Northern Stars not shining
July 26th, 2011 by Kevin EganMayo’s misfortune to be drawn against Cork in the All Ireland quarter final means that it is now long odds on that the five Connacht counties will, for the second year in succession, make their exit from the championship without having beaten a single team from outside Connacht between them. Unquestionably the western province is at a low ebb, perhaps as low as it has ever been.
However there are also signs that up north, the competitiveness of the Ulster championship is once again masking the fact that in terms of quality, Ulster football has not only slipped from the top of the tree, it is hugely lacking in quality and real innovation.
This is not meant as another pop at the defensive tactics that are traditionally associated with northern football teams, since every intercounty team uses some form of defensive support nowadays so associating such play with Ulster only would be unfair, but instead it reflects the simple fact that the Ulster teams are no longer the sides that everyone wants to avoid when the qualifier draws take place.
This year Monaghan, Cavan and Fermanagh all departed the championship in their first match against non-Ulster opposition, while Armagh and Down could very easily have done so too – and neither of those sides redeemed themselves subsequently. Antrim secured a home win over a demoralised Westmeath team, before limping over Carlow and crashing out to Down, while Derry were a distant second best against Kildare, albeit after only having six days to deal with the trauma of their Ulster Final defeat.
Donegal have yet to be tested outside of Ulster, while Tyrone’s only conquest south of their own province was Longford, who caused them real problems for long spells of that qualifier fixture in Pearse Park. While Longford are an improved and competitive force in 2011 under Glen Ryan, they still do not represent the kind of opposition that Tyrone will need to be able to match and overcome in the coming weeks. Unquestionably, those two teams are a cut above their Ulster rivals, but there is a real danger of both sides being over-rated based on an inflated view of their performances so far.
Both Tony Davis and Joe Brolly, in between their hugely entertaining squabble centred on the topic of the Cork footballers, suggested that Donegal would beat Kildare this Saturday evening in Croke Park. Truly this game will be the acid test of Ulster’s real standing at the moment.
Neither side has the bedrock of confidence that comes from winning an All Ireland title, neither side has a wide array of classy scoring forwards, but both management teams have created a system that suits the tools at their disposal and the clash of those two very different styles will make for some very interesting viewing.
McGeeney’s high octane system, with shots being taken on the move, appears to be custom made to counteract deep lying half forwards, and while Jim McGuinness is a fine innovator who will undoubtedly have analysed Kildare’s play in detail by next weekend, it’s hard to escape the notion that Donegal’s customary deep alignment will be inviting trouble since it will be asking players like Emmet Bolton and John Doyle to attack from deep positions. The presence of Tomás Ó’Connor offers the option to bypass much of the traffic by way of long deliveries, while Kildare’s players are well versed in the art of kicking under pressure and don’t get phased by a bout of wides.
The central tenet of Kildare football this year appears to this writer to be a fierce determination to ensure that the ball never gets turned over with too many Kildare men committed too far forward. The presence of Michael Murphy and Colm McFadden in the Donegal attack is all very well but neither of those players thrive in traffic, despite their size, and Donegal will need to figure out a way to commit Kildare men forward – an art much easier said than done.
So far all Tyrone have proved is that they are well capable of putting most Ulster teams to the sword – but then any decent county is capable of putting many Ulster teams to the sword these days, it’s perhaps not the endorsement that it once was. Kildare at 4/7 look like the better bet and could be more so when the inevitable two point handicap is released.
Clubbing together in clubbing each other
May 27th, 2009 by Kevin EganWe’re all told that stereotyping is a negative trait to be avoided at all costs, yet sometimes it’s just too hard to avoid. Ulster football is just one of those situations. Honestly, if two red headed Irish lads landed into Piccadilly Circus in London wearing green clothes and drunk on whiskey and started beating each other up with shillelaghs while singing about the Famine, it wouldn’t be any more of a ridiculous parody of a famous stereotype than what went on in Celtic Park last Sunday – except that what we saw on TV was no parody, but simply Ulster football at it’s grim and gruesome best.