ON THE first busy weekend of the Championship season, National League standings have been evident in the final outcomes of each game.
Every so often, we’ll be treated to a shock result but, more often than not, league positioning is a good gauge of where a team’s overall form is at as they move into summer. However, for a few teams, even a positive league campaign can leave them unsure of their current standing as the step up in class approaches during Championship.
Antrim were a case in point last Sunday, as were Armagh ahead of their eagerly anticipated clash with Donegal last year. There have been nothing but positive vibes coming from the Antrim camp since the turn of the year.
The return of a number of quality experienced campaigners, along with the addition of Gearoid Adams to the management ticket allowed them to get on a winning run and gain long overdue promotion from Division Four. They developed greater competition for places and were a year older and wiser in their coaching and conditioning under the present management.
My concern for Antrim going into last Sunday’s game was based on what I had seen happen to Armagh last year when they encountered a team plying their trade consistently in a higher division. During last year’s Division Three campaign, I saw Armagh make simple mistakes, but they were never truly punished because they had too much quality in the end for their opponents. Results can gloss over these shortcomings in a player’s mind.
I have no doubt management would have pointed this out and worked out these mistakes on the training ground, but when a team are on a winning run, it is very hard to convince them just where they are going wrong, until it’s too late.
Like Armagh a year previously against Donegal, every simple mistake made by Antrim during the opening half was ruthlessly punished by Fermanagh. Even giving away a sideline ball was dangerous given Tomas Corrigan’s rich vein of scoring form.
There is no doubting the progress made in Antrim this year, but they seemed off the pace during the opening exchanges, it took until the game was gone from them to spring to life. The only way to eradicate these mistakes is by sticking together as a group and not going back to their clubs or America.
With every other county in Ulster competing at a higher level, Antrim will continue to struggle to compete until they develop a level of consistency and move through the divisions. Now is the time for them to begin that improvement and try to get a winning run in the Qualifiers to generate greater interest in the team within the county and lay some more positive foundation as they build towards Division Three next year.
Fermanagh continue to amaze. Given they have only 20 football clubs to choose from with one of the smallest player pools in Ireland, they have, over the last 15 years, been consistently competing in the National League and are more than a match for any team in the Ulster Championship.
They have clearly learned from their season in Division Two. In Pete McGrath, they have a shrewd and infectious manager who has helped to mould them into a really difficult opposition to crack. There’s one thing Fermanagh won’t lack going to Ballybofey and that’s confidence. Any Fermanagh teams I have encountered have had this in abundance.
While Sean Quigley and Tomas Corrigan earn most of the praise for their hefty scoring returns, one man who has really impressed me over this past 18 months has been Eoin Donnelly. He has all the attributes needed to be a top class inter-county midfielder - great hands, athleticism and a terrific work ethic. To think he comes from a small junior club in a county with only 20 teams sets him out as a great example to all of what can be achieved if you’re willing to work for it.
AS I saw the scores coming through from the three clashes in the Leinster SFC, the most pleasing aspect I noticed was the amount of scores in each game.
Twelve goals and 103 points in three games is a terrific return. Of course, people will claim there has to be poor defending, but when a game finishes with both teams in single figures, the same people would find something to complain about.
What makes the scorelines stand out is that none of the six counties in question - Louth, Carlow, Laois, Wicklow, Offaly or Longford - would see themselves gaining provincial success by going toe-to-toe with Dublin. Instead of using the first game in Championship to try an ultra-defensive approach for fear of what might potentially be coming down the track, they back themselves by going with an attacking gameplan to make their way into the next round.
I have played on and seen many teams with more or, at the very least, similar ability to their opponents set up with a sweeper system instead of trusting that the ability they possess was enough to get them the win by going man-to-man.
This frustrates me as I feel it stifles players’ ability to express themselves. It also drains a player’s self-belief in the long-term as, the longer it continues, the less you’ll believe in your own ability to get the better of your direct opponent in your personal battle.
A look at the GAA’s roll of honour, provincially and nationally, will show a certain team’s dominance is nothing new in GAA. If lifting silverware was the be-all and end-all, then the GAA in most counties would have folded a long time ago.
It is, of course, important to keep the pursuit of success in your mindset. If everyone were to just give up and effectively hand the All-Ireland to Dublin now, it would, in the short-term, ruin what could be a great summer’s entertainment.
More importantly, however, it could sap the enthusiasm of future generation of kids and their ambition of reaching the pinnacle of our games by one day pulling on their county jersey.
