Westmeath face 'uphill battle to salvage anything from season'
Setanta Sports pundit Senan Connell reviews last weekend's action in the Allianz Football League, with Westmeath relegated from Division 1 after their defeat to Kerry.
The business end of the Allianz Leagues is upon us and teams across the four divisions are jockeying for position as we come down the final straight. Unfortunately for some, their race is already run and they’ll be playing one division lower when the spring of 2015 rolls around.
I was lucky enough to be in Croke Park on Saturday evening to cover the replay of last year’s All-Ireland final with Setanta Sports and what a game it was! For much of the second half it appeared that Mayo would take revenge for that defeat but Dublin refused to give in and I reckon this result will provide Jim Gavin with massive satisfaction.
Dublin lined out with probably their strongest team of the league to date with the likes of Rory O’Carroll and Diarmuid Connolly slotting back in, but Mayo were full value for their half-time lead after a rush of blood to the head saw Stephen Cluxton sent off for a trip. Stephen will be disappointed with that and, as the spiritual leader of this group, he was sorely missed.
At the moment they are the two best teams in Ireland and it showed on Saturday. Both teams are physically and tactically very strong but one area Mayo may be lacking is in the psychological department.
With the winning of the game in their hands, their shot selection was extremely poor and the pot shots left Dublin just about hanging on. They tried to play keep ball which isn’t something you want to do against this Dublin team and turnovers allowed Eoghan O’Gara to score the two all-important goals.
For Mayo to win an All-Ireland they will most likely have to beat Dublin at some stage and coughing up a draw in the dying stages will frustrate James Horan massively. That said, you have to admire the fighting spirit of the Dubs to salvage a draw after losing Paul Flynn to injury and Cluxton in the first half. The introduction of Jack McCaffrey at half-time was crucial and his speed caused Mayo plenty of problems.
Hopefully these two will get the chance to meet again in the knockout stages of the league and if they produce anything like they did on Saturday we’re in for a cracker!
The individual performance of the weekend belonged to Kyle Coney down in Páirc Uí Rinn with a superb return of nine points, eight of which came from play. He is a supremely talented footballer and it appears he is ready to deliver on the promise he showed as the stand-out player on the All Ireland minor winning team of 2008. Tyrone could have a really lethal inside forward line if he and McCurry keep up their current form.
It was a bit of a game of two halves as Tyrone were in charge for much of the first while Cork took control of the second and looked to have the game won only for Tyrone to produce a fast finish which yielded a share of the spoils. It was certainly entertaining fare with some great scores kicked by both sides.
Colm O’Neill again showed his lethal finishing when a goal chance came his way in the second half and Michael Shields chipped in with an inspirational score which looked like giving Cork the win. However, similarly to Dublin, Tyrone showed great character to hang in there and deservedly took a share of the points to make the long trip back to Tyrone a little easier.
Westmeath 'outclassed in the end'
Kerry confirmed Westmeath’s swift return back to Division 2 with a comfortable win in Mullingar. Like many of their games this year, Westmeath made it difficult for much of the game but were ultimately outclassed in the end.
They just don’t have the personnel to compete with the top teams at the moment and they face an uphill battle to salvage anything from their season. It’s stark contrast from where Derry, who gained promotion along with Westmeath last year, are now.
A lot of credit has to go to Eamon Fitzmaurice who has galvanised his players since their opening three defeats and the season ending injury to Colm Cooper. Write Kerry footballers off at your peril as they have been very impressive over the last month or so. James O’Donoghue has been my player of the league so far and he’s getting great support from the likes of Paul Geaney, David Moran and Fionn Fitzgerald. A good squad is developing there and they are ticking over very nicely as the summer approaches.
Kildare’s nightmare league campaign continued on Sunday when they were relegated after an embarrassing defeat to Derry in Celtic Park where two goals in the final few minutes made the scoreline somewhat respectable.
Jason Ryan will have a difficult time lifting his players for the championship and maybe we are now getting an idea of how good a job Kieran McGeeney managed to do to keep them competitive in Division 1 for so long.
On the other hand, Derry’s brilliant season shows no sign of stopping and Brian McIvor deserves a lot of credit for revitalising the team. He has them playing a good brand of football and the likes of Mark Lynch and Fergal Doherty are thriving. They’ve turned Celtic Park into a fortress and teams are going there in hope rather than expectation under his watch.
Meath have hit a rich vein of form lately and they had another good win on Saturday evening over Down which sees them pushing for promotion to Division 1 when they looked to be fighting a relegation battle after the first few games. They have tended to struggle with the Ulster teams so this victory will certainly please Mick O’Dowd. Down’s inconsistent season continues with this loss that was preceded by a victory over division leaders Donegal.
Elsewhere, Galway had a crucial victory over Armagh which keeps them in the dog fight to avoid relegation along with Armagh and Laois with Louth now relegated.
Cavan and Roscommon engaged in some shadow boxing as the already promoted sides in Division 3 ahead of their forthcoming final, and Tipperary’s big win in Leitrim has seen them escape Division 4 with Clare and Wicklow fighting it out to secure the other place.
Senan Connell is a pundit with Setanta Sports, who are broadcasting 14 exclusively live Allianz League matches this season.