CORK will play Louth in this weekend’s All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final after the draw was made on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland programme.
The match will take place on Sunday in Inniskeen in Monaghan at 3pm and will be live on GAAGO. Louth’s home ground of Ardee is deemed not fit to stage a major championship game.
The Cork hurlers are out the day before in their All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Dublin at FBD Semple Stadium with throw-in at 1.15pm and will be shown live on RTÉ One.
Cork have beaten Louth twice in championship football under John Cleary’s tenure. In 2022, they defeated the Leinster side in a Round 1 qualifier match and last year the Rebels got the better of Louth in the All-Ireland Group 1 Round 1 tie.
The Leesiders faced Louth this season in the Allianz Division 2 football league back in February, where goals proved crucial in Ardee as Louth won 2-9 to 0-13. In the other preliminary quarter-final ties, Mayo face Derry, Tyrone meet Roscommon and Galway take on Monaghan.
It’s a quick turnaround for Cleary’s side after the 1-18 to 0-17 defeat to Tyrone in the All-Ireland Group 3 Round 3 contest at Glenisk O’Connor Park last Saturday afternoon. The Leesiders had the density in their own hands heading into the game knowing a win or a draw would have been sufficient to progress directly to the quarter-finals.
The performance wasn’t as good as the one they put in against Donegal two weeks ago but it wasn’t far off it either but the encounter ultimately came down to moments. Cork should have raised a green flag two minutes into the second half but Paul Walsh was unable to finish. Six minutes later Chris Óg Jones was sin-binned after picking up a black card and during that 10-minute period, Tyrone hit 1-3 to Cork’s 0-1.
Cork were hoping to have the weekend off this weekend but defeat to Tyrone ended that. If they want to reach Croke Park for the third season on the bounce they will have to do it the hard way again. Louth were well beaten by Kerry on Sunday in their final Group 4 game at Laois Hire O’Moore Park on a scoreline of 2-21 to 1-10, but they will be tough opposition on Sunday