Cusack Park, Mullingar, has a special place in the history of the GAA as legendary GAA commentator Michael O’Hehir did his first commentary from there in August 1938. The Dubliner was just 18 and it was an All-Ireland football semi-final between Galway and Monaghan (won by Galway before they went to beat Kerry in the final). The press box in Cusack Park will be overflowing on Saturday evening when Westmeath play Cavan in the All-Ireland series. All 11,500 tickets sold in a matter of minutes last week. That’s what winning does and Westmeath’s shock win over Dublin is big news in the Midlands. However, on Saturday, they face a difficult task for at least one reason — Cavan are managed by Dermot McCabe, who will know the opposition very well having managed Westmeath last year.
Also on Saturday, Armagh will be hot favorites to beat Derry at the Athletic grounds. Anything can happen in Ulster football, but at this stage newly crowned Ulster champions Armagh should be too strong for Derry, who went out of the Ulster championship to Monaghan after extra time at the semi-final stage. Then on Sunday we have two more games in the All-Ireland series. Unless Mayo show a huge improvement from the Connacht championship, I expect Monaghan to beat them in Clones.
It’s a bank holiday weekend in Ireland and it will be interesting to see what the attendance at Croke Park will be for Dublin’s game against Louth. It's not so long ago since every game Dublin played was a sell-out, but after the dreadful performance against Westmeath will the Boys in Blue supporters stay loyal? Dublin just got by Wicklow in the Leinster quarter-final and many of us thought they would lose to Louth in the semi-final, but they won by double scores. Manager Ger Brennan is still serving his 12-week ban with Dean Rock deputizing on the sideline. Right now Dublin have very few stars and they will just have to re-build. Maybe that re-build will start this weekend.
We have three All-Ireland finals at Croke Park on Saturday. At 1 p.m. Tyrone’s hurlers will play those of New York in the 4th-tier Nicky Rackard Cup final, the. Then at 3 p.m. another hurling final with Derry playing Kerry in the Christy Ring Cup final. And it will be a day of good value for spectators with Kerry playing Tyrone in the All-Ireland Under 20 football final at 5 p.m. Two more All-Ireland finals on Sunday: Longford and Leitrim meet in the fifth-tier Lory Meagher Cup final at Croke Park at 12.30pm, while Semple Stadium, Thurles is the venue for the All-Ireland Under 20 hurling final between Clare and Galway at 2pm.
