Gunslingers back in town
The noise and fuss created by Derry’s win over Kerry on the opening night of the league was fuelled in large part by some who took exception to the Glen players deciding to play for their county.
How dare these footballers decide they want to play football, they thundered! In any event, Conor Glass revealed in midweek that they came to the decision themselves, rather than being coerced into it.
Jack O’Connor had claimed the Clifford brothers wouldn’t be seen for a while yet, but lo and behold, there they were in Clones. In O’Connor’s own words, “They were mad for road, straining at the leash.”
The introduction of David Clifford just prior to half-time, their new captain Paudie Clifford and defensive bulwark Tadgh Morley put a little more backbone into the team.
While it was Sean O’Shea who stole the show with 1-7, David’s own 1-1 and general presence spooked the Monaghan defence.
A down week is coming up now anyway for those who prefer their county footballers to ride high on bar stools all weekend.
Mayo ain’t got no chill
Slowing down the play is not something new to Gaelic football. Several years ago, Dublin players, soon copied by Armagh, started lifting a single arm in the air while in possession.
This was the signal for various players to move into set positions and build an attack. Basketball fans might be aware of Coach Paul Westhead destroying the chemistry of the NBA-winning LA Lakers side of Kareem and Magic with this proscribed approach, but for now it is in vogue in Gaelic football.
More than basketball, it is the influence of soccer, with the ‘La Pausa’ philosophy of Spanish soccer. Get the ball, hold it, get the right players into the correct positions and then it becomes all about angles of attack and injections of pace.
Unless you are Mayo. They remain completely and utterly without chill. They can do nothing, unless it is at 100 miles per hour.
The only time they looked dangerous or functioning properly in their win against Dublin came when Paddy Durcan would stick his head down and go on a charge, or when Ryan O’Donoghue would force the issue.
May they never change.
Heading for the Tailteann?
Those that feared for Louth when Mickey Harte and Gavin Devlin jumped ship for Derry, will have been encouraged by their showings so far.
With Ger Brennan the manager now, they opened with a fairly strong performance against Armagh that hinted that they knew a good bit about themselves.
That impression was driven home with their second win over Cork in Ardee in two seasons.
As good as it was for Louth, this latest result represents a worrying time for Cork. After a fairly abject performance against Donegal in Ballybofey, they needed to show something here and they were second-best.
Relegation from Division 2, of course, means you will drop out of the All-Ireland series and instead head for the Tailteann Cup.
And right now it looks as if Kildare might be joining them down there, having fallen to their second defeat in a week, this time to a well-organised Fermanagh. With Cork hosting Cavan next and Kildare ‘hosting’ Armagh in Carlow, the next fortnight will be critical for both.
While Westmeath, and last year Meath celebrated long and hard about winning a Tailteann Cup, you can’t imagine the same enthusiasm being drummed up in those counties for that prospect.
Mitching McNulty
The livestream doesn’t lie. At 1pm on Saturday, the SDLP Member of the Legislative Assembly for Newry and Armagh, Justin McNulty could be seen in the background as politicians got on with forming an assembly at Stormont.
Bear in mind, this was their first day back at meaningful work after two years of the DUP holding up the process after their disastrous election results. So it was kind of a big deal.
By 2.40pm, there was no sight of McNulty. He had, as we used to say, gone on the hop. He was scheming. Mitching. Took himself off to manage Laois in their Division 4 win away to Wexford on a 1-19 to 0-12 scoreline.
This was a grave matter indeed and he was suspended by his party.
An SDLP spokesperson said: “All SDLP MLAs were informed by the party’s Chief Whip that attendance at today’s sitting was mandatory for the duration of the Assembly proceedings.”
His party colleague, Matthew O’Toole, was named leader of the opposition. He had previously said about the fixture clash, “We are engaged in a process to discuss with Justin those two roles, but we are clear – and we have been clear in the past – that the role of an MLA is a full-time one.”
The first Stormont Controversy. Good to be back?
Holy Goalies
I think we’ve gotten used to the fact that goalkeepers are now essentially another outfield player by now, haven’t we?
Despite that, when a turnover happens around the middle of the pitch, it will take a whole before crowds don’t lose their heads over the chance of a quick break and a goal.
There are signs at this early stage of the league, that the goalkeepers are being asked to play even further upfield than before.
So much so, that the workload was a bit much for Derry goalkeeper Odhran Lynch who was in possession and limping gingerly before being replaced by Ryan Scullion. Manager Mickey Harte revealed afterwards that he was carrying a slight niggle into the game and must have re-aggravated it.
And it was noticeable how Fermanagh played their debutant goalkeeper Ross Bogue on Saturday night.
Constantly on the ball in open play, when he dropped back into the defence, he often stationed himself in front of his full-back line, the Cullen brothers Lee and Che.
In the game of risk-reward, most managers are now fully-converted to living a little dangerously.