WITH THE LAST round of football group stages coming up, we take a look at the six teams in the mix for All-Ireland honours and three potential ‘bolters’.
Kerry
While the new All-Ireland football championship format may be described as a ‘Champions’ League’ style all it wants, in essence it is a gruelling Steeplechase with crocodiles starving in the water hazards.
Kerry have to cope with others raising their performance against them – because, well; Kerry – and also face accusations about how handy they got things through their history and how short a period they had to peak for.
Well, it’s here now, a greater test of their abilities. Mayo were ravenous for them in the opening round, Cork just the same but with less pizazz. Mayo took the points.
Of the talking points to emerge, they have not yet identified a replacement for David Moran in midfield. Maybe that person does not exist. Seanie O’Shea is playing in fits and starts, Paul Geaney is not the force of old, and they are like most other contenders with the strength and age profile of the bench questioned.
And for all that, they have David Clifford. You know yourself.
Galway
Comfortable against Westmeath in the end, and controlled against Tyrone in Salthill, Galway’s displays are of a mature outfit who appear to be the least ruffled team heading into the last round of games.
Only, not quite. They only cut loose against Westmeath in the final quarter after the dismissal of Ray Connellan for a second yellow.
At this stage, Padraic Joyce reached for Damian Comer and he snaffled three points in the last quarter of an hour.
With the heat dying down over the next fortnight, they will hope to hit a groove in time for their concluding fixture.
That game being Armagh, with all the emotion and bad energy lingering after last year’s game and brawl at the end of full-time in Croke Park, then it will be an interesting one to watch through the gaps in your fingers.
Dublin
I dunno. You dunno. Nobody knows.
In the Pat Gilroy era, there was a fire in this Dublin team. During Jim Gavin’s spell, acting as if they were a mid-tier PwC intake out on a corporate day that happened to be Gaelic football matches in a packed Croke Park, didn’t do them any harm.
But under Dessie Farrell, you’d almost crave for them to have a good old-fashioned ranter on the line to inject some passion. Winning Leinster was achieved without truly breaking a sweat. Would you call the tight semi-final against Kildare a sweat? Perhaps it’s best explained through the second meeting last weekend when Dublin reasserted their Stockholm Syndrome complex on all Leinster teams.
Should the draw against Roscommon worry them? Maybe they need the high-wire acts, helped of course by Croke Park, which will always be a factor.
Mayo
Kevin McStay has gone about his work methodically and quietly, but still the noise will follow Mayo around the place as Croke Park comes into view.
Leaving aside the Connacht defeat to Roscommon and he has done almost everything right in terms of spreading gametime among the panel, rejuvenating Aidan O’Shea and organising their defence.
With four clean sheets this year in ten games, it would have been a 50% record only for Louth’s Conal McKeever to shoot to the roof of the net five minutes into injury time at the weekend.
The big test was Kerry and they passed it with flying colours. Having Louth nipping at their ankles was almost understandable. Having had a mini-training camp after the Roscommon loss, they should emerge for the final group game against Cork as the version they want to portray of themselves.
Derry
In these group games, every and any perceived weakness will be seized upon and Monaghan’s late snatch of a point in Celtic Park was enough evidence to present as Derry’s own Ulster final comedown.
The emotional impact on the players of their already well-documented departure of manager Rory Gallagher will never be measured or defined, but they have to be admired for lasting the course of the Ulster final.
Monaghan had cause and motive to make them feel uncomfortable in Celtic Park, but you must remember it was Derry that came with the late flurry of four consecutive scores to take the lead before Karl O’Connell’s equaliser.
Subject to criticism of how thin their panel looks, they haven’t had to cope with injuries. Ten different scorers against Donegal, along with goals for wing-backs Padraig McGrogan and Conor Doherty shows the balance there. All the same, they’d be snookered without Shane McGuigan.
Tyrone
In-game consistency has haunted Tyrone ever since their 2021 All-Ireland triumph. Losing Conor McKenna to the AFL has robbed their attack of spontaneity while 2019 All-Star Cathal McShane’s injury problems are dragging on.
Their inability to force the issue when going well against Monaghan in the Ulster championship was replicated against Armagh and they fell into turbulent pockets where nervous energy was everywhere.
Saved by some stunning performances from Mattie Donnelly, Darragh Canavan and Niall Morgan, last weekend was only their second win in six championship games since they brought Sam Maguire home.
It’s not the Tyrone public they need to start convincing, but themselves at this stage. The final round game against Westmeath presents an opportunity.
And three who might have a say in things yet:
Roscommon
All year long, Roscommon under Davy Burke have been making brave statements, from the first league game that brought a five-point win over Tyrone, to Easter Sunday and knocking Mayo out of Connacht in Castlebar.
While the team is very much established, there comes a time in any evolution that they have to walk through the door of ambition in high summer.
Drawing with Dublin certainly qualifies as one, but the greatest statement that afternoon was to have the Dubs chasing ghosts in that six minute-plus spell of possession that yielded a point.
Another side through to the quarter-finals, they will be looking for a win over Kildare, though neither side will want to spend too much energy with Sligo all but out of contention.
Organised and motivated, with goalkeeper Conor Carroll in All-Star territory, they will be taken seriously.
Monaghan
You just don’t survive in the top flight for nine seasons without coming into contention as a challenger.
The first championship day out brought a win over Tyrone, but they looked oddly flat-footed against Derry in the Ulster semi-final loss.
Manager Vinny Corey has already shown he is a quick learner by parking some of the veterans for the next Derry game in the group stages, and hammering most of Derry’s hammers with impressive jobs on Brendan Rogers and Gareth McKinless.
Getting Ryan McAnespie back from his travels has given them legs that they sorely missed and Jack McCarron clearly likes the freedom that playing non-Ulster teams brings.
Through now with a game to spare, they can afford to put the feet up and gear up in a couple of weeks’ time.
Armagh
It appears at this stage that their big performance this summer was the Ulster final, which went to a penalty shoot-out defeat.
The last round game against Galway will have little consequence as Tyrone are expected to do the business on Westmeath, but Armagh’s form has been streaky and patchy all year.
While the limited performance against Westmeath could be excused away as a post-Ulster final hangover, and there will be some clutching of straws around Rian O’Neill’s red card contributing to their defeat, they are increasingly looking like a side hoping, rather than expecting.
Somewhat narky and frustrated, Armagh are the most brittle in this list and their three championship wins this season have been achieved against division 3 opposition.
