KEVIN CASSIDY: No more safety net

AFTER a few weeks of shadow boxing, this weekend the trap door is in place here in Donegal.

We’ve had four rounds of games so far and we’re left with four teams who are straight through to the quarter-finals and this weekend the eight remaining teams will play off to see who will join them there.

The four teams that made it straight through to the quarter-finals will have the added bonus of a week off with the opportunity to go and watch their potential quarter-finals opponents. The four teams to make it through are Gaoth Dobhair, Dungloe, St Micheal’s and Kilcar so that means that there are some heavy hitter out this weekend in the preliminary quarter-finals.

The likes of Glenties and St Eunan’s will have to navigate their way past their local rivals if they are to make it into the hat.

Glenties have found it difficult to find their groove yet this season and they face off against a Hugh McFadden-inspired Killybegs team who won’t fear going up against this Glenties team.

Hugh played at full-forward last day out, hitting 2-4, so if they can get enough ball into him then they will be confident of putting up a decent score. Glenties have obviously got a number of key players so it will come down to how Killybegs can go about curtailing their influence.

Reigning champions St Eunan’s sat top of the table after their game last Saturday evening, but given how the results went on Sunday they narrowly missed out on points difference.

They now face a repeat fixture of the round four game where they defeated Termon, but the men from the Burn Road would have been less than happy with some of the goals they gave away that day so this could be a tasty enough encounter.

Again in this fixture, St Eunan’s should have too much firepower and you would think that they would make their way safely through to the quarter-final stage.

For me, the tie of the round is between Four Masters and Glenswilly.

These are two teams who people would have spoken about at the start of the competition who may possibly have beeen in the shake up towards the end, but for one reason or another they have struggled to put a run of results together.

Four Masters have some seriously talented young players coming through so now their main aim must to be make a dent in the senior championship this season.

Glenswilly have been without their talisman Michael Murphy to date and perhaps this is a big part of why they have struggled in some of their games, so I expect to see Micheal on the pitch this weekend if he can walk at all.

In the the last game, MacCumhaill’s take on Downings and even though Downings have showed some promise this year and they have two very good inside forwards, an Oísin Gallen-driven MacCumhaill’s should have a little too much for them.

No doubt there will be some twist and turns, but this weekend I expect St Eunan’s, Glenties, Four Masters and St Michael’s to join the rest at the quarter-final stage.

This week before I sign off, I just want to touch on the news that broke midweek that Jim Gavin was getting his nomination to run for Irish President.

Now I have to admit that I am not overly political, but in terms of having someone to represent us as President of Ireland I can’t think of a better candidate.

I can’t say that I know Jim overly well but I’ve spoken to him a number of times and I have to admit that I found him a very interesting character. When you stand back on the outside and look in to what he has done on the football field, not in terms of actual football but the environment he created and the standards he set, then it was simply admirable.

Then more recently with the FRC, the way he pulled the whole thing together – seeking input from others before making important decisions but also being strong enough to make those decisions – showed me that he would be an ideal candidate for this position. As a GAA man I wish him all the very best with it.