The All-Ireland SFC Round 2 qualifier draw was made this morning and it threw up the following pairings:
Wexford v Monaghan
Westmeath v Armagh
Carlow v Leitrim
Cavan v Tipperary
Let’s take a look at some of the big talking points heading into those games.
1. The Banty Bowl
FOR THE FIRST time since 2006, Monaghan and Wexford will meet in the All-Ireland SFC. The last time they clashed Seamus ‘Banty’ McEnaney was in blue, but 11 years on he finds himself in the opposite corner.
It’ll certainly be an emotional experience for ‘Banty’ to manage against his native county, but he’s far from the first man to do it. The most famous examples include Eamon Cregan managing Offaly to dramatic All-Ireland hurling final victory over Limerick in 1994 and Mick O’Dwyer leading Kildare past Kerry in the All-Ireland football semi-final in 1998.
John O’Mahony enjoyed wins over his native Mayo en route to Leitrim’s Connacht title in 1994, and Galway’s All-Ireland triumph four years later.
‘Banty’ will be hoping to join that illustrious company this weekend.
2. Westmeath’s first game after mauling by the Dubs
Westmeath’s reward for the pummeling they took from Dublin is a tricky home tie against Armagh.
Tom Cribbin admitted yesterday that his players were “embarrassed” with the manner of their loss to the Dubs. The biggest challenge facing the Lake County is recovering mentally from that defeat and putting it behind them.
In 2015 they shipped a disappointing 1-13 to 0-7 beating by Fermanagh after losing to Dublin by 13 points, while they fell by 15 points to the Dubs last summer before putting up a decent fight in their 3-15 to 1-14 defeat to Mayo.
Armagh will arrive at TEG Cusack Park full of confidence after kicking 20 points in their nine-point Round 1 qualifier win over Fermanagh.
3. Carlow big chance of winning a third match this summer
Carlow’s home draw against Leitrim throws up the distinct possibility of the Barrowsiders wining three championship games in the one summer. Turlough O’Brien’s troops edged past London in Ruislip to book a clash against their fellow Division 4 opposition.
Leitrim had two points to spare over Carlow when these teams met in Carrock-on-Shannon during the league, but star forward Emlyn Mulligan has since been ruled out for the season with a torn cruciate.
Counties like Carlow will only improve through playing championship football, so the opportunity to seal a fifth game this summer would be a huge boost to the county.
4. Tipperary facing daunting trip to Cavan
An away trip to Ulster opposition was exactly the sort of draw Liam Kearns would have wanted to steer clear of this morning. Granted they avoided Monaghan, but Cavan have the benefit of an extra game under their belt and must be considered favourites to end Tipperary’s season.
Injuries (most notably to Michael Quinlivan), emigration (Peter Acheson) and suspension (Evan Comerford) have decimated Kearns’s squad this campaign.
“We are like a small hospital at this stage,” Kearns said last week.
“We just have so many players injured. Last year we went the whole campaign with the same players, but that’s just the way it goes I suppose. It’s a different story this year.”
It was always going to be a difficult task to follow up their sensational run to the last four last year, but Tipp have been beset by bad luck in the championship.
Added to all their absentees, Tipp suffered a heartbreaking late defeat to Cork in the Munster semi-final. Can they muster up one big performance to save their season?
5. Monaghan wary of Wexford ambush
Monaghan will venture down to Wexford with their guard very much up. The presence of ‘Banty’ in the Wexford dugout will make them very wary, plus the memory of last year’s shock loss to Longford in the backdoor is still fresh in the minds.
Monaghan enjoyed a good league campaign and at half-time in the final round robin game, they were heading to the Division 1 final. They eventually lost to Dublin by three points and played well only in patches during their wins over Fermanagh and Cavan in Ulster.
The defeat to Down was disappointing and it was as flat a performance we’ve witnessed from the Farney in some time.
It had been suggested recently that Malachy O’Rourke’s were capable of making a leap to the top tier. Saturday week will tell us a lot.
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