Allianz League talking points: Was this a turning point for Cork?
It had been so long since their last competitive victory — 280 days in all — with so many demoralising blows in between, the win over Tipperary can only fuel the Cork footballers with confidence for the coming fortnight.
As well as the team’s reaction, Ronan McCarthy will take solace from his role in making the switches to turn the screw on Tipp, having had his leadership questioned by delegates at a County Board meeting last week. Plus, it’s a blow to their likely Munster semi-final opponents, albeit they’ll bring a different test when some big-hitters return.
If Cork don’t hoist themselves free from the relegation zone, however, this win won’t count for much. After all, this was a game they simply had to win... If they didn’t produce a reaction here, then when would they rouse themselves from their slumber?
Liam Kearns said: “That’s their strongest team and they needed the points badly. I suppose they needed them more than we did and they fought very hard for them.”
Sure, Cork’s performance was improved against an overly-cautious Tipp who invited pressure upon themselves, but their survival still looks improbable. They remain bottom of the table and with tougher tasks in store against Donegal and Armagh.
McCarthy, though, says his team will ignore the peaks and troughs of public opinion, and simply keep doing what they’re doing.
GAA will fear March madness
Just when the GAA thought they were out of the woods by getting through February, March enters like a lion to pose them a fixtures conundrum. Expecting a schedule of six consecutive weeks of hurling (there is no break between Round 3 and the Division 1 final) to go swimmingly is asking a lot but then that is on the counties who rejected the Central Competitions Control Committee’s recommendation to do away with the quarter-finals.
The first issue is obviously that the Division 1 final will now likely be pushed back as it was last year, albeit by a week, possibly to Saturday, March 30. But there’s also the advantage Limerick and Clare will now enjoy from having an extra week’s break — Clare have a two-week gap to their next game be it a quarter-final or relegation play-off, and Limerick, should their quarter-final against Laois go ahead this weekend in a game they will be expected to win, will have two weeks to a semi-final. Their opponents won’t.
And then there’s the club fixtures, that had been pencilled in by some counties for the last weekend in the month.
Do Waterford pull their horns in now that they open their championship on the weekend of March 30 and 31? It’s something they will have to consider.
Horan: No danger of ‘mental block’
Nobody in either the Galway or Mayo camps will be shouting from the rooftops about the long-term significance of Saturday night’s result, but there was no mistaking the difference in terms of messages and body language afterwards.
Kevin Walsh was reflecting on a seventh straight win for Galway over their oldest and fiercest rivals, and spoke repeatedly of the ‘character’ his team had shown to grind out the win.
He batted away any suggestions that extending their unbeaten run over Mayo mattered more than two league points.
Likewise, James Horan did his best to deflect the media’s attention away from the fact that Mayo have now failed to beat Galway for almost four years.
“No, there’s no danger of that,” he said matter-of-factly after being asked if there was a danger of Mayo developing ‘a mental block’ against the Tribesmen as they continue to search in vain for a win in the fixture.
It would be tempting to suggest that both Walsh and Horan were protesting too much about the irrelevance of beating/losing to their Connacht rivals.
There is every chance they will meet again in the provincial final later in the summer and, make no mistake, this was another reminder of how the tables have turned.
Welcome selection headaches for Keane
During the post-match debrief, Kerry manager Peter Keane was asked about the likely selection headache that will ensue when the forwards who are currently on the injured list return to full fitness, not to mention the Dr Crokes players currently preoccupied with their latest bid for All-Ireland club glory.
The injured trio of James O’Donoghue Paul Geaney, and David Clifford, when back fit, would form a most impressive inside line, but who do management exclude from a forward unit which has delivered five league wins?
Tommy Walsh, on his second consecutive start, was superb under the high ball yesterday and if he maintains this form, it’ll be next to impossible to dislodge him from the number 14 shirt.
Stephen O’Brien, beside him, has arguably been Kerry’s most consistent performer of the spring, but it may be a case that he is shifted out to the half-forward line to accommodate one of the injured trio.
Then again, whose place would O’Brien take in the half-forward line?
There’s also Micheál Burns to factor in.
Headaches indeed for Keane and company. Welcome ones at that, you’d reckon.
No quarter should be given
It’s not Laois’ fault, but the qualification of Eddie Brennan’s side for the quarter-finals of the Allianz Hurling League once again highlights the inequity of the competition’s current structure.
Laois have won just one game in Division 1B this term, against Offaly, yet are now through to the knockout stages, despite the fact that two top 1A sides will miss out.
Based on current standings, Laois would get through ahead of Munster champions Cork despite Cork winning Division 1A games against Clare, the 2018 All-Ireland semi-finalists, and Limerick, the All-Ireland holders.
There was a similar glaring inequity in 2017 when Offaly made it through to the quarter-finals despite winning just one game, against Kerry, while Clare, the fifth-placed team in Division 1A, didn’t advance even though they beat Kilkenny and Dublin.
At least it won’t be an issue beyond this year, as the structure will be overhauled for the 2020 season.
Gallagher’s style vindicated
They may be one of the lowest scoring teams in the country, but Fermanagh’s healthy scoring difference vindicates everything Rory Gallagher is doing in his home county.
Yesterday’s 0-12 to 0-9 win over Clare extended Fermanagh’s unbeaten run in Division 2 to five games, in a division they were supposed to be relegated from.
They’ve scored 52 points in five league games — but only conceded 44, an average of less than nine.
That leaves them with a rosy plus-eight scoring difference, which could come in useful if that statistic decides promotion in two games’ time. Meath and Fermanagh are leading the way on eight points, but Donegal — with a scoring difference of minus-two — are next in line on six points.
