Qualifiers kind to the northerners

I expect the football qualifiers to be good for the northern sides after last night's draw.
Most of the Ulster sides avoided the big guns down below and although success in the qualifiers depends too on the resilience of a team knocked out of their provincial championship I think most of the northern teams will make progress into the next round.
Tyrone should see off Louth while I think Down will recover from their defeat at the hands of Armagh to beat Offaly.
Donegal will beat Roscommon at home and in the all-northern clash of Derry and Monaghan I fancy the Oak Leaf men to avenge last year's Ulster Championship defeat especially if Paul Finlay's ban stands which now looks likely.
Cavan may find it tough in Newbridge but Kildare have done nothing so far this year to suggest that they are capable of getting the result.
The most interesting of the other ties for me is the Limerick Meath game. Limerick were unlucky again not to beat Cork and home advantage will stand by them.
However, Meath will be back to something approaching full strength and you would expect that this will be the trigger for their return as contenders.
So I expect that four and possibly five out of six of the northern sides currently in the qualifiers will advance to the next round.

Leinster not an option for ailing hurling

I see Sambo McNaughton has called again for Antrim to be allowed to play in the Leinster championship.
Sambo is right when he says that Antrim will get no better playing in the Ulster championship and the Saffrons have continued to slip out of contention at national level as the Ulster championship falls further and further behind.
Once I would have agreed with Antrim playing in Leinster as they would be sure to get competitive games as long as they didn't meet the Cats.
However, I think that it has gone beyond competing in Leinster.
It's a long time since the Leinster hurling championship was worthy of the name, it is a one-horse race and the only chance any one else has of winning it is if the Cats field the camogie team.
None of the other sides in Leinster are even competitive on a national level.
In the qualifiers, which will take place over the next couple of weeks, Laois, Offaly and Dublin will all be beaten by Galway and the Munster sides while Antrim will get a bad beating in Waterford who now have something to prove under their new boss Davy Fitzgerald.
I think the malaise in Antrim hurling can't now be fixed by playing in the Leinster championship but by playing instead in an intermediate championship made up of those sides just outside the top tier.
It's only when the Saffrons can prove to be too good at that level that they should move up to take on the titans.
Where I do agree with Sambo whole heartedly is that the status quo is not an option, hurling needs a change, there are too many meaningless games, which the public now avoid like the plague, and no one could argue that standards have risen outside hurling's heartlands.
Doing nothing other than going through the motions can only lead to the game going backwards and no one can want that, can they?

Hurling set-up just not cricket

For the sake of hurling we have to bring to an end once and for all mismatches like the Galway Antrim game on Saturday.
They wouldn't allow a match like this in boxing never mind let the manager throw the towel in.
Even in the great imperialist game of cricket the winning team can declare to spare the blushes of weaker opposition.
In hurling however, it's just murder for the two teams involved, the supporters and the officials when one team is simply running away with the game.
And it's not that we don't know that the gap between Antrim and Galway is a chasm.
The 'reward' for the Tribesmen is to go through this same ritualistic killing next weekend when they go to the Midlands to slaughter the O'Moore county men of Laois.
Not that this even benefits the Tribesmen who have endured weeks of inaction as the hurlers of Munster cut lumps out of each other for local honours and the hurlers of Leinster apart from the Gods of Kilkenny at least have had a decent rattle at each other.
But for Ger Loughnane's team these games are fraught with danger as the only thing they can get out of them is the risk of injury to a top player.
No good player gets any better playing against poor opposition and if anything they can pick up bad habits, through having extra yards and time on the sliotar.
For the Antrim lads it is purely reinforcement of what they already know that they are not good enough to be at the top table and that they are on an annual hiding to nothing.
There is a need for an intermediate championship which could include Dublin, Wexford, Offaly, Antrim, Laois and either Westmeath, Down or Kerry.
The provincial championships should be scrapped. Ulster is meaningless and gets mediocre a bad name. Leinster is a side show with only Munster providing any thrills.
But can we go on with the championship charade simply because Munster still has something to offer in terms of crowds and local bragging rights, can it not be played outside the championship structure if it still means so much?
Realistically there are only seven sides in the country in the top grade, the five top Munster sides, Kilkenny and Galway, all of whom outside of Waterford have featured in All-Ireland finals in this decade and the Decies have a National League and three Munsters to their credit since 2002.
Let the others fight for the last place and then play two groups of four for the right to contest the semis.
It might not be the solution but can anyone defend a system which allows teams to be slaughtered physically and psychologically like Saturday's 'game' at Casement.
It's just not cricket!

Orchardmen still on course

While the Leinster game had me on the edge of my seat as Westmeath battled until the last six or seven minutes in search of a shock result I thoroughly enjoyed the big game in Ulster for much different reasons.
The Ulster championship remains the only show in town in the early part of the season.
It's still the only place where teams play with anything like the intensity needed to win an All Ireland.
While Cork and Kerry, Mayo and Galway coast to provincial finals and the Dubs can still produce enough bluster to get through Leinster you still have to work for your corn in the North.
This year was touted as the one where we would see an end to the domination of mainly Armagh, but also Tyrone, in Ulster.
This was based on the belief that Monaghan were coming, Derry were the finished article and that the north's big two were on the slide.
Monaghan's great form of last year is now only a fading memory after a first round exit at the hands of Fermanagh.
Derry's over reliance on Paddy Bradley was laid bare last week, again by Fermanagh, and while Down did dethrone last year's champions Tyrone after a replay Armagh have quietly got on with the business of reaching another Ulster final.
Their quarter final performance against Cavan was solid and they moved up a gear yesterday to see off Down despite playing with 14 men for more than 30 minutes of the second half.
The Armagh performance was a little Jeckell and Hyde at times.
There were passages of play which was as good as anything in the country this year, good movement, accurate passing and top drawer finishing.
Clarke and McDonnell are a handful and young Stephen Kernan has obviously modelled his game on that of Oisin McConville.
Charlie Vernon has added a little power to the half forward line and he can get better.
McGrane and Toner are a good combination in the middle while the defence remains fairly mean with Andy Mallon's pace and Francie Bellew's uncompromising marking a big plus.
Peter McDonnell seems to have achieved what many of us thought was beyond Armagh and that was to almost seamlessly move from the great side of the early days of the decade to another team which has retained some of that wealth of experience and blended it with some exciting new talent.
The Kernans, all three of them, Finian Moriarty, Vernon and Toner have brought something to a team which looked two seasons ago to be on the way out.
I do have a couple of reservations about Armagh yet however.
They play a very controlled game, no running about like headless chickens, holding on to possession, but it is a bit predictable and a bit one paced.
They don't have anyone like Marsden or even Oisin McConville who can produce that little burst of explosive pace which leaves even top class defenders floundering.
Paddy McKeever and Martin O'Rourke will struggle a little at half forward when they meet better quality opposition, they don't have the legs to seriously hurt the top sides.
McGrane is still a magnificent player, capable of great fielding and passing and in the early stages of a game he can still make the surging runs forward.
As the game goes on however, you see less of that part of his game and at times yesterday I thought that Armagh could have been doing with someone in the middle capable of giving them something extra in the last 15 minutes.
Aidan O'Rourke has played well at centre half and is great moving forward, I think his defensive qualities will be tested much more robustly however, starting with the powerful running of the Fermanagh forwards.
McDonnell and Clarke had a great day at the office yesterday with Clarke in particular in brilliant form.
They enjoyed loads of possession and some good ball into the danger areas.
I just wonder do Armagh have enough variation if route one isn't going their way.
However, despite the retirements of some of their best players no one will want to meet them if they do progress to the All-Ireland quarter finals as they remain one of the best teams in the country.

No All Ireland in Caffrey's Dubs

Back from a few days away in Donegal but the shadow boxing in the championship has all but come to an end and at last we are getting a clearer picture of who will be in the mix come the end of the season.
Watched the Dubs with great interest yesterday and it's clear that they are struggling despite pulling the game out of the fire against Westmeath in the second half.
I think if anything Dublin have gone backwards this season.
Paul Caffrey should have called it a day at the start of the year and on the evidence of everything I have seen so far I still believe he made the wrong decision to give it one more year.
The Dublin defence is there for the taking by any good attack.
Westmeath were almost totally reliant on Dessie Dolan and Denis Glennon to do the damage and if they had have had a little more composure in the team they would have seen Dublin off.
For all the hype about Bryan Cullen's performance yesterday I wasn't over impressed with his defending and he is not the answer at centre half back.
The full back line were almost taken to the cleaners in the first 20 minutes and midfield is still a weakness. Neither Whelan or Shane Ryan have a 70 minute game in them, and Eamon Fennell has promise but not much more.
Up front Alan Brogan was exposed as being very limited by the tight marking of John Keane and while Brogan will always give you 100 per cent it's not enough at the top level, I think he is hugely over rated.
Jayo still shows the odd flash of brilliance but he's not capable of conducting the orchestra from centre three quarters, he couldn't do it when he was younger and fitter and he can't do it now at the top level.
He should at this stage of his career be an impact sub or be playing as close to goal as possible where his intelligence and craft can still unlock a defence.
Mossie Quinn and Colm Keaney are average players and struggle against packed defences and for the life of me I just don't see an All Ireland in this team.
And as for Caffrey himself he seems to lack the tactical nous of the top managers and you get the feeling with Dublin that unless they run all over the top of with you with strength and fitness that there isn't an awful lot more.
They should still win Leinster but Wexford will give them a run for their money.

GAA stands firm on Galvin, so far

The GAA has stood firm in the face of Kerry captain Paul Galvin's first appeal.
Galvin still has two more appeals to come and I will be surprised if at some point down the road the GAA don't reduce his six-month ban to three months.
I think the GAA should stand firm and then remain consistent on this matter if any similar case arises as the captain of a county side if anything has more of a responsibility to behave properly with referees than their colleagues.
Paul Galvin was bang out of order and hard as it is should serve his punishment.

Forde a role Model

Matty Forde's performance on Sunday should be an inspiration to young forwards all over the country.
Forde has been one of the best forwards in the country for a number of years now and if he had played on a more successful team he would be right up there with the very best.
He can score with either foot, is brave and his movement makes him a difficult man to mark.
However, like anyone else he has his off days and by his very high standards he was having a tough time on Sunday.
He missed chances he would normally have taken in his sleep, the wind played its part in some of the misses but some of them were just poorly struck from poor positions.
At one point early in the second half Forde had one point and six wides but he kept trying to do the right thing and shooting when he had the opportunity and eventually it came good for him.
Forde ended up with six points the winning margin between the two sides, including two 45s.
Forde never let his head drop even when it wasn't going his way and it's that ability to continue to try to do the right thing which marks the really good players out from the pack.
Forde's performance was inspirational despite his early misses and his presence alone makes space for those around him.
I thought Redmond Barry was outstanding on Sunday but Forde still remains the go to guy when Wexford need a score.
Wexford will be underdogs no matter who they play in the Leinster final but only a fool would write them off.

Great to have the Banner back

Delighted to see Clare reach the Munster hurling final for the first time since 1999.
Then a packed Thurles saw the restoration of the old guard when a young Cork side managed by Jimmy Barry Murphy ousted Ger Loughnane's team, which had won three out of the last four Munsters and two All Irelands.
That day signalled the end of an era, the end of the hurling revolution and normal business was restored as only Cork, Tipp and Kilkenny have won the All Ireland since after being frozen out of the honours for five years between 1994-'98.
Clare have enjoyed some great days since, reaching an All-Ireland final back in 2002 only to be badly beaten by a DJ Carey inspired Kilkenny.
Under Anthony Daly the Banner enjoyed a couple of good days at the office through the back door but they have for the most part been bit players since the 1999 defeat.
This year's resurgence under Mike McNamara has come in almost under the radar.
Only a very brave man would have predicted that Clare would reach a Munster final at the start of the season.
However, McNamara has brought most of the same bunch of players who have been there for two to three seasons now through games with Waterford and Limerick.
Neither of those sides played to their full potential so it is difficult to assess just how much progress Clare have made but there is nothing like a couple of wins in the championship to lift a team and they will not fear their Munster final opponents, Tipperary quite in the same way as Cork.
The Clare forward line has done the business posting a huge score against Waterford and while not setting the world on fire on Sunday they still managed four goals.
Tony Carmody is strong and a good target for the long ball while young Mark Flaherty, Gilligan and sub Barry Nugent all have helped to make the full forward line a bit more competitive.
The half forwards are industrious with Johnathon Clancy a live wire and in mid field Brian O'Connell is a workhorse alongside Lynch's experience.
The half back line is the one I would worry about.
Clare have leaked 40 scores over the two games and the Morans made hay on Sunday from the half forward line.
A fully fit Gerry Quinn might be the solution to some of this problem area but it can only be good for the Munster championship to have the Banner back.

Limerick down with a bump

Limerick came back down to earth with a bump in yesterday's Munster hurling semi final when they leaked four goals in their defeat by Clare.
It wasn't that the Treatymen looked to be in bad shape.
Their point scoring was at times out of the top drawer and they hung on doggedly right to the end.
They started brightly against the breeze and Clare had struggled to get into their stride in the early part of the game.
However, they never really recovered from Pat Vaughn's lob which somehow found the back of the Treatymen's men net.
Limerick continued to work hard from that point on and never actually threw in the towel.
They did get back within two points early in the second half but again their defence let them down with Clare scoring another two handy goals.
There's no doubt the Limerick defence missed the influence of Brian Geary at centre half back but Stephen Lucey looked out of sorts in full back and Limerick will need a huge improvement if they are to go anywhere in this year's All Ireland.
The Treatymen still have time to rebuild their season and the prospect of playing next against the beaten Leinster semi finalists will not have them losing any sleep.
However, Richie Bennis has to be concerned about the ease with which Clare opened up his defence.
I think Clare look better prepared and their confidence grew with the victory over Waterford but Bennis will know that the Clare attack is not exactly frightening and that there are better forward lines out there who would have destroyed Limerick yesterday.
The Treatymen will not surprise anyone this year and I doubt they can play again with the sort of indestructible belief which carried through last year's wonderful season.

Season hots up in the provinces

Looking forward to tomorrow's games after another great football match in Ulster tonight.
I have really enjoyed this season so far and we are only getting to the crucial stages of the provincial championships and we still have the qualifiers to come.
I'm going to have a quick punt on tomorrow's games, should be the kiss of death for any side tipped but here goes.
I think that Mayo will see Sligo off fairly comfortably.
Sligo's win in Connacht last year was one of the fairy tales of the season but Sligo came back down to earth with a bump in the quarter finals and they haven't really recovered.
Under new management they have had a disastrous league campaign and I can't see them rising to the same heights again.
Despite the squander mania of last week I expect the Dublin hurlers to put Wexford away this week.
The Dubs threw the Model men a lifeline last week and may have encouraged a little self belief among the southern side that they can at least progress to the annual whipping by Kilkenny but I think the Dubs have what it takes.
Wexford and Laois should be another good game in the football.
Laois has had the upper hand over the Model footballers in recent years but look well short of the sort of form they showed under Micko earlier in the decade.
I think Wexford might just shed this one but there won't be much in it.
The game of the day has to be the Munster hurling semi final between last year's All-Ireland finalists Limerick and Clare.
Limerick have struggled to produce the goods this season and Clare will be boosted by their win against a poor Waterford side.
However, the confidence gained in that win might stand to the Banner tomorrow but one way or another we are guaranteed a new winner in Munster.
I think Clare might sneak through but their defence has to improve.

O'Rourke gets it right on the night

Whatever Fermanagh manager Malachy O'Rourke has got I wish I could bottle it.
His record of success wherever he has gone has been phenomenal but tonight he got it completely right against Derry to bring Fermanagh to their first Ulster final in 26 years, and if his team continue to work as hard as they did tonight they will win it.
The Ernemen had stars all over the field tonight.
Murphy and McGrath worked like Trojans and McGrath's ability to soak up hits and continue his runs was a joy to watch.
Mark Little ran himself into the ground linking up defence and taking his team on to the attack.
Eamon Maguire and Ryan Keenan always seemed to be available and at times it looked like the Ernemen had a man over they worked so hard.
I thought early on that Sherry was going to be their undoing at the back as Eoghan Bradley took a goal and a point off him in the early stages but he stuck to his task and eventually got on top aided by some strong defending by Goan and McDermott.
What also impressed was the fact that they didn't panic after Derry's great start.
They did get a rub of the green when Ronan Gallagher saved a penalty, which should never have been awarded against Marty McGrath.
And they ate into Derry's six-point lead with half backs Tommy McElroy and Damian Kelly showing the way with great points.
McCabe too did a great job when he came on popping up everywhere to keep the ball moving.
Fermanagh do play an awful lot of short ball but they mix up the hand passing with some great diagonal balls into space where players are working tirelessly to get on the end of them.
If they have a problem at all, it is in scoring.
They have to work tremendously hard for everything they get and if they had have been a little bit more ruthless in front of goal they would have had Derry dead and gone ten minutes before the end of the game.
No one will enjoy playing against the Ernemen and they will not fear either of the other two sides still left in Ulster.
If O'Rourke can keep his best players fit and healthy, and incidentally it was great to see Barry Owens back and magical that he scored the goal in his first game back after serious illness, they will be hateful team to play against.
This year's Ulster championship has already been one to remember, let's hope that Down and Armagh can serve up another thriller.

Derry found out in Ulster

Derry were found out in tonight's Ulster championship semi final against Fermanagh.
Fermanagh simply did their homework on the National League champions.
The key to stopping Derry was to cut the supply to Paddy Bradley.
Fermanagh double teamed him and although Eoghan Bradley produced another of those flashes of brilliance to score an early Derry goal he didn't do much more after the first ten minutes other than look busy.
Paddy Bradley tried hard to break the stranglehold on him but never really got a sniff at it.
What must be worrying for Derry was the failure of the rest of the forward line to fire at all.
Enda Muldoon was hurt early on but I've rarely seen him as quiet in a game.
I don't know whether this was a result of the injury or that the Fermanagh half back line and Mark Little worked so hard to close them down and burn them out with their lung bursting runs forward.
Fergal Doherty was once again missed in midfield and after a slow start Fermanagh's Murphy and McGrath won the war in the middle.
The running of the Fermanagh forwards also cruelly exposed the Derry backs.
I am not convinced by Kevin McCloy's form this season and although the Derry defence dug deep for periods in the second half when they were being over-run out the field a better side than the Ernemen would have had this game won long before the final whistle.
Once again Derry have flattered to deceive in Ulster. They lack mental toughness and there were a lot of players today who looked short on ideas when the going got tough.
Derry posted 1-4 in the first 20 minutes yet scored only another five times in the rest of the game and three of those came in the last ten minutes when Fermanagh were down to 14 men after a rush of blood to Sherry's head.
The Oak Leaf men have enjoyed good runs through the back door in recent seasons but psychologically they will struggle to come back from this defeat given their stated aim of at least winning Ulster.
Worse again is the fact that Fermanagh have shown clearly how to take Derry on and no one at the top table will fear them.

Step back for Mayo

I think it is a sign of weakness that James Nallen and Trevor Mortimore have been drafted back into the Mayo side for the Connacht Championship semi final against reigning champions Sligo.
Mayo are hot favourites to win the game given Sligo's poor National League campaign.
However, although James Nallen and Trevor Mortimore have been great servants of the county their physical powers have been waning for some time.
Nallen has given Mayo great service but knows only too well the bitter taste of defeat in the All-Ireland final.
He had found it increasingly difficult to hold on to his place on the team in the last two seasons and is no longer the force he was when breaking out from centre half back in full flight.
The fact that John O'Mahoney has had to turn to Nallen again in a bid to shore up his defence suggests that the county's resources are thin enough and I think it says a lot about Mayo's preparedness for an All-Ireland campaign.
Mayo could turn Galway over if they get through this week's examination but I don't fancy them to go beyond the All-Ireland quarter finals.

Laois take back seat to TV rights

I wrote earlier this year that TV scheduling would increasingly have an impact on when and where games would be played and that the GAA would lose some of its control over fixtures.
There have already been a number of games played at ungodly hours on a Sunday night so that they would not clash with other TV fare.
However, one of the best examples to date of the power of the new TV deal hammered out by the GAA for this season sees Laois and Wexford play this Sunday despite a request for a week's grace from Laois.
The Laois request was not designed to influence the game in any way it was simply a response to the fact that Laois along with Offaly are hosting the All-Ireland Féile na nGael championships.
On another year their request may have had a favourable hearing.
This year however, the Leinster Council simply couldn't grant the request because the rights to televise the game are contracted out to TV3.
What I hope would happen in future is that when the deals are being done about the games that the GAA takes on board the GAA calendar of events for the season to ensure that no major events will clash with each other.
Although in this week's case Laois will be disappointed the TV deal may have the effect of ensuring in the future that the Association's planning for the year is much more professional.

Rosina McManus – a true Gael

Was sad to learn of the death of former Camogie President Rosina McManus who died suddenly at the weekend.
Rosina was a lady, and an absolute character and was not someone to cross, especially when she was a referee.
Although well known on the national and county camogie scene in Antrim, I came to know Rosina when I was a community worker in the Twinbrook area of West Belfast.
Rosina was training and running an Under 14 camogie side Connolly's and she worked along with the local community forum to try to attract some resources into the development of camogie in the burgeoning estate.
Her enthusiasm was boundless and she believed in taking the game out to the grassroots.
Although she was in her 70s when she passed away this week Rosina had still been training the Connolly Under 14s right up to week before her death.
It's people like Rosina who make the GAA the best sporting association in the world.

Six months for Galvin the right message

Have to say I was surprised about Paul Galvin getting six months today from the Central Competitions Control Committee.
I think it sends out the right message even though I think the punishment might be diluted on appeal to three months.
However, it was clear yesterday that the Kerry captain had embarked on a charm offensive before the hearing issuing a public apology and some were even suggesting that the referee might not report him for knocking his note book out of his hands.
The decision however, will make it clear to all and sundry that you can't mess about with the referee.
We have enough problems with referees being abused at club games without having that type of nonsense going in at inter-county level.
The issue won't go away for a while yet as I believe the Kerry man will exhaust all his possible appeals in a bid to play some further part in the action with his team trying for a three in a row.
Every one still left in the championship should be taking this decision as a clear indication from the CCCC that they will brook no messing around this season.

Beginning of the end for Caffrey?

I said earlier in the year that I believed Dublin manager Paul Caffrey might have overstayed his welcome.
That view was endorsed by no less a pundit than former Dublin forward Charlie Redmond.
Charlie reckons that Caffrey has been too loyal to some of the players who have been with the squad since he has taken over and he questioned the contribution that some of them are making to the Dublin cause.
It's brave of Charlie to stick the head up above the parapet as no one likes to criticise their own county but I think Caffrey has taken the Dubs as far as they can go and I don't think they are a better side now than they were three to four years ago.
They still depend on Jason Sherlock for a bit of savvy, their midfield looks as vulnerable now as it did at the start of Caffrey's reign with Eamon Fennell the great new hope and the defence remainsl very brittle.
If Caffrey doesn't deliver much more than a Leinster title, at least an All-Ireland final appearance is needed, then we will see a new manager at the reins.
I don't think the Dubs will reach the final unless they get a great draw and Redmond's comments may signal the beginning of the end.

Kerry on the sunbeds in Munster

Suppose Kerry can't complain too much about the sending off of their captain Paul Galvin yesterday, after all they had to beat the might of Clare to reach the Munster final again, talk about having to do it the hard way!
The Munster championship is a joke and much as I have admired some great sides from the Kingdom in the past they have a huge advantage in their handy run in to the quarter finals.
Maybe some of the Ulster sides should ask to play in the other provinces, even Antrim might get a run, instead of slaughtering each other in the North while Kerry's finest can indulge themselves on the sunbeds.

Galvin will be a big loss

No matter what way Pat O'Shea dresses up Paul Galvin's sending off yesterday the Kerry manager has to be privately very disappointed.
A captain is supposed to lead by example not knock the ref's notebook out of his hands and get involved with a team mate on the way off the pitch.
Galvin is a very fired-up personality at the best of times.
This year he has struggled to get back on the team after injury and the honour of leading his team will have brought its own problems as he is never anything if not serious about the game.
If he gets the three months he should, and I wouldn't bet on that happening, he will be a huge loss to his team.
Physically he was one of the first Kerry players in 2004 to match the Ulster sides toe to toe, fighting fire with fire.
The Kingdom are a better side than they were four years ago when Kerry's current run of success was reborn after three particularly bad years but Galvin will still be missed if he gets the punishment his actions deserve.

Two reasons not to bet on Galway

I enjoyed the Galway Leitrim game yesterday and especially the performance of former All Star Padraig Joyce.
Joyce is simply a class act, a player who always played with some grace, intelligence and skill.
He had it all including speed off the mark and his quick thinking unlocked many a defence over the years.
However, Padraig in my view was last a great player three to four seasons back and his best work in a Galway jersey goes back for me to the great side of '98 to '01.
He has been one of the best forwards in the country over the last ten years but Galway's continued dependence on Joyce to produce the goods is one of two reasons why I won't be rushing out to the bookies to put what's left of the equity on the house on the Tribesmen.
Joyce has lost a little of the pace which made him the scourge of defences up and down the country but he still knows where the onion is and he gave a masterclass in finishing against Leitrim in yesterday's Connacht semi final.
However, Leitrim are not one of the country's top sides, they're not even near it and yet most of what was good about the Tribesmen's attack came through Joyce.
The other reason why Galway won't win the Sam Maguire is that their defence leaks like a sieve.
That's ok in Connacht although Mayo may have other ideas. However, Galway's cavalier style, no matter how pleasing on the eye, won't cut it in the latter stages of the championship, not because there's anything wrong with the attack mindedness of Liam Sammons' team but because they can't defend for shite.
I wonder is Sammon playing the old double bluff that his team are going to play pretty because they believe in it and they will then review their tactics when they come up against better opposition later in the season.
I hope so as I am a fan of the way Tribesmen play but if they are to get back to the top table they will have to plug the gaps in defence.

Ulster experiment should be wound up

Antrim have limped through the Ulster championship seeing off Down and Derry but by no means looking like they are at least a division better than their Ulster rivals.
The Saffrons struggled to see of a Down side missing Magic Johnstone and the improvement needed in less than a fortnight to even put it up to high flying Galway seems beyond them.
Sambo McNaughton remains as honest as ever and one Eff didn't wait on another when talking to the press after the game.
McNaughton knows that a repeat of Sunday's performance against Galway will end in tears and Antrim will be left licking their wounds after another heavy defeat.
To be honest I fear for our lads in a fortnight's time.
I believe they will raise their game a notch as the over familiarity and the fact that the Saffrons were going for their seventh Ulster in a row in what is now a meaningless championship obviously has taken some of the fire out of the contest.
Down are working hard to develop the game outside its Ards base and there are some signs of hope in South Down and with the efforts of the Bredagh club in south Belfast to promote the game.
It could be another five years before the county side sees the full benefit of this but if this doesn't work the game will die in the county.
The base the Ards teams have drawn off in the past has narrowed considerably as the day of the big hurling family producing three and four brothers for the local side is gone and falling school numbers tell their own tale.
The Ulster experiment of all nine counties competing added a little interest to the season but on its own did little to lift the standard of play, indeed it added to the mediocrity.
All the Ulster sides outside of Antrim should be playing in the lesser competitions and while the aspiration to have a fully contested Ulster championship is indeed a noble one the hurling authorities need to look no further than Leinster to see the effect a poor championship can have on the game.

Stop the Leinster championship it's murder!

It was men against boys today in the Leinster hurling championship as the Cats gave Offaly the sort of beating which wouldn't be allowed in a boxing ring.
I wrote yesterday that it would be a matter of how long Offaly could hang in there with the All-Ireland champions in what clearly was a mismatch.
As it turned out it took the Cats half an hour to get their ass in gear and when Henry Shefflin found Martin Comerford for the first goal it was goodnight Irene.
After that the game was torture for Offaly and nuetral fans alike.
It was training ground stuff for the Cats but this annual lap of honour through Leinster can't be allowed to continue.
It's not fair on the rest of the country, well Munster anyway that the Cats are able to train for the All-Ireland semis as only a tragedy on the scale of the Munich Air Disaster could stop the Cats in Leinster.
The crowds are poor and after today's game it can only get worse next year.
Either we scrub the provincials, bring in Antrim and Galway or we move to a format involving the Munster five, the Cats, Galway and one out of Dublin, Wexford, Offaly and Antrim and the rest play in an Intermediate championship a step up from the Christy Ring.
We do this up and down the country in all our county championships as it's recognised that there is a competition needed to bridge the gap between junior and senior.
There are too many meaningless games being played at the moment where teams are having their confidence destroyed, crowds are bored senseless, there only because their county is playing and where the ref should stop the fight.
Unfortunately the provincial councils will wait until more people are at a bus stop than at a Leinster championship game before they act!

Armagh impress in first outing

Armagh looked as formidable if not quite as clinical as ever in their first outing in the Ulster championship today when they disposed of Cavan a lot easier than the score line of 0-17 to 0-13 suggests.
Armagh still play to their strengths, they make it hard to break them down and they hold possession in their no nonsense no panic style and in Clarke and McDonnell they have two class acts up front.
They should have had at least three goals today with Stevie McDonnell, Clarke and Stephen Kernan all guilty of misses one to one with the 'keeper.
The Orchard men snuffed out Cavan at every turn.
The Breffni men never really looked like getting back into the game bar a short spell right after half time when Armagh missed a few chances to finish the game off and Cavan closed the gap to two.
The defence looked better for Francie Bellew and Andy Mallon's return and John Toner looks like a good partner for the ever reliable Paul McGrane in the middle.
Stephen Kernan adds a bit of class to the forward line and Charlie Vernon looks to be a very powerful footballer.
If Armagh can keep McDonnell and Clarke fit they are always going to be a threat.
They will now face a resurgent Down in the Ulster semi final in what will be a much-anticipated game.
For Cavan, I can't see them lift themselves for the qualifiers, their shortcomings were cruelly exposed today and with the calibre of opposition already in the draw it's hard to see them going much further.
They were much too predictable.
They battle hard but Armagh starved Seanie Johnston of possession and even though he still managed a credible haul of points Armagh dominated midfield and made Cavan work hard for everything they got.
Cavan will be a banana skin for anyone they meet but only that.
The challenge to Armagh is now to improve, if they can do that they will be in the mix in the latter part of the season.

Breath-taking game of football

Great weekend of football in Ulster following Down's one-point win over Tyrone and Armagh seeing off Cavan to win at Breffni Park for the first time ever in the championship.
Last night's game between Tyrone and Down was captivating throughout.
Every so often there were flashes of the brilliance we have come to expect of Tyrone in recent seasons with some incisive football and finishing.
However, it's clear that the former champs are not firing on all cylinders.
They are still plagued by injuries, Enda McGinley missing out with concussion was another big blow to what has been one of the most unsettled midfields in the country.
The loss too of Colm Cavanagh who had scored four points in the first 25 minutes followed by his substitute Kevin Hughes leaving the field only about ten minutes later left Tyrone's resources in the middle of the park threadbare.
Brian McGuigan too was left out of the starting line-up but despite this Tyrone put in a credible performance, a storming finish to come back from the dead and at one point in the first period of extra time it looked like they could run away with it.
Sean Cavanagh led the fightback, while Ryan McMenamin, Conor Gormley and Tommy McGuigan all raised their game to bring the Red Hands back.
To Down's credit they simply refused to give up over the two games.
Liam Doyle, Aidan Carr, Dan Gordon were all top class once again and Benny Coulter produced the goods when it mattered most.
Down will take an awful lot of confidence out of the two games and the experience will stand them in good stead.
The Down attack have looked good over the two outings, a return of 16 points in normal time would win most tight games, and they were a lot tighter in defence than they had been in the first quarter of the game at Healy Park.
They will need no motivation for the semi final tie with Armagh with whom they enjoy a huge rivalry and most neutrals in Ulster will be looking forward already to that one.
There is no doubt about the Down men in that if they get their dander up they are one of the strongest teams in Ulster in terms of self belief.
For years they were the only side in Ulster who travelled to Croke Park expecting to win.
As for Tyrone a defeat like Saturday's will be hard to shake off.
They should have had this game won twice and blew it.
However, they are still a good side and much will depend on their mental strength and how quickly they can get a full side on the pitch.
I think they need a good draw in the qualifiers, which already has Donegal, Meath, Kildare and Monaghan in the shake-up.
If Tyrone can get another game under their belts they may just be able to regroup but it must look like a long road from here.

Dubs need to get monkey off their back

The Dublin Wexford clash ending up being an exciting match as the Model men almost stole a game which Dublin shot themselves out of.
However, the exciting finish could not disguise the mediocrity of much of the hurling on display.
The Dubs shot 19 wides and some of the misses when the pressure was building on them in the second half were unforgivable.
Wexford scored one point in the whole of the first half, in injury time, and it was no accident as they really were that bad, out played in every part of the field.
I noticed Kilkenny boss Brian Cody watching the game and he must have thought at that stage that he could probably field half the county's camogs and still come out on top against the pick of the two sides on show!
Dublin need to get over the psychological barrier of beating Wexford in the championship if they are to get up to the next level and they need to do it soon otherwise it will end up as a monkey on their back.
And lets's be honest this is the poorest Wexford team since the Model men started to come back on the national landscape in the early '90s.
The Dubs will feel that they played well enough to win and if they can sharpen up in front of the posts then they may at least book their first Leinster final place since '91.
They are hard working but the first touch at times isn't good enough to match any of the current top sides.
Too many players need a second bite at the cherry and the full back line's defending of the two goals was painful.
The Wexford fightback and the fact Dublin then lost their nerve when they had chances to again put the game beyond Wexford shows that the Dubs are lacking the mental toughness and experience required to put a bad team to the sword.
I just don't know where Wexford go from here. Their season has been a horror picture so far and they have Division 2 to look forward to next season.
Rory Jacobs remains their best forward and I saw nothing in their young players to suggest that the county will be competitive again in the near future.

Hurling set-up attracting poor crowds

The hurling championships are supposed to move up another gear this weekend with the semi finals in Leinster and the Ulster final.
The hurling public however, are voting with their feet on the current set-up.
By the time all three games are played, including the first outing of the All-Ireland champions Kilkenny, there will be fewer people at the three games this weekend than were in Cork last week for the Munster game between Cork and Tipp.
The GAA will not face any inquiries after this weekend's games about too many people trying to get into the ground!
Despite the much-awaited Dublin revival in hurling half of Nowlan Park was empty for today's game against Wexford.
It will be the same tomorrow when the Cats face Offaly and Antrim take on Down.
Tomorrow's games have a real air of predictability about them.
In the first we will be interested only in how long Offaly can live with the champions.
In Ulster even if Down win they won't have a place in this year's Liam McCarthy with Antrim already set to face Galway in a fortnight's time.
Outside of Munster the games lack any real meaning and I thought that today's crowd at what should be the only competitive hurling match of the weekend said it all about what the public think about the status quo.
This uneven and unfair build-up to the latter stages isn't doing anything to promote hurling, do we have to wait until the hurlers are playing in empty venues before this malaise is dealt with?

Pendulum swings to Tyrone

I think the pendulum has swung back Tyrone's way for their replayed Ulster football quarter final tie with Tyrone with the news that midfielder Dan Gordon will miss the game with a broken thumb.
Tyrone have injury worries of their own in Davy Harte, Colm Cavanagh and Enda McGinley but they lost the midfield battle against the Mournemen and Gordon will be a big loss to Down.
I think the draw will help Tyrone's bid to retain their Ulster title.
The only way for key men like Brian McGuigan and Brian Dooher to regain match fitness after their long lay-offs is by playing competitive games.
Both men showed well in patches on Sunday but they have a long way to go to reach the peaks they experienced in 2003 and 2005.
Another competitive game albeit a replay will be a step forward for both of them and a win would put Tyrone's season back on track.
That would guarantee them at least two more championship games and sometimes a team can rebuild its confidence and morale through a run of games.
The Red Hands have still not sorted out their problems in midfield, the loss of McGinley is a big blow, and the full back line still looks dodgy under the high ball.
The forward line is not firing on all cylinders either but there is still room to improve.
I think Tyrone will come through Saturday night's test but Down remain unpredictable and their ability to score goals always makes them a threat.
However, their full back line is poor and I think Tyrone will be more ruthless than they were last weekend.

Dubs don't impress me

Watched the Dubs yesterday against Louth in the Leinster championship and I don't think they are any closer to an All Ireland now than they have been for the last seven years.
Louth were terrible, lacking in almost every department and in fairness the Dubs put them away with a series of unanswered scores.
However, Dublin are still very much a Jeckell and Hyde team, purple patches to die for while serving up periods when you wonder how they are even in the mix.
They were very average on the first half and the period of dominance they enjoyed in the second half was triggered by a moment of madness in the Louth defence and the Wee County men were not good enough to respond after conceding a soft goal.
In fairness to the Dubs it isn't their fault the opposition was so poor but I didn't see anything new about them other than a good performance by Eamonn Fennell in midfield to suggest they have improved at all.
All of the old faults are still there, players doing the business in patches and an over reliance on Jason Sherlock to do anything clever or different.
They will once again be full of bluster but unless some of the other favourites shoot themselves in the foot they will have to settle for another semi final appearance.

Fitz the man for the Decies

The appointment tonight of Davy Fitzgerald as Waterford boss will bring another dimension to this year's championship.
Enjoyed Pat Spillane's teasing of the former Clare keeper last night about whether or not his hat was in the ring and the efforts of Davy Fitz to keep him off his case.
Fitzgerald's appointment is definitely going to keep the spotlight on the Decies and he was at pains to praise the calibre of their players on the Sunday Game.
He has inherited a good group of players, under achievers maybe, ageing definitely but they are capable of a last hurrah if they can regroup for a big team effort.
Davy Fitz has only a very short period to get them in shape but given his determination to succeed at everything he takes on I think we are in for an interesting championship.

Changing of the guard in Munster

Really enjoyed the Munster hurling semi final this afternoon.
I think we have just watched the changing of the guard in the province with both Cork and Waterford, who have dominated Munster for the last six seasons, out of the championship.
Cork had every chance to win this game, at one point seven up but Tipp chipped away at their lead.
However, Cork had the game in their grasp again early in the second half.
For the first 20 minutes of the half they missed a penalty and a whole series of chances.
Tipp hung grimly on as Cork's midfield and half backs were totally on top and they never slipped more than two points behind.
What will worry Cork is the fact that they visibly tired in the last quarter as the younger fresher Tipp lads grew in confidence.
There was only one team in it in the last ten minutes with Cork reduced to long hopeful balls into a full forward line which Tipp had by the throat at this stage.
Tipp will relish the thought of a Munster final against either Clare and Limerick with a league title and a historic victory over Cork under their belts.
Tipp look like a team which can go all the way and they will now fear no one.
For Cork, the worry has to be that their best players were the lads who have already taken this team to the heights.
Gerald McCarthy tried out a new full forward line but it didn't work out.
Cathal Naughton showed he has what it takes to step up to the plate, O'Sullivan had his moments but Pa Cronin has a poor day at the office.
Cork have struggled in the forward line over the last couple of seasons and even with everyone fit they look shy of the punch up front to win the Liam McCarthy this year.

Dolan's class stands out from the pack

The Leinster game tonight between Offaly and Westmeath probably says everything about the state of the game in the province.
The first half was dreadful, error ridden and the some of the shooting was simply awful.
Westmeath have been criticised too of late for playing the 'Ulster' way.
That's about the fact tht they bring players back behind the ball in a effort to deny their opponents' space.
I have to laugh at the purists getting on their high horse about this type of football.
To me it's very simple, when you lose the ball you work hard to get it back again making it as difficult as possible for the opposition to score against you.
If this type of tactic was simply negative then I would be among the first to condemn it.
However, the best sides in Ulster, and now also Kerry and others, also know that by dropping players back that there are more opportunities for good half backs to break forward and for clever players like McGuigan, Dooher, Galvin and Brosnan to carry the ball forward.
The so-called Ulster style only works too when you have good forwards who can do the business.
Tyrone had Canavan, O'Neill and Mulligan up front while Armagh had Clarke, McDonnell and Marsden. As for the Kingdom Donaghy, the Gooch, Mike Frank and a choice of two to three others was also very tasty.
There is no substitute for class no matter how hard or how ugly you work and tonight Westmeath's Dessie Dolan stood out from the pack.
He took three points from play in the second half which were out of the top drawer helping his side draw away from Offaly at a crucial stage of the game.
Westmeath are an honest, hard working team which play to their strengths.
They are lacking in class however apart from Dolan but their high energy game will make them hard to beat.
They would probably relish the challenge of playing the Dubs in the semis as a match against the Metropolitans is always a big occasion.
Although the city side will be favourites to win tomorrow Louth will fancy their chances of putting it up to a weakened Dublin team.
If Louth can come through Westmeath would fancy their chances of a second Leinster title.

Fitz could restore Decies' self belief

The speculation about Davy Fitzgerald and the Waterford job is interesting.
Waterford have been the big under achievers of the decade promising much in Munster with three title wins but falling short in the latter stages of the All Ireland, most notably last year as Munster champions and National League winners.
Davy Fitzgerald is a perfectionist who sets very high standards for himself.
He has had success steering Limerick IT to a Fitzgibbon Cup victory and he was an inspirational player in his long tenure as the Clare netminder.
The Waterford job will be a big ask, there is a group of very mature players there in the twilight of their careers.
They are capable of making one last push to get back into contention and luckily for the new manager, whoever that might be, their next game in the championship is likely to be against Antrim before tougher tasks beckon.
The one thing that Fitzgerald could bring to the team is his almost fanatical will to win and organisational skills.
If the current group of Waterford lads are to pull themselves up from last week's embarrassing performance against Clare it will need someone who can instil the self-belief which has deserted them on big days more than once in the last ten years.
Fitz for Waterford would be a roller coaster ride!

Faithful captain should get on with the job

Offaly captain Ger Rafferty has had a go at the county's football supporters before today's Leinster quarter final with Westmeath.
I think it all sounds a little pathetic going on about the so-called supporters and about how few actually travelled earlier in the year to their games against Antrim and others.
All a bit reminiscent of John Maughan giving out about the Roscommon support earlier in the year just before he resigned.
Fans are entitled to be critical of their county team, just because we desperately want them to win doesn't mean that we have to have no negative opinions about how they are playing.
Offaly football has gone backwards since Seamus Darby's late goal ended Kerry's five in a row dreams back in 1982 and the county has had little to cheer about other than a Leinster title win 11 years ago,
Football has been eclipsed by hurling in the Faithful County and despite what Ger Rafferty might feel about how the team is playing I think they might be in for even more criticism after tonight's game against Westmeath.
Ger should concentrate on getting the best out of his team mates rather than wasting time complaining that the fans are not happy with the football they are playing.
Go on Ger, give them something to cheer about.

Tradition will carry Rebels through

Tipp are travelling to Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow trying to get an 85-year-old monkey off their back.
Buoyed up by winning the National League and with some of the young players like Shane McGrath showing a new maturity and hunger this is Tipp's best chance to defeat the Rebels at home since 1923.
All bad runs have to come to an end sometime and the Premier men must feel like they are the team on the up while Cork are still backboned by a core of players who saw great success earlier in the decade, playing in four All-Ireland finals in a row in the process.
Tradition shouldn't mean anything in a game like this but I believe that the Cork vets will just about hold on tomorrow spurred on by a big local support and determined not to be remembered as the Rebel side which lost to Tipp at home.
I am still confident that both these sides will end up in the latter stages of the All Ireland regardless of tomorrow's result but I think Tipp will have to wait another year on Munster success.
However, if Cork were to fall tomorrow on their home patch and go out of Munster at the semi final stage for the second year running it would be a huge shift in a province which has been dominated by Cork and Waterford for the last six seasons.

Poor discipline a culture in Meath?

Meath's disciplinary woes have continued with Kevin Reilly's yellow card last Sunday being overturned to a four-week ban.
I'm sure the county's supporters must be asking themselves why the disciplinary record is so poor at the moment.
Have they just been caught out by the GAA's renewed willingness to tackle the problem of foul play and off the ball nonsense? Or is there something ingrained into Meath's approach to the game which means that players will always push out the envelope in terms of attempting to rough an opponent up?
Graham Geraghty is one of those players I admire and loathe in equal measures.
His intelligence, courage, speed of movement, balance and ball skills are a treat to watch.
Saw him play against Antrim in the League at Casement a couple of seasons ago and in an early season game he still looked like the only thoroughbred surrounded by 29 journeymen.
On the other hand there has always been a dark, mean side to his game, hitting players sly digs, leaving his foot in an effort to hurt someone as the ball moves on but over the years cute enough to avoid the ultimate sanction most of the time.
The game has changed however, there are cameras everywhere, but his colleagues don't seem to have grasped that.
Given the way Colm Coyle's sides was depleted for their game with Wexford the last thing he needed was another key player out of the action.
Coyle himself as a player was like Geraghty a combination of the good, the bad and the ugly, always playing at the very edges of the rule book.
Is there where the current problems stem from in the Meath side?
Is the manager or his back room team too tolerant of the sort of nonsense some of the players have got up to because it was all right back in the '80s and 90s?
Or does it reflect a culture within football in the county at a club level?
Whatever the reason, a season which started with so much promise for what is an improving Royal side has been temporarily derailed and the that's a pity as Leinster and the country need sides like Meath in the shake-up.

Big Brother is watching you!

When are our top players ever going to learn that you can't lift your hands in the modern era, not at inter-county level anyway?
The four-week ban handed out to Fergal Doherty was completely unnecessary, he had no reason to box Rory Kavanagh in the face.
Like most other GAA people I wasn't impressed how Kavanagh went down like he'd been hit by the Washington sniper.
I hate the sort of histrionics which are designed to get a player booked or sent off, but unfortunately it has crept into our game from soccer.
Our club side had a full back at one stage who could do a backward flip with tuck, like an Olympic diver, holding his face like he'd been thumped by Mike Tyson.
I hated it then and still do.
However, our county players are being watched now by television cameras capturing the action from all angles and sometimes more than one station is covering the game.
The linesmen and the four umpires are all consulted by the referee, when will our players get wise to this?
Fergal Doherty is a powerhouse and he is a very important player for Derry.
He wins ball and when he missed the game against Galway during the league Derry were taken to the cleaners, their defence leaking like a sieve.
He will miss the game with Fermanagh and they are a force to be reckoned with in the middle sector of the field.
Doherty's absence will be a huge boost to the Ernemen and if the Oak Leaf county find themselves in the qualifiers as a result it will be a hard road to travel.
I hope that our top players get a grip of themselves and soon, this is the TV era, Big Brother is watching you and the sort of slap normally handed out on the playground has to become a thing of the past.
There are enough top players already sitting the early part of this season out because of poor discipline.
Maybe managers need to do a session with their teams given over to eye in the sky and teach them to smile when their heart is aching instead of looking for the sly dig in revenge.

All Ireland title the only cure as McCarthy goes

Sorry to see Justin McCarthy resign from the Waterford job last night.
It's clear that his removal is another sign of the player power so forcefully shown by the Cork hurlers and footballers who went out on strike earlier in the year when Teddy Holland went for his gums without even a ball being thrown in.
McCarthy said that he had lost the support of several of his players and to be fair Waterford only look a shadow of the team which won Munster and the National League last year.
Waterford have enjoyed their first successes of the modern era under McCarthy who built on the solid foundations laid down by fellow Cork man Gerald McCarthy at the end of the '90s, and won Munster on three occasions.
However, it will always be a matter of debate as to whether or not Waterford were actually good enough to go on and win an All Ireland under him or whether the players were always going to fall short anyway no matter who was in charge.
The one thing for sure is that Waterford are an ageing side and for the spine of the team there are not many big days out at Croke Park left in them.
Sunday's performance was the worst by a Waterford side in the championship for the last ten years. They have been beaten before but they surrendered on Sunday and the towel was thrown in 20 minutes from the end.
This latest player revolt will inject a bit of bite into the season as a lot of people now have something to prove.
They should look no further than the great Offaly side of 1998 for inspiration.
They too were ageing warriors with a lot of miles on the clock and after a poor start to their Leinster season they parted with manager Babs Keating who was resented by many of the senior players.
Michael Bond took over in mid season and the rest as they say is history.
The Faithful men won a three-game marathon against Clare, which included the famous early whistle game and sit-in on Croke Park by the Offaly fans, and they beat a Kilkenny side in the All-Ireland final which had wiped them out in Leinster.
That will be a hard act for the Decies to follow but that is the only thing which can justify the treatment of McCarthy.

Hurler played club game before provincial semi

Heard an interesting story after the recent Ulster Hurling Championship semi finals.
One of the players who played in a provincial hurling semi final had played in a club game earlier that day as a second half substitute.
I was absolutely gobsmacked at the idea of it.
I didn't publish this sooner because I checked it twice over and it's legit 100 per cent.
I know players can be put under pressure by their loyalty to their club side but is there any other province in the country where a player would tog out for the club on the same day as a provincial semi final.
Can't see any of the Clare lads doing that last weekend or anyone from Waterford.
Suppose it's no wonder we are light years behind in the national hurling stakes when our players have an attitude like this about playing in a provincial semi final.

Wexford light up championship

Wexford lit up the football championship today with their amazing comeback to beat Meath by a point.
The Model men were absolutely cavalier in the second half throwing caution to the wind as they steamed forward to overturn a ten-point deficit.
The game looked over just before half time when Graham Geraghty was class personified to finish Meath's second goal.
However, Jason Ryan's team just never gave up even when Meath cancelled out Wexford's good start to the second half.
The other impressive thing about this Wexford effort was the fact that the scores were well spread out.
The Model men have relied heavily on Mattie Forde to come up with the goods in their recent campaigns but Lyng, Redmond Barry and PJ Banville all got big scores.
Wexford had a good league campaign and the confidence gained from that stood them in good stead today but what can you say about Forde.
Cometh the hour cometh the man and in the dying moments he scored two points which were out of the top drawer.
The first, the equaliser, was from a free from distance and the winner was another great strike.
Great players produce when the pressure is on and Forde did that in spades today.
The Leinster football championship continues to be the most open and entertaining in the country, it is a treat to watch but until their sides also learn to win ugly they will still fall in the latter stages of the All Ireland.

Brawl comes back to haunt Meath

I wrote a few weeks ago that the brawl at Parnell Park during the league could come back to haunt Dublin and Meath in the Leinster championship and today the chickens came home to roost.
Meath minus the five suspended players were edged out by just one point after a great second half fightback by Wexford.
This is a game which should never have got away from Meath who were leading by ten points half through the second half.
However, as Wexford steamed forward Meath became increasingly ragged and they seemed bereft of ideas of how to close out the game apart from some very cycnical fouls.
Mark Ward's sending off was pure stupidity dragging down a man when he was on a run when he was already on a yellow.
However, his midfield colleague Meade can count himself very lucky not to join him for a terrible foul when he elbowed a Wexford player in the face.
I don't think there is any doubt that Meath would have progressed to the semi finals with their full contingent but the indiscipline at Parnell Park robbed Colm Coyle of options when the tide turned against them.
Meath now head for the qualifiers and although they will have a full squad by the time they are back in action the Royals will be disappointed at blowing the chance to meet great rivals Dublin in the Leinster final.
With Monaghan and now Donegal also in the qualifiers there are a lot of banana skins there and it's a notoriously difficult route to rebuild your challenge.

Derry fall short of the mark

Derry got out of Ballybofey today by the skin of their arse.
You have to admire their fightback from four down just before half time but they didn't look like All-Ireland material on this performance.
Derry are solid, their midfield is excellent, they win lots of high ball and with Muldoon and Gilligan dropping in there too it's hard to win any ball against them in that sector of the field.
However, their defence looks vulnerable and better attacks than Donegal will make hay against the Derry full back line.
I also believe that the dependence on Paddy Bradley will be fatal to Derry's chances.
Paddy was hurt just before a kickable free in the first half and I don't think it's any coincidence that Derry failed to add to their tally as he tried to run off the effects of an ankle injury.
It was only when Bradley got going that Derry once again began to prosper.
Bradley ended up with ten points, only three from play, but he earned several of the frees himself with intelligent running to get out in front of his man.
I was surprised that Donegal did not employ a sweeper against the Derry man such is the dependence of his side on him.
There isn't an awful lot more to the Derry attack, his brother Eoin can produce the odd moment of instinctive brilliance but he is a bit brainless and while Mark Lynch works hard he doesn't score often enough to hurt.
Muldoon increasingly does his best work further out from goal although his first point of the second half was worth the admission fee.
On the evidence of this game Derry are a good strong side but they haven't got that little bit extra needed to win an All-Ireland.

End of the road for a good Decies side?

While it was heartening to see Clare put in such a good performance in today's Munster hurling championship game it was sad to see how far back Waterford have gone in just a season.
Last year's Munster champions looked to be on the verge of going all the way to the All-Ireland final where most neutrals were licking their lips in anticipation of a shoot-out between the Decies and the Cats.
The wheels came off the wagon however, after winning a replayed game against Cork and a flat, tired looking Waterford were turned over by a battle hardened hungry Limerick team they had already beaten in Munster.
I don't think that the Decies have recovered from that hammer blow to their All-Ireland hopes.
I believe that last year was the one where Waterford's veterans, some of whom have been chasing an All-Ireland title since they signalled their return to the top table of hurling in 1998, felt this was 'the year' they had to make the breakthrough.
The first signs that the wheels were coming off the wagon was in the National League where they 'enjoyed' a very average campaign.
The accepted wisdom was that the Decies were trying to keep their powder dry, preparing instead for the All-Ireland campaign.
But the injuries to four All Stars, Ken McGrath, Paul Flynn, Eoin Murphy and Eoin Kelly has left their resources threadbare and last year's Player of the Year Dan Shanahan has also struggled against injury and it showed today.
However, despite the loss of these top players what was unforgivable was the fact that they threw in the towel with 20 minutes left.
Another major concern must be the fact that Clare were so much fitter than the Decies who looked lack lustre and were second to almost every ball.
The space given to the Clare forwards was reminiscent at times of a training game and the Waterford tackling lacked any purpose or bite.
So where do they go from here?
The good news for Waterford is that they have a few weeks to get over this licking.
They must hope that the limbs of their lost leaders will heal but more importantly that their hurt pride will help them regain some momentum through the back door.
The good news is that they are likely to face Antrim when that campaign resumes and this gives them every chance to get back on track.
However, when it comes to the big tests later in the summer I can't see the Decies stand up to top sides.
It's a long way down but I think we have seen the best of the Decies for a generation.

Raising the Banner

Very mixed feelings about today's Munster hurling championship game which Clare won at a canter.
First it's great to see the Banner back in business in Munster, their first championship win for five years and they will relish the prospect of playing against neighbours Limerick in the semi final.
Clare were hungry, energetic and the fact that they scored 28 times will do their forwards' confidence no harm at all.
The Bannermen played in a manner which we associated with good Clare sides of the last 15 years, they made up for finesse with strength, fitness and a fierce competitive spirit.
Griffin and Carmody had a field day up front with O'Flaherty weighing in with some good scores on his championship debut.
Diarmuid McMahon also excelled at half forward and all this created so much more space for Niall Gilligan who too often must have felt like the Lone Ranger in the Clare attack in the last six or seven seasons.
I also thought the fact that Frank Lohan had a quiet day at centre full back said much about Clare's dominance out the field as Waterford struggled to create goal chances.
If Clare has any concern at the end of this game it must be about the fact that a Waterford team which had thrown the towel in at least 20 minutes from the end still conceded 22 scores.
It's true that this was a very open game but John Mullane roasted both the full backs put on him and Limerick boss Richie Bennis will feel that his forward line will give Clare more problems than the Decies did.
However, this is a young hungry Clare side, its tails will be up from this victory and manager Mike McNamara now has time to work on further improvement.
Clare will not fear Limerick or feel any sense of inferiority as they might if they had to face Tipp or Cork at this stage.
Limerick came from nowhere last year to reach an All-Ireland final.
The Bannermen know that they have a long road to travel before they are serious contenders for the All Ireland but there is nothing like a championship win to boost a side's confidence and it can only be good for hurling if the Banner was to rise again.