10 YEARS AGO

AFTER losing the Ulster SFC final, Donegal got back to winning ways with a Round 4B qualifier win over Cork. Patrick McBrearty gave an exhibition of score-taking, but it was by no means the perfect performance and their defence was uncharacteristically porous in a 0-21 to 1-15 victory.

Elsewhere, Mayo set up an All-Ireland SFC quarter-final date with Tyrone following their qualifier victory over Westmeath.

Kerry cruised past Clare for the second time in the 2016 season to book an All-Ireland quarter-final spot against the winners of Donegal’s clash with Dublin. Tipperary upset the odds in style against Galway in the other All-Ireland quarter-final that was played that weekend.

Reigning All-Ireland minor champions Kerry claimed a comprehensive 11-point victory over Derry in the last-eight. Donegal minors, however, did the business against Cork on a scoreline of 2-13 to 0-13.

20 YEARS AGO

‘TIR CHONAILL smell of roses after a real derby stinker’. That was the Irish News headline 20 years ago this week as Donegal pipped Fermanagh by 0-11 to 0-8 in round four of the qualifiers. 18,000 supporters filed through Brewster Park for an instantly forgettable contest though it was certainly competitive and Donegal needed a big performance from midfielder Neil Gallagher to assume a degree of control of the contest.

Elsewhere, we saw the bona fide arrival of Kieran Donaghy as a star of the future as Kerry overcame Longford by 4-11 to 1-11 following their Munster final defeat to Cork. They stuck the big man on the edge of the square for the first time in a competitive match, and the rest, as they say, is history. That said, Eoin Brosnan also deserves mention for bagging a hat-trick.

Antrim, meanwhile, had a good day out the Tommy Murphy Cup quarter-final, overcoming Cavan by 2-14 to 2-9.

And on the hurling front, Derry overcame Armagh by 3-10 to 0-10 to book their place in the Nickey Rackard Cup final.

30 YEARS AGO

ANTRIM gave Limerick their fill of it in the All-Ireland semi-final, losing by 1-17 to 0-13, and after the game Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton had strong words for Wexford boss Liam Griffin.

Griffin had reportedly claimed that the Antrim hurlers were ‘part-timers’, prompting ‘Sambo’ to remark, ‘Who does he think he is? We may have lost to Limerick but what I know is that I am part of a proud Antrim team. We had no luck but we showed that we could match Limerick’.

Griffin later denied that he had made the comment, though he did acknowledge that he had said that he preferred getting Galway to Antrim in the other All-Ireland semi-final as he ‘wanted to go into the All-Ireland final the hard way.’

Elsewhere, Donegal had a single point to spare over Derry in the Ulster Minor Football Championship final replay at Healy Park.