As Jack O’Connor munched away on his Digestive biscuit, he surveyed the scene in Ballyshannon with the air of a man who wasn’t about to let the loss of a league game spoil this time in his life. He’s 65 years of age, he has his five All-Irelands won and knows it will take a lot going wrong for him not to be in the shake-up for a sixth in the summer. If ever a man was making sure to smell the roses, Jack was on Sunday.
“I enjoyed the game,” he said of Kerry’s four-point defeat to Donegal. “I mean, great venue, 9,000 people, nice day, good surface, good battle. I enjoyed the game. I didn’t enjoy the result ... This is my third time bringing a team to Donegal lads and I’ve never won a game. At least I’m consistent anyway!”
O’Connor’s good humour was in keeping with the general mood of the afternoon. The first day of spring made the clouds part and the sun had more heat in it than anytime since the start of winter. Fr Tierney Park is a funny little ground – there’s a slight slope on the pitch down to the scoring goals, the covered stand only goes about halfway down one end of the pitch and the clubhouse doubles as the press box, meaning there’s about four unobstructed views for about 50 media people. The whole thing shouldn’t work at all.
But maybe it’s the particular sense of Donegal hospitality and bonhomie provided by the Aodh Ruadh club but nobody came away feeling shortchanged on Sunday. A grand day, a decent game and all the chocolate biscuits you could eat. Sure what else would you do only enjoy it? - Malachy Clerkin
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Hennelly return proving to be just the Rob for Mayo
Rob Hennelly’s Mayo return is starting to look a very shrewd move by Andy Moran, with the goalkeeper readapting to life at intercounty level as if he had never been away.
Hennelly retired at the end of 2024 – but played his last game in a league defeat to Tyrone in February of that year. Now, two years on, Hennelly is very much back in business.
Colm Reape’s decision to step away for the season did create a vacancy between the posts but not everybody would have predicted Hennelly, who is now playing for Raheny in Dublin, to be Mayo’s first-choice goalkeeper for 2026.
Mayo have played five competitive games (three in the FBD League, two in the National League), with Hennelly starting four of those. In his first game back, against Sligo, Hennelly announced his return by finishing as Mayo’s top scorer – sending over a pair of two-pointers. His ability to kick those two-pointers is an extra weapon in Mayo’s arsenal as it had been an area of bother for them in 2025.
He followed that up with three two-pointers and was named man of the match in Mayo’s league opener against Galway. Hennelly failed to score on Sunday against Dublin but his accuracy from kickouts (Mayo retained nine of their 12 restarts in the first half) was an important factor in the result while he was also very assured under three dangerous dropping balls. Despite having only recently returned, Hennelly looks a leader again in that squad.
“I think when you’re playing with Raheny, you’re playing with the level of footballer he’s playing with in terms of Brian Howard and Fenton, when you’re playing with them fellas I think it rises your standard,” said Moran on Sunday of his returning goalkeeper.
“It doesn’t drop them, do you know? I think he’s learned a lot from it. And his life has moved on in terms of his family and Orla and his little boy Billy. I think he’s matured a lot himself.” - Gordon Manning
Waterford’s mountains to climb
In hurling there is a consistent worry about established teams falling off the pace. Wexford’s prospects looked gloomy before a ball was pucked in the National League, and two last-gasp wins against Antrim, a Joe McDonagh Cup team, and Down, a Christy Ring Cup team, have only accentuated those concerns.
After the opening weekend of the league, it was easy to wonder if Waterford were in the same boat. Clearly, there were some extenuating circumstances for their hammering in Cork. The Ballygunner players were still absent, and they amounted to about a third of Waterford’s starting team in last year’s championship. On top of that Stephen Bennett and Tadhg de Búrca were missing, and Calum Lyons and Micheal Kiely weren’t fit enough to start.
But de Búrca and Bennett have been plagued by serious injury in recent years and there is only so much more they can be expected to do. The underlying worry for Waterford is the throughput of new talent. Since they won the under-21 All-Ireland in 2016, they have just one game in that grade (now under-20) and that came against Kerry in 2022.
There is still a sprinkling of players from the 2016 group on the senior panel and four of them – Shane Bennett, Daragh Lyons, Conor Prunty and Patrick Curran – started in Waterford’s terrific win against Limerick on Sunday.
Where is new talent going to come from to make Waterford consistently competitive in an increasingly cut-throat Munster championship? The Fitzgibbon Cup used to be a bountiful source of good young players when Waterford IT were one of the strongest teams in it, but that is no longer the case. On Sunday’s team, Mark Fitzgerald and Reuben Halloran were the only ones with a significant profile in the competition.
The best of the Waterford minors who won the All-Ireland last year cannot be expected to come on stream for another three or four years at senior level. By then, what state will Waterford be in?
Waterford’s performance on Sunday was heartening and on the balance of play there was no trace of a fluke about the result. But for the year ahead, and the foreseeable future, they still have mountains to climb. - Denis Walsh
The suddenly diverging Division Two paths of Louth and Cork
Hail to the groundsman at Integral GAA Grounds. On the first day of spring, parts of the country were still soaked under several inches of rainwater, only no such worries at the O’Raghallaigh’s club facility in Drogheda.
The early top-table Division Two meeting between Louth and Cork was originally fixed for Ardee, before conditions there forced the move to Drogheda. Though heavily sanded in parts, the pitch was bone dry, not a splash of mud to be seen.
Perfect football conditions for both teams to build on their first-round victories, possibly keep alive hopes of promotion. No blaming the conditions here. But by the end, the distinction was clear: Cork are kicking on all right, while Louth appear to have fallen back.
Cork’s 1-17 to 1-12 victory does not reflect their absolute dominance. Louth scored 1-2 in injury time to limit the damage to their points difference, yet they were simply bossed by Cork, not helped by Louth’s own inaccuracies in front of goal.
It’s the first time Cork scored back-to-back victories in the opening two rounds since pre-Covid, and John Cleary’s team go into the fortnight break well positioned. Cork haven’t played Division One football since 2016, but there were ample signs here of their potential to return, the re-emergence of 2022 All-Star nominee Steven Sherlock for starters, He scored 0-8.
It’s suddenly a different prospect for Louth. After beating Offaly in the first round, they are looking over their shoulders now. Last year, they avoided relegation on their head-to-head record with Down, then famously went on to win a first Leinster football title since 1957.
Kicking on from that was always going to be challenging. Manager Gavin Devlin, in his first season in charge, didn’t duck the reality of the coming months, saying “that’s the journey we’re on, anyone who thought this would be pain free is completely deluded”.
Some say it’s too early to start reading anything too deep into these league games. Tell that to some of the Louth supporters afterwards, many of whom appeared properly deflated at the result.
Matters weren’t helped when back inside the O’Raghallaigh’s club bar afterwards, the Division Two meeting between Meath and Cavan playing live on the large TV. A late flurry of scores gave Meath the narrow win, putting them joint top of Division Two alongside Cork.
On Saturday week, Meath will “host” Louth in Croke Park, a re-run of last year’s Leinster final. Louth will need to find some extra kick somewhere. - Ian O’Riordan
Building nicely and they will come
It’s hardly necessary to build up the Cork-Tipp rivalry, especially after last year’s All-Ireland. Ben O’Connor took over Cork in turmoil that followed that harrowing defeat for the county and next Saturday, gets an early opportunity to address the matter.
So far, so good for his team with two wins from two. After Saturday’s tussle in Galway, O’Connor emphasised the importance of Cork’s buoyant support, which delivered sell-out crowds for the county’s last eight matches of last year, including the league final and all seven championship fixtures.
Even the regulation league matches were pulling big crowds.
“We’d a fierce travelling crowd tonight,” he said, “but last week we had 20,000. It does make a difference. We are delighted for it and we’ll have the same now on Saturday night. Can’t wait to get up there on Saturday night at the Páirc.”
Tipperary will also arrive on two from two. Their last two visits to Leeside were sell-outs. Next weekend will hardly maintain that for an ordinary league encounter but indications are that the crowd will be sizeable.
Both stands have already been sold out, which represents 21,000 spectators. The two terraces hold 12,000 each and although just one is currently planned to open, chat in Galway was that maybe they’ll need the other as well.
The traditional rivalry continues to build and it looks like a significant turnout will be in evidence at the weekend. - Seán Moran
