
Cork are probably the most dangerous fourth seed team, and one the others would prefer to miss out on ahead of Meath, Cavan and Westmeath.
With three teams qualifying out of each group, it’s unlikely any big guns will fall in the group stages. But the importance of the final place finish was shown last year.
By finishing first the second tier of counties hoping to challenge Dublin and Kerry are far more likely to avoid football’s big two in the All-ireland quarter-finals, and possibly the semifinals as well.
That’s how it went for Derry last year as they won Ulster, topped their group, avoided Dublin and Kerry and ended up meeting Cork in the All-ireland quarter-finals.
The year before winning Ulster meant Derry didn’t come across Dublin or Kerry in the quarter-finals, instead facing Clare.
Meanwhile, a top two finish means sides face a far less hectic programme of games, which is critical in the race for the Sam Maguire.