Donegal vs Down Ulster Championship Semi-Final 2pm Sunday
Donegal and Down travel to Breffni Park in Cavan this weekend, for the latest chapter in Ireland’s most unpredictable province.
Jim McGuinness has never lost an Ulster Championship game as a manager, and if last month's victory over Tyrone is any indicator, that record is not going to change anytime soon.
What the Tyrone result did do was rid any doubts about ‘hunger’ issues and also significantly raise the expectation, both within and outside the county.
Paddy McBrearty was the star the last day, something which will strike fear into Donegal’s rivals for two reasons. Firstly, McBrearty is an immensely talented young player and the feeling is that as he continues to mature into a proper adult footballer, he can become one of, if not the best, forwards in the country. This performance, and subsequent club performances were further signs of this maturity.
That brings us to our second point. McBrearty plays in a full forward line with Colm McFadden and Michael Murphy. During the All-Ireland run last year he spent much of his time out the field, away from scoring positions. Against Tyrone that changed and he spent a lot of the time as a full forward. That now gives Donegal a three pronged full forward line of McBrearty, Murphy and McFadden. Each could consider themselves the marquee forward were they to be in most other inter-county teams, but here they are part of a three-way unit where one is sacrificed to work out the field, while the other two play as the scorers. It appears that Murphy might be playing that McBrearty role from last year, but it’s impossible to second guess Jim McGuinness and that is what will worry opposition managers.
Down pose their own attacking threat, proven by the 2-17 they scored in their championship opener against Derry. The three Donegal front men are quite a size, in comparison the Down attack are a lot smaller and rely on quick ball to cause damage. That speed of attack was evident for Dónal O’Hare’s goal against Derry which came about after excellent link up play between Conor Laverty and Mark Poland.
Breaking down the Donegal blanket has always proven difficult, but Down seem to have an advantage considering the quality of long range points they scored against Derry. The most efficient way to attack the McGuinness style of defending is to shoot from distance and Down have the players in, Niall Madine, Kevin McKernan and Benny Coulter, to do just that.
After discussing Donegal’s attacking trio, one would wonder how Down deal with them defensively. The most worrying signal came against Derry when they failed to deal with the threat of Eoin Bradley. That day Bradley was mostly operating alone in the full forward line, and although double marked, still cause a serious amount of damage. Double the threat and Down have an even bigger task on their hands this weekend. With Donegal wing forwards dropping back in to their own half don’t be surprised if you see one or even both of the Down backs employed as sweepers when Donegal have the ball.
Donegal games are rarely very high scoring, If Down were to come near the total of 2-17 they put up against Derry then they have a very realistic chance of being the first team to beat Donegal in Ulster since 2010 and only the second team to beat them since Jim McGuinness took over in 2011.
Clare v Cork Munster Hurling Semi Final 4pm Sunday
Clare play Cork for the fourth time this year, on Sunday, with the Rebels yet to inflict a defeat on the Banner Men. Cork have the unenviable task of attempting to reverse league form, short of the services of Pa Cronin, Paudie O’ Sullivan & Lorcan McLoughlin.
The benefit of a recent championship outing cannot be overstated and Cork as the last team in the country to enter the white heat of championship hurling, are in danger of being caught cold. Conversely, the victory over Waterford will have done wonders for this youthful Clare outfit, short on Senior Championship victories. Over elaboration in their own half almost cost Clare against a profligate Waterford and you got the impression Clare were playing short passes for the sake of it. Ten yard passes to a free man, when the man on the ball was in as much space were commonplace and by eliminating just one additional pass in the second half against Waterford, Clare looked a better team. Davy went against his usual ploy and went toe to toe in the first half against Waterford. But in the second half Conor McGrath roamed a little further from the opposition goal and the Clare half back line played ten yards deeper. This gave protection to David McInerney who suffered a torrid first half, at the hands of Maurice Shanahan. Luke O’ Farrell is lightning quick and if he gets space in the Cork full forward line, he will cause untold damage.
It’s difficult to evaluate this Cork team, especially so minus the three players mentioned above. They were probably a little unfortunate not to have beaten at least one of Waterford, Galway & Kilkenny in the league, any one of which would have seen Cork in a league semi final rather than in a relegation play off. Shane O’ Neill, easily one of the best defenders in the country was missing in that play off and his return will at least in some part, make up for the absentees. His Bishopstown club mate, Pa Cronin is a massive loss. He’s phenomenal in the air and reminds me of Big Dan plucking balls from the sky. He’s a reliable scorer, as is Paudie O’ Sullivan and you feel that the burden of scoring will fall on the ever reliable Patrick Horgan, who continually puts up massive totals both from frees and play.
I would be slow to write off this Cork team. Underage success has eluded the Rebels recently, but there is talent coming through, as evidenced by the likes of Conor Lehane & Luke O’ Farrell. All bar Kilkenny would struggle to replace the aforementioned trio though. The Clare full back line will never again be as exposed as it was in the first half against Waterford, while Davy Fitz holds the reins. At full strength, I would fancy Cork to take Clare, but as things stand, Clare by a score or two but it won’t be as easy as some envisage.
Player after player looked to Davy for direction as to what to do with dead balls, three weeks ago. This doesn’t strike me as the way to foster decision makers or leaders. As autocratic a manager as Ger Loughnane was, could you imagine, Daly, Jamesie or even Davy himself, being as restricted as some of the current Clare players are? Finally, I noted JBM’s comments this week about relegation not mattering. The more cynical among you will be forgiven for thinking that it won’t matter because Cork will be playing Division 1 Hurling next year, one way or another...
Kilkenny vs Dublin Leinster Hurling Semi Final 3.50pm Sunday
Kilkenny play Dublin this Sunday in Portlaoise in the semi final of the Leinster Hurling Championship. Scant reward for overcoming Wexford last Saturday night you might say, especially so, as Liam Dunne’s men host Antrim, with the winners pencilled in for a game against Carlow.
Dublin arrived in Portlaoise last year amid serious hype and expectation, in part, thanks to their 2011 NHL victory over the same opposition. Kilkenny, wanted to assert their authority, as if the suggestion that Dublin could beat them was an affront, put the game to bed early. Perhaps too, it was an indication as to the seriousness with which The Cats took the Dublin challenge. Twelve months on and the teams return to do battle at the same stage, without anything like the same sense of anticipation. In fact, Dublin are 12/1 to get the better of Brian Cody’s men.
You just don’t know what you are going to get with this Dublin team. Over the course of the past 3 years, they’ve mixed some sublime hurling with some absolutely appalling play. This was encapsulated over the past few weeks in both Wexford games, with excellence and mediocrity coming in equal measure. The Dubs are coming in under the radar, something that will benefit them greatly and I expect a massive showing from them this weekend. Dublin need a big improvement, but the same can be said of Kilkenny, who were frankly, poor against Offaly two weeks ago. Granted, the rhythm of the game was interrupted by free after free, but Kilkenny looked a shadow of themselves.
Dublin will undoubtedly play a third midfielder Sunday and try to limit the space in front of the Kilkenny full forward line. They will adopt a similar approach to what Laois attempted against Galway, crowding out Kilkenny in an attempt to avoid early goals, at all costs. If the game is there for the taking in the last fifteen minutes, then Dublin can go on the attack and play 15 on 15. Daly has named the same starting fifteen, that defeated Wexford a week ago and it is anticipated that Michael Fennelly will be fit enough to line out for Kilkenny, more than likely on the 50.
Dublin have the athleticism and physicality to match up to Kilkenny, question marks remain over their hurling ability though. I’m sick of hearing that you cannot take Kilkenny on physically and hope to emerge victorious. What did Galway do last year? They fronted up to Kilkenny on three separate occasions and introduced incredible movement in their forward line, with the interchanging of forwards, being taken to a whole new level. This is the template to dethrone The Cats for an athletic, physical team. Daly has the pieces of the puzzle at his disposal, but The Dubs need to put in a 70 minute display, something that you could not count on, given their recent past. Kilkenny without Henry Shefflin will always be vulnerable to a big performance. Dublin are in with an outside chance, but absolutely everything would need to go their way on the day. Dublin +10 with the bookmakers looks incredibly generous though!
Offaly v Waterford All Ireland SHC Qualifier 7pm Saturday
In the tie of the first round, Offaly host Waterford this Saturday evening, with the winners taking on the victors of London & Westmeath. No hurling was shown live last weekend and just one game is televised this weekend, the Munster semi final. Instead, rather disappointingly, the Confederations Cup takes pride of place on RTE this Saturday.
Both teams enter this fixture after defeats, but of seemingly different types. Offaly are on the back of a moral boosting five point loss to Kilkenny, while Waterford are after a rather disappointing eight point beating by Clare. The bare form would suggest Offaly are in the drivers seat, but I just cannot buy into that Kilkenny performance. They scored as many goals as they did points from play and the effort from Kilkenny themselves was a long way off what we are used to. A couple of the Offaly goals were quite soft as well. Offaly are in need of a major improvement to beat Waterford this Saturday. The Deise showed glimpses of ability against Clare and it looks like their team, albeit fairly similar in personnel, lines out a stronger looking 15 overall. Kevin Moran will provide strong running from midfield & Shane O’ Sullivan moves to the problematic half forward line.
Offaly have big, physical forwards, in particular, Joe Bergin & Colin Egan, and they will play direct ball into the full forward line all day. Brian Carroll was out around the middle against Kilkenny and was excellent in that role, he will provide a few headaches for Moran & Prendergast in the Waterford midfield. Shane Fives returns at corner back from a hamstring injury and was probably one of Waterford’s best defenders throughout the league. His added physicality will be a fillip for Michael Ryan, as he plans to cope with this big Offaly forward line. Waterford are light in attack, but they have big men at the back and they will be needed to compete with The Faithful County.
It’s easy to say that Offaly need to eradicate the fouls, fouls that gave them no chance against Kilkenny, it’s another matter actually doing it. The Waterford attack doesn’t represent the same goal threat as their Kilkenny counterparts, so you would expect to see the fouls reduced, for that reason alone. But Ollie Baker will surely be hammering home this point over the past two weeks nonetheless! Stephen O’ Keeffe returns to mind the Waterford goal, whose puck outs are truly excellent. He gives his forwards every chance of winning high ball. In recognition of the ball winning issues Waterford have had, Shane O’ Sullivan moves to wing forward and between him and Seamus Prendergast, O’ Keeffe will have two strong targets to hit from puck outs.
It will be a clash of styles in Tullamore this Saturday, with Offaly playing direct long ball into a big forward line. Waterford, in recognition of their quicker, slight forwards will have to adopt a more measured approach, but they will still play back to front with as little fuss as possible. It’s a massive fixture for both counties, especially with one eye on the next round. Two wins would stand either team in good stead in the latter rounds of the qualifiers, for a crack off a beaten provincial semi finalist. Waterford I suspect will have too much for Offaly, who showed a lot more against Clare than they are given credit for.
