Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

It’s knockout matches all the way home in the hurling and football championships now and thank God for that, writes Emmet Moloney...

There’s something pure about matches when counties are throwing the kitchen sink at each other in the last few minutes, when that unfit player is brought on in the hope of a goal, when that 65 is lobbed in, when the centre-back is moved to full-forward, when the crowd invade the pitch on the final whistle.

That’s what we’ve come to expect and the qualifiers have robbed us a bit of that magic in May and June. But no more. It’s win or bust until next year’s championships. This weekend again we’ll be saying goodbye to teams that had serious championship ambitions at the start of May.

This week’s list could include the footballers of Tyrone or Armagh. One of them has to go. The same with the hurlers of Waterford or Galway. Davy or John McIntyre? One of them will be stepping off the managerial merry-go-round (for a while at least).

The footballers of Limerick and Wexford will be eyeing up a visit to Croke Park and one of the big boys in the last eight. That’s a tasty game for Saturday, as is the Kildare-versus-Derry clash. Poor Derry, the only team down to play six days after losing a provincial final, it’s always difficult to play these games when you have a readymade excuse for losing.

Speaking of excuses, we’re falling into the soccer trap a little this summer. Goals win and change matches but managers are hitting the blame-the-referee button a little too quickly these past few weeks. The Sunday Game panel are not helping by taking the easy way out and also pointing the finger.

Every single score in football or hurling could be parsed for a potential foul. There are nudges, there are balls that break kindly, there are steps taken that border on illegality, there is contention. That’s what the games are about. As long as humans play the games and humans officiate the games, there will be contention. We need to get over it.

Louth’s loss last year to Meath was a perfect case in point. The Royals had two absolute clear-cut open goals in the movement that eventually ended with Joe Sheridan falling over the line with the ball in his hands. That’s where Louth lost that game. If the ball hadn’t been ping-ponging around their small square they wouldn’t have been in that situation.

It is far too easy to say the line ball/free/throw-in that leads up to a goal should have gone the other way. Keep the goal out, that’s what teams are supposed to do. I’ve yet to see a referee actually score for a team. If I had a wish for the rest of the summer it would be for all teams to take their beating, congratulate the winners and move on. Of course that may be my Clare upbringing – we’re fairly used to that!

Waterford had to get used to it after the Munster final. You could only blame the ref on that day for playing so much injury time. It was two weeks ago and along comes a chance of redemption. Thank God for the qualifiers, they must be saying. Mental preparation is so key in all sports and the Déise can go two ways on Sunday in Thurles. They can fold up the tent after their devastating loss to Tipp and play like the shell-shocked team they were, or they roll up their sleeves and get stuck in to Galway. I can see them showing up in Thurles, with pride to the fore and the character of their squad delivering a performance. But how much of a performance do they expect from themselves? Will the squad be happy with just a performance?

I suspect they’ll put it up to Galway for 50 or 60 minutes and may just be content with that. Pride restored, they will then lose honourably by five or six points. It won’t be intentional; it will just be the way it goes. Besides, Galway are going places, they lost to the same team at this stage two years ago and they’re the form team in the qualifiers. They are All-Ireland semi-final bound.

So, too, are Dublin. With a nice break since their loss to the Cats, the Dubs are the first physically overpowering side that Limerick will meet this year. Donal O’Grady’s side have impressed with their progress but Anthony Daly’s team represent a step up in class. For Dublin the year will be topped off by a last-four appearance, while for Limerick a close loss in the last eight means a very positive year. Both will be happy enough with that because neither are winning an All-Ireland this year.

Down and Cork have real aspirations on that front with the big ball. Last year’s Sam Maguire win by the Rebels wasn’t the most impressive of recent years and Down definitely left Croke Park last September with a feeling of what might have been. This is a bad draw for Cork. The last thing they need is a team with some wins behind them and a bit of unfinished business from last September.

Conor Counihan’s side are a strange bunch to analyse. They are All-Ireland champions but they have yet to really convince. They made hard work of winning last year and for their squad’s undoubted quality, they seem to struggle to fall over the line against most opposition. It shouldn’t be this way. They can play superb athletic football but only ever in short bursts, they have constant injury concerns and they don’t close out matches too well.

To write that about the defending All-Ireland champions is as bizarre as it is true. Cork are and were a much better team than Down, but there will only be a kick of a ball between them. It should favour the All-Ireland champions, but extra time wouldn’t surprise me here.

Kildare will have too much power, fitness and sheer energy for Derry. Armagh will probably call time on some of Tyrone’s veterans, while Wexford should get by Limerick.

Once again this year’s football championship is far from the straightforward sequence the hurling is taking. Kerry are no certainties to reach a final in the manner that Kilkenny and Tipp appear to be. Hopefully Sunday’s two hurling matches can be close encounters of the second tier kind because we all know that these four teams are playing for the right to be probably blown away by Kilkenny or Tipp.

This is why the football championship is capturing the imagination. Anything can happen. Last year all four provincial champions fell at the next hurdle. This Saturday’s winners will be licking their lips for a cut at all of them – except Kerry! To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Irish Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...