Rainbow's Verdict - Football Column July 29

The business end of the season has well and truly arrived and there is no doubting that the stand out fixture from this weekend’s busy Croke Park schedule in terms of intrigue and hype will be the Saturday quarter-final clash of Donegal and Kildare.

Since the introduction of the qualifier system over a decade ago there are two distinct parts to our season and the arrival of the four provincial champions on the stage that matters most over the next two weekends.

While Donegal have taken the straight route – on the back of a long overdue provincial success – Kildare have once again made the most of the alternative path and in so doing have grown in confidence and learnt a lot about themselves.

Kieran McGeeney has to be happy with the progress to date and even in defeat against Dublin there were positives to be taken from the game.

They regrouped, bounced back and have really found form in recent outings starting with Laois and Meath before moving onto last week’s assignment with Derry.

There were concerns at the start of the year that they would be over reliant on John Doyle and these concerns were justified to an extent.

However, the form of Tomás O’Connor and James Kavanagh in recent outings and Padaig O’Neill has helped take their campaign to another level.

Nonetheless their progress will face a severe test this weekend.

Anyone who questions the value of our provincial titles need only look at the reaction in Donegal – both with the players and supporters – to see what it meant to so many people.

In many ways it was a natural progression and a milestone for what team manager Jim McGuinness is trying to do with this bunch of players.

Donegal are a physically strong outfit who play successfully to a system everyone buys into.

They have not leaked big scores and their discipline has impressed me so far. No one has really broken them down in their games to date and for all that I believe they face a different proposition this weekend.

Kildare have momentum and self belief and their game plan need not necessarily be stifled by the way Donegal have set themselves up to play in a lot of their games this year.

I can’t imagine their being much in it but Kildare’s rich vein of form should continue if they reach the levels set in recent outings.

In the weekend’s other encounters I find it hard to see a shock in any of the games.

Cork are physically one of the strongest and most dominant teams in the game at the minute and I would go as far as to say that they are as strong an outfit I have come across.

Their work rate off the ball is phenomenal and for all the physical power they have finesse two – even with a number of key forwards missing.

Mayo will relish their standing coming into what is a real go for broke game.

Little is expected of them it would seem but despite this it would be foolish to judge them on the Connacht final outing which was a day you would hardly put a dog out in.

The longer they stay in touch the better but midfield and the two surrounding lines look like area's where Cork's superiority will come to the fore.

Kerry’s game with Limerick is likely to be more clear cut.

This pairing is unfortunate for Limerick after the excellent strides made in recent outings.

They have proved so many people wrong and what Maurice Horan would do to have John Galvin fit and available.

Kerry’s attacking unit is remarkably strong and even if their defensive and midfield units do not look as polished, they will have too much for their improving neighbours.

In the last of the round four qualifiers Tyrone made people sit up and take notice last week with their display against Armagh and the lesser known faces that Mickey Harte has once again unearthed really impressed.

Peter Harte has real pace in his game and wing back Seán O’Neill is another worth keeping an eye. With Brian McGuigan also showing glimpses of the form that made him such a respected footballer, they will have designs on a prolonged campaign.

It’s hard to know what to expect from Roscommon who surrendered their provincial crown against Mayo in their last outing.

It is impossible to make an assessment on them from that match given the conditions but either way even if everything falls into place for them, Tyrone hold the aces going into this one especially with the prize of a repeat with the Dubs up for grabs.