Kerry face a familiar challenge

GAELIC GAMES 2010 CHAMPIONSHIP DRAWS:ALL-IRELAND champions Kerry and finalists Cork are, like last year, on course to meet in the 2010 Munster football semi-final. The counties required a replay in the province before Cork won convincingly and went on to retain the provincial title – an achievement that counted for little when the counties met in last month's season's climax.

Kerry have perfected the art of disconnecting provincial form from All-Ireland prospects. Last September’s triumph was the county’s fifth this decade and the second after coming through the qualifiers. All of Cork’s four Munster victories have ended in disappointment at the hands of their neighbours later in the season at Croke Park.

First Kerry will have to surmount the challenge of last season’s Division Three winners Tipperary, who are under the management of another Kerry man, John Evans.

On the other side of the draw, last year’s unlucky Munster finalists Limerick have a good chance of reaching another decider, as they face the winners of Clare and Waterford in the other semi-final.

In Leinster, champions Dublin will open their account with a quarter-final against Wexford, who they defeated by 23 points in the 2008 provincial final. The scene is set for a repeat of last summer’s Dublin-Kildare final, as the counties are on opposite sides of the draw.

Meath, who lost to Dublin in last year’s quarter-final before going on to reach the semi-finals against Kerry, are once again on the same side of the draw as the champions.

Dublin are one championship title from winning a sixth successive provincial crown. This would equal the record set by Wexford back in 1913-18 and Dublin in 1974-79.

Pat Gilroy’s team will need no reminding that those two sequences were accompanied by four and three All-Irelands respectively, whereas this decade Dublin have not alone failed to land the Sam Maguire but haven’t even reached the final.

The Ulster championship has been the preserve of Armagh and Tyrone for the past 11 seasons. Derry are the last county apart from those two to have carried the province. Yet the Ulster title has not been an indicator of great things to come.

Armagh have gained just one All-Ireland from seven provincial titles, and, of Tyrone’s three Sam Maguires, only one was captured after the county had won Ulster.

Next summer the championship gets off to an intriguing start with Armagh – under the management of former Down All-Ireland winning captain and then manager Paddy O’Rourke – facing Derry.

The winners are drawn to play Monaghan. In the modern era, only Armagh in 2005 have come through the Ulster preliminary round to win the province. Whoever comes through these matches will face the winners of Cavan-Fermanagh, an early opportunity for the latter to gain revenge for last season’s surprise defeat.

Champions Tyrone have been drawn to play Antrim, who they defeated in last season’s provincial final – the latter’s first since 1970. Liam Bradley’s team will consider themselves unfortunate not to have avoided Mickey Harte’s three-time All-Ireland winners in the first round.

The winners will play the victors from the Donegal-Down clash, James McCartan’s first championship match in charge of Down.

Connacht has been the third province in terms of All-Ireland achievement this decade, albeit with a single success when Galway came through the first season of qualifiers.

Mayo have reached two finals, in 2004 and 2006, without adding to the provincial tally.

Hopes will again reside in those two, one of which will be expected to win Connacht, but it will be four years by next summer since a western county got as far as the All-Ireland semi-finals.

This time the big two must play in the semi-finals if they are to meet.

It’s Galway’s turn to travel to New York next year and they will meet their old rivals if the provincial champions overcome Sligo, who came so close to eliminating Kerry in last season’s All-Ireland qualifiers.