The decision to have the draw for the first round of the All-Ireland series six days before the Munster and Connacht football finals was a strange one and didn’t go down well with most GAA supporters as they felt it somehow demeaned the provincial finals. But it didn’t really affect the attendances; there was close to 33k in Killarney for the Munster final between Kerry and Cork and it was a full house in Dr. Hyde Park where Roscommon beat Galway. Now it’s going to get serious and we have a new system this year; the round robin group series has been discarded and it’s a case us of “two strikes” or in this case, two defeats and a county is out. The big game of the weekend is in Killarney where Donegal are expected to provide a much stiffer test for Kerry than Cork did ten days ago. With the wind in their backs in the first half the Cork forwards kicked a few impressive two-points in Fitzgerald Stadium, but in the second half their challenge faded when their forwards were often guilty of poor shot selection.
Currently Kerry are missing eight of their squad and they will need a few big names like Tom O’Sullivan and Seán O’Shea back if they are to avenge that heavy defeat to Donegal in the National League final at the end of March. Later in the afternoon in Pairc Ui Chaoimh Meath are expected to be too strong for Cork again, unless the Rebels have learned from their mistakes in Killarney. When they met in the National League Division Two final at the end of March, Meath came out on top, but then the Royals were toppled by Westmeath in Leinster. On Saturday night Galway should be much too strong for Kildare in Salthill and on Sunday I fancy Roscommon to continue their winning run when Tyrone visit Dr. Hyde Park.
