Cork football: Nine permutations and what they mean for the Rebels ahead of Tyrone tie

WE have reached the final group stage games of the All-Ireland SFC and with that comes, questions, questions and more questions of what Cork require to make it through to the knockout stages.

We are only worried about Group 3 and heading into the final round, Cork sit at the summit on four points after the victory over Clare and THAT win over Donegal. The long and short of it is that Cork just require a draw against Tyrone next weekend to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Sam Maguire and therefore avoid a preliminary tie.

The Rebels are in the box seat but given how Donegal and Tyrone are on two points and with the scoring difference more or less similar, Cork could easily find themselves in third by the end of the day, which would mean an away preliminary quarter-final.

Irrespective of the clash of Donegal and Clare, if Cork get a win or a draw against Tyrone, they will finish top of the pile and a quarter-final spot will be theirs for a third consecutive year.

DROP

The other side of the coin would be if Tyrone and Donegal won, which could easily happen, all teams would finish on four points so scoring difference would determine first, second and third. Cork could drop to third.

If Cork and Clare win, the scoring difference would determine second, third and fourth. If Tyrone and Clare picked up the two points, Tyrone would finish first due to the head-to-head advantage over Cork and Clare would have the head-to-head over Donegal therefore the Ulster side would finish bottom and it would be season over for them.

Another scenario, an unlikely one though, the only way John Cleary’s side would finish in second spot would be if they lost to Tyrone and Donegal and Clare drew. It would result in a home preliminary quarter-final though and bring back recent memories of the win over Roscommon down the Páirc last summer.

If Cork and Tyrone drew and Donegal won, Cork would still remain top, Donegal in second and Tyrone would have to travel away in the preliminary quarter-final.

If both games are a draw then it’s as you were, and Donegal would have the head-to-head advantage over Tyrone so they would welcome a team to Ballybofey for their preliminary quarter-final clash.

It sounds confusing but the crux of it is that a Cork win or a draw next weekend then GAA HQ will be on the horizon for a third year in a row.