[caption id="attachment_71641" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Donegal were criticized for their very defensive tactics last season."]
After its usual start in New York the All-Ireland football championship gets under way in Ireland next weekend with games in all four provinces. Ulster has nine counties and every year that means one preliminary round. The teams that win the preliminary round don’t have a good record in the championship and only twice have they gone on to win the Ulster championship. It happened in 2002 when Armagh won and went on to also win the Sam Maguire Cup that year. Donegal, who beat Antrim in the preliminary round last year, also went on to lift the Anglo Celt Cup, but they fell at the All-Ireland semifinal stage to Dublin. Now Donegal are drawn in the dreaded preliminary round once again and this time they face Cavan at Breffni Park.
Jim McGuinness came in for a lot of criticism last for his ultra defensive style of football in what was his first season in charge of the Donegal seniors. The speculation is that McGuinness won’t employ as defensive a strategy this year, but we will have to wait until Sunday to know for certain. Cavan has rarely been out of the news in recent months, but it was not for their footballing achievements, but the transfer request by Seánie Johnson, who wanted to join Kildare. That request looks like it has now failed and even though new Cavan manager Terry Hyland suggested that he would welcome Johnson back, it’s unlikely to happen in time for Sunday’s game against Donegal. I expect Donegal to progress.
There will be plenty to play for also in Pairc Tailteann, Navan when Louth take on Westmeath, with the winners playing All-Ireland champions Dublin on the first Sunday in June. A few weeks back Louth had a big win over Louth in the National League in Navan, a win that made up somewhat for that controversial Leinster final defeat in 2010. Louth will be without midfielder Brian Donnelly has moved to Boston for the summer and full back Dessie Finnegan who is on his honeymoon. Westmeath recovered from a poor start to maintain their division two status, but at this stage it looks like Dessie Dolan is not coming back to the squad. I think the impetus will be with Louth.
Longford, who were recently crowned division three champions, will be confident that they can take Laois, especially as the game will be played on their home ground in Pearse Park, Longford. A few miles further west in Dr, Hyde Park, Roscommon will fancy their chances against Galway in the Connacht Championship. But Galway hope to have Paraic Joyce, Michael Meehan and Seán Armstrong all back from injury and they should progress.
In Munster, Kerry’s game against Tipperary has been put back a week so we only have Limerick against Waterford at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday. Limerick seem to have gone back this year. When the counties met in the League in March Waterford won, but Limerick still finished with more points in division four. A difficult one to call, but home advantage might swing it Limerick’s way.
EURO CUP FINALS WEEKEND
Next Saturday is a major weekend for sport in Europe. At 3 p.m. on Saturday, we will have the first ever all-Irish Heineken Cup at Twickenham and then a few hours later the climax of the European club soccer season, the Champions League final in Munich between Bayern Munich and Chelsea. It is going to be an historic evening in South West London and no doubt some of the local hostelries will be full of Irish fans who cannot get a ticket for the final. Leinster got 7,500 tickets, but that was not half enough to keep their 13,000 members happy. I’m sure much the same situation applies in Ulster, so hopefully it will be enjoyable evening on and off the pitch and with Leinster hot favourites to retain the Heineken Cup.
There won’t be any Irish interest in Munich as Chelsea don’t have any Irish players in their first team squad and we have never had any players playing at the top level in Germany. But it’s still the biggest game in Europe this season apart from the European Championship Final coming up on July 1. For months people were saying that this year’s final would between the big two from the Iberian peninsula, Barcelona and Real Madrid, and some even claimed that the draw was fixed to keep the clubs apart at the semifinal stage. But thankfully in sport, in this part of the world at least, you cannot fix anything.
CATS’ FENNELLY OUT FOR 10 WEEKS
Kilkenny will be without star midfielder Michael Fennelly for the Leinster championship. He fractured his ankle in the National Hurling League win over Cork and will be out for up to 10 weeks. The Cats are already without Richie Power and Henry Shefflin. Former Kilkenny great Eddie Keher says that Fennelly will be a big loss. He said: ‘‘I don't think there is any such thing as an irreplaceable player, but what Fennelly brings to the team is irreplaceable in terms of his ball-winning, the powerful runs he can make and his ability.’’
FENLON HOPING
FOR HIB SUCCESS
Dubliner Pat Fenlon has managed to keep Hibernian in the Scottish premier division in his first season in charge. Now the man known as “Nutsy” will be hoping to lead Hibs to their first Scottish Cup since 1902 when they play Edinburgh rivals Hearts in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park on Saturday next. We think of Celtic as the club with the largest Irish support in Scotland, but Hibernian was also formed by Irish emigrants – indeed their name comes from the Roman name for Ireland. Coincidentally 110 years ago when Hibs beat Celtic in what was described as the all-Irish Scottish Cup final, they were managed by Irish-born Dan McMichael.
HUGHTON’S FUTURE AT CITY UNCERTAIN
Chris Hughton’s future as Birmingham City manager could be in doubt after the club failed to gain a play in the English Championship play-off last week. The Blues went out 3-2 on aggregate to Blackpool. Hughton did well to get the club into the play-offs but the club’s owners may feel that they need a new man to get them back into the English Premier League. However, there has also been talk linking the former Newcastle boss with West Brom in the Premiership following the departure of Roy Hodgson to take up the England job. Joe Gallagher, a star for the club in the 1970s, commented that Birmingham “have got an absolutely top class manager” and that “come hell or high water, must do everything they can to keep Chris in place.”
MAYO TIPPED IN WEST
Mulholland bookmakers have installed Mayo as hot favorites to win this year’s Connacht senior football championship. Nothing unusual about that except that the Mulholland family business is run by new Galway football manager Alan Mulholland, his father John and brother Eddie. Mulhollands make Mayo 8/13 favorites to retain the Nestor Cup, with Galway priced at 5/2 followed by Roscommon at 9/1, Sligo at 10/1and Leitrim and London complete outsiders. Alan Mulholland said: ‘‘Eddie is doing the pricing for the Connacht championship so maybe I am not telling him everything. I’m leaving it to Eddie to make the call and we will see what way it tumbles.’’
