IT’S hardly ideal that the four teams remaining in the hunt for the Munster MFC are still standing, regardless of the results of the two games on Thursday evening.

Cork’s reward for pipping the neighbours Kerry by 2-12 to 0-14 at Pairc Ui Chaoimh is a semi-final against Tipperary, who lost to Limerick by 1-9 to 1-6 in the round-robin final in Mallow and received the Daryl Darcy Cup for their efforts.

The Shannonsiders face Kerry in the other semi-final, both games again on Thursday next with the final pencilled in for the Friday of the June weekend, when Cork and Kerry cross swords in the All-Ireland SFC group stage at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on the Saturday.

The expectation is that the minor final will again involve Cork and Kerry but with Kerry at home on this occasion and the reason why any speculation of a double-header down the Marina will be dismissed by the Kingdom.

DISADVANTAGE

Cork and Kerry are at a major disadvantage on a national level because by the time they contest the All-Ireland series, they will have played far fewer games than their opponents, irrespective of the province.

Qualifying for a Munster final is massive as it guarantees the losers another outing in the last eight against a provincial winner, this season against the Connacht champions.

Both Cork and Kerry will have played three times should the formbook stand up as against Tipp and Limerick who already having been involved in four games in the round-robin phase, which also contained Clare and Waterford, who missed out on a top-two finish.

Indeed, Cork and Kerry are the only counties in the whole championship who don’t get to enjoy the benefits of matches in a round-robin format.

For example, the Connacht version completed its league schedule last night with games between Mayo and Sligo and Galway and Leitrim though Mayo and Galway, along with Roscommon, have qualified for the knock-out section.

The group winners advance directly to the final while the other pair meet in the semi-final. Galway are three from three, having pipped Mayo by a point, 1-12 to 1-11, and were expected to take care of business against Leitrim.

That will leave a Mayo-Roscommon semi-final and with Mayo already having banked a 2-17 to 0-11 win over the Rossies in the group game, it’s all set for another Galway-Mayo showdown.

The Leinster championship has three groups, two of four teams and another with three. The format is the winners of Groups 1 and 2 advance to the semis, in this case Kildare and Dublin, while the runners-up reach the quarter-final stage.

The teams in third hit the preliminary quarter-finals along with two teams from Group 3, all producing quarter-finals on Tuesday of Offaly against Louth and Wexford against Meath.

Ulster had two groups with the championship at the quarter-final stage today. It’s Derry-Antrim, Tyrone-Fermanagh, Monaghan-Armagh and Cavan-Donegal.