GAA 2008

Great day's action ahead

2008-07-27T04:50:00.001-07:00

Looking forward to another great day's championship action with the final round of the hurling qualifiers and the Ulster football final replay.
The hurling season has stuttered along so far but last weekend was really the start of us getting down to serious business.
Cork shocked, I know it's a strong word given that they have one of the top two sides in the country for the last six season, all of us with the quality of their performance last weekend against Galway and their sheer guts and determination in the second half against the wind with a man down.
They defeated the Tribesmen in a game where we saw one of the great individual performances by a teenage Joe Canning.
When you see a young man put in a game like that you just have wonder how good he can be.
If he keeps his feet on the ground and remains injury free, which will be difficult given that he puts his body on the line to create space, he has the potential to become an all-time great.
However, the Cork half back line of Gardiner, Curran and O hAilpin looked like men on a mission and with Joe Deane on fire up front Cork looked irresistible.
Clare on the other hand have also a lot to prove after a fairly poor performance in the Munster final and they should at least not be as dependent on one player to do the damage for them as were Galway.
In the end I think Cork will edge it just because they take their scores easier than Clare but if the Banner can find the Cork net the way they breached the Waterford and Limerick defences early in the season then it could be quite a contest.
I fancy Waterford to overcome Wexford despite their over reliance on Eoin Kelly to beat Offaly last week.
I still think there is a big game in Waterford and it's now die dog or shite the licence.
Wexford are a poor side, their league form and their efforts in Leinster tell us that.
The gap between the rest in Leinster, Cats apart, and Munster isn't as big as some suggest, but the Decies know this is the last throw of the dice and I would expect some of them to begin to perform as they can.
I wouldn't even dream of calling Ulster. Prevailing wisdom that Fermanagh had their chance and that they will be eaten up by Armagh in the replay isn't going to happen.
Fermanagh are much too fit and physically strong to roll over for anyone. They know they had the game by the throat for the last 25 minutes and they will take great heart from that but they must do something about the free taking.
Armagh are methodical, clever and slick in full flight but McGrane is no longer a 70 minute player, he tired last week and the team suffered.
They are a little too pedestrian at times in the build-up and it was a tactical error bringing in Oisin McConville left the field.
The old Armagh disease of the two Brians era of not pushing on when they had a big lead cost them dearly and unless they address the issue of pace in their side they will be found out by better sides than Fermanagh no matter what Curran and McDonnell can conjure up.
I think we are in for another great battle as winning is everything in this one as the losers will find it very tough lifting themselves for the qualifers.

McGeeney will need a good draw

2008-07-27T04:40:00.000-07:00

The only game which an Ulster side didn't win yesterday still brought some good cheer to the province with Kieran McGeeney's Kildare overcoming an improving Limerick in the qualifiers to book their place in the last 12.
McGeeney has had a tough season in his first year in charge with Kildare relegated in the league and beaten on their first day out in Leinster.
However, they bounced back beating Cavan with a last minute goal last week before beating Limerick yesterday by three points.
The big plus for Geezer has been the return to form of John Doyle who has been scoring for fun in the last two games.
McGeeney showed a bit of the courage he was renowned for on the field when he made switches for the Cavan game bringing in some of the successful Under 21 side and leaving out Lilywhite stalwart Anthony Rainbow.
The Armagh man is definitely looking to the future and reaching the last 12 of the championship might be just enough to ensure that he returns to serve another year in his three year reign.
I think that unless the Gods smile on Kildare in the draw they have gone as far they can this year but getting to the last 12 means that McGeeney should not be joining the managerial merry go round with the cull of county managers now in full swing as teams crash out of contention.

Down a wild card in last 12

2008-07-27T04:28:00.000-07:00

Ross Carr's Down will provide the wild card game of the last round of the qualifiers after seeing off a determined Laois fightback in the second hand of yesterday's game.
Down really are the goal kings of Gaelic football, two more yesterday helped see them through to the last 12.
The Mourne defence is nothing to write home about, and they definitely won't win the county any matches.
However, in Dan Gordon and Ambrose Rodgers they have a good midfield with Jack Lynch also capable of doing a job for them.
Benny Coulter remains the most explosive forward in the country, when he's hot and getting any sort of decent supply he is unstoppable and there will always be the chance of goals when he's close to the target as it's almost always his first instinct to look for the net when his confidence is high.
I just don't know how far Down can go, they beat what is a Tyrone side playing way below its best and lost to Armagh.
They have beaten two Leinster sides in the qualifers but it has been the poorest championship in recent seasons so it is hard to gauge just how much Down have improved since their defeat in Ulster.
But they play an open brand of attractive football and when they get a run in the championship and get their dander up they could pull off a big result.
The top sides will not fear them in the draw unless of course you're Kerry who have never beaten them at Croke Park, but there's none of the sides from outside Ulster who will feel that they are easy pickings in the last round of the qualifiers.

Monaghan challenge gathers momentum

2008-07-27T04:14:00.001-07:00

Monaghan have been very impressive in their run in the qualifiers to date despite drawing the short straw of playing two of the Ulster sides Derry and Donegal who would have been fancied to reach at least the last 12 of this year's football championship.
The Farneymen also travelled to Ballybofey on Saturday to claim the scalp of a decent Donegal side and they put in their most impressive performance of this year's championship to win by a point.
I wondered had Monaghan just run out of steam when their league campaign faltered earlier in the season followed by the defeat to Fermanagh.
The Erne men have gone on to prove that that defeat was no fluke but Monaghan regrouped and are once again a real threat to anyone.
The fact they beat Derry without Paul Finlay and Gary McQuaid shows too that they have improving options on the bench which is vital if you want to have a serious tilt at the All-Ireland title.
I have been very impressed by Eoin Lennon in the middle of the field, he is a powerhouse and with Finlay, Rory Woods and Clerkin also in there winning ball Monaghan have a good platform to work from.
Tommy Freeman's form has been outstanding too.
If he isn't scoring his intelligent runs and lay-offs are creating opportunities for his team mates and Stephen Gollogly is also leading the three quarter line with some clever movement and scores.
The other big thing going the way of the Monaghan side is their sheer work rate, they would run all day and that alone makes them a handful.
The defence too has tightened up although there has to be a bit of concern at the way in which Donegal opened them up for goal chances they failed to take.
I hope Monaghan will avoid the other Ulster sides in the draw to make the last 12 as they will pose a real threat to any of the beaten finallists from the other provinces including Kerry.

Tyrone a poor shadow of a great side

2008-07-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

Was very disappointed in Tyrone's performance yesterday although relieved that the injury to Sean Cavanagh was not as serious as first thought.
I have always believed that the Red Hands could emerge as one of the dark horses in this year's championship race if they could get their top players match fit with a run through the qualifiers.
However, they looked only a shadow of the side which won two All Irelands earlier in the decade and most importantly the key players they depend so much on look to be still off the pace.
Brian McGuigan shows flashes of the brilliance which made him the best centre half forward in the country before injury but isn't yet involved enough to meet the challenges of one of the top sides.
Dooher works hard and intelligently but for me has lost a yard of pace and at times looks a bit pedestrian and will struggle to make space against the top sides.
Mulligan never kicked leather when he came on and the full forward line just doesn't carry the threat that it used to and it's no wonder given that they had the two best forwards in the country at one stage playing with Mulligan.
Enda McGinley's performance was a big plus at midfield but the Red Hands will not win games against the teams now left in the qualifiers unless they can raise their game significantly and I haven't seen anything this year which convinces me that they can do that.
They are now in the last twelve and there are no poor sides left. Unless Tyrone draw one of the less fancied sides such as Wexford, Kildare their All-Ireland dream could finish next week especially if Cavanagh is ruled out with concussion.

Offaly at last on the road back?

2008-07-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

It was great to see an Offaly hurling team play in the manner they went about their business on Saturday night at Semple Stadium in their qualifier against Waterford.
In the end they were beaten by two Eoin Kelly goals conceded in the first half, both of which came after errors by the defence.
However, it has been six or seven years since I have seen an Offaly team hurl with the skill, pace and intelligence which characterised their play on Saturday.
Granted they faced a Waterford team which is seriously under performing but in fairness to Offaly they denied Waterford's big half forward line the room to make much of an impact on the game.
Offaly are a young side and you have to hope that Joe Dooley's men can continue to improve over the next couple of seasons.
Lads like Shane Dooley and Derek Molloy in the half forward line really took the game to the Waterford defence while Brendan Carroll weighed in with nine scores with a couple of crackers from play.
Veteran Ger Oakley was a rock in the heart of the defence while midfielders Brendan Murphy and Rory Hannify got the better of the exchanges on the night.
The two lines where Offaly did struggle all night was in the full back and full forward lines.
Eoin Kelly saw off a succession of markers and they just couldn't hold him.
Mullane tore holes in them in the first half too though to their credit the Faithful men eventually curtailed him but they struggled all night and never looked secure..
Up front Joe Bergin struggled to get into the game and while Carroll was doing damage by drifting out the field by and large the full forward line got little change out of the Waterford defence.
Some of Offaly's link-up play and stick work on the night also bodes well for the future.
The fact that they were level going into the last ten minutes is testament to their fighting spirit as they never let their heads drop after conceding two first half goals and Waterford only managed to draw away as Offaly visibly tired in the closing stages.
They will become physically stronger with more games at this level and this intensity and they answered the question I raised earlier in the week about the gap closing between the Munster and Leinster sides except for the Cats of course.
This is the end of Joe Dooley's first year in charge of a rejuvenated Offaly let's hope they can continue to make progress.

Waterford still off the boil

2008-07-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald will be a worried man following the Decies' win over a young but fiercely competitive Offaly side at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
While the Decies eventually saw off the Faithful County's challenge Waterford rode their luck and were less than convincing winners against a team which is not yet currently up there with the country's top sides.
The first obvious flaw in the Decies' performance was the fact that Eoin Kelly hit 2-13 of the team's total of 2-18.
Kelly's performance was awesome whether from the placed ball or from play and it didn't seem to matter what angle he was shooting from.
Kelly has been one of the top players on the Waterford team for the last six years but he hasn't always produced with the consistency with which he struck yesterday.
However, the forward line, once much feared, is not firing as a unit and the two Kelly goals which were the difference in the sides at the end came from defensive errors.
Last year's hurler of the year Dan Shanahan seems totally off the pace and is a shadow of the player who lit up the championship last year with ten goals.
John Mullane looks back to his best and was very lively and dangerous in the first half but even he faded as the game progressed.
However, despite their huge physical advantage the half forward line of Shanahan, Hurney and Prendergast is not winning enough ball and they had a bad night at the hands of the Offaly half back line.
The Decies' own half back line looks decidedly dodgy too.
They struggled to hold Molloy and Shane Dooley and I am not convinced about the move of Tony Browne to centre half.
Browne has been a great player but he is no longer up to the pace of championship hurling and I think Ken McGrath's presence at half back is missed.
The one positive Fitz can take out of the performance was the fact that the full back line gave little away over the night and for a team which leaked goals in last year's All-Ireland semis this is a big plus.
Waterford are fortunate in that they will once again face Leinster opposition in the shape of Wexford in the next round of the qualifiers.
The Model men turned Waterford over at the beginning of this year's National League campaign but they were once again comprehensively beaten in the Leinster final after struggling to overcome Dublin in two games in the semi finals.
Wexford are not a good side and while Waterford will find them difficult to beat given their current form, Davy Fitz must be hopeful that another game so soon in his reign will at least give him the chance to work on some of the side's shortcomings.
The biggest single thing that the Clare man must hope for is that Shanahan, midfielder Michael Walsh or some of his other big players do eventually find their form and often the best way for that to happen is a run of games.
The Decies stumble on but only just and they won't be in the running for honours this season unless there is a huge improvement in their performance.

Qualifiers produce the goods

2008-07-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

After what has seemed like an eternity we have had a really great weekend in the championship with more action than you would get on Super Tuesday in the US primaries.
I am a great fan of the qualifiers in both football and hurling when they are played on a sudden death basis and this weekend proved once again that when it really matter the best sides rise to the top.
The hurling championship looks like being the real deal after one good game and an absolute thriller at Thurles on Saturday.
The crowds were out in force too with almost a full house at Croke for the Leinster football final between Dublin and Wexford and Clones too was packed to the rafters for the Ulster final between Armagh and Fermanagh with the two sides having to do it again next weekend.
All this should silence the doomsayers about the drop in attendances in the earlier part of the season when the GAA public know there is a second chance.
When there really is something at stake the GAA people will come out, there is nothing like a hanging to focus people's attention and for many teams up and down the country this weekend's results have ended their county's interest in the championship for another year. But it was gripping stuff and it really is shaping up to one of the most open championships in years in both codes.

Offaly, a candle in the wind?

2008-07-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Great to see Offaly back in contention in this year's Liam McCarthy even if I believe that their involvement will be snuffed out like a candle later this week when they take on Waterford in the qualifiers.
I'm still not sure whether what we saw on Saturday night was the beginning of the long road back for the Faithful County or just a horror picture for the long suffering Limerick hurling.
The Treatymen were only a shadow of the side which played with such guts and heart last season which took them all the way to the All-Ireland final.
However, it's clear that Limerick have gone backwards since then.
It was obvious last year that they were two to three players short of being a side capable of renewing their challenge and the fear then was once everyone had worked them out that they would exit the national stage as quickly as they had re-entered it.
Sadly that has been the case after a disastrous league campaign and once Offaly got stuck in to them and opened up a two goal lead it was hard to see where the inspiration would come from for a fight back.
It wasn't a lack of effort but their key forwards, Niall and Ollie Moran were having a nightmare and Brian Geary and Mark Foley endured a torrid time at half back.
Stephen Lucey too so often a key man at the heart of the Limerick defence has had a poor year being cleaned out by Clare in the Munster semi and conceding three goals to Joe Bergin on Saturday.
This is a huge setback for Limerick hurling and I can't see them coming back from this one in the near future.
Some of the older players will wonder if it's worth going on, the promise of good Under 21 sides early in the decade now long dissipated.
For Offaly, this result will be a huge lift in new boss Joe Dooley's first year in charge.
Leinster hurling needs a good Offaly side but Saturday night's performance will only mean anything if they can go out and put on a show against Waterford.
An Offaly win or a close contest would show that the gap between the Munster and Leinster championships may not be as pronounced as we have been led to believe in recent seasons.

Clare remain a threat

2008-07-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Was disappointed with the Clare performance in Sunday's Munster hurling final but if the Banner men learn anything from the game they could be a threat yet and no one will enjoy playing them.
I thought the occasion got to some of the Clare players and it was a very nervous first half performance from their forwards in particular.
When Mark Flaherty missed his first shot from a free I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days for the Banner.
However, I have to confess that I didn't expect the likes of Niall Gilligan to be suffering from the shakes.
He spurned three out of four chances in the first half, one after he had done all the hard work to win the ball, shake off his man only to blaze a mishit shot wide.
Clare's series of early wides cost them the game, you could almost see the confidence draining out of them as Carmody, McMahon, Gilligan and Clancy all missed chances.
The failure too to deal with the threat posed by the Tipp three quarter line until the break left them too much to do in the second half.
The biggest difference between them and Tipp was that the Premier men seemed to be able to take their scores at will while Clare had to fight for every chance they got.
The weaknesses in the Banner defence exposed by Waterford and Limerick couldn't be covered up by a big score being posted at the other end.
However, they did put some of this right at the interval and Gerry Quinn's move to centre half certainly turned the game in their favour.
It was worrying however, that so much of the fight back was built upon the efforts of the veterans like Quinn, Colin Lynch, who was magnificent throughout, and Gilligan.
Maybe the tension of a first Munster final for the younger lads and the expectation this raised in the county took its toll but despite the horrific number of wides posted by the Banner if they can learn from the experience they will not fear anyone coming out of the next round of qualifiers.
We can only hope that the weekend's games do indeed signal a change in the hurling order and that Tipp and Clare will emerge once again as genuine contenders for the Liam McCarthy.

Munster win signal that Tipp have arrived

2008-07-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

The Munster hurling final may not have delivered on its promise of a great contest between two sides hungry for honours but it has signalled the arrival of a Tipp side who were a joy to watch.
Liam Sheedy's team showed that their National League win was no one off and this young Premier side looked equipped to take on even the mighty Cats.
I have always believed there is no substitute for class and the Tipp lads showed that in abundance on Sunday.
They seemed to be able to take their scores at will from all angles but this was due to some great passing into the front three and great movement at pace off the ball by Lar Corbett in particular which created the openings for Tipp to finally put Clare to the sword.
Tipp to be honest looked good all over the field.
Their full back line gave Clare no quarter whatsoever and it was no fluke that Niall Gilligan only got into the game after half time when he moved out the field.
It was a tough day at the office for Gilligan and young Mark Flaherty in the opening half.
Eamon Corcoran put in another mighty performance in half back and while Clare had purple patches in the middle of the field Shane McGrath kept working hard and eventually came out on top.
Tipp enjoyed a great return from their half forwards Seamus Callinan and John O'Brien, their two goals were really nails in the Banner men's coffin.
Eoin Kelly put in another good solid performance and I think he has been helped by the fact that the team is no longer so dependent on him to bring home the bacon, Kelly can afford to play almost like a mere mortal these days and the team will come up with the goods.
Corbett is absolutely flying this season. He seems to be playing much more consistently and his constant probing is opening up gaps in any defence he has faced so far.
What most impressed me was the sheer quality of Tipp's striking and movement and they matched this with the toughness required to face strong opposition.
Of course they still have to face the Cats and will have to overcome another stiff test in the All-Ireland semi final no matter who comes through the qualifiers just to earn the right to take on the champions.
However, they look for the first time in years like the genuine article.
They are a young side and have a conveyor belt of young talent breaking through to suggest that they will be a force for a few years to come.
Hurling badly needs at least one team capable of a genuine rivalry with the Cats and the Premier County men look like the team best equipped to put in a sustained challenge, but try telling that to Galway!

Deane a Rebel with a Cause

2008-07-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Cork's failure to unearth any new talent in the forward line in the last two years has been put in stark relief by the return of Joe Deane and Neil Ronan to the full forward line with All-Ireland winner Niall McCarthy also returning as centre half forward for this weekend's clash with Dublin in the hurling qualifiers.
Manager Gerald McCarthy tried out Pa Cronin and Paudie O Súilleabháin in their Munster exit to Tipp but it was only when Deane came on to the field in the last ten minutes that Cork carried any real threat from pace up front.
It has been the failure to bring in new players into the full forward line over the last three seasons which has seen Cork lose ground to Brian Cody's Cats.
Kilkenny have brought in at least one new face each season and with the level of competition for places it has kept the Cats fresh and more importantly ruthless.
Cork on the other hand are still heavily dependent on the team which made the breakthrough in 1999.
The O'Connors, Joe Deane and Timmy McCarthy all played back then and if anything the Cork forward line is going backwards.
Ironically Cork have a problem of a different hue in their defence as two of Cork's half back line Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Ronan Curran are out with injury and what has been one of the most consistent lines in the country has an unfamiliar look to it with John Gardiner going into centre half.
It's probably as well for Cork that they are facing a demoralised Dublin who have suffered Senior, Under 21 and minor defeats in recent weeks.
The old guard up front will be good enough to see off the Metropolitans but while they have been great servants of their county I just don't believe that they have a collective last hurrah left in them, but then again I thought Kerry would see off their footballers too.

Humble pie over Munster final

2008-07-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

Endured dog's abuse yesterday over the Cork Kerry game.
I take my hat off to the Rebels they were brilliant in the second half and it was a great contest, much better than I thought possible in Munster.
I don't particularly think Cork are a great side, they are workmanlike and they possess some good players but the ease with which Kerry took their defence apart in the first half should give Conor Counihan food for thought.
Kerry's second half collapse was their worst since Armagh bullied and played them off the park in 2002.
The fact that this latest reverse comes hot on the heels of their collapse to Derry in the National League final will be causing manager Pat O'Shea nightmares.
Paul Galvin is a huge loss as his competitiveness and combativeness in the middle of the field was sorely missed.
The sending off of Marc Ó Sé was another huge blow and I thought he was very unlucky.
However, Kerry were over run in the middle of the field and they find themselves with what could be a tricky qualifier given the quality of some of the sides in the draw.
The Kerry full back line was also over run in the second half with Michael Cussen giving them all sorts of problems.
But what does all this mean in the greater scheme of things?
Cork have had false dawns before in recent seasons collapsing at Croke Park, especially at the sight of the Kerry jersey, after a good Munster.
Some of the younger players have made progress but Canty's injury will be a loss as he is a great man marker.
Cork are also a bit like Donegal in that they can overdo the hand pass and it was only when they got the ball in early to the full forward line in the second half that their fortunes changed.
The win can do their confidence no end of good but Kerry basically humiliated almost the same bunch of players who came back into yesterday's game in last year's All-Ireland final.
I have no doubt too that the Kingdom's training is geared towards the latter part of the season.
However, Kerry's midfield looked tired in the second half and I don't think that the pairing of Ó Sé and Scanlon will cut it later in the season.
I think that Darragh Ó Sé's physical powers are in decline and while I think that Kerry will be a different beast in a few weeks time they need to improve dramatically.

Codology of the highest order

2008-07-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody is something else.
He has been at the helm of one of the most successful hurling teams in history and for ten of the last eleven years they have just sailed through Leinster.
Cody never puts a foot wrong in media when it comes to showing respect to the opposition no matter how poor but I wish just once that he would!
Yesterday he claimed after his team had just destroyed Wexford by 19 points that the Cats had been tested twice in Leinster this year against Offaly and Wexford!
That's Brian's codology at its best.
His team never had to get out of third gear at any stage of the game and when they upped their work rate they just blew the Model men away.
The current set-up allows the Cats to prepare for the All-Ireland series, a bit like Kerry do in Munster football, and they have hardly had to stretch themselves to make the All-Ireland semi finals.
Cody to his credit just gets on with it but it almost insults our intelligence to listen to the great man telling us his team had been tested, and yea pigs might fly!
The great thing about this Cats' team however, is that no matter what the system they would be in there at the death anyway as they are that good.

Kill off the Leinster championship

2008-07-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

The half time break in the Leinster hurling championship should carry a health warning that the second 35 minutes is for over 18s only given the slaughter Kilkenny inflicted on Wexford.
There was a time when the Leinster final was a contest for around 50 minutes before the Cats began to pull away but from the moment Eddie Brennan scored early in the second half it was murder.
The game became a turkey shoot as Wexford's hurlers remembered all the other recent bad beatings they have suffered at the Cats' hands in recent seasons and reached for their crash helmets.
Surely someone in Croke Park is looking at the attendances in what has become a meaningless fixture.
There is little or no atmosphere given that the game is still being played in Croke Park which is more than two thirds empty.
Leinster is on the verge of dying of lack of interest let's kill it off now before it becomes too frightening to watch.

Hurling must tackle the elephant in the room

2008-07-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

The hurling once again failed to deliver at the weekend and it was hard to listen to Sambo McNaughton who was obviously pained by the fact that Antrim had been mauled for the second week running.
Sambo is a proud hurling man who gave it everything when he took to the field and who has put a lot into Antrim hurling since his retirement but he was at a loss to bring any sense to the tankings his side had just suffered.
I thought he was being too hard on himself and the hurlers, they are playing at the wrong level and they can't and won't improve just by turning up against the big boys.
I thought GAA's most important programme the Sunday Game was again poor on the state of hurling in the country.
There was the usual polite silence about the fact that Laois and Antrim had just been destroyed and shouldn't be playing at this stage of the competition.
It's like no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room.
Hurling was the loser this weekend and there is an onus on headquarters to come up with a system which gives us a competitive All-Ireland series and which places the second tier of teams at a level where they can compete.

Poor fare on offer for a championship weekend

2008-07-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

Early July and you would expect the championship season to move up a notch with the first provincial finals but instead we have one of the least anticipated weekends of the championship calendar.
In hurling the Leinster final is a foregone conclusion, Kilkenny to win with the only interest in the Cats' performance as we all hope to get some sort of a gauge on where their three in a row ambitions are sitting.
The Leinster final is now an non event, I'd rather watch a Tommy Murphy Cup game, no that's a lie but the Leinster hurling championship is right down there at the moment.
This week's qualifiers promise nothing better.
Antrim and Laois will feel like it is raining on them if the Galway and Waterford forward lines go out to prove to their respective managers Clare men Ger Loughnane and Davy Fitzgerald that they want to be in the side for the tougher tests which lie ahead.
It will be real men against boys stuff and wouldn't be allowed in boxing.
Unfortunately for everyone involved other than walking off the field in protest at the brutality of the beating (wonder has anyone consulted the Cork players on that one as they are the experts in these matters?) the players will just have to grin and bear it, ok if you're a sado masochist but just torture for the average GAA player, fan and referee.
I wonder do referees get counselling after a match like these as it must be traumatic to watch?
The only interest in these games will be if the Waterford players give any indication that they mean business after their dressing room coup which saw the end of Justin McCarthy.
The football doesn't get much better with the Munster Football final, yes they still have a Munster championship in football which all six counties enter but which is still only contested by two.
Those two Cork and Kerry play for this year's honours, yet again.
Kerry will win at a canter even though the Kingdom don't usually break sweat in Munster and have even been known to let a few provincial titles slip to the Rebels as they warm up the engine in preparation for the annual bad beating of the Cork men at Croke Park when it matters later in the season.
However, the only thing rebellious about the current Cork side is when they are on strike and they are poor enough to endure a bad beating earlier in the season than usual even though Kerry too will have a few players out to injury.
All in all not a lot to get excited over and I look forward to next week's fare which might just bring us a couple of real games!

Shefflin still top Cat

2008-07-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Delighted that Henry Shefflin looks likely to continue his comeback from a cruciate ligament injury on Sunday against Wexford in the Leinster final.
Shefflin is a great player and brings something to every game he plays in.
There was a bit of speculation that an injury unrelated to the cruciate setback he suffered might keep him out but thankfully he will be there.
It won't make much difference to the result however, except that you might be looking for more than ten-point advantage for the Cats with Henry in full flight.
Wonder is Paddy Power still even taking bets on a margin less than a ten-point win for the champs?

Kiely on hiding to nothing!

2008-07-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love them in Waterford?
While Davy Fitz is expecting Antrim to throw the kitchen sink at his hurlers tomorrow in the qualifiers the football manager John Kiely is already complaining about a clash between the county's footballers and Wicklow on July19.
Kiely obviously has not gone to the Davy Fitz school of diplomacy for while Davy is insisting that nothing is a given in tomorrow's clash with Antrim Kiely is complaining that he won't have dual players available on July 19 because it clashes with the next round of the hurling qualifiers!
Obviously the football manager is a bit more confident about the hurlers' chances than Davy!
Kiely does make a good point however, about the treatment of football in the lesser counties when games can be fixed for the same day.
I have a certain sympathy for the football manager which is usually shared by hurling managers in most parts of the country who are trying to promote hurling in areas where football is king.
It is not uncommon for county hurling games to be fixed at the same time as football and it has been a huge issue in Derry for years.
However, I think that Kiely also needs to get a little perspective on all this.
Waterford hurlers are trying to win the Liam McCarthy Cup, the premier hurling trophy in the country.
The footballers are starting out their Tommy Murphy Cup campaign, a competition hardly designed to get the hairs rising in the back of your neck and in some counties the very mention of the name Tommy Murphy Cup is guaranteed to bring the Aer Lingus website crashing down with footballers rushing to get the next flight out of the country.
Kiely is on a hiding to nothing until there is a football competition for the minnows worthy of more interest than the battle of the worst eight!

Davy Fitz not for real

2008-07-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

Davy Fitzgerald obviously has a sense of humour when he says that Antrim are getting ready to throw the kitchen sink at his Waterford team in the qualifiers following the Saffrons' 26-point defeat at the hands of Galway last weekend.
I know that managers can't allow their teams to get complacent and Davy Fitz is going to be at the helm of Waterford for the first time but this type of codology puts me up the walls.
Antrim are not at the races on the national stage and nor will they be in the foreseeable future.
We don't play regularly enough at the level required to compete with any of the top teams and that goes for all our underage teams as well as the seniors.
When it comes to the Liam McCarthy Cup the record books don't lie, we have been to two finals in the last 100 years and were slaughtered in both of them and we have been on a downward spiral since the '89 team's last hurrah against Kilkenny in the '91 semi final.
If Antrim were to beat a Waterford side which has won three Munsters and a National League in the last six seasons it would be the biggest shock since David beat Goliath.
One of the problems I feel for Ulster hurling has been the fact that everyone is too well mannered when it comes to speaking about Antrim or Down on the All-Ireland stakes.
No one down below wants to say out loud what they think about the true state of northern hurling, they have too much respect for the people trying to promote the game than to hurt their feelings.
It's about time someone like Davy Fitz said "Antrim are crap, we're going to use them for target practice for the forwards before we get down to more serious business and if my side don't win by a hatful of points then I'm out of here".
There is nothing more likely to inspire northern hurlers than to be told they should not be at the top table, not this year mind you, but it might just bring a bit of steel into the efforts to promote the game up here.
Being patted on the head for turning up is probably more insulting than telling the truth that we don't at this stage belong up there with the elite.

Leinster should have made the move

2008-07-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Leinster Council has admitted that it considered moving this Sunday's hurling final out of Croke Park.
The council says it expects little more than 25,000 for the Wexford Kilkenny clash and they looked at moving the final out of headquarters to a ground in the province which might have retained some of the atmosphere at the provincial showpiece.
The expected 25,000 will look sparse at Croke Park downgrading what is a very poor championship even further.
Even at its best the Leinster showpiece attracted crowds of only between 35,000 and 40,000 but given that the final has become an annual outing for the Cats to show just how far ahead of the posse they are it is rarely even a spectacle.
Wexford don't have a snowball's this Sunday and the world and its ma knows it, it's a surprise given the hidings the Cats have dished out to the Modle men in recent seasons that 25,000 would even bother to make the trip up to Dublin.
It's a pity therefore that the game can't be played in a ground where at least the punters can get value for money from the atmosphere even if the match becomes the usual non event.

McSparran on the right track

2008-07-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Antrim chair John McSparran has rowed in with his views on the state of hurling calling for more National League games for what I term the 'intermediate' sides.
McSparran knows he is on a beaten docket when he goes to Congress later in the year but his proposals do have much merit and they wouldn't exactly give those making the fixtures a headache if the GAA is prepared to use a bit of imagination.
McSparran knows that counties like Antrim, Offaly, Dublin and Laois won't make the breakthrough to being genuine contenders unless they can play more regularly at a standard which allows them to progress.
I don't think that McSparran's proposals go far enough as I believe the provincial championships need to be scrapped too as they serve no one well bar maybe the coffers of the Munster board.
However, I don't see anyone rushing to take that one on.

Hands off the hand pass

2008-07-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Glad to see that the GAA is resisting any calls from the purists about limiting the use of the handpass.
There is a lot of handpassing in our game but the best teams don't overuse it despite what many are claiming.
The handpass is simply the best way of getting out of defence with the ball and its use has brought a lot of movement to the game.
However, when it comes to moving into attack the good sides like Kerry, Armagh, Tyrone, Meath and even the Dubs, I don't include Cork as they are chokers, get the ball fast into space with good foot passing and their point taking under pressure marks them out from the limited teams.
Lets's face it short foot passes are a nonsense, they are difficult to execute and often just the wrong ball.
Those who want to see more kick passing in the game should work with youngsters if they want to change anything and make sure that the standard of kick passing needed to compete at the top is taught to kids from they can walk.
Football remains a simple game and for most of us the reason we fell in love with the game was just kicking the ball around on the street or on a field and the pleasure we got out of being able to reproduce it when you went on to the field to compete with your peers.
There is some great shooting and still some first class passing off the foot in the modern game, there is always room for improvement but restricting another skill, handpassing, is not the way forward.

Qualifiers kind to the northerners

2008-06-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-30T15:09:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-30T12:46:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-24T04:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T16:13:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T15:50:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-17T16:10:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-06-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-16T14:49:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-06-15T13:00:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-09T17:07:00.002-07:00

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

2008-06-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-07T06:16:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-06-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-02T14:20:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-01T15:01:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-01T14:31:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-06-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Life of Brian

2008-05-30T12:09:00.001-07:00

Looking forward to seeing how Brian McGuigan and Brian Dooher perform on Sunday week against Down for Tyrone.
It has to be good news for Tyrone that they're back because these men would give any team something special even if they are not firing on all cylinders.
Dooher is a great leader for Tyrone on the field and his work rate has been phenomenal. If he genuinely is going well there is no doubt with his commitment to fitness that he can get much better if the Ulster champions get a run.
McGuigan is sheer class and it was interesting that Sean Cavanagh said that he also matches this with tremendous fitness and that he is one of the men driving Tyrone in training.
McGuigan was the best centre three quarters in the country before the string of injuries which almost put him out of the game after a horrific eye injury followed a leg break.
The Ardboe man had brains, vision, pace and heart and his passing and shooting are a joy to watch.
It's hard to say where Tyrone are at the moment but there's no doubt that if the two Brians can put on any sort of a show against Down that people may quickly have to reassess their challenge.

Welcome for International Rules

2008-05-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Glad to see the return of the International Rules Series Down Under in the Autumn.
I think the GAA made the right decision to call a halt after the after the 2006 series which degenerated into thuggery.
However, I have always thought the hybrid game was a good idea, popular with the players who enjoyed the recognition of playing for their country and at one stage the Series had captured the imagination of the Irish and Aussie Rules public with 65,000 watching one of the Croke Park tests.
There is no place however, for some of the crude hits of previous series and I hope that firmer refereeing and penalties will make any player think twice before they carry out some of the acts of attempted murder which passed for tackling in recent years.
I know there are many in the Association who are opposed to the Rules Series but I think that the public voted with their feet in the early years of this decade going in ever-increasing numbers to what had become a great occasion.
Just wonder will the GAA grants scheme be extended to include the players travelling Down Under?

Thank God for Munster!

2008-05-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

It's back and with it for me the beginning of championship hurling.
I am of course referring to the first game of the Munster hurling championship between Waterford and Clare this Sunday.
And yes I know that the Leinster and Ulster championships have already started but let's be honest we haven't seen any competitive hurling yet.
Leinster and Ulster are two dead certs, I doubt Paddy Power would give you a double of 1/100 of Kilkenny and Antrim which is about as good a punt as you'll get at the moment in these post Celtic Tiger times.
But the Munster hurling championship, that's another ball game altogether. Three out of five of the contenders have won the championship this decade while last year's All-Ireland runners-up Limerick lost to Waterford in the final last year, so despite the era of qualifiers and back doors no one seems to have told the Munster men that their local rivalry is any less important than it ever was.
To be honest the Munster Championship is the only fiercely competitive hurling we'll see before we get to the latter stages of the All-Ireland championship and without it the hurling championship would be a snore, unless the authorities had the courage to go for an Open Draw and if the provinces could set local pride and revenue to the side.
But I'm not holding my breath waiting for the change and in the meantime I simply can't wait to see Clare and Waterford go for it on Sunday.
When this draw was made I could only see one winner, the Decies, but things have changed a lot in the past couple of months.
Waterford had a poor league campaign, for God's sake even Wexford beat them and that was their only decent result in a campaign which saw them relegated.
There was a theory then that the Decies were keeping their powder dry, that Justin McCarthy was allowing his veterans to rest up in anticipation of an All-Ireland campaign which might see them finally lift the Liam McCarthy again.
Then the injuries came, Ken McGrath, Eoin Kelly, Paul Flynn all out and Dan the Man on the treatment table too.
Big Dan will be back but even he was not firing on all cylinders earlier in the year and I think that Clare can smell blood.
The Clare men have had their problems too with an injury to top scorer Niall Gilligan but apart from that the Banner will be at full strength.
Clare are not yet back in contention with the top sides but they improved last season and they will know that a big effort on Sunday could fell the Munster champions at the first hurdle.
Like most neutrals I have watched this Waterford team in hope more than expectation that they might break the monopoly of the Big Two on Liam but I fear that on Sunday we may be watching the beginning of the end.
I hope I'm wrong!

Hurling fixture a sick joke

2008-05-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

You can't exactly accuse the Ulster hurling authorities of pulling out all the stops to promote the championship despite having nine counties plus London competing this season.
Is there anywhere else in the country that a championship hurling match would be played at eight pm on a Sunday night?
We will be able to play spot the crowd at what is after all an Ulster championship semi final between the province's top team Antrim and Derry.
Now I know the game was refixed because Derry are also playing in the football earlier that day in Ballybofey where their All-Ireland pretensions will be put to the test but in the day of computer generated fixtures I wonder how no one realised until this week that we were going to have a clash between the football and hurling championships.
Derry Donegal was always going to be on live television too and it beats me why no one seemed to notice.
The truth is that despite the fanfare surrounding the relaunch of the championship no one is that interested in it.
It is the only championship in the country more predictable than the Leinster hurling championship, ie Antrim will win it again unless we have a tragedy on the scale of the Munich air disaster, but the quality of hurling is second rate.
However, even players at the lower levels deserve a chance to play in front of a decent crowd and at a time of the day where they won't need radar to spot the sliotar.
I will in the meantime continue to long for Antrim to be allowed to play in the Leinster Championship where at least we might get a championship match worthy of the name.

Will Tyrone ever have full squad again?

2008-05-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Just wonder will Tyrone ever play with a full side ever again after the weekend games.
Owen Mulligan looks very doubtful for their opener against Down while Sean Cavanagh and Tommy McGuigan are also nursing knocks after club matches.
Cavanagh is a very important player for the Red Hands and any injury to him would be a huge blow to Tyrone.
Mulligan on the other hand is a confidence player, when he's hot he's brilliant but there are other occasions when the Cookstown man is very ordinary.
He needs a foil, being at his best when he played alongside Peter Canavan and Stephen O'Neill although I would have fancied my own chances with that pair by my side.
However, Mulligan has frequently struggled when he has been the fulcrum of the attack.
I think it's a case of the opposition being able to put their best markers on him in the absence of his partners in crime from the 2005 season and also the fact that Brian McGuigan wasn't around to supply the ammo.
I still think that Tyrone will have too much in the locker for Down who while they are on the way back are a long way short of being the genuine article.

Scrap the Munster football championship

2008-05-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

The latest offerings from the Munster football championship only hardens the case to scrap it.
Yesterday the footballers of the four hurling counties Limerick, Tipp, Waterford and Clare served up two very poor games and showed once again that outside of Kerry and Cork there is no football championship worth talking about in our most southern province.
This gives the Rebels and the Kingdom a huge advantage in the All-Ireland championship.
No one else in the country has the luxury of preparing for one game in their provincial championship while happily getting on with the task of training for the All Ireland.
In Leinster, despite the poor standard of football on offer the championship remains competitive, and even in Connacht Galway and Mayo usually have to work a bit to beat Sligo or Roscommon.
In Ulster they knock forty bells out of each other over the three games and although Tyrone and Armagh have come out on top in recent seasons no one would bet against Derry or Donegal being real contenders.
All these sides have to come to two peaks in a season, one in their provincial championship and again for the All-Ireland series.
In the meantime Cork and Kerry can work on speed and conditioning and play challenge games aimed at peaking late July, early August.
This football championship is as distorted as the Munster hurling championship, which works against the south's finest.
It is long past time to scrap the provincial championships in football as they are now an anachronism, and the sooner we get to an Open Draw the better, fair play demands it.

Leinster crying out for a make-over

2008-05-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Offaly simply brushed Laois aside today in the first round clash in Leinster but the hurling fare on show was very poor.
Laois are just not up to the task, they have really slipped further behind in the province, and Brian Cody will not have been frightened by anything he saw today when his All-Ireland champions face the Faithful County in the Leinster semi final.
Joe Dooley on the other hand has a huge task on his hands to turn Offaly's fortunes round.
I think the two games in Leinster today just make the case for Antrim and Galway to compete in the Leinster competition undeniable.
Galway would be a real contender for the title and their inclusion and Antrim's would at least make the earlier rounds a bit more meaningful as the Saffrons on their day are capable of beating anyone else in the southern province outside of the Cats.
The Munster championship starts next week and I am really looking forward to what at least should be some competitive hurling played by two sides who have a lot to prove.
I can't wait as what has passed for championship hurling in Ulster and Leinster so far just doesn't cut it.

Dubs fail to convince

2008-05-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

The Dubs did the business in the Leinster hurling championship but despite their big win they will have to up their game dramatically against Wexford in the semi final.
In some ways Dublin couldn't win today, they had to win and they had to win convincingly if they were to be taken as serious contenders in the province.
They did the business but Westmeath made it tight for them for the first half before the city side put them to the sword.
Dublin need to improve and there is a lot of pressure on them to do the business against the Model County.
Wexford have always been capable of one big performance in the championship, they will throw the kitchen sink at the Dubs to retain their place in the province's pecking order so it will at least add a little interest to what remains a very weak championship.

No road back for Farneymen

2008-05-25T12:50:00.001-07:00

Seamus McEnaney's Monaghan footballers will find it hard to recover from the body blow of losing to Fermanagh in the first round in Ulster.
The Farneymen looked low in confidence today and even when they closed the gap to just one point with a breeze at their back they allowed Fermanagh to steam ahead to a clear cut victory.
The element of surprise enjoyed by McEnaney's side last year is gone, like so many others before them they are finding that other sides can see them coming.
The over reliance of Tommy Freeman was cruelly exposed as Fermanagh simply denied the Monaghan full forward line any space to operate in.
And Monaghan also looked nervous, unable to deal with the expectation which has grown around this side after almost beating Kerry last year.
Players were arguing with the referee and they got involved in a lot of off the ball physical nonsense.
I was not impressed by one period where Ryan Keenan was being pulled, shouldered, squared up to all accompanied by a lot of verbal.
Five minutes later Keenan won the ball which led to the second goal and for all the silly provocation he endured five minutes earlier his marker was left for dead!
I thought that Monaghan's goose was finally cooked when even Paul Finlay got involved in the appeals to the referee over a fairly straightforward decision.
Gary McQuaid's actions which earned him a sending off were pathetic, there's no place for this in Gaelic football, it was as stupid as it was unwarranted.
He shouldn't kick a ball in county football for the rest of the season.
It will be tough for the Farneymen to come back from this.
Ulster is now gone and confidence is rock bottom, they looked mentally tired and unless they get a handy one in the first round of the qualifiers they will find it hard to get their season back on track.

Fermanagh a tough shower

2008-05-25T12:28:00.001-07:00

The Ulster Football Championship did what it always does best today throwing up a surprise rather than a shock result with one of the sides many of us predicted would enjoy a run in this year's competition falling at the first hurdle.
Fermanagh simply mugged Monaghan today at Brewster Park and were good value for their four-point win.
Last year Monaghan surprised everyone with their swashbuckling brand of football reaching the Ulster final and almost taking Kerry out in last year's All-Ireland quarter final.
They carried that great form into the league but quietly Fermanagh boss Malachy O'Rourke was doing his homework and by employing a sweeper in front of the full back line he made sure that Monaghan's best forward Tommy Freeman hardly got a sniff of the action.
His midfield too of Marty McGrath and Mark Murphy won the crucial battle at centre field and while Fermanagh worked their socks off they eventually totally frustrated the Farneymen reducing them to a shadow of the team which lit up last year's Ulster Championship and which started its league campaign off in some style.
Mark Little and Ryan Keenan ran themselves into the ground at half forward while McBarron gave Fermanagh a good target on the edge of the square.
If there was one area I would be critical of the Fermanagh performance it was of their free taking.
They had no consistency in this crucial area all day and points win prizes. They squandered a lot of scoring chances which on another day will be the difference between winning and losing.
The winners of next week's game between Derry and Donegal will not look forward to playing the Erne men.
They are a bloody difficult shower to break down and if they can become a little more focussed in front of the posts they could take a bit of beating.

Media black-outs a nonsense

2008-05-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

Only the GAA could get away with doing the whole media black out thing.
Monaghan became the latest team to take the vow of silence and go all monastic on the media.
My view on all of this is that it's nonsense building up the so-called siege mentality and inculcating a belief among players that everyone's out to get them and as long as they hold firm together they will reach the Promised Land.
I don't think so!
Monaghan won't win the All-Ireland title this season not because there may be elements within the media who are hostile to them or that their players became a victim of the hype surrounding them before their league campaign crashed down to earth with a bump.
They won't win because they are not good enough and being silent about it ain't going to make any difference on the field of play.
Monaghan are a good side, they could go far in Ulster this year, and fifteen against 15 they are one of the best sides in the country.
But it's not a 15-man game any more and Monaghan just don't have the players on the bench to match Kerry and others on the big day.
The one thing I have noticed over the years about managers who have attacked the media is that none of them have written to them to complain when the same media are praising either them or their players for playing well.
There does need to be a balance in media coverage and over exposure will wear players out but we're either promoting our games or we're not and if we are serious we need as much media coverage as we can get.

Looking for hope in Leinster

2008-05-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to the beginning of the Leinster Hurling championship today despite the fact that in spite of the credit crunch there are still some certainties in life and Kilkenny will retain their title.
However, I suppose we are looking to see if Joe Dooley can begin to turn Offaly around to give some hope that they may eventually return to being genuine contenders for All-Ireland honours.
I am also intrigued at the prospect that Dublin may at last be in the position to mount a serious challenge.
Westmeath is a potential banana skin today but you have to expect the Dubs to win.
However, this season I would believe if there is to be any prospect of a Dublin return to the top in hurling that they must also claim the scalp of a weak enough Wexford team in the championship.
Wexford for all their difficulties will go out and give it all they have against the Dubs provided they clear Westmeath as there is a lot of pride at stake.
Leinster has been very poor in recent seasons, hurling needs a better Leinster championship than we have had since 1998 and let's hope despite what will be another Kilkenny lap of honour this season that the first shoots of a resurgence in the other counties will begin to emerge.

Questions on St Gall's pull-out

2008-05-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Like everyone else in the county I'm just wondering why the four St Gall's players have all opted out of the Antrim panel for the Tommy Murphy Cup.
Now I want to make it clear from the start I wouldn't get up out of bed to watch a Tommy Murphy Cup match.
I think it is meaningless in its current format.
After all it is the very worst teams in the country who we have just watched playing each other in the National League Division 4 earlier in the year and it doesn't really turn me on wondering who has improved on the poor league form.
Now if the second tier competition maybe included the bottom 16 sides where there is a chance for your team to improve there might be some merit, even then I don't really know if I could be bothered.
However, I'm just wondering is the St Gall's pull-out is connected with the club championship where St Gall's have shown a lot of ambition in recent seasons or have these players just been playing too much football?
Or are they headed to America for a summer's football?
There was some speculation after Sunday's game that some players were so confident of as championship exit that they booked their holidays in advance.
Bit surprised though at CJ and Terry O'Neill, the first because he is still learning his trade at inter-county level and the second because he is finding it difficult to break into the team and hold down a regular spot.
Suppose we would all like some answers about why the players have pulled out although it won't have me rushing out to buy tickets for the Tommy Murphy anyway.

Meath send out a warning

2008-05-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Although today's defeat of Carlow by Meath ended up being a bit like one of the mismatches most associated with hurling, the Meath forwards sounded out a warning to the rest of the province with some sharp shooting.
Joe Sheridan, Stephen Bray and Cian Ward all showed that they will once again be worth the watching this season although they would be pushed for their places if Meath boss Colm Coyle had a full selection to pick from.
And as well as these three scoring for fun it was a veteran playing in his 16th championship season who once again caught the eye with his sheer intelligence.
Although the game was a breeze for the Royals Graham Geraghty gave us a couple of memorable moments where first time touches showed once again an awareness that would light up any game.
I still think that the suspensions will affect Meath's season but once again no one will enjoy a day out against them.

Geezer punctured

2008-05-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Watched Kieran McGeeney tonight and heart went out to him.
He took it right on the chin for the performance today although I think his players owe him big time.
Several guys simply gave up today when it didn't go their way.
McGeeney looked lost for words to explain what happened but took the heat for what was one of the most inept displays I have seen from a championship side in a while.
I know from experience in club management that there are days when you feel like going home and reaching for the revolver and a bottle of vodka.
I could never understand after a particularly bad performance how some players never seemed to let it bother them.
We lost a game one night in Antrim town where we had never been beaten before after blowing a lead and I felt like slapping a player who asked me was I going back to the club for a drink!
He seemed shocked when I said 'I don't celebrate humiliations'.
I reckon McGeeney who puts his all into anything he takes on is feeling a lot worse than that.
He is a determined intelligent man and like big Arnie he'll be back!

Deja vu for the Saffrons

2008-05-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Feeling a huge sense of deja vu tonight after Antrim's defeat today at the hands of Cavan at Casement Park.
Like on so many occasions in the past 30 years, Antrim came up short when it was needed most.
After a poor start they played their way back into the game with some patches of good football only to concede a soft goal right before half time to let Cavan back in the lead.
The game was won and lost immediately after half time however when there was only two points between the sides.
Antrim missed a couple of chances and kickable frees and when the Breffnimen realised they were off the hook they opened up a six-point lead with Seanie Johnston torturing the Antrim defence.
We just don't have a forward of Johnston's class.
Young CJ McGourty for example flatters to deceive, wants the ball in space all the time while Johnston gets down and gets dirty to win ball when he shouldn't as well as reading where the crumbs are going to come from.
The game quickly turned into a damp squib and Antrim increasingly played like headless chickens, carrying the ball forward into poor positions, shooting when the easy pass was on and the forward movement was pretty poor.
Micheal Magill did make a difference in the second period giving Antrim at least a little physical power in the forward line.
Felt sorry for Antrim boss Jody Gormley today because he hasn't got a lot at his disposal to work with.
That's us condemned to the Tommy Murphy once again and all in all the season has already been a step backwards.
Our nerve went when promotion from the poorest league in football was there for the taking and that lack of confidence showed again today when some of our players realised the game was there for the taking.
So we have failed on all our pre-season targets, promotion from Division 4 and an opportunity to win a home championship game against another Ulster side who are struggling to keep up with the provincial pace setters.
Donal Keogan's team however, can now look forward to at least two more games in the championship.
Johnston's performance continues a run of great form and with McCabe as versatile as ever they will be a physical tough side to beat.
They won't win anything but no one will enjoy playing them.
There are no signs in the short term that our misery will end in Antrim, however I do believe that the current county board is attempting to address years of complacency and no one is under any illusion that an Antrim revival is anywhere close on the cards.
Wonder what Micko's doing next year?

Bergin's absence casts shadow over Galway win

2008-05-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the season I said that the loss of midfielder Joe Bergin could have a massive impact on Galway's chances in this season's All Ireland.
I am more convinced of that today after Galway's defeat of Roscommon.
While the Tribesman totally outplayed an inept Roscommon in the second half and tagged on an impressive score to run out winners by 16 points they struggled in the first half after Roscommon pulled Karol Mannion back to the middle and he provided a platform for the Rossies to fight back in the run-up to half time.
However, when Roscommon had a player set off early in the second half Galway used the space well and simply punched holes in the opposition defence.
Padraig Joyce's passing and movement in the second half was a treat to watch but at times Galway seemed to be playing almost a training game and they were not stretched other than in the second quarter of the game.
However, I feel that Bergin's absence will cost them dearly if they come up against the Kerry midfield or Derry's Fergal Doherty.
Roscommon have a mountain to climb to get off the floor after this one, I think the best they can hope for is to give some of their promising young players a run out in the qualifiers, they are as bad as they have been for long many a day.
We didn't learn too much about the Tribesmen, they are great to watch and it's how I like to see football played but I can't help but feeling that they will come up well short in a tough game which is a pity.
Padraig Joyce is one of the best footballers of the last 25 years but I think his move to centre half forward is a sign of weakness in the Tribesmen's game plan.
Ageing footballers are usually moved forward or further back late in their career, it's not usual to bring them out to positions where more not less movement is required and good a footballer as Padraig Joyce is I believe he will struggle against top centre backs as the season progresses.
The Tribesmen move on to face Leitrim but Liam Sammon will be hoping that Bergin may be around to play some part in the season cos when Sam's handed out there are no prizes for the nicest team to watch.

Micko still box office

2008-05-18T11:23:00.001-07:00

You just have to take your hat to Micko following Wicklow's success today against Kildare.
And the win was well deserved, they played the Lilywhites off the park for large parts of the game, spurned an almost cerrtain goal chance early in the second half yet still went on to win in some style.
There have been critics of O'Dwyer's training methods over the years but his results are undeniable and one thing I will say about his teams they play good open football based around good movement, passing and the basic skills.
I was surprised by how poor Kildare were on the day.
They did miss chances which on another day might have lifted the team but Kildare looked like a team which had completely lost its way playing without confidence or any sort of self belief.
Their forwards are poor and it seemed that everyone was waiting on a moment's inspiration from John Doyle.
Wicklow on the other hand fought for everything.
They got back in numbers to defend when it was needed denying Kildare any space to operate in and when they moved forward there always seemed to be someone getting into space or making runs.
Kieran McGeeney has an uphill task to turn this round by the qualifiers.
Some of the Under 21s played well but he must be worried about the way Killian Brennan and Dermot Early looked pedestrian at times as they were completely out fought at mid field.
Kildare completely lacked the type of commitment and battle of their manager and I'm sure that McGeeney is hurting tonight at the ease with with his players seemed to collapse.
O'Dwyer now comes up against another side he managed in Leinster but Laois should be a different proposition to the poor Kildare he faced today but his presence will ensure an interest in a game which in another year wouldn't stir the heart.
He is still box office!

Intensity and focus gone mad!

2008-05-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to wonder do managers and players lose the plot in their pursuit of the All Ireland.
Kildare's Under 21s played in an All-Ireland final against Kerry recently the first time Kildare had been there for long many a day.
A great day out for the county and you'd have thought that the county seniors would have been there to roar on what should be the backbone of the county side for years to come.
Not so. Instead the senior watched the game on TV from their training camp in Cork where they were for a challenge game for the weekend.
Apparently the senior side had been warned about the 'risks' associated with a four-hour round trip by bus!
Is it just me or is this madness?
Surely to God the seniors would have got something out of watching the young players many of whom must come from their own home clubs?
It doesn't happen every day after all.
It's one thing to be focussed on the next big game, against the giants of Wicklow no less, but this sort of stuff smacks of madness.
It is sounds typical of the set-up in Armagh in the early part of the decade.
However, that was already a very good Armagh team which needed to believe they could win after blowing it in 1999 and 2000.
The type of focus and intensity encouraged by Joe Kernan helped get them into the winner's enclosure in 2002 but for all the focus and the intensity Armagh never made it back again.
I remember reading a piece Micky Harte wrote in his book Knocking on Heaven's Door contrasting his laid back approach to Armagh's intensity and he simply said he knew which set of players he would rather spend the night with.
I fully understand the pursuit of excellence but I reckon it needs to be pursued on the training ground and the bottom line should always be that a player's love of kicking the round white object remains the focus of all good things in training and that you can do the mental intensity thing until you're blue in the face but that nothing compares to a sheer enjoyment of the game.
Someday when their younger colleagues make the breakthrough the Kildare players will realise that a four hour bus trip might not have been the biggest difficulty they ever faced to see their county in an All-Ireland final.

League does matter now

2008-05-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Love the way that people are saying this week that league form doesn't matter.
Of course it is losers in the league who are protesting that league form doesn't mean anything.
Players and mentors from Antrim, Wicklow and Roscommon have all said in the last 24 hours that the league is meaningless.
I beg to differ and so do the statistics in recent years.
There was indeed a time when the league was no guarantee of success at inter county championship level, back in the day when at least three rounds of the hurling and football championship started pre Christmas right after the All-Ireland series was over.
However, since the league has been played off in the same calendar year as the championship it has increasingly become a barometer of the form of the top sides when the championship starts.
The league semi finalists are increasingly to be found in the latter stages of the championship.
Already in this decade Kerry sides and Tyrone won league titles before going on to All-Ireland success and even this year can anyone deny that Kerry and Derry will be in the final shake up and can anyone even conceive that a winner of the Liam McCarthy won't come out of this year's hurling semi finalists of Kilkenny, Cork, Galway and Tipperary?
As for Antrim, they might just manage to beat Cavan but that's as good as it will get and even then I can't see them beat the Breffni men.
Roscommon? Forget it they are as bad as their relegation suggested.
Wicklow, only the Micko factor and the fact that Kildare are struggling suggests that they are in with a chance of even one victory.
These days if you can't cut it in the league then you are going nowhere.

Kirby one of the greats

2008-05-16T15:54:00.001-07:00

Watched Gary Kirby on Laochra Gael tonight and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Great sympathy for the Limerick side of the '90s in particular for Kirby and Ciaran Carey who would have graced any era of hurling.
Kirby was an artist, I have to say he always looked typical of the hurler of a bygone era, he always looked slightly overweight, the type of bloke who would have preferred a Chinese to a training session but he must have worked hard to develop his natural ability for he was deadly accurate and his stick work would have been first class in any era.
There was at least one All-Ireland in that Limerick side of the '90s.
They came good just when the hurling revolution arrived and were probably its biggest casualty.
I'm sure Kirby was almost preparing the victory speech in '94 when the Offaly blitz of 2-5 turned a game round which Limerick had dominated.
It was cruel on a side which had waited so long for Munster success but I think we all thought at the time that their day would come.
It didn't although I believe they denied Clare three in a row when they beat them in Munster by a point in '96 in a great battle.
It did them no favours playing Antrim in the semi final as I remember they just blew us away with Frankie Carroll scoring for fun and almost performing circus tricks with the sliotar.
I think that Limerick went in to the All-Ireland final a little too over confident and struggled all day to find their form.
Wexford were by that stage battle hardened after years of fighting to displace Offaly and the Cats and they just fought like maniacs to hold out.
We didn't know it then but Limerick's best was gone, first Clare and then Cork were to dominate in Munster and it wasn't until last year that Limerick even got back among the contenders.
Gary Kirby is one of the greatest hurlers never to have won an All Ireland but I have to say that he had a great attitude to his career and he's definitely a man who sees the glass as half full.

Danger, danger Meath's about

2008-05-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Laughed at comments by Paul Bealin, the former Dublin player, now involved with Carlow when he said that Meath were "very dangerous opponents".
I thought at first Bealin was referring to the Parnell Park row between the Royals and Dublin or maybe it was the local championship game which led to six players being sent off.
Wondered had he been showing his players highlights of the 'action' and was on the point of offering him the services of our good friend and coach Darren Corbett, former European boxing champion who puts our club players through their paces.
Big Darren watched the scenes at Parnell Park and wasn't impressed and he told our players so.
He said the Royals had no jab, their body work was sloppy and their efforts to land the big one wouldn't have won a row at St Gemma's. Bring back the Lyons brothers and Martin O'Connell I say!
Now I was never much good at the noble art myself so I'll take the big man's word for it and I thought that maybe Paul Bealin was overacting.
However, realised soon enough it wasn't the 'dabbing' he was worried about at all but the Meath full forward line, or what's left of it anyway.
Yea, they're very dangerous too!

Roscommon game a stroll in the park

2008-05-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

Have they opened a book yet on the score of the Galway Roscommon game this week.
I expect Roscommon to go out and play with a pride that had obviously deserted them under John Maughan and a lot of men should have a point to prove.
But I love the talk that Galway shouldn't take them for granted.
Of course they won't they'll just go out and run them into the ground and they will win without having to produce much other than the ability to do a job they're expected to do.
If they can't do that against Roscommon then they shouldn't be one of the favourites for the Connacht title or fancied to be in the shake-up at the end of the season.
Roscommon are cat, they are one of the worst sides the county has produced in living memory and they have had plenty of competition for that unwanted honour.
Sunday's game should be a stroll in the park for the Tribesmen.

Gormley, brutally honest but off the mark

2008-05-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

You have to give it to Antrim boss Jody Gormley, only days before we face Cavan he has stated we should be playing in a properly run second tier competition.
Talk about brutal honesty, much as Gormley's message to the Antrim faithful is one of doom and gloom he's right.
We, like the Tyrone hurlers, are probably not serious about playing in the championship, after all we blew promotion from the division of no-hope, Division 4, by falling to the might of the Waterford footballers who wouldn't beat their hurlers at the big ball game.
I agree with the concept of an Open Draw for the All Ireland which Gormley supports but I have to take issue with his comments that we could win the Connacht championship if we were allowed to play it.
No we wouldn't.
We are nowhere good enough to beat Galway or Mayo in championship football and would find it hard to overcome Roscommon and Sligo even when they are not at the top table.
We would beat New York, even Leitrim did that.
But to claim that we could compete in Connnacht is nonsense.
Bring on the action as everyone seems to lose the run of themselves in the build-up.

Ulster championship building to an anti-climax

2008-05-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Did anyone watch the Ulster hurling championship games last weekend? I have to admit that I still don't get it.
Last week it was Tyrone against Fermanagh, this week it's London against the Red Hands.
Does it matter, does anyone care.
Let's face it the only benefit to Ulster might be that if London get knocked out early enough we won't have the farce of them playing in Ulster semi finals.
I don't see the much boosted Ulster championship as the way forward for hurling in the province.
I would love to think it will get better over seasons, but to be honest I don't. I believe it will still be between Antrim, North and South.
Down are gone, Derry are hanging on by their fingernails and given another revival in football hurling will slip further behind.
If we are serious about making the championship more competitive should we not create a couple of amalgamated teams, Down, Monaghan and Armagh say, and the rest of the province outside Antrim.
Amalgamated teams have worked in club leagues, the Sean Stinsons minor experiment between Portglenone and Ahoghill in the mid '90s have been the catalyst for the advance first of Portglenone and now Ahoghill in Antrim.
We are just simply building to an anti-climax when these Cinderella sides get slaughtered by Antrim, who in turn will get the guttie at the hands of Galway!

Micko makes for a little magic

2008-05-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

You have to give it to Mick O'Dwyer almost 72 years of age and taking Wicklow into another Leinster campaign.
Where does he get his energy and enthusiasm?
After reading his autobiography recently Blessed and Obsessed there is no doubt he is in love with the game of Gaelic football.
While he has had much sparser material to work with in Leinster, you can never write him off and he had some great days with Kildare and Laois bringing Leinster titles to counties which hadn't even seen one passing through on the bus for a very long time.
Wicklow are in Division 4 football and as I know only too well from experience you aren't down there with my home county unless you are genuinely bad.
But that's the thing with Micko, simply because he's managing a team you can't write them off completely and the Garden County men must have got something out of their Tommy Murphy success last season.
It's ironic in a way that Micko is also up against a manager who has no championship experience as a manager in Kieran McGeeney.
Geezer has 'enjoyed' a baptism of fire with his Lilywhites coming up short in Division 1 and being relegated at the end of his first league campaign in charge.
All the pressure has to be on the former Armagh man to get a run in Leinster while O'Dwyer has nothing to lose.
You would still have to take Kildare to win given the gulf between the sides but Kildare lack firepower and O'Dwyer has come up with the goods throughout his life.
Certainly makes for a bit of interest in what otherwise would be regarded as a shoe in for Kildare.

Parnell row now comes home to roost

2008-05-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

The impact of the Dublin Meath brawl at Parnell Park finally comes home to roost this Sunday when the Royals start their campaign with five men suspended and two other players Anthony Moyles and Shane O'Rourke injured.
Colm Coyle is already talking about four debutants and while you always believe that Meath will have too much in the tank for Carlow this is no way to build on what was a great All-Ireland campaign last season.
Coyle must have fancied his side to be taking another step up on the back of that performance but the indiscipline shown against the Dubs in what was a meaningless match now casts a huge shadow over the start of the season.
I hope that Meath do get past this inauspicious start given that their full forward line last season which also included the unlucky Brian Farrell brought a hint of past glories back to mind with their great fielding and score taking.
Great forwards make for memorable championships, great defensive displays don't make for a good yarn round the fire at the pub, and Meath's performances last season gave us plenty to rave about.
Coyle must hope to get thorough this week's game and that his key players will be back in time to make their mark on the year.

McCarthy must be cursing his luck

2008-05-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

The life of county manager must be nerve wracking whenever your players are in action for their clubs in a championship weekend.
I'm sure they sit in dread of the type of phonecall which tells them that one of their star players have been hurt over the weekend playing havoc with well-laid plans for the season which may have begun as far back as October last year.
Take Justin McCarthy as an example this season. A year ago he was enjoying a great season with the Waterford hurling side.
The National League title was under their belts and preparing to launch a strongly fancied bid for the All-Ireland title.
Waterford lit up the Munster championship with another great win but eventually floundered tired and mentally drained in the All-Ireland semi final against a fit and hungry Limerick.
This year Waterford have been slow out of the blocks, many felt McCarthy has been nursing his ageing warriors for the last big battle.
Instead slowly but surely the bottom is falling out of the Waterford challenge. Eoin Murphy, Eoin Kelly and Paul Flynn are all expected to miss the opening Munster championship game with Clare on June 1.
Now the goal scoring star of last season Dan Shanahan, who hadn't really got into his stride in this year's league, has ligament damage to his knee and looks set to miss the first game too.
Dan was playing in a senior hurling championship game for his club Lismore in a victory over Mount Sion. He will be out for three weeks although the injury was feared to be much worse initially but it will make it difficult for him to start against Clare.
The only good news for McCarthy is that Tony Browne got the all clear after being sent off in a club game.
However, I noticed that Browne only came in to the game as a sub and it was his second sending off in six months.
Just wonder is he beginning to suffer from grumply old man syndrome as your pace goes you get a little more aggressive in the absence of being able to stay with them.
Tony Browne's a wonderful hurler but he has struggled against blistering pace in the last year or two.
I can't see the Decies get out of the starting blocks against Clare in the absence of their casualties and McCarthy must be hoping that some of his missing players might just make it to the starting line.

Loyalty recognised in Longford

2008-05-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly Longford won their battle to retain their existing advertising hoardings at the ground during their televised game with Westmeath in the championship on Sunday.
The Longford board objected to a ruling to cover up existing advertising as they felt that a bit of loyalty was due to the local business people who had stood by the county through thick and thin.
I had written as much this week as there have always been GAA people in business who have put a lot back into the Association and they should not be asked to hide whenever the TV and the big sponsors roll into town.
This is not a question of finance alone it is about a little loyalty to people who will still be around supporting clubs and smaller counties when some of the big sponsors have forgotten how to even spell GAA.

Cavanagh is over optimistic

2008-05-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Sean Cavanagh is a great footballer and seemingly an eternal optimist.
The big midfielder has almost at times lifted his side almost single handedly in recent seasons as the Tyrone dressing room took on the look of an episode of Casualty.
Cavanagh was an integral part of the Tyrone side of 2005 which in my opinion is one of the best teams of the last 20 years.
They were a better side than the current Kerry team and only Galway '98 to 2001 and Down of '91 to '94 vintage have matched them for sheer flair.
They had a wonderful forward line of Canavan, O'Neill and Mulligan with the two Brians Dooher and McGuigan pulling the strings at half forward with Cavanagh bursting through at full pelt from midfield or left half forward.
Their flair and creativity was overlooked by some in their breakthrough season of 2003 because they matched their ability with relentless work rate and tackling which unfortunately Pat Spillane branded as Puke Football when they handed the Kingdom a lesson in an All-Ireland semi final.
However, the 'puke football' simply amounted to sheer hunger to get the ball back as soon as the opposition had possession, something you would teach any child to do.
But in 2005 even the begrudgers acknowledged their greatness when they beat Dublin, Armagh and Kerry on the way to Sam and they don't come any tougher than that.
However, Cavanagh thinks that at last they may be on the way back, Dooher and McGuigan are flying in training he says and he hasn't given up hope that Stephen O'Neill may also put his injury problems behind him and return to the side.
I think that Cavanagh is being a little bit over optimistic. I believe that the injuries to McGuigan and Dooher must have taken their toll and although I would much rather see these two excellent players back in action until they are tested in the white heat of championship the jury remains out.
As for O'Neill it's true that he now has a number of club games behind him with no further occurrences of the hamstring injuries which cost him his inter-county career but it's a huge step up to the fitness demanded for the championship.
I think Cavanagh's optimism is wishful thinking and I am still of the opinion that unless some of the young players who have come on to the panel since 2005 start to deliver the goods then Tyrone won't again reach those heights.

Is it all about the euro?

2008-05-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

So Longford are the first county to object to headquarters about covering up existing advertising hoardings at their ground to facilitate only the GAA's sponsors for the championship.
I am amazed at Nickey Brennan's surprise that this should be so.
His argument seems to be very straightforward, that all counties who host the televised matches will benefit more financially under the new deal than by displaying the existing advertising.
Longford have asked for compensation for revenue which will be lost with existing sponsors.
My view is that both Longford and the GAA have missed the mark on this one.
For a start the issue should not be around compensation. What about a little loyalty to local businesses who have supported county boards with sponsorship through thick and thin.
Let's face it no local sponsor has been getting a bang for their buck in counties like Longford and now they are being denied their one day in the sun when the county's game will be the first televised match of the championship.
Making big deals which bring in mega bucks is all well and good but if the GAA lose the small local businesses which have the backbone of the association in the process then you have to wonder can that be for the good of the association in the longer run?
Sponsorship of our games should be about encouraging local involvement and support as well as the corporate players whose only interest in our games is the euro.

Meath not boxing clever

2008-05-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

You have to wonder are they putting something in the water in Meath with six players including top full back Darren Fay sent off in a club championship match at the weekend.
Now the Royals have never been known to be faint hearted but following so hot on the heels of the Parnell Park brawl with Dublin you would have thought that players would have taken a few chill pills.
Not so it seems but at least there is the consolation of heading off to Portugal this week to do a spot of training for the All Ireland.
Have to admit that I am green with envy about the week's training in the sun, our management at home thought that training us in Ardoyne on the nearby Bone Heights was as good as it gets. At the time the Bone Heights were about as exotic as the Golan Heights and almost as heavily militarised.
But then we have never been as good at boxing as any Meath team despite being trained of late by former European boxing champion Darren Corbett.
I wonder if we get in to our next opponents in the league with as much abandon as the Royals would the club foot the bill for a trip overseas?
I'd even get into the row myself!

New hurling format clear as mud!

2008-05-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or do other GAA people find the new hurling format as clear as mud?
I'm delighted that an t-Uachtaran Nickey Brennan understands it well enough to say that the new qualifier format should make for a great year's hurling.
I confess to being absolutely baffled.
However, there are a couple of things I am clear about, one that the game's not straight under this system and secondly it does little or nothing to promote hurling in Connacht or Ulster.
Now if anyone reckons I have lost the plot on this one or simply don't understand the set-up then feel free to let me know as you're probably right.
Firstly I welcome the fact that the qualifiers are being played on a knockout basis.
The experiment with the round robin system for losers in the provinces was as interesting as watching paint dry with big sides trapped in them going through the motions to get the required results while all the games bar usually the final one of the three lacking bite and drama.
So I am a big fan of the knockout element.
But for me that's as good as it gets with the new format.
My first problem is that Antrim and Galway have to play in Qualifier 1, which means that one whole province will have no home interest in the championship early in the season, this year it will be Ulster.
Secondly the new system puts first round and semi final losers in Leinster and Munster on a par.
This may have been true in the '60s and maybe again in the'80s and '90s but let's be honest the Leinster Championship is now crap and it's a long time since it was genuinely competitive.
It is Kilkenny and the also rans and to be straight the other sides in Leinster are on a par with Antrim so why couldn't the Saffrons have been playing first round losers from Leinster in the first qualifying game?
And as the season progresses the Munster sides who lose in the semis and the final are far superior to anything which Leinster has to offer and this gives the Leinster sides a status their results simply don't deserve.
And if anyone believes that the Leinster sides will catch up in the next three years I'll send them all a crackerjack pencil if they're right.
If we are going down this route then teams should have been seeded on their performances instead of rewarded on the basis of an antiquated championship set-up which is stuck in an age when Leinster sides outside the Cats were still at the races.

Mixed feelings on Ulster experiment

2008-05-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

Have to say I have very mixed feelings about the decision to allow all the Ulster sides to take part in the Ulster Championship this year.
I know all good things have to start somewhere and while realistically the Ulster title comes down to Antrim at this point in time, I refuse to believe that even Derry or Down are at the races right now, the hope is obviously that if teams compete at this level they will eventually improve.
I don't think this is the case at all. Remember the short lived Connacht championship experiment of the '90s, the GAA had to stop it after a few short years because Galway were running up scores more in common with the Australian cricket team at their finest.
There is no doubt that the early rounds in Ulster will be keenly contested but when the minnows come up against Antrim, Derry or Down then we are going to need umpires and allow mentors to throw the towel in when their teams have soaked up enough punishment.
I think the answer lies not in opening up the Ulster championship but the continued development of the game in the traditional base in the North first and foremost to up standards and to build on work in the smaller counties.
I wish the Ulster Council well with the experiment but I feel it's doomed to fail and it will be a real chore for Antrim to play the couple of meaningless games to secure the title.