A look at this weekends football fixtures

Today

All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers - Round One

Replay: Louth v Tyrone, Omagh, 3.30pm

There's not much to say about what happened in Navan a week ago that hasn't already been said. Suffice to say these teams produced one of the games of the summer and expectations are high for a reprise this afternoon. Mickey Harte looked like a ghost on the sideline throughout extra time, and who could blame him. Tyrone were holding on to their All-Ireland title by their fingertips and had it slipped they couldn't have had any complaints. Louth played some remarkable football and probably would have beaten most other teams left in the championship.

Tyrone hung on, however, thanks largely to the leadership of Seán Cavanagh. The injured Stephen O'Neill is a massive loss, but the recall of Colm McCullagh is interesting. Tyrone still produced enough scoring chances to win last Saturday and if McCullagh's gamble pays off they could yet surprise a lot of people here. Louth give a start to Ray Finnegan in their forward line but Omagh is a far more daunting ground to play Tyrone than Páirc Tailteann, and it's difficult to see how they'll come out of this one.

TYRONE: J Devine; R McMenamin, C McGinley, M McGee; D Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan; C Holmes, S Cavanagh; R Mellon, R Mulgrew, E McGinley; M Penrose, O Mulligan, C McCullagh.

LOUTH: S Reynolds; D Brennan, C Goss, J Carr; J O'Brien, P McGinnity, J Neary; M Farrelly, P Keenan; M Stanfield, M Brennan, C Grimes; JP Rooney, R Finnegan, D Clarke.

Kildare v Cavan, Newbridge, 7.0pm

Kildare boast one of the worst records in qualifier history, certainly for one of the stronger counties, having a single victory from six games (over Donegal in 2001). But if the blood substitution fiasco hasn't upset the players too much they look good for a win here. Manager John Crofton welcomes back defenders Kevin O'Neill and Anthony Rainbow, with Tomás O'Connor and Tommy Archbold making their debuts in the forward line. They did play reasonably good football in patches against Offaly and marginal improvement should be enough for success.

Cavan were poor in their Ulster defeat to Down last month, but do welcome back the experienced Anthony Forde and also Lorcan Mulvey from suspension. Kildare, with the incentive of the substitutes controversy and home support, should win.

KILDARE: E Murphy; A McLoughlin, K O'Neill, M Hogarty; A Rainbow, J Divilly, M Foley; D Earley, K Brennan; R Sweeney, J Kavanagh, J Doyle; T Archbold, T O'Connor, P O'Neill.

CAVAN: J Reilly; M Hannon, P Reilly, K Fannin; M Cahill, A Forde, C Collins; D McCabe, L Mulvey; M McKeever, S Brady, M Brides; L Reilly, E O'Reilly, S Johnston.

Tomorrow

Connacht SFC Semi-Final

Leitrim v Mayo, Carrick-on-Shannon, 3.30pm

It's fair to assume that Mayo didn't spend 10 days warm-weather training in the Algarve just to help them beat Leitrim. Manager Mickey Moran has real ambitions of an extended run this summer, which includes a serious crack at the Connacht title, and making the All-Ireland quarter-finals at the very least.

Based on their early league performances Mayo are a team capable of beating the best in the country on any given day. Their league didn't finish up quite as successfully as Moran would have liked, but that was never the main goal anyway. Mayo were always a championship side and that's never been truer than this year.

Together with coach John Morrison and selector Kieran Gallagher, Moran has this Mayo side well prepared, and Leitrim are facing a tough challenge in their home patch tomorrow. When they last met in 1997 Mayo emerged seven-point winners and that's the kind of margin expected here.

Leitrim's Declan Maxwell is their key forward and is fit to play after a recent knee injury, and there are capable players in defence too such as John McKeon and Barry McWeeney.

Mayo have reshaped their team a little from the 13-point win over London, with Ronan McGarrity back at midfield, Billy Joe Padden at wing forward and David Heaney back in defence. Defender Keith Higgins is the only member of their recent All-Ireland under-21 winning side, with Ciarán McDonald and Conor Mortimer among the considerable talents in the forward line.

Leitrim won't be lacking in support, but the best they can hope for is being competitive for the full 70 minutes.

LEITRIM: C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, M McGuinness; D McHugh, B McWeeney, S Foley; G McCloskey, C Carroll; B Prior, M Foley, C Regan; D Duignan, D Maxwell, C Duignan.

MAYO: J Healy; D Geraghty, L O'Malley, K Higgins; D Heaney, J Nallen, P Gardiner; R McGarrity, P Harte; BJ Padden, G Brady, A Dillon; C McDonald, C Mortimer, A Moran.

Ulster SFC Semi-Final Replay

Armagh v Fermanagh, Clones, 3.30pm

Goals win matches - most of the time anyway. When Fermanagh put two goals past Armagh a fortnight ago they looked nailed on for victory. Armagh don't concede two goals. In Joe Kernan's four seasons as manager, up to last Sunday Armagh had leaked just nine goals in 29 championship games - and never more than one goal. Tom Brewster's goal after 10 minutes and Ryan Keenan's shortly after half-time provided Fermanagh with an advantage, but they just couldn't hold on to it and Armagh fought back with typical patience and determination to draw 2-5 to 0-11.

In fact without those two goals Fermanagh would have struggled badly. Midfielder Mark Murphy scored a point on 48 minutes, and they wouldn't score again. Yet there probably is more in these Fermanagh forwards, whose fast-running game certainly troubled Armagh. Mark Little and Eamonn Maguire were scoreless but well able to chip in, while Ciarán O'Reilly's free-taking was stable enough.

Many still think Armagh are looking a little leg-worn, but there was little evidence of that in the way they battled back. Oisin McConville had a chance to win it with a late free, and a little earlier Steven McDonnell had a goal chance that could have won it.

As usual then, both teams will feel they can improve for the replay. The question is who can improve more. Armagh's defence is highly unlikely to concede another two goals - in fact with McConville and McDonnell in such good form the goals are more likely to come at the other end. Fermanagh will definitely make it difficult again but Armagh have an amazing record in replays in recent years - playing six since 2000, and losing only once (to Kerry, in the 2000 All-Ireland semi-final) - and for that reason alone have to be fancied here.

FERMANAGH: C Breen; R McCluskey, B Owens, S Goan; S McDermott, H Brady, P Sherry; L McBarron, M Murphy; T Brewster, S Doherty, M Little; C Bradley, E Maguire, C O'Reilly.