AS we watched the second week of National League action last weekend we began to get a glimpse of the possible movers and shakers for the season ahead.

The first day out there was always going to be a little rustiness. Perhaps teams are settling in to new way of playing, but last weekend we saw a little more consistency.

If we start with the big clash of the weekend between Dublin and Kerry, it was evident that come the business end of the season there won’t be much between these two teams. Granted Dublin were missing possibly five or six potential championship starters, but Kerry are building nicely.

If they tweak a few things here and there and focus on tightening their defence a little then they can definitely challenge Dublin come championship time.

Dublin, and in particular Con O’Callaghan, tore the Kerry defence to pieces early on but credit to Kerry they clawed their way back into the contest and when you have the calibre of forwards that they do then you always have a fighting chance.

If we move on closer to home, and in particular Division One North, we had another intriguing weekend of action.

I was working at the Donegal and Monaghan game and the only way to describe it was kamikaze football. Now I fully understand that Donegal are moving away from the blanket defence type football that we have become so accustomed to, and that will take some time to adjust to man-to-man marking, but even taking all of that into consideration you would have to be slightly worried at how easily Monaghan cut us open.

Donegal conceded four goals and, in reality, it should have been at least seven. That must be extremely worrying for Declan Bonner as he prepares his troops for battle.

Now I have my own theory and I doubt that I’m too far away. Watching both teams closely last Saturday evening, Donegal looked like a team who had endured a heavy week of training. After taking the points in Healy Park the previous Saturday evening the pressure was off so that’s why I feel Donegal perhaps trained extremely hard last week and the legs were a little heavier than normal.

Very seldom do you see opposing players selling a dummy and accelerating away from any of our players but that happened time after time last Saturday evening so when I weigh everything up that’s the only conclusion I can come to as I know that these players are not that far off the pace.

I have to admit that going into the game I didn’t know what to expect from Monaghan but, like most others, when I left the pitch last Saturday evening I was quite impressed by what I saw.

Players like young Stephen O’Hanlon and Andrew Woods really stepped up to the plate and I was particularly impressed by young Killian Lavelle in the middle of the park. These young guys really brought the fight to Donegal. When you add in the experience and skill of Conor McCarthy, Darren Hughes and the returning Conor McManus you realise they are a formidable force.

The other game in Division One North saw old rivals Tyrone and Armagh face off with Tyrone coming out on top this time.

Armagh were extremely unlucky and when you take into consideration the amount of injuries that they picked up during the course of the match, you would have to feel that on a normal day they would have taken something from this game.

Armagh, for me, are a team who are building nicely and could perhaps cause an upset or two come championship time.

They have some serious individual talent with the likes of the O’Neill brothers, Rory Grugan and Jarlath Og Burns, so if they can marry this individual talent with a solid structure then they will become a serious team.

Tyrone improved from their first outing against Donegal and slowly they are beginning to piece their team together. I was impressed by young Darragh Canavan as I thought his movement and speed of thought was a little bit ahead of the others around him. I feel that if he is given a year or two he could become one of the best play-makers in the game as he can see a pass that others around him can’t.

It may be time this weekend for Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher to introduce Cathal McShane into the action because championship football is drawing ever closer. No matter who you are you need one or two games under your belt before you can hit top speed.

This weekend in Division One North it’s all to play for in terms of semi-final spots and relegation play-offs so we should see another step up in levels.

After attending the first two rounds of Division One action I will get the chance this weekend to see a game further down the tiers. On Saturday I will head to Kingspan Breffni to see what Cavan and Derry have to offer for the season ahead.

I am hearing good things coming out of Derry so I want to see first-hand if they’re able to make a significant step up when championship swings around. Rory Gallagher seems to have everything he wants in place now and with some exciting young talent coming through I’m interested to see what Derry have to offer. With each passing week the Ulster Championship seems to get even more competitive.

At the start of the year most people would have spoken about Donegal and Tyrone with the possibility of Cavan still being there or thereabouts but now realistically you can add Monaghan and Armagh into that equation.

After this weekend will we be adding Derry into the mix?

22 May 2021; Peadar Mogan of Donegal in action against Ryan McAnespie of Monaghan during the Allianz Football League Division 1 North Round 2 match between Donegal and Monaghan at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey, Donegal. Photo by Piaras Ó MídheachSportsfile