This weekend’s eight qualifiers games have changed the rankings somewhat with some results flying in the face of regular qualifiers form.
| W | D | L | ||||
| 1 | Kerry | 8 | 8 | 100% | ||
| 2 | Dublin | 9 | 1 | 10 | 90% | |
| 3 | Tyrone | 11 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 81% |
| 4 | Derry | 19 | 6 | 25 | 76% | |
| 5 | Donegal | 15 | 6 | 21 | 71% | |
| 6 | Meath | 15 | 6 | 21 | 71% | |
| 7 | Armagh | 8 | 4 | 12 | 67% | |
| 8 | Cork | 6 | 3 | 9 | 67% | |
| 9 | Kildare | 11 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 60% |
| 10 | Westmeath | 12 | 1 | 8 | 21 | 59% |
| 11 | Laois | 9 | 7 | 16 | 56% | |
| 12 | Sligo | 9 | 8 | 17 | 53% | |
| 13 | Fermanagh | 10 | 9 | 19 | 53% | |
| 14 | Down | 10 | 9 | 19 | 53% | |
| 15 | Mayo | 5 | 5 | 10 | 50% | |
| 16 | Monaghan | 9 | 10 | 19 | 47% | |
| 17 | Longford | 9 | 10 | 19 | 47% | |
| 18 | Roscommon | 6 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 45% |
| 19 | Galway | 4 | 5 | 9 | 44% | |
| 20 | Wicklow | 6 | 8 | 14 | 43% | |
| 21 | Louth | 8 | 1 | 11 | 20 | 42% |
| 22 | Offaly | 6 | 9 | 15 | 40% | |
| 23 | Wexford | 6 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 39% |
| 24 | Limerick | 4 | 1 | 10 | 15 | 29% |
| 25 | Carlow | 3 | 8 | 11 | 27% | |
| 26 | Cavan | 4 | 1 | 11 | 16 | 27% |
| 27 | Tipperary | 3 | 9 | 12 | 25% | |
| 28 | Clare | 3 | 9 | 12 | 25% | |
| 29 | Antrim | 2 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 21% |
| 30 | London | 1 | 7 | 8 | 13% | |
| 31 | Waterford | 8 | 8 | 0% | ||
| 32 | Leitrim | 9 | 9 | 0% | ||
| Ulster | 88 | 3 | 65 | 156 | 57.1% | |
| Leinster | 94 | 5 | 84 | 183 | 52.3% | |
| Munster | 24 | 1 | 39 | 64 | 38.0% | |
| Connacht | 24 | 1 | 34 | 59 | 41.2% | |
| Connacht/London | 25 | 1 | 41 | 67 | 37.8% |
The Laois win over Tipperary (COME ON LAOIS!!!), Meath win over Louth, Down (narrow) win over Clare, and Longford win over Cyavan were to be expected based on the fact that the winning teams had a much better qualifier record than the teams they beat. However the results in the other four matches flew in the face of established qualifier form and saw the early exit of a number of counties who have used the qualifiers system well in the past few years. Sligo have had a few good runs in the qualifiers in the past few years and had the 11th best qualifier record of any county coming into this weekend’s games but lost to Wicklow in Aughrim (admittedly not the first county to do so…1986, acid flashback…) Offaly were a county that had been looked on as having one of the least levels of interest in the qualifiers for much of the 2000s, but the county’s efforts have improved in the past years, culminating in a win this weekend over Monaghan, a county that have done well in the qualifier system. Westmeath fall in the Top 1o in terms of the counties with the best qualifiers records and they were playing Antrim, a county with one of the worst qualifier records and just one win under their belts prior to Saturday’s game, but Antrim ended up winning the game. And finally Fermanagh, a county with ten qualifer wins over the past ten years, played London, who had never won a qualifier match prior to the weekend, in Ruislip and London won!!! The tearing up of the qualifier form book has seen Ulster’s pre-eminent position as strongest province come under threat somewhat with some ground being lost to Leinster.
The next round of games involve matches between: Limerick and Offaly, Down and Leitrim, Laois and Kildare (COME ON LAOIS!!!), Longford and Tyrone, Armagh and Wicklow, Meath and Galway, Antrim and Carlow, London and Waterford.
See the earlier post on this topic here.
Tags: Gaelic Games
Adrian Kavanagh's Blog 
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