What next for the Cork footballers: Dublin, Down or Donegal await

Cork will be away to Dublin, Down or Donegal next weekend in a preliminary quarter-final.

The Rebels saved their season with a gritty and deserved 0-19 to 0-17 victory over Roscommon in Portlaoise on Saturday afternoon in a group that was topped by Meath, after their dominant display against Kerry.

That upset means the Kingdom will be at home in the last 12 phase, with Meath straight through to the All-Ireland quarter-finals on June 28-29.

Kerry will host one of Galway, Louth or Cavan and even if it's the Tribe they'll still be fancied to get a result in Killarney.

Jason Foley of Kerry in action against Ruairi Kinsella and Seán Coffey of Meath. Picture: Tom Beary/Sportsfile

John Cleary’s side can’t meet Kerry in Killarney so face a lengthy road trip whatever the draw brings on Monday morning at 8.30am.

Galway secured their place in the knockout phase after coming from eight points down at half-time against table-toppers and All-Ireland champions Armagh with Shane Walsh’s late free securing a 2-22 to 0-27 win after a classic.

Galway's Shane Walsh kicks the winning free against Armagh. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

The Dubs were pushed hard by Derry before prevailing 0-22 to 0-20.

Monaghan got the better of Down on an incredible scoreline of 2-27 to 1-26 to move straight into the quarter-finals, having reached the semis in 2023. Louth's 2-17 to 2-14 defeat of Clare secured third for the Leinster champions.

Down won last season's Tailteann Cup but would still be the best draw for Cork next weekend.

Donegal eliminated Mayo with the last kick of the game to finish runners-up to Tyrone on the head-to-head rule, which cost Mayo third place against Cavan.

That was more of a slow-burner than some of the shootouts we saw but Mayo showed huge guts to prevent the game from getting away from them. They thought they'd done enough by drawing level in the 70th minute only to be caught on the kick-out just before the buzzer sounded.

All-Ireland football series

Quarter-finalists: Meath, Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone.

Home in preliminary quarter-final: Kerry, Dublin, Down, Donegal.

Away next weekend: Cork, Galway, Louth, Cavan.

Season over: Roscommon, Derry, Clare, Mayo.

Provincial final repeats and group rematches are not permitted in the draw on Monday.

The All-Ireland quarter-finals will take place across the weekend of June 28-29, which means the winners in next weekend's matches won't have time to draw breath.

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