LIKE an Irish summer, the Ulster Championship can quite often fall far short of anything you would describe as summer.
Yet, in our memories, we often only recall the great summer days. Great days on beaches, on farms, on football pitches, that’s what we remember.
The days of constant mizzle are long forgotten. I reckon in a month’s time we will be looking back on another fine Ulster Championship.
The three recent no-shows in the Championship will be largely forgotten about if we get the series of well-balanced, competitive games the next six weeks should bring.
Tyrone completed a professional job with the minimum of fuss on Sunday against Derry.
Many were asking what they could learn about Tyrone’s prospects, but, realistically, it was never a game where the players could answer any of the questions some people direct at the squad.
The Red Hands are clearly a serious outfit with a very talented panel, but then everyone bar their most ardent critics would have accepted this already.
There are some issues in terms of forwards scoring, especially frees and goals, and of key forwards standing up in big games.
Sunday did not offer the players the chance to answer these. They can look forward to the days later in the summer when they get the chance to try to answer the doubters.
In terms of positives, several players debuted and all looked suitably accomplished. The team generally looks in superb physical condition.
The biggest positive for me was the fact 11 different players scored and 11 players used on the day were in the 19-24 age bracket. That’s a young, potent side and it will be great to see what they can do in the big games ahead.
DOWN versus Armagh, meanwhile, is the first game that makes the fence look the most comfortable place to sit.
For two counties that have been maligned for various reasons, it will be nice this week to have the whole province, in fact the whole country, awaiting the game and praying for the first proper match of the football Championship.
While they are in different divisions, these two teams appear to be at the same level.
Heading into the last day of the League, and even up until injury-time in their respective fixtures, it looked like Armagh were heading to Division Two with Down taking their spot in the third tier.
The small quirks of fate that happened to prevent this will have minimal bearing on Sunday.
Down could argue that this attitude serves them an injustice and no doubt will use such chat as a bit of extra motivation – not that much more should be required.
While Down’s result in Cork was impressive, we have seen on many occasions that Cork are a quirky beast so any result against them needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
The most impressive moment for me regarding Down this year was their win and performance against Meath in the third round of the League.
Back-to-back losses to Clare and Fermanagh – the two suspected weakest teams in the division – at the start of the League meant it was almost two full years without a win, a 14-game losing streak, and there was understandable disquiet about the team and manager Eamonn Burns’s tenure.
If we say the greatest sign of a man or a team is what they do when they are hardest hit, well, this Down team showed us as much in March.
From rock bottom, they produced a response. There is little doubt that they are not blessed with the quality of personnel that they once may have had, but something tells me that it is dangerous to discount this side.
I would assume that Armagh being favourites in most people’s eyes, including my own, will be the perfect motivation for another big statement for a team playing their long-awaited Championship game on home turf.
Armagh did their best Brazilian impression during the National League, racking up huge scores albeit with a cavalier attitude, at best, to the small matter of defending.
Given the man at the helm, I cannot think that the plan was to go on a one-team crusade to save Gaelic football by forgetting about defensive systems and focus solely on attack.
I don’t claim to know Kieran McGeeney very well, but he hardly comes across as a ‘devil-may-care, let’s just go at them’ sort of guy. Their tendency to concede goals at crucial times and grab defeat from the jaws of victory meant their failure to gain promotion was purely of their own making.
Meanwhile, their forward power is, like those Irish summers, a bit hot and cold.
Derbies rarely make for enjoyable occasions for the supporters and management of respective clubs or counties and this one is no different.
For the rest of us, it’s just great to be able to say, ‘I don’t know’ before the game.
The intrigue of the rivalry and the unpredictability of both teams should mean we are in for a great occasion come Sunday afternoon.
Both counties admit to being unlikely to be challenging for honours, thus it all comes down to Sunday for both teams.
Like our old-fashioned summers,
I think we will be treated to a game akin to the old-fashioned straight knock-out Ulster Championship games.
After the past two weeks, I really can’t think of anything more appealing.
