Cork to face Tyrone in round four of the qualifiers

GAA president confirms that home advantage will be respected in the Super 8s

Mickey Harte’s Tyrone are one game away from the Super 8s. Photograph: Inpho
Mickey Harte’s Tyrone are one game away from the Super 8s. Photograph: Inpho

Mickey Harte’s Tyrone team have been drawn to face Cork in Round Four of the football qualifiers.

Monday morning’s draw sees the defeated Munster finalists face a Tyrone team who have overcome Meath, Carlow and Cavan since losing to Monaghan in the Ulster championship.

Monaghan, who were then beaten by Fermanagh in the Ulster semi-final, face Laois. While Fermanagh themselves take on Kildare, who'll be looking to build on the momentum of Saturday's shock 0-21 to 0-19 win over Mayo.

Roscommon will hope to bounce back from their second half Connacht final collapse against Galway, and they face an Armagh team who came back from the dead to beat Clare in their Round Three encounter.

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All four fixtures must be decided on the day and will take place in neutral venues. The CCCC will meet at lunchtime on Monday and they expect to announce venues in the afternoon.

Prior to the draw, GAA president John Horan told RTE's Morning Ireland that following on from last week's drama over the venue of Kildare v Mayo, home advantage will be respected in the Super 8s. Therefore, if Kildare advance, they will play their home fixture in Newbridge regardless of the opposition.

“At the end of the day we did find a resolution and I think we’ll be stronger for the experience,” Horan explained, before rejecting that “Croke Park has lost touch with its grassroots”.

The Super 8s - the round-robin format which follows this final round of qualifiers and replaces the traditional All-Ireland quarter-finals - includes one home and away game for each team, as well as one fixture in a neutral venue.

When asked if smaller venues such as Newbridge could host their home games in the Super 8s, Horan said: “That will be stood over, it was agreed in Congress and I’ll be standing over that.”

Round Four SFC qualifier draw
Fermanagh v Kildare
Laois v Monaghan
Cork v Tyrone
Roscommon v Armagh

Eamon Donoghue

Eamon Donoghue

Eamon Donoghue is a former Irish Times journalist