Derry could do Cork footballers a favour as other results now important for John Cleary's side

IT used to be the hope that killed you, now it’s the waiting, especially in the case of the Cork footballers, whose fate will be determined in the coming weeks.

Unlike other counties, for example Meath and Kildare, chiefly, but not exclusively, Cork’s destiny is outside their control because the Leinster pair have yet to play in Leinster.

That awaits until the weekend after next, when a plethora of games across the four provincial championships should remove some of the cloud over the All-Ireland picture.

For John Cleary’s charges to take their place among the 16 teams contesting the Sam Maguire Cup in the new format of four groups of four with three to qualify, they need teams from Divisions 3 and 4 to begin falling by the wayside.

First up are Division 3 finalists Fermanagh who play Division 2 equivalent Derry on their own patch at Enniskillen’s Brewster Park tomorrow at 5pm with the winners taking on either Tyrone or Monaghan who collide in Omagh on Sunday.

The bookies quote Rory Gallagher’s Derry 1/12 to win with seven points the handicap though those odds don’t reflect a certain level of anxiety in the visitors’ camp after Dublin exposed their leaking defence in the league final recently.

Fermanagh are no mugs and playing at home in what is shaping up to be winter football could lend itself to a shock result, especially, when you factor in Fermanagh winning six of their seven games to top Division 3 at the end of the regular season.

It was a very strange finale because they defeated Cavan by 1-14 to 2-9 a week before meeting them again in the final at Croke Park, where Cavan reversed the result, winning comfortably enough by 0-16 to 1-7.

Still, Derry are the Ulster champions and rightly considered genuine Sam Maguire Cup contenders with their U20s also through to a provincial final against either Down or Monaghan.

That age-group competition started in Munster earlier in the week with wins for Limerick and Clare over Waterford and Tipperary respectively before meeting Cork and Kerry in that order in the semi-final on Monday night.

While Munster, Ulster and Connacht, which has Galway in the final against either Mayo or Sligo, operate a traditional knock-out competition, Leinster went with a round-robin system, two groups of four and one with three teams.

Dublin and Laois qualified directly for the semi-finals and meet Meath and Kildare respectively ensuring their champions will be battle-hardened for the All-Ireland.