WHAT a start we had to the National League at the weekend as we were treated to some absolute humdingers.
The action started off with a bang on Saturday night as Armagh put kingpins Dublin to the sword with significant ease.
Going into the game you always knew that Dublin would start off slowly as they tend to take things easily at the start of the National League, but Armagh’s performance was simply phenomenal regardless of the opposition in front of them.
Armagh came out with real aggression and intent and I think their tackle count over the course of the evening was double that of the Dublin team, so that paints its own picture.
Kieran McGeeney has been at the helm for quite some time now and like I said here in last week’s edition, it’s time that this Armagh team started to stand up and make a push for major honours.
They have a great mix now with some fantastic score-getters with the likes of the O’Neill brothers, Rian and Oisin, and Stefan Campbell, and then to complement that they have some great physicality all over the pitch.
Even though they turned in a five-star display last Saturday night, I will hold judgement on them because one performance every now and again won’t cut it at this level, they have to put five or six consistently high class performances together in order to push forward.
Dublin, on the other hand, seem to be a bit of a crossroads. I’d like to nail down something. No matter all the arguments about the funding they may get or the size of the player pool that is available to them, when you lose the likes of Bernard Brogan, Michael Darragh McCauley, Paul Flynn, Stephen Cluxton, Cian O’Sullivan, Philly McMahon, Kevin McManoman, Diarmuid Connolly, Denis Bastick and Paddy Andrews – the list goes on and on – you just can’t replace that sort of talent.
Those players were once in a generation type of players so regardless of how many players you have to pick from, you cannot replace that sort of quality and that’s why Dublin are struggling at the minute.
I was working at the Mayo and Donegal game on Sunday and although conditions were atrocious, both teams served up a very entertaining contest.
Donegal started like a steam train and galloped into a five-point lead and looked to be in total control but Mayo being Mayo, they clawed their way back into the contest and were unlucky not to win it at the end as they had a decent goal chance from Jason Doherty.
Both teams made mistakes but with the pair still to welcome back some of the more established players, I suppose they will be happy enough with the draw.
Donegal received a lot of criticism at the end because of the keep ball tactic which ultimately cost them the full two points, but when a team is coached to keep the ball at all costs then they naturally slip into that mindset.
When Donegal had possession with the last kick of the game, you needed a calm head to scan the horizon and break away from the coaching method and play it as you see it. At that point in time what was needed was to launch the ball as long as possible, which would have resulted in a win, but sometimes it’s better to learn from these mistakes earlier on in the year and I’m sure Donegal will learn from that error.
Neighbours Tyrone and Monaghan played out an entertaining draw in testing conditions at Healy Park.
Both teams had chances to win it and perhaps will feel that they left the game behind them, but all in all given the circumstances and given the conditions, a draw was probably a fair result.
Both managers will be happy enough coming away with a point as it gets them off the mark and give them something to build on for this weekend‘s games.
Given the fact that Kildare and Kerry also drew at the weekend, it indicates that we are in for a fantastic National League this season and we should have some crackers over the next few weeks, which is absolutely fantastic.
The last point I would like to touch on is the return to full capacity this weekend.
There must have been over 15,000 supporters in Sligo for the game between Mayo and Donegal and it just added to the whole occasion on the day. It was great to see.
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