Ahead of the National League football finals, we look at the key to Cork’s success, a new Tyrone team and the second coming of Peter the Great.
Consistency of selection the key to Rebel success
You’d feel a bit sorry for the Cork footballers sometimes. Often unappreciated in their own county, their 2010 All-Ireland final success was deemed to be tainted because they didn’t beat Kerry and the fact that they might just become the first team to win three National League titles on the trot since Kerry in 1974 has barely raised a whimper.
The Rebels have been the most prominent footballing side in the country in the last 3-5 years thanks to a fairly settled bunch of players and a starting XV that has changed only slightly over that period. Twelve of the starting XV for Sunday, for example, played in the All-Ireland Final in 2010, the same figure (not the same personnel) that started last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Mayo.
Graham Canty and Colm O’Neill, two mainstays in recent years, started neither of those games and come in for Sunday and while there has been experimentation at times, none of it has had too much impact on what will be Counihan’s starting XV in the Championship.
Cork’s detractors will argue that such a policy has made them predictable, but it’s served them fairly well in the last few years, hasn’t it?
How will Mayo cope without Aidan O’Shea?
Mayo supporters will argue that they coped without him just fine against Kerry in the league semi-final, but they will also acknowledge that the Cork midfield is probably the finest unit in the country right now and that Conor Counihan can always call Aidan Walsh back from the edge of the square if things aren’t going their way on Sunday.
O’Shea is a big loss for Mayo this weekend and the ridiculously drawn out nature of the Connacht Championship is a blessing for them as he should be back at full throttle when Mayo eventually get going at the end of June.
Throughout the league, but particularly against Dublin and Kerry, O’Shea was the dominant midfielder and had a variety of different partners – his brother Seamus, Barry Moran, Danny Geraghty, Jason Gibbons – who were more than happy to put in the hard yards alongside him.
This weekend, his understudies will face their biggest task of the season so far and if they can break even or better, Mayo will go a long way towards league success.
Out with the old, in with the new for Tyrone
If consistency is the order of the day for Cork, then the opposite is true for Tyrone, who have breezed through the league with a 100 per cent record and with a team that bears scant resemblance to last season’s side.
He’s been around for a while, but Peter Harte has been one of the fulcrums of a new Tyrone side
Only six of the starting XV for the Division 2 league final against Kildare started in the humiliating defeat to Dublin last year as the Red Handers have been invigorated by the introduction of players from a glorious underage era for the county in recent seasons.
Many argued last year that this Tyrone team was in need of transition and Mickey Harte has done so in a resoundingly swift manner. Kevin Hughes, Philip Jordan and Brian McGuigan aren’t around any longer, but it might not be long until the likes of Peter Harte are granted similar reverence in GAA circles.
It might not be the last time Wexford and Longford shake things up in Croke Park
When Dublin won five Leinster titles on the trot in the years 2005-09, the Leinster Championship plummeted below even its Connacht equivalent in terms of entertainment value because it was a procession for the most part for the Metropolitans. This year’s edition, however, is shaping up very nicely indeed.
Wexford gave Dublin an almighty fright in the final last year, Kildare’s strength has been obvious for a few years now, while Longford have emerged as an unlikely threat thanks to some sterling work done by Glenn Ryan in the midlands.
The Division Three Final will be a showcase of what the so called superior Leinster outfits can expect a little further down the line and will give both sides a bit of practice ahead of a potential meeting with the Dubs in the Leinster semi-finals.
Canavan has Erne-d his managing stripes
Most GAA folk had an inkling that Peter Canavan would do well at Fermanagh, but not many would have predicted an unbeaten league campaign during which the Erne man averaged over 20 points a game (helped largely, it must be said, by the 9-23 scored in a 46-point drubbing of Kilkenny).
The feelgood factor that comes with the arrival of such a legendary figure can only last for so long, so it’s obvious that Peter the Great has some serious managing chops as well. They’ll be the favourites to beat Wicklow tomorrow night and Down won’t exactly relish meeting them in the Ulster semi-final on the June Bank Holiday weekend.
Is there anything he can’t do?
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