Antrim
THEIR CHAMPIONSHIP ENDED at the first hurdle with a 13-point defeat to Armagh, but there’s plenty for Enda McGinley to be positive about after their 2021 season drew to a close.
A gap in conditioning was a big factor in a game where Antrim gave a good account of themselves and trailed Kieran McGeeney’s men by just two points at half-time.
The main priority at the outset of the season was promotion to Division 3, which was achieved after four wins from four in the basement tier. The spirit and quality they showed will give them plenty of optimism heading into 2022.
Fermanagh
Fermanagh bid to rise into Division 2 was ended by Offaly in the play-off game, while Monaghan dumped them out of the Ulster championship.
They enjoyed an important league win over Cavan before suffering a heavy 5-13 to 0-9 loss to Derry. Fermanagh’s defensive style looks a little outdated, although the standard of player available to manager Ryan McMenamin might have contributed to that.
He was without experienced campaigners Che and Lee Cullen, Joe and Conall Jones, Tomas and Ruairi Corrigan for the entire campaign, which saw him put his trust in an emerging crop of youngsters.
“I’m not going to chase anybody to come back, to tell you the truth,” he remarked after the Monaghan game. “I’ve got enough on my plate instead of going chasing boys to play for Fermanagh. You either want to play for Fermanagh or you don’t.”
Laois
Five defeats from five games in 2021 says it all for Laois. The season couldn’t have gone much worse and Mike Quirke promptly resigned in the wake of the heavy Leinster SFC defeat to Westmeath.
They led their neighbours by a point at half-time before falling to a 3-20 to 1-10 defeat.
The former Kerry midfielder labelled Laois’ second-half performance “pathetic” and it followed on from several poor displays in the league. The nearest they got to any team was seven-point losses to Clare and Down.
Several veterans like Ross Munnelly, Colm Begley, Kieran Lillis, John O’Loughlin and Donie Kingston may consider their inter-county futures in the off-season.
Longford
Another county searching for a new boss following their championship exit at the weekend.
Padraic Davis was honest in his assessment after the heavy 22-point trouncing they shipped to Meath, admitting: “When I look at that scoreboard, I have neither the energy nor the appetite to try to take that on next October or November.”
Davis’s third year wasn’t all bad. Longford sent Munster champions Tipperary packing to Division 4 with a deserved 1-13 to 0-9 victory in the relegation play-offs.
They put 25 points past Carlow in the opening round of Leinster, which made their abject display against Meath all the more surprising.
Roscommon
There was a good deal of dismay locally at the defensive style of football Roscommon employed against Galway in their Connacht semi-final exit.
Many will point to the addition of former Carlow coach Steven Poacher to the backroom team as a backwards step, given his tendency towards dropping 15 bodies behind the ball.
The Rossies endured a tough Division 1 South group alongside Dublin, Kerry and Galway. Three defeats and a nine-point relegation play-off loss to Armagh sent them packing from the top flight, before Galway dumped them out of Connacht.
It remains to be seen if 2019 Connacht winning manager Anthony Cunningham has the appetite to return for a fourth year.
Offaly
The Faithful will ultimately reflect on 2021 as a positive year, even if it could have been a lot better. They sealed a return to the top 16 of the league for the first time since 2007, yet a championship victory over an established county never transpired.
They emerged from a Division 3 South group containing Limerick, Tipperary and Wicklow, before beating Fermanagh in the promotion play-off game.
Offaly recovered well from a heavy Division 3 final beating to Derry at Croke Park to see off Mickey Harte’s Louth in round 1 of Leinster the following week. For the second year in-a-row they ran Kildare close, before falling short.
Progress has been steady for three years under John Maughan and they play a good brand of attacking football, so Michael Duignan will be keen to keep the Mayo man on board for another year.
Wexford
Wexford became the first Leinster county to get within eight points of Dublin in a championship game in almost eight years. They led by 0-3 to 0-2 at the first water break and must be commended with their display which made a mockery of the 24-point handicap.
Little was expected of Shane Roche’s team following Division 4 defeats to Carlow and Waterford. They did gain some momentum with a 12-point defeat of Sligo in the Shield final and then upset Wicklow in the opening round of Leinster.
There’s a lot for Wexford to take into 2022. But like the other 13 counties knocked out early, there’s a long wait before they can return to collective training.
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