Tipperary footballers face away trip to Down in All-Ireland qualifiers

The draw for the first round of the All-Ireland qualifiers took place this morning on RTE Radio 1 and Tipperary came out of the hat to face Ulster side Down.

Because the Mourne men this year competed in Division 3 of the National Football League they are now entitled to home advantage against Liam Kearns’ side who operated in Division 2, before being relegated.

Tipperary were eliminated from the Munster Championship with a disappointing home defeat to Division 4 side Limerick at Semple Stadium on Saturday, May 11 on a scoreline of 3-11 to 1-10.

Down, who only missed out on promotion from Division 3 on scoring difference having finished level on points with both Westmeath and Laois, lost their opening game in Ulster to Armagh. Played at Páirc Esler in Newry, the home side went down by a single point, 2-17 to 3-13, after extra-time against Kieran McGeeney’s outfit.

Perhaps in a line of form, Armagh were too strong for Tipperary in this year’s league winning by 1-15 to 0-12 on February 24 in a game played in Armagh.

No doubt, Tipperary will now face a huge task travelling north to face the home side who will see this as a great opportunity to make up for the huge disappointment against Armagh.

The games will be played on the weekend of June 8 and 9. Games will be played to a conclusion on the day. There will be no replays and games could be decided by penalties if necessary. 

Tipperary and Down previously met in an All-Ireland qualifier in 2012 when Down overcame Tipperary by 1-13 to 0-11 on July 29, 2012 at Cusack Park in Mullingar in a Round 4 qualifier.

The full draw is as follows:

Louth v Antrim

Tipperary v Down

Leitrim v Wicklow

Wexford v Derry

Offaly v London

Monaghan v Fermanagh

Carlow v Kildare/Longford

Westmeath v Waterford