Revelling in the new rules, unrestrained by the dogged rain, Roscommon and Monaghan served up a treat at King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park last Sunday.
At the end of an entertaining, high-scoring game, Roscommon are clear front-runners in Division Two of the Allianz Football League, sitting on top of the table with a 100% record. There’s still work to do of course, but for now, Operation Promotion is seamlessly successful.
The headlines have been dominated this week by Diarmuid Murtagh. That’s as it should be. Attacking prowess is being rewarded in Gaelic football’s new guise. Two-pointers are a valuable new currency. Murtagh kicked four of those on Sunday, as well as four of the type conceived 140-odd years ago by Michael Cusack & Co. The biggest compliment I might pay Diarmuid is to say that his 12-point contribution doesn’t entirely surprise anyone in these parts.
There was an important cameo too from Conor Cox, the Éire Óg ace scoring three points (one two-pointer) when the game was still in the balance late on. Meanwhile, Conor Hand (0-3) pierced the Monaghan defence with clinical incisions, his pace igniting the stadium on an afternoon that was quickly shedding its drabness.
Roscommon’s strength in depth has been an impressive factor in securing their wins against Down, Louth and Monaghan.
Canavan talking up Donegal!
Peter Canavan and Cora Staunton are two legends of the GAA. As pundits, they’re not the most exciting, but then maybe it’s no harm that we’re in a post Brolly/hySpillane era where calm (if sometimes boring) analysis has replaced bluster and hyperbole.
On Sunday night’s Allianz League Sunday (RTE 2) Canavan ventured that Donegal are current favourites to win the All-Ireland.
“It was as good a performance as I have seen from Donegal in a long time,” Canavan said after the Ulster side’s win over Armagh, a victory that, ominously for all other counties, featured the return (from retirement in late 2022) of the great Michael Murphy.
Con, Paddy and Mikey…
The recent tributes to the late Paddy Cullen were heartfelt – and very apt. The former Dublin goalkeeper was a star on the field, a great ambassador for the GAA off the pitch, and a thorough gentleman in everyday life who always had a great welcome for supporters visiting his pub in Ballsbridge.
His passing (aged 80) inevitably led to many commentators referencing the late Con Houlihan’s famous description of Mikey Sheehy’s goal against Dublin in the 1978 All-Ireland final.
I will jump on the bandwagon and, for the benefit of my readers, happily reproduce Con’s great words. The context is as follows: Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen has just conceded a free a short distance from goal. Accordingly, he is off his line, and about to be the victim of a moment of brilliance from Kerry’s Sheehy. Con takes up the story:
‘Whatever the reason, Paddy put on a show of righteous indignation that would get him a card from Equity, throwing his hands to heaven as the referee kept pointing towards goal.
‘And while all that was going on, Mikey Sheehy was running up to take the kick – and suddenly Paddy dashed back towards his goal like a woman who smells a cake burning.
‘The ball won the race and it curled inside the near post as Paddy crashed into the outside of the net and lay against it like a fireman who returned to find his own station ablaze’.
Can Arsenal catch Liverpool?
To state the obvious, only Arsenal have any chance of catching Liverpool at the top of the Premier League. As I write (before Aston Villa v Liverpool on Wednesday night), Arne Slot’s team are seven points clear of second-placed Arsenal. Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Chelsea, etc have no chance.
Liverpool have been outstanding this season and are rightly strong favourites to take the title. But it’s not over just yet. Liverpool have a few potentially tricky games coming up, and the fact that they still have to play Arsenal gives the Gunners hope.
Liverpool could drop points… the real question is: can Arsenal keep winning? The likelihood is that both teams will drop points. The gap may well narrow, but Liverpool should take the title.
Those potentially tricky games for the leaders include away trips to Manchester City (this Sunday, February 23rd) and Chelsea (May 3rd). They also have to go to Fulham.
Their home game against a reinvigorated Everton (April 2nd) looks set to be a highly charged encounter, given how tempestuous last week’s drawn derby at Goodison Park was. The showdown with Arsenal is at Anfield on May 10th.
The late
Matt Doyle
Matt Doyle, who died earlier this month at the age of 70, arguably single-handedly put Irish tennis into a place of credibility.
While he was born in the US, Doyle chose Ireland as his nationality for professional tennis, both his parents being Irish.
He rose to world number 65, won the 1983 Cologne Grand Prix, played in all four Grand Slam events – reaching the fourth round of the US Open – and represented Ireland for many years in the Davis Cup.
That US Open run in 1984 was only brought to an end by the great John McEnroe.
Doyle was credited with putting Irish tennis on a new level and has been described as the most successful Irish player of the modern era.
Patrick Barclay (RIP)
The death of Patrick Barclay (at the age of 77) was announced on Friday. Barclay was one of a generation of great British sportswriters, his peers including Henry Winter, Matt Lawton and Jonathan Wilson.
The late Hugh McIlvanney was perhaps the greatest British sportswriter of recent decades.
Over the years, Barclay worked for a number of England’s top newspapers, and wrote several football books, including acclaimed biographies of José Mourinho and Alex Ferguson.
They will be fondly remembered…
This column extends deepest sympathies to the family and friends of jockey Michael O’Sullivan, who died on Sunday morning having been injured in a fall during a race in Thurles last week. The tragic passing at just 24 years of age of this gifted sportsman is devastating for his family and for his sport.
Our sympathies also to the families of Galway boxer John Cooney and former Galway hurling star Michael Coleman, both of whom tragically lost their lives earlier this month.
St Croan’s for Dingle…
St Croan’s will compete in the intermediate men’s cup at the Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé 2025, the famed club ladies and men’s Gaelic football tournament, taking place all across the Dingle Peninsula this weekend (21st to 23rd of February).
The Roscommon lads are in the four-team straight knock-out intermediate men’s cup against Killannin of Galway and if they win, they will play either Offaly’s Bracknagh or Galbally of Limerick who won the junior cup at last year’s Comórtas.
14 counties from the four provinces of Ireland will take part in the 36th edition of the Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé, with 28 adult men’s and ladies club teams coming for a weekend of competitive football and social events including popular Irish band Super Céilí at Páidí Ó Sé’s pub in Ventry, West Kerry.
The football festival, which was founded by eight-time All-Ireland winner Páidí Ó Sé, is supported by Lidl Ireland, EJ Menswear, Kerry County Council Tourism Unit, Medel Healthcare, Dooctor.ie, Fáilte Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta, and has attracted over 30,000 club players since it was founded in 1989.
