GAA Match Programmes – June 29, 2019

35

Armagh and Mayo have never met in the

Qualifiers; in fact they have not played in the

Championship since 1950, and the Green

and Red memorably went on to claim Sam

later that summer.

Of the four other teams on show, Laois have

the best record in the Qualifiers, having

won 21 of the 35 games they have played,

although they have failed to make the last

eight in each of their last five attempts

through the back door.

Offaly have won just 11 of their 28 games

played, and have not caused a major ripple

in the Qualifier pond in well over a decade.

A victory over their neighbours would

represent their biggest success in the back

door since a 2004 win over Kildare.

Clare have won 10 and lost 15 of the

25 games they have played. Their most

successful season was back in 2016, when

they stitched three wins together to reach

the All-Ireland quarter-finals, an unlikely

scenario given they had won just four of

their previous 17 attempts in the Qualifiers.

Prior to this year’s wins over Waterford and

Limerick, Westmeath’s recent record in

the Qualifiers has been deplorable. In fact,

the Lake men had won just one of their

previous 12 games, a 2012 victory over

Louth. It shows just how much Westmeath

have invested in the Leinster Championship

• they contested provincial finals in 2015
  and 2016 - and how little faith they had in
  their ability to make a dent in the All-Ireland
  series thereafter.

While the Qualifiers have thrown up some

fairytale stories, more recently they seem

to be a backstop for the bigger guns who

have used it to find their rhythm after taking

an early blow. Today, two of those Qualifier

masters are set to tumble as Round 3 pits

those who have used the back door best in

the past in direct opposition.

Since losing their grip on the Connacht title in
2016, Mayo have won nine of their 10 games
in the Qualifiers and reached the final from
round 2 in 2016 and 2017. Last year’s defeat
to Kildare was their first in the Qualifiers since
the shock defeat to Longford in 2010.

In Armagh, the Green and Red face a side
managed by McGeeney, who has led his
native county to victory in eight of their last
nine games in the back door, proving once
again that there is life after defeat in the
provincial championships. Back in 2003,
as All-Ireland champions, they opened the
defence of their title with a shock Ulster
preliminary-round defeat to Monaghan,
before finding their feet in the qualifiers and
battling back to a final they lost to Tyrone.

MAYO’S DIARMUID O’CONNOR

DURING LAST YEAR’S SHOCK DEFEAT

TO KILDARE IN ROUND 3