It’s time to embrace our young guns
LAST weekend had just about everything you’d want, and plenty of what you wouldn’t, but it was particularly encouraging to see exciting new players emerge.
There were any amount of talking points from the weekend and, you know what, all in all the game isn’t in bad shape at all. Around 100,000 people attended the two big provincial finals on Sunday which is extraordinary when you consider they were live on television. There was some brilliant football played and a lot of wonderful scores. You had players like Con O’callaghan, who scored 0-12 for Dublin, Kildare pair Paddy Brophy and Kevin Feely, Padraig Hampsey, who is probably the find of the year for Tyrone, Niall Grimley, outstanding with 0-8 for Armagh, and Caolan Mooney of Down, who is arguably the fastest man playing the game at the moment, all piercing the national consciousness for the first time. Some of the scoring from distance was truly exceptional and Daniel Flynn’s point from under the Hogan Stand will hardly be bettered this year. There was some tremendous finishing for goals too from Ronan O’neill, Dean Rock, Jamie Clarke and Michael Quinlivan on one leg. Credit to Kildare for the fact that they were being dismantled at different stages by Dublin but they gave it everything and were almost as good as they could have been. They scored 1-17 but a tally of 2-20 or more wouldn’t have flattered them. It’s an area that Jim Gavin will be looking at but his attack seems to be going from strength to strength. Against Westmeath and Kildare their conversion rate was up at a jaw-dropping 85% from all shots on goal. Extraordinary stuff. Their defence and the midfield require attention, however. They struggled a little around the middle against both Carlow and Kildare, for whom Feely was exceptional though Tommy Moolick hadn’t the pace to get around Croke Park and punish them more. Having picked up John Heslin against Westmeath, Cian O’sullivan followed Flynn on Sunday and when he’s not performing his sweeping role Dublin are not as formidable defensively. With O’callaghan emerging and Bernard Brogan superb off the bench, Dublin’s attack is better than in previous years but they look weaker at the back. Kerry and others could punch bigger holes later in the summer. Unfortunately for Down they were caught in the headlights in Clones in what was a game too far for them. Indeed, it was hard to believe they were the same team that played with such fire against Monaghan. But then Tyrone do that to you. Their fitness levels are right up with Dublin’s. Their tackling is superb and there were a lot of Down lads sore getting out of bed on Monday morning. Furthermore, the Red Hands transition is excellent. They scored 2-17 to back up the 1-21 they hit against Donegal. Their bench is now making a massive difference when you see what O’neill, Darren Mccurry, Conor Meyler and Lee Brennan brought. It will be a monumental battle if they get to face Dublin. Whether their attack will stand up against the very best sides remains to be seen, however. For Down, it’s a big ask to lift it to play Monaghan again in the qualifiers. It’s certainly the draw that Malachy O’rourke would have wanted.