Any excuse to use the clip of Sean O’Shea scoring a two-pointer by kicking off the carpet in Tralee on Saturday
Anyone who has ever played football, even at Go Games level, is aware that a ball rolling towards you simply invites a good swing. Under previous rules, this would simply never have happened, the ball would have been picked up and a process of recycling begun.
Sean O'Shea with an outrageous 2 pointer off the deck for @Kerry_Official 🎯
O’Shea’s effort was the highlight of Kerry’s 16-point demolition of Mayo and illustrated their attacking excellence. It is not the biggest margin of victory in this Division 1 campaign so far – that honour belongs to Mayo with their 19-point win over Monaghan, but it did bring about Andy Moran’s inner Buddha as he related how he doesn’t get too high on the highs and low on the lows.
Still and all, Kerry carry serious form as they head to Armagh’s Athletic Grounds for this weekend’s finale.
*****
2. Rossies weather the storm
While the Sunday night highlights show on RTÉ picked out a clip of Roscommon goalkeeper Conor Carroll grimacing as the hailstones wore the lugs off him, there was another moment in the third quarter when the wind and hail was coming down in horizontal sheets, and a Rossies defender held his two hands up to his face to block out the onslaught and even see the Donegal player five yards in front of him.
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You could be kind to Donegal and say they were due a flat performance in the way all teams get them in a league campaign, but Roscommon had to overcome serious hardship to gain a foothold in the second half when Donegal were making it rain with two-pointers.
None was as defiant as Enda Smith, with his scores and his drives forward, while the spritely Conor Hand added the second goal. Victory secures Division 1 football in 2027 for Roscommon, and they have a shot at reaching the league final as they prepare to face Mayo next Sunday. It would be amazing to see them maintain this kind of form into the summer.
*****
3. Orchard bloom
The average attendance at a Portadown FC game is around 1,400. The average attendance for an Armagh City FC game is just scraping 500. On Saturday night there were 23,353 present in Croke Park for the Meath-Tyrone and Dublin-Armagh double-header.
Armagh’s Oisín Conaty, formerly of Portadown, and Tyrone’s Ethan Jordan, once of Armagh City, both rattled the net at the Davin Stand end in either game.
Jordan didn’t really have the chance to milk it in the defeat to Meath, the way Conaty’s superb run and finish towards the very end of their comeback success over Dublin, afforded him. Both players must be experiencing very different feelings ahead of Armagh hosting Tyrone in the preliminary round of the Ulster championship on 12 April.
A Galway home win over Dublin next Sunday would keep Armagh in Division 1, after a strange campaign in which there were many positives despite some narrow defeats. Meanwhile, the apathy around Tyrone is palpable with just two wins so far in Division 2 and dwindling crowds following them.
*****
4. Dubs going down?
Paul Flynn was pushing a relentlessly upbeat version of events from Croke Park on Saturday night, once the Dublin All-Ireland winner had 24 hours to digest them when on punditry duty for RTÉ last night.
But focussing on the positives from a team across one half when they were on top, without adding in the context of how it all went wrong thereafter, is the ultimate in empty calories.
The bald facts are that Dublin had an 11-point lead, started the second half a man up after Jarly Óg Burns was wrongly black-carded, and were gifted a tap-over free. And even with all that going for them, they still contrived to lose it all.
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
It’s been 22 years since Dublin went two years without a Leinster final appearance. If the favourites win, there is a potential Leinster semi-final against Louth on the May Bank Holiday weekend.
The job of work facing manager Ger Brennan now seems a lot steeper than before.
*****
5. Division 4 whacky races
While nobody wants to spend too much time in the zombie zone of Division 4, a look at the league table shows the marginal gains are being squeezed as tight as possible.
Heading into the final round of fixtures, Waterford are bottom, with six losses from six games.
And everybody else has a chance of going up. Everyone else, being seven teams.
The final day resembles a Whacky Races day coming on Sunday. On top are Carlow and Wicklow on eight points. London have equalled their biggest-ever points tally on seven and are joined by Longford.
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Roscommon hold off Donegal's second-half surge to secure Division 1 status
The chasing pack of Antrim, Tipperary and Leitrim are all on six points. Leitrim currently sit seventh in the table, but have three wins and three losses, with a score difference of just -3.
Carlow manager Joe Murphy. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
The top two are in the box seat. After a strong start followed by a wobble, Joe Murphy’s Carlow are at home to Leitrim in the final round, while Oisín McConville’s Wicklow will have to snatch something away to Longford to make sure of promotion.
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Kerry excellence, Rossies rising, Armagh comeback: GAA football league talking points
LAST UPDATE | 16 Mar
1. Kerry excellence
Any excuse to use the clip of Sean O’Shea scoring a two-pointer by kicking off the carpet in Tralee on Saturday
Anyone who has ever played football, even at Go Games level, is aware that a ball rolling towards you simply invites a good swing. Under previous rules, this would simply never have happened, the ball would have been picked up and a process of recycling begun.
Not now. And it’s all the better for it.
O’Shea’s effort was the highlight of Kerry’s 16-point demolition of Mayo and illustrated their attacking excellence. It is not the biggest margin of victory in this Division 1 campaign so far – that honour belongs to Mayo with their 19-point win over Monaghan, but it did bring about Andy Moran’s inner Buddha as he related how he doesn’t get too high on the highs and low on the lows.
Still and all, Kerry carry serious form as they head to Armagh’s Athletic Grounds for this weekend’s finale.
*****
2. Rossies weather the storm
While the Sunday night highlights show on RTÉ picked out a clip of Roscommon goalkeeper Conor Carroll grimacing as the hailstones wore the lugs off him, there was another moment in the third quarter when the wind and hail was coming down in horizontal sheets, and a Rossies defender held his two hands up to his face to block out the onslaught and even see the Donegal player five yards in front of him.
You could be kind to Donegal and say they were due a flat performance in the way all teams get them in a league campaign, but Roscommon had to overcome serious hardship to gain a foothold in the second half when Donegal were making it rain with two-pointers.
None was as defiant as Enda Smith, with his scores and his drives forward, while the spritely Conor Hand added the second goal. Victory secures Division 1 football in 2027 for Roscommon, and they have a shot at reaching the league final as they prepare to face Mayo next Sunday. It would be amazing to see them maintain this kind of form into the summer.
*****
3. Orchard bloom
The average attendance at a Portadown FC game is around 1,400. The average attendance for an Armagh City FC game is just scraping 500. On Saturday night there were 23,353 present in Croke Park for the Meath-Tyrone and Dublin-Armagh double-header.
Armagh’s Oisín Conaty, formerly of Portadown, and Tyrone’s Ethan Jordan, once of Armagh City, both rattled the net at the Davin Stand end in either game.
Jordan didn’t really have the chance to milk it in the defeat to Meath, the way Conaty’s superb run and finish towards the very end of their comeback success over Dublin, afforded him. Both players must be experiencing very different feelings ahead of Armagh hosting Tyrone in the preliminary round of the Ulster championship on 12 April.
A Galway home win over Dublin next Sunday would keep Armagh in Division 1, after a strange campaign in which there were many positives despite some narrow defeats. Meanwhile, the apathy around Tyrone is palpable with just two wins so far in Division 2 and dwindling crowds following them.
*****
4. Dubs going down?
Paul Flynn was pushing a relentlessly upbeat version of events from Croke Park on Saturday night, once the Dublin All-Ireland winner had 24 hours to digest them when on punditry duty for RTÉ last night.
But focussing on the positives from a team across one half when they were on top, without adding in the context of how it all went wrong thereafter, is the ultimate in empty calories.
The bald facts are that Dublin had an 11-point lead, started the second half a man up after Jarly Óg Burns was wrongly black-carded, and were gifted a tap-over free. And even with all that going for them, they still contrived to lose it all.
It’s been 22 years since Dublin went two years without a Leinster final appearance. If the favourites win, there is a potential Leinster semi-final against Louth on the May Bank Holiday weekend.
The job of work facing manager Ger Brennan now seems a lot steeper than before.
*****
5. Division 4 whacky races
While nobody wants to spend too much time in the zombie zone of Division 4, a look at the league table shows the marginal gains are being squeezed as tight as possible.
Heading into the final round of fixtures, Waterford are bottom, with six losses from six games.
And everybody else has a chance of going up. Everyone else, being seven teams.
The final day resembles a Whacky Races day coming on Sunday. On top are Carlow and Wicklow on eight points. London have equalled their biggest-ever points tally on seven and are joined by Longford.
The chasing pack of Antrim, Tipperary and Leitrim are all on six points. Leitrim currently sit seventh in the table, but have three wins and three losses, with a score difference of just -3.
The top two are in the box seat. After a strong start followed by a wobble, Joe Murphy’s Carlow are at home to Leitrim in the final round, while Oisín McConville’s Wicklow will have to snatch something away to Longford to make sure of promotion.
*****
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