Here are our previews for the two All-Ireland senior football championship quarter-finals taking place on Saturday at Croke Park.

Saturday, August 6th

All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals

Tyrone v Mayo, Croke Park, 4pm  

The race for Sam Maguire really heats up this weekend as Tyrone and Mayo meet in a repeat of the 2013 All-Ireland SFC semi-final.

The Westerners were six-point winners on that occasion, but it's Mickey Harte's side that carry the form into this quarter-final as Ulster champions and one of only two teams in the country not to have been beaten yet this season between both league and championship. The Red Hands dug their deepest last time out when they triumphed late on against Donegal in Clones to claim their 14th Anglo-Celt Cup.

Stalwart Sean Cavanagh and Peter Harte were two of the heroes for Tyrone in that 0-13 to 0-11 victory over their Tir Chonaill rivals and they'll need to have a few more scorers on song on Saturday, with the Connacht outfit chasing their fourth win in as many weeks.

Diarmuid O'Connor's likely return from injury gives a major boost to Mayo boss Stephen Rochford, who had admitted in the build-up to this game that their last performance against Westmeath will not cut it against Saturday's opposition. Add goal-getters Aidan O'Shea and Cillian O'Connor to the mix, along with some direct ball inside, which already exposed Tyrone's full-back line this summer, and a 6/4 upset could well be on the cards.

Verdict: Mayo

Dublin v Donegal, Croke Park, 6pm

These counties' sixth ever meeting in the championship sees Rory Gallagher's Donegal ranked as 11/2 outsiders against the juggernaut from the capital.

Needless to say, this year's beaten Ulster SFC finalists face a mountainous against the All-Ireland champions and will probably require more than another virtuoso performance from Paddy McBrearty - scorer of 0-11 against Cork last weekend - if they are to topple Jim Gavin's unbeaten charges.

Dublin have sizzled somewhat this summer, but have yet to catch fire and will be keen to avenge the last August date between these two sides when the Tir Chonaill men caught them cold two years ago thanks to Ryan McHugh's pair of goals at Croke Park. Both teams have taken different paths in that time though and the Metropolitans' dominant display in April's Division One semi-final underlines that.

The Dubs had 11 different scorers to Donegal's three that afternoon, before going on to dismantle Kerry in the final, and it's hard to envisage the margin from that one-sided encounter being closed tomorrow evening.

Verdict: Dublin

 

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