Clare and Cork hoping gameplan is built for purpose

This weekend Croke Park hosts the All-Ireland quarter finals. All four matches promise to be exciting. My column's focus will be on today’s matches, Derry v Clare and Dublin v Cork.

Derry and Dublin are hot favourites to win but as we have seen many times before the bookies aren’t always right.

All four teams come into the weekend on a high. Positive momentum all-round.

Derry had an outstanding start to their league. Results in latter stages of the league would suggest that they were busy preparing for championship rather than focusing on league games. Their Ulster campaign could not have gone any better.

Clare’s season has gone from strength to strength. Colm Collins did a brilliant job in overseeing the retention of their Allianz Division 2 status. Reaching the quarter-finals following victories over Meath and Roscommon was a massive achievement. Their progress is more significant considering the heartbreak of their penalty shootout loss against Limerick back in April.

Dublin have their mojo back. Organised, efficient in attack and defence and playing with confidence, they are a force to be reckoned with. The league is firmly in their rear-view mirror. Sceptics may say that they haven’t had a real challenge in the championship thus far, but it is hard to find fault with performances up to now.

Cork have managed to navigate numerous obstacles this season. Poor league form, loss of manager, injuries to key players and a big loss to Kerry (eventually) in Munster would have a detrimental effect on any squad. Yet here they are after defying the odds, back in Croke Park for a quarter-final.

The further you go in a competition the harder it gets for the underdogs to cause an upset. The time of teams being underprepared physically,