THE narrative around the Tailteann Cup appears to be positive.
The managers have been realistic and their comments about the merit in playing in a competition in which they have a chance of winning will be welcomed in Croke Park.
The thing is, it appears that the attendances to last weekend’s games don’t exactly back-up this assertion.
The games were open affairs, with all four teams prepared to throw caution to the wind.
Westmeath were comfortable winners and this will frustrate Offaly.
The Faithful county had a decent League campaign despite their relegation, but they failed to build on that progress.
Cavan were expected to secure a place in the final as soon as their entry to the Tailteann Cup was formalised.
However Tony McEntee and Sligo will be kicking themselves. They had the chances and simply didn’t take them.
Mickey Graham will be worried and justifiably so.
If Cavan play like this in a final, Westmeath could well come away as the inaugural winners.
The Breffni men are favourites, however a final is a final and anything can happen.
Perhaps my opinion will change over time but as I said before, a main Championship and the possibilities in getting to the latter stages was always the one carrot that kept many players from throwing up the head and rejecting overtures from the USA for a summer.
For many people, especially since the introduction of a back-door format, the GAA has benefitted from more income during the inter-county season.
Admittedly, there was also an appetite to provide more than a one-off knock-out Championship game and there-by justify all the time and effort going into preparing a modern county team.
The final, the event and all the publicity and rewards that come with it, will ultimately dictate how the future looks for the competition.
I am not even sure if the attendance at any Tailteann Cup final will affect how the GAA run the competition in the future.
It appears as if the decision-makers are accommodating something more strategic and long-term than this.
Certainly when you look at the main Championship and the festival of football we expect as football fans this weekend, Sunday’s line-up from an Ulster perspective is a particularly attractive event.
Derry and Armagh are on the cusp of a serious opportunity. Both Clare and Galway will think the same.
Perhaps it’s the northern bias or indeed it could also be paranoia, but I always got the feeling that the south hated to see the northerners coming.
It was a case of yes, come enjoy the day out, but don’t think of winning anything.
And for a long time, this was the case, with Dublin dominating the Championship.
When Tyrone broke the mould last season, you could almost feel teams like Armagh, Monaghan and Derry putting their head above the parapet and asking ‘well if they can, why can’t we?’.
Derry and Monaghan both could have won their respective games against Tyrone last season so there should be no inferiority complex when Ulster representatives comes to playing their respective quarter-final ties this weekend.
Derry are what they are and Rory Gallagher won’t make any apologies from an aesthetics perspective.
I have read some commentary around the fact that the Oak Leaf management don’t feel comparable to Donegal at times, when the Tir Chonaill were in their pomp in the early part of the last decade.
They may not be identical twins in comparison, but they are certainly brothers.
Clare do not possess the same firepower and strength in attack as either Tyrone or Donegal, so Derry could afford to expand their game slightly and play with the handbrake off at the weekend.
In all likelihood, though, it would appear that this isn’t Gallagher’s style and he will expect his players to stick with the plan.
If this was a game of chess, given Gallagher’s history, he is thinking of a game or two down the line, even if it’s in his sub-conscious.
As a player and as a manager, the approach is the same.
Fundamentally, when it comes to occasions and matches such as the ones Derry and Armagh face at the weekend, you have to believe that the work has been done on and off the field at this stage.
It’s delivery time.
And God knows Kieran McGeeney has had to be patient with his group.
Croke Park is an ideal place to play Galway – and while the pragmatic Padraic Joyce is operating with two sweepers, you would have to assume that the natural instinct of players such as Shane Walsh, Damien Comer and Paul Conroy will mean that we will be watching two teams prepared to go for the jugular.
The Orchard county’s game is by a stretch the most attractive fixture at the weekend, followed closely by Kerry vs Mayo.
Dublin’s upcoming game against Cork (who are the worst remaining team in the Championship) should be over by half-time if the Dubs continue their form from the last day.
However, those types of games do nothing to prepare them for an All-Ireland semi-final or final.
The Kingdom should come through their match against an unpredictable Mayo side.
On paper, I would argue Dublin, Kerry, Derry and Armagh as winners. What are the odds that we would have said that at the start of the season?
Dublin and Kerry maybe, but certainly not many would have predicted Derry, Armagh, Clare or Galway to complete the line-up.
That’s why you have got to love this game of ours.
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SOMETIMES there are things much more important than sport.
Life and death are and it would be remiss not to acknowledge the terrible tragedy of Damian Casey’s sudden passing.
The Gaels of Tyrone have suffered hugely in the past and they have to again grieve another inter-county star who wore the Red Hand jersey with such pride and honour.
It takes a tougher player to pick up a hurl – to an extent, they are of a certain innate quality otherwise lacking in many football players.
Damian appeared to be an elite player in a county not famed for its hurling strength.
I suppose, that is what makes his achievements in his short life, much more unique.
I am reminded of the ‘hurlers prayer’ and he will remain forever young.
To his family and his friends, to Tyrone Gaels, may Damian Casey Rest In Peace.
