KEVIN CASSIDY: The heat is yet to come in Donegal

WE head into round three of championship action here in Donegal this weekend and to date there have been a couple of strange results.

Before a ball was kicked, many people have fancied the likes of St Eunan’s, Kilcar and Naomh Conaill but some of the so-called weaker teams have been giving all the big teams their full of it so far.

When I was talking about the structure of our championship a few weeks back, this is the sort of issue that I have with a format.

At the minute, a lot of the big teams like the St Eunan’s of this world are not firing on all cylinders just yet. They can still afford to maybe drift through the competition before they start to take things too seriously.

At this stage of the competition the underdog may have a chance of catching a team on the hop but, let’s face it, further down the line, for the likes of St Eunan’s, they just do not let that happen.

The games to date have been a little like shadowboxing with very few teams showing their hand or playing to anywhere near their full potential just yet.

There are teams with county players, their key men, missing in the opening games due to holidays and the like.

So, after this weekend, we should have a clearer picture of how things might look and who will qualify automatically into the quarter final.

Given the nature of the format, to be honest, it doesn’t really matter because if one or two of the big hitters are outside of that top four, they will easily make it through their preliminary quarter final.

It’s very early doors yet to be discussing any potential winners but from speaking to people who have attended a lot of games, the reigning champions seem to be the team to beat.

We saw just how strong they were last year. Also, when you look at the performances of their county players for Donegal this year, it’s clear that they are a formidable force.

Once they get into full flight, they will be hard to stop but I suppose it’s up to the rest to try and climb that ladder to reach the heights that St Eunan’s have been setting for the last 18 months or so.

This weekend, our lads have home tie in Gaoth Dobhair against Aodh Ruadh. Another win should see our boys through to the knockout stages so they will be putting a big emphasis of turning in a big performance this weekend.

On the plus side, here in Donegal, the County Board have entered into an agreement with a streaming company that will see four games streamed live each weekend.

This is massive and it has been long overture here in Donegal as lot of other counties have been doing it for a number of years now.

It’s obviously great to try and get to the games but sometimes logically it’s just not an option to it’s great to that service available now.