All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Group 1 Permutations
The final round of group matches in the All-Ireland SFC taking place this weekend will determine which 12 teams progress to the knock-out rounds.
Of the 16 teams in the group stage, only Clare are already out of the running for the knock-out rounds.
Where teams finish on the same amount of points in their group after this weekend’s Round 3 matches, they will be ranked by the following criteria in this order.
(i) Where two teams only are involved – the outcome of the meeting of the two teams in the group
(ii) Score difference – subtracting the total scores against from the total scores for
(iii) highest total score for
(iv) highest total goals for
(v) A play-off
The four table-toppers will proceed directly to the quarter-finals, while the second-placed teams have a home match against the four third-placed teams.
The preliminary quarter-finals will take place on the weekend of June 24/25 with the four second-placed teams drawn at home against the four third-placed teams, subject to the avoidance of repeat Provincial Final pairings and, where possible, repeat pairings from Round 1.
The quarter-finals take place on July 1/2 with the the venues nominated by the CCCC, and once again the draw is subject to avoidance of repeat provincial final pairings and, where possible, repeat pairings from Round 1.
The semi-finals take place on July 15/16 based on a draw that’s subject to avoidance of repeat pairings from earlier in the championship, where possible, with the All-Ireland Football Final then being played on July 30.
Group 1
Sunday, June 18
Kerry v Louth, Laois Hire O’Moore Park, 2pm.
Mayo v Cork, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 2pm (GAAGO)
After two rounds, Mayo have four points, Kerry and Cork have two points each, and Louth are pointless.
Table-toppers Mayo can claim a direct route to the quarter-final if they defeat or draw with Cork. If Mayo beat Cork and Kerry beat Louth, then Kerry will have a home preliminary quarter-final tie, Cork will have an away preliminary quarter-final tie and Louth are eliminated from the championship.
If Cork beat Mayo, then where they and everyone else in this group ends up in the final rankings will depend on the Kerry v Louth match.
If Cork beat Mayo and Kerry beat Louth, then Cork, Mayo, and Kerry will all finish on four points each and will be ranked by scoring difference. Mayo currently have the edge there with a scoring difference of +6, though Cork (0) and Kerry (-3) are well within reach of them.
If Mayo beat Cork and Louth beat Kerry, then Louth, Cork, and Kerry will all finish on two points and would be separated by scoring difference. Louth and Kerry are both on -3 so a win for Louth there would see them at least sit above Kerry in the table and be guaranteed of a home or away preliminary quarter-final.
In that scenario, it would all come down to the margin of victory for Mayo and Louth to determine whether Cork or Kerry would be eliminated from the championship.
Finally, if Louth beat Kerry and Cork beat Mayo, then Cork and Mayo would both have four points but Cork would be table-toppers based on the head to head rule. Louth and Kerry would both have two points but Louth would claim third spot on the head to head rule and Kerry would be out of the championship.
