Gaelic Games

All you need to know about the GAA Super 8s

This year’s All-Ireland football quarter-finals take the shape of a round-robin series

Croke Park will be hosting five of the 12 Super 8s matches. Photograph: Inpho

Eamon Donoghue's face
Eamon Donoghue
Sun Jul 8 2018 - 18:09

Monaghan's win over Laois on Sunday completed the line-up for this summer's maiden Super 8s round-robin series. The fixtures, venues and times for this weekend's opening round were confirmed on Monday morning (and are below), with Roscommon and Tyrone kicking things off next Saturday afternoon.

The GAA Super 8s will replace the current All-Ireland football quarter-finals, running this summer for the first of a three-year trial period.

The last eight teams in the championship have been placed into two groups and will play three matches, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the All-Ireland semi-finals. The first in one group will play second in the other.

As with the traditional quarter-finals, the four provincial winners (Dublin, Kerry, Galway and Donegal) are joined by the round four qualifier winners (Roscommon, Tyrone, Kildare and Monaghan).

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Each team will have a home game, an away game and a game at Croke Park. The GAA have confirmed that all counties will get the chance to host a home fixture – including Kildare in St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge – regardless of the opposition and their travelling support. And despite the objections of Donegal, Dublin will play their home and neutral fixtures in Croke Park.

Group 1 will contain the Munster champions (Kerry), Connacht champions (Galway), the winner of the Ulster runner-up and round three qualifier winner (Kildare beat Fermanagh), and the winner between the Leinster runner-up and their qualifier opponent (Monaghan beat Laois).

Group 2 will be made up of the Ulster champions (Donegal), Leinster champions (Dublin), the winner of the clash between the Munster runner-up and their qualifier opponent (Tyrone beat Cork), and the winner between the Connacht runner-up and the round three qualifier winner (Roscommon beat Armagh).

The usual (league) rules will apply if teams finish level on points during the group stages, whereby the head to head result will determine who advances. If the game in question was a draw then scoring difference will be used, as is also the case if more than two teams are level on points.

SUPER 8s SCHEDULE

ROUND 1

SATURDAY JULY 14th
Group 2
Tyrone v Roscommon, Croke Park, 5.0
Donegal v Dublin, Croke Park, 7.0

SUNDAY JULY 15th
Group 1
Kildare v Monaghan, Croke Park, 2.0
Kerry v Galway, Croke Park, 4.0

ROUND 2

Saturday July 21st
Group 2: Roscommon v Donegal, Dr Hyde Park, 5.0
Group 2: Tyrone v Dublin, Healy Park, 7.0

Sunday July 22nd
Group 1: Kildare v Galway, Newbridge, 2.0
Group 1: Monaghan v Kerry, Clones., 4.0

ROUND 3

Saturday August 4th
Group 1: Kerry v Kildare, Killarney, 6.0
Group 1: Galway v Monaghan, Salthill,  6.0

Sunday August 5th
Group 2: Donegal v Tyrone, Ballybofey 3.30
Group 2: Dublin v Roscommon, Croke Park, 3.30

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