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Kildare travel to Mayo in football qualifiers

Mayo will face Kildare in the football qualifiers
Mayo will face Kildare in the football qualifiers

Mayo will have home advantage again in the All-Ireland football qualifiers when they host Kildare, while Cavan will renew Ulster rivalries with Derry.

Cillian O’Connor scored 1-05 as Mayo came back to see off the tricky test of Fermanagh and they will now host the Lilywhites in Castlebar. Elsewhere in 3B, Longford’s reward for the surprise defeat of Monaghan is a home draw against Cork.

In the draw made this morning on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, 3A fixtures were also decided, with Cavan to host Derry and Clare to travel to Sligo.

Much attention will be on Mayo, who negotiated their first qualifier since 2010 in their 2-14 to 1-12 victory over the Erne County. Facing them will be a Kildare side that conceded 2-14 to Offaly in a high-scoring encounter in Newbridge, but still proved too strong for the Faithful County.

Niall Kelly and Neil Flynn did most of the damage for Cian O’Neill’s side in the inside forward line as they claimed 0-09 between them to book Kildare's place in the next round.

Cork recovered from their sobering Munster semi-final defeat to Tipperary by getting the better of Limerick in Semple Stadium and will now travel to face Longford.

Captain Paul Kerrigan and Mark Collins helped themselves to 1-08 as they eased to an eight-point win over the Treaty men, but will face a Longford  side full of momentum after producing one of the shocks of the summer to send Monaghan crashing out of the All-Ireland title race after a remarkable clash in Clones.

Derry’s reward for their comeback victory over Meath is a trip to Kingspan Breffni Park.

The 1993 All-Ireland champions overturned a seven-point half-time deficit to defeat the Royals, a game which was Mick O’Dowd’s final one in charge of Meath.

Terry Hyland's side overcame the six-day turnaround to see off Carlow, with Eugene Keating and Cian Mackey hitting their crucial goals.

Also in 2A, Clare will travel to Connacht to face Sligo after they ended Laois’ interest in the Championship at the weekend.

Colm Collins' had previously only won four qualifier games since the backdoor system was introduced and had lost all three games they played against Laois, but the Bannermen came with a storming finish to seal a famous win.

They held Laois scoreless for the entire final quarter and picked off the necessary scores to secure a historic win.

Sligo were far too strong for Leitrim last time out in Markievicz Park when they defeated their Connacht rivals 2-15 to 0-10 and defender Charlie Harrison says he is looking forward to the game.

The former All Star was in studio for the draw and while he will not feature against the Banner because of a broken arm, is thankful his side have home advantage against opponents they have struggled against in recent seasons.

"It’s an interesting draw," he told listeners. "In the last couple of seasons in the National League they have beaten us twice and quite convincingly.

"The last few years you would have seen that home advantage is key in these fixtures.

"Sligo will think they can win, Clare will think they can win."

The qualifiers will take place on the 16 and 17 July with times and venues will be announced later today.

There was no draw required in the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals as Galway will play Clare and Waterford will take on Wexford on Sunday 24 July.

3A Football qualifier draw (Sat 16 July):

Sligo v Clare, 2pm, Markievicz Park

Cavan v Derry, 3.30pm, Kingspan Breffni Park 

3B Football qualifier draw (Sat 16 July):

Longford v Cork, 3pm, Glennon Brothers Pearse Parl

Mayo v Kildare, 7pm, Elverys MacHale Park

Hurling quarter-finals (Sun 24 July):

Waterford v Wexford, 2pm, Semple Stadium

Galway v Clare, 4pm Semple Stadium 

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