Galway leave Tralee with more than just a share of the points
Such is the number of new roads and roundabouts on the way into Tralee that Pádraic Joyce may have felt somewhat disorientated when arriving at Austin Stack Park on Saturday evening.
The Galway manager once knew Tralee very well, going back to his years as a student footballer with the former Regional Technical College. Early into the second half of Galway’s Division One meeting with Kerry, he might suddenly have remembered the fastest way out of there. Straight up the Clash Road, no looking back.
After 47 minutes played, Galway were trailing Kerry by 12 points, 2-12 to 1-5. Just like their opening two games against Mayo and Armagh, Joyce’s team were slow out of the blocks and in inexplicably sluggish compared to their opposition. They rallied too late against Mayo, before eventually coming good against Armagh to win by a point.
This time Kerry looked out of sight. That is until some of Galway’s younger players started stepping up to the challenge, injecting the sort of pace and physicality that even Kerry found hard to handle.
READ MORE
Shane McGrath showed the way with the first of his two-pointers, before goals from Cian Hernon and the excellent Johnny Maher brought Galway right back into contention. McGrath’s second two-pointer levelled it up in the last minute, and that’s how it finished, Kerry 2-17 to Galway’s 3-14.
Considering the number of first-choice players he was missing, Joyce must have felt like he was leaving Tralee with more than just a share of the points. He had high praise for McGrath, naturally, the Dunmore MacHales player a considerable addition: “He was in the panel a couple of years ago, he went away, got himself in great shape with the club, and he did really well.”
Most satisfying perhaps was Galway’s battling spirit and attitude. “I’ve said it before, the heart and character in this group is outrageous,” added Joyce. “We lost a couple of lads during the week with injury, lost Liam Silke just before the off, Dylan McHugh wasn’t fit to play, so down huge experience but the young lads gained great experience here.”
Before departing, Joyce also confirmed that 2024 Footballer of the Year Paul Conroy had returned to training and committed to the 2026 season, his 19th intercounty campaign with Galway.
Galway host Roscommon at Pearse Stadium this Saturday evening, the result of which may well decide who keeps themselves in the hunt for a league final. For now, the point won in Tralee keeps Galway safe from the relegation threat – but Joyce must feel he gained a lot more from his old familiar ground. — Ian O’Riordan
Kickout ‘piggery’ displeases McGeeney
You have to hand it to Kieran McGeeney – bringing the word piggery to a wider audience might be the achievement of the weekend. Responding to a question about kickouts under the new rules, the Armagh manager did that thing he does where he takes the opposite view of “most people” but shrugs that “most people seem to like it, so ...”
“It’s just that 50/50 game that everybody wants,” he said. “There’s no skill in it. It’s just pure piggery, like. Get in and get it and that’s just what it turns into.”
All hail pure piggery, we say. Managers grouching about there being no skill in the new kickout world is their way of saying they don’t have control. Annoying for them but a far better outcome for those of us watching on. Which was the whole thinking behind the rule changes in the first place.
In Croke Park on Saturday night, Dublin goalie Hugh O’Sullivan pulled off three point-black saves against Monaghan and expertly narrowed the angle for a further three chances that Monaghan either hit the post with or dragged wide. It was a terrific display that kept Dublin in the game when Monaghan had their purple patch.
And yet afterwards, his manager described O’Sullivan’s night as “a mixed bag” and said, “Knowing Hugh, he’ll probably be disappointed with aspects of his kickouts.” Dublin’s kickout return for the night was exactly 50 per cent – 12 retained from 24 taken. For context, his opposite number Rory Beggan – roundly hailed as one of the best on the game off the tee – had a 43 per cent return on the Monaghan kickouts.
All in all, it’s a hard life for the poor, put-upon goalies. You can pull of a string of saves and people are still talking about your kickouts. Especially when those kickouts mostly depend on your team-mates’ capacity for piggery.
No wonder Stephen Cluxton finally retired. — Malachy Clerkin
McGuinness optimistic Ballybofey will be ready for Championship
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness was asked after Sunday’s league match against Mayo in Letterkenny, was there a possibility that the county’s opening championship match against Down might be played in the same venue.
At present the main county ground in Ballybofey is out of bounds because of work on the playing surface and there are some concerns that it might not be ready in time for April.
It would be the first time since the 1950s for O’Donnell Park to be used for championship. McGuinness was bullish about Mac Cumhaill Park being ready in time.
“We’re waiting to see. I think it’ll be weather-dependent as well. If the weather’s good and there’s a good spring and there’s a coat of grass on it I think we’re just trying to bring it to the end game before there’s a final decision made on it.
“Ballybofey is our home ground. That’s where we want to play.”
At least Letterkenny is rehabilitating its previously disastrous record in the hosting of Donegal matches.
The county frequently rotates league matches around venues but O’Donnell Park went through an apparently accursed phase with the win over Armagh in 2022 being the first in seven matches played at the venue over the previous eight years.
That turnaround triggered a more positive run. Sunday’s was the fourth win in the last five league matches played in Letterkenny. Tyrone was the exception last year.
The ground appealed its capacity of 8,500 for the weekend and obtained partial relief with 8,900 turning up the comfortable win over Mayo.
Nonetheless despite some speculation that the match could be taken out of the county altogether if Ballybofey wasn’t ready, McGuinness was adamant that wouldn’t happen.
“No, definitely not. If it’s Letterkenny, we’ll play the game in Letterkenny.” — Seán Moran
Cork footballers’ promotion push
Even though Cork are top of Division Two, with maximum points from their opening three games, it might be too soon to trumpet their promotion chances. The three teams they have beaten so far – Offaly, Louth and Cavan – appear to be the prime candidates for relegation.
But since Cork were relegated from Division One 10 years ago, it is the first time that they have even put themselves in a promotion race. Their highest finishing position in Division Two in that time is fourth, and in 2019 Cork were relegated to Division Three.
Every Cork manager over the last decade has spoken about the necessity to return to Division One, but every season Cork have looked like a second-tier team. Donegal, for example, beat them by 11 points last year; in 2022, they suffered big defeats at the hands of Galway, Derry and Meath.
But what they haven’t had in any of their Division Two campaigns is a fast start. That didn’t look likely this season either when they trailed by seven points to Cavan deep into the second half of round one, but they turned that around in dramatic fashion. Buoyed in part by the return of Steven Sherlock, Cork have scored heavily in all three games so far, but a more significant feature of those performances has been the heartening spread of scorers.
Meath, the other team on maximum points in Division Two, will visit Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday. The legitimacy of their promotion prospects will face their first test there. — Denis Walsh
Robbie Brennan’s Royal Flush
Meath’s 100 per cent winning start to the league has certainly not lacked drama or excitement – they beat both Cavan and Louth thanks largely to monster two-pointers in the dying seconds from Jack Flynn.
One of the trademarks of this Meath team is the degree of creative licence given by the management for players to take on what stats analysts would decree are low percentage shots. It’s very much a work in progress and there will be days when the Hail Mary effort won’t sail over the black spot, but that sense of adventure and unpredictability has been key to Meath’s strong start to 2026. Four different players kicked two-pointers on Saturday evening against Louth – Flynn, Jordan Morris, Mathew Costello and Ruairí Kinsella.
But another almost unspoken reason for the upturn in fortune over recent seasons has been the sense of genuine buy-in by players across the county again. The best players in Meath are pretty much all in the county squad right now – save perhaps for Eamonn Armstrong who has signed for St Kilda. That wasn’t always the case over the last two decades.
In Saturday’s win over Louth, Meath’s starting 15 was comprised of players from 13 different clubs. Add in the four subs introduced at Croke Park and 16 different clubs were represented. — Gordon Manning
