Provincial pairings whet the appetite

AFTER THE weekend there was, for a change, a more upbeat mood about this year’s football championship. The provincial finalists are now finalised and there is plenty to look forward to with novel pairings in Munster and Ulster and more familiar but highly-competitive matches in Connacht and Leinster.

Val Andrews, the coach and pundit who has managed at Sigerson, intercounty and interprovincial level, sees encouraging signs as the finals come into view.

“You couldn’t say that this has been a great season so far, but things are picking up,” he says. “Cork-Kerry stood out a couple of weeks ago, but at the weekend Galway-Sligo was competitive and Dublin were fabulous and Kildare were excellent, even if I was surprised by Laois.

“Tyrone are rumbling away in Ulster, where the standard has been poor, but Antrim have bright, talented young footballers, a lot of them very good with the ball. They just need to improve the scoring-to-possession ratio. They’ve gone up from Division Four, lost only to Sligo who have justified that form line.”

Antrim are in the county’s first Ulster football final since 1970, even if they will be distant outsiders against Tyrone.

Limerick have played Cork only twice before in a Munster final, in 1901 and 1897, but Limerick have been in two finals previously this decade, both against Kerry. It took injury-time goals to rescue Cork in this fixture a year ago but there has been much speculation about the county’s improvement in the wake of the big replay win over Kerry earlier this month.

“I think they have certainly closed the gap,” says Andrews. “They’ve matured, their conditioning is wonderful, but the questions about them are psychological and whether they can perform in Croke Park. Physically and football-wise, they have upped the ante.

“They’ve two under-21 All-Irelands in the past three years and when you look at a player like James Masters, who used to be the mainstay of the attack, he’s playing well, but he knows that if he doesn’t he’ll be replaced.”

The big question after the weekend is to what extent Dublin have moved up a level after Pat Gilroy’s new-look team destroyed Westmeath on Sunday.

“They’re definitely improved, but the lack of consistency is still a problem. One day they shoot 17 wides and the next they’re missing virtually nothing.

“Hopefully, they can produce that sort of technique when the pressure’s on, but on Sunday it was textbook stuff: the ball moved quickly, great running off the ball, excellent combination work and it looked like the forwards had cured the old selfish instinct although there were two instances where Dublin were two-to-one on goal without hitting the net. The only caution I have is whether the old behaviour will return in more competitive games.

“You also would have a question mark over the full-back line and Kildare’s full-forward line is one of the best parts of the team – but they’re not a Tyrone.”

Andrews is impressed with Kieran McGeeney’s system and his team’s work-rate.

“Against Laois they were under pressure. Laois went at them in the first 15 minutes and scored some great points. Kildare just plugged away, got half a goal chance and stuck it away. Physically they took over and ran Laois stupid – and kept it up for 70 minutes.

“Their tactics are spot on, switching men – it’s not haphazard and it’s not telepathic – and knowing what they’re doing because they’re running the same patterns. I have some reservations because they needed a result in the last league match against Meath and didn’t get it but in the championship they’ve been excellent.”