All-Ireland champions Armagh will face yesterday's beaten Munster finalists, Limerick, in the pick of the draw for the All-Ireland football qualifier series, round four. The fixtures were drawn in Killarney yesterday evening and details of venues and dates will be announced by the GAA's Games Administration Committee later today.
The other matches bring together Laois or Kildare and Roscommon, Mayo and Fermanagh and Tyrone or Down and Donegal. This will be the last qualifier round of the season, with the winners going forward to next month's All-Ireland quarter-finals.
GAA president Seán Kelly was present for the draw from one pot containing the names of the four defeated provincial finalists and another containing the winners from round three of the qualifiers.
The possible pairings were restricted to teams who hadn't already met in this year's championship, and on that basis the Down-Tyrone paper had to be put with Donegal because Down had already played Fermanagh in the Ulster semi-final.
Logistically there are problems if the round is to be completed in time for the quarter-finals in three weeks. Two of the provincial finals are not yet complete. Tyrone and Down must meet again in Ulster next weekend before Donegal's opponents will be known.
And the Leinster final isn't scheduled until next Sunday, with the losers having to play Roscommon.
It is also possible that Limerick will be granted a week's reprieve, given that their hurlers are up against Offaly in the qualifiers this Thursday evening. A number of the county's footballers are dual players, and the GAC may balk at asking them to play two matches in three days, although football manager Liam Kearns said yesterday that his team would be ready to play next weekend if necessary.
Three of the fixtures are novel championship pairings. Armagh and Limerick haven't met previously during the summer and neither have Fermanagh and Mayo. Laois were defeated by Roscommon in the 1946 All-Ireland semi-final - the last time the county won Leinster. They will renew acquaintance should Laois lose to Kildare next weekend.
The all-Ulster clash of next weekend's losing finalists and Donegal could be very familiar as Down and Donegal met in last year's Ulster championship with the latter winning easily.
If Limerick get a break, the only match possible next weekend will be Mayo and Fermanagh. Should the other fixtures go back to the following week, they will be clashing with the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals, scheduled for Croke Park, and so are likely to be played on the Saturday.
