Senior footballers bidding to reach NFL final for third year in-a-row

Dublin’s bid to win the Allianz Football League Division 1 title for a third successive year takes them to Croke Park on Sunday when they play Monaghan in the semi-final (4.0). The winners will play Cork or Donegal, who meet in the other semi-final (2.0), in the final on April 26.

The semi-final pairings, plus the relegation/promotion issues in all four Divisions were decided after a wonderfully exciting climax to the group stages last weekend.

DUBLIN v MONAGHAN

They meet for the second time in a week, following Dublin’s easy win in Clones last Sunday. Dublin are appearing in the semi-final for a third successive year, having beaten Cork in 2014 and Mayo in 2013. Monaghan won the Division 2 title in last year’s Allianz Football League.

PATHS TO THE SEMI-FINAL

DUBLIN

Cork 1-15 Dublin 0-16

Dublin 2-10 Donegal 0-11

Kerry 0-15 Dublin 1-10

Dublin 1-9 Tyrone 0-12

Dublin 2-18 Mayo 0-10

Dublin 0-8 Derry 0-4

Dublin 1-22 Monaghan 1-11

Average For: 1-13; Average Against: 0-12

Dublin Scorers

Dean Rock ................1-35 (0-26 frees, 0-1 ‘45’)

Bernard Brogan..........2-6 (0-1 free)

Jack McCaffrey..........1-5

Tomas Brady..............0-7

Kevin McManamon.....0-5

Cormac Costello..........1-2

Diarmuid Connolly....0-5

Eoghan O’Gara..............0-4

Paul Flynn...............0-4

Ciaran Kilkenny.........0-4

Brian Fenton..............1-1

Denis Bastick..........1-0

Emmet O Conghaile...0-3

Shane Carthy..............0-2

Davey Byrne ...........0-2

Philip McMahon........0-2

Johnny Cooper.......0-2

Philip Ryan...............0-1

Michael Deegan.......0-1

MD Macauley......0-1

Paddy Andrews...... ..0-1

MONAGHAN

Monaghan 1-13 Tyrone 0-9

Cork 2-14 Monaghan 1-16

Mayo 3-15 Monaghan 0-11

Monaghan 0-9 Donegal 1-4

Monaghan 0-15 Derry 0-10

Monaghan 1-11 Kerry 0-10

Dublin 1-22 Monaghan 1-11

Average For: 1-11; Average Against:1-12

Monaghan Scorers

Conor McManus.........0-25 (0-14 frees)

Paul Finlay...................0-15 (0-10 frees)

Kieran Hughes............1-8

Daniel McKenna.........0-6 (0-3 frees)

Dessie Mone..............0-6

Owen Duffy................1-3

Darren Hughes............1-2

Stephen Gollogly.........1-2

Rory Beggan..............0-5 (4 frees, 1 ‘45’)

Dermot Malone..........0-4

Fintan Kelly...............0-3

Ryan McAnespie.............0-2

Conor Boyle................0-1

Kieran Duffy..............0-1

Paul Meegan.............0-1 (free)

Thomas Kerr...............0-1

When the sides last met:

Dublin...1-22Monaghan 1-11 (Clones, April 5)

It was all too easy for Dublin, who led by 1-9 to 0-5 at half-time and they also won the second half (0-13 to 1-6).Dublin also had an easy win over Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-final last August, winning by 2-22 to 0-11.

CORK v DONEGAL

Cork topped the Football League Division 1 table for a second successive season with five wins from seven outings. Their only defeats came against Donegal in Round 3 and against Derry last Sunday, having already been guaranteed a semi-final place after Round 6.

Cork also reached last year’s semi-final losing to Dublin. Donegal were in Division 2 last year.

PATHS TO THE SEMI-FINAL

CORK

Cork 1-15 Dublin 0-16

Cork 2-14 Monaghan 1-16

Donegal 0-12 Cork 1-8

Cork 3-17 Kerry 2-9

Cork 0-17 Tyrone 2-10

Cork 2-7 Mayo 0-12

Derry 2-15 Cork 1-11

Played 7: Won 5, Lost 2

Average For: 1-14; Average Against: 1-13

Cork scorers

Colm O Neill..............3-31 (0-23 frees, 0-1 ‘45’)

Brian Hurley.............1-11 (0-2 frees)

Donncha O’Connor..0-13 (0-9 frees)

John O’Rourke..........2-3

Mark Collins............1-4

Conor Dorman..........0-6

Fintan Goold.............0-4

Kevin O’Driscoll....0-4

Stephen O’Donoghue... 1-0

Jamie O’Sullivan......1-0

Tomas Clancy........1-0

Daniel Goulding.......0-3

Paul Kerrigan............0-3

Eoin Cadogan..........0-2

Colm O’Driscoll.....0-2

Brian O’Driscoll......0-1

Donal Og Hodnett..0-1

John Hayes..............0-1 (free)

DONEGAL

Donegal 1-15 Derry 0-12

Dublin 2-10 Donegal 0-11

Donegal 0-12 Cork 1-8

Monaghan 0-9 Donegal 1-4

Kerry 2-13 Donegal 2-11

Donegal 1-13 Tyrone 0-6

Donegal 1-9 Mayo 0-12

Played 7, Won 3, Drew 1, Lost 3

Average For:1-10; Average Against: 0-12

Donegal scorers

Paddy McBrearty.....1-21 (0-7 frees)

Michael Murphy.... 2-24 (0-20 frees, 1-0 pen, 0-1 ’45)

Odran MacNiallais.....1-5 (0-1 free)

Ryan McHugh...........2-1

Martin O’Reilly...........0-6

Christy Toye................0-5

Martin McElhinney.....0-5

Colm McFadden.........0-3

Neil Gallagher...........0-1

Hugh McFadden... .0-1

Neil McGee............ 0-1

Frank McGlynn.... 0-1

Stephen Griffin.......0-1

When the sides last met:

Donegal....0-12 Cork 1-8 (Ballyshannon, March 2)

Rory Gallagher’s men edged home in a low-scoring game on a windy afternoon. It was level at 0-5 at half-time before Donegal opened up a five-point lead entering the third quarter.A goal by Tomas Clancy revived Cork but Donegal held on for a precious win.

2015 ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE: RESULTS AND FIXTURES

DIVISION 1

Round 1: Mayo 2-11 Kerry 0-10; Cork 1-15 Dublin 0-16; Monaghan 1-13 Tyrone 0-9; Donegal 1-15 Derry 0-12.

Round 2: Dublin 2-10 Donegal 0-11; Tyrone 1-11 Mayo 1-7; Kerry 1-17 Derry 0-13; Cork 2-14 Monaghan 1-16.

Round 3: Tyrone 0-11 Derry 1-8; Kerry 0-15 Dublin 1-10; Donegal 0-12 Cork 1-8; Mayo 3-15 Monaghan 0-11

Round 4: Dublin 1-9 Tyrone 0-12; Cork 3-17 Kerry 2-9; Mayo 2-12 Derry 1-13; Monaghan 0-9 Donegal 1-4

Round 5: Dublin 2-18 Mayo 0-10; Kerry 2-13 Donegal 2-11; Monaghan 0-15 Derry 0-10; Cork 0-17 Tyrone 2-10

Round 6: Dublin 0-8 Derry 0-4; Monaghan 1-11 Kerry 0-10; Donegal 1-13 Tyrone 0-6; Cork 2-7 Mayo 0-10.

Round 7: Tyrone 0-17 Kerry 1-14; Dublin 1-22 Monaghan 1-11; Derry 2-15 Cork 1-11; Mayo 0-12Donegal 1-9.

Semi-finals: April 12 Cork v Donegal; Dublin v Monaghan

Final: April 26

DIVISION 2

Round 1: Galway 2-13 Meath 1-12; Down 3-13 Kildare 1-15; Westmeath 1-12 Laois 0-10; Roscommon 1-11 Cavan 0-14

Round 2: Meath 0-13 Kildare 0-11; Cavan 0-17 Laois 2-6; Roscommon 1-15 Down 1-11; Galway 2-13 Westmeath 2-12.

Round 3: Down 1-9 Cavan 0-8; Westmeath 0-15 Kildare 0-12; Roscommon 2-10 Meath 0-14; Laois 2-10 Galway 0-10.

Round 4: Meath 4-10 Westmeath 0-11; Kildare 2-13 Cavan 0-14; Laois 2-17 Roscommon 0-16; Down 1-17 Galway 1-16.

Round 5: Meath 0-13 Laois 0-13; Cavan 0-12 Galway 0-10; Down 2-17 Westmeath 0-10; Roscommon 0-24 Kildare 2-12.

Round 6: Meath 2-11 Down 0-10; Cavan 1-8 Westmeath 1-3; Kildare 1-12 Laois 1-9; Galway 1-14 Roscommon 1-10.

Round 7: Roscommon 2-13 Westmeath 0-12; Down 3-12 Laois 1-5; Galway 3-12 Kildare 1-12; Meath 0-14 Cavan 0-12.

April 26: Final: Down v Roscommon

DIVISION 3

Round 1: Fermanagh 0-16 Louth 0-7; Clare 1-16 Wexford 0-5; Armagh 2-8 Tipperary 0-13; Limerick 0-14 Sligo 1-9

Round 2: Tipperary 1-14 Limerick 1-2; Armagh 2-13 Wexford 1-8;Fermanagh 0-14 Sligo 0-12; Louth 1-16 Clare 0-13.

Round 3: March 1: Armagh 2-16 Limerick 1-6; Louth 1-16 Wexford 1-10; Fermanagh 2-9 Tipperary 0-11; Clare 0-22 Sligo 1-13.

Round 4: Tipperary 2-11 Clare 1-8; Armagh 1-10 Fermanagh 1-10; Sligo 2-26 Louth 2-9; Wexford 1-16 Limerick 2-12.

Round 5: Tipperary 4-16 Louth 3-11; Fermanagh 2-19 Limerick 2-10; Armagh 3-11 Clare 1-11; Sligo 2-10 Wexford 1-8.

Round 6: Armagh 0-10 Louth 0-8; Fermanagh 1-12 Wexford 0-7; Limerick 2-10 Clare 1-5; Tipperary 0-15 Sligo 0-13.

Round 7: Sligo 1-19 Armagh 1-8; Limerick 2-13 Louth 2-11; Clare1-14 Fermanagh 2-9; Wexford 2-15 Tipperary 2-12.

Final: April 25: Armagh v Fermanagh

DIVISION 4

Round 1: Waterford 0-14 Wicklow 0-10; Offaly 0-9 London 1-2; Leitrim 0-15 Longford 1-12; Antrim 1-12 Carlow 0-15

Round 2: Carlow 2-9 London 0-13; Wicklow 0-11 Leitrim 0-10; Longford 0-14 Antrim 0-13; Offaly 0-13 Waterford 1-4

Round 3: Longford 1-18 London 0-6; Carlow 0-11 Waterford 0-9; Offaly 2-18 Wicklow 2-6; Antrim 1-18 Leitrim 1-13.

Round 4: March 8: Offaly 2-13 Leitrim 1-16; Antrim 1-12 London 1-8; Longford 1-12 Waterford 1-10; Carlow0-9 Wicklow 0-9.

Round 5: Longford 1-16 Wicklow 1-10; Offaly 0-14 Carlow 1-10; Antrim 0-15 Waterford 0-13; Leitrim 1-18 London 0-9

Round 6: London 5-6 Waterford 2-15; Longford 0-13 Offaly 0-10; Leitrim 1-12 Carlow 0-6; Antrim 1-10 Wicklow 0-12.

Round 7: London 2-8 Wicklow 0-12; Leitrim 0-15 Waterford 0-10; Longford 1-18 Carlow 1-12; Offaly 1-13 Antrim 1-5.

Final: April 25: Longford v Offaly