Division One proving as indeciperable as ever
The only certainties of Division One this far, writes Paul Brennan is that there are no certainties at all
AFTER four rounds of the National Football League the divisions are being to stretch out a little, although if we’ve learned anything from the last few years it’s that nothing is decided until everything is decided. Experience has taught us that even as the final round of games tick into the final seconds of additional time that everything - league final places and relegation issues - can still be on the line. Indeed, this writer has seen teams trudge off a football field believing they have missed out on a League final spot or ready to fall through the trap-door, only to learn a different truth a few minutes later in the tunnel or their dressing room.
So you’ll forgive us if we’re not prepared to jump to any conclusions as to how Division One is going to play out over the remaining three rounds, not to mind predict what two counties are going to contest for the League title on March 29. If there is one thing we can say with some certainty - but don’t hold us over a barrel on this one - it is that Meath will be making a swift return to Division Two from where they came only last March.
With six points still available to the Royal county it’s not a fait accompli that they will be relegated, but like the lone rider slipping off the back of the peloton, Meath are getting a little detached from the pack already, and it will take a herculean effort - and probably a few other results to fall their way - if they are to be playing in the top division in 2021.
Beyond that, the other seven teams can, conceivably, still finish in the top two and qualify for the final, but Mayo and Donegal (both on three points) have a serious job of work to do if they’re to occupy either of those two top places come tea time on March 22. That work begins this week with Mayo and Donegal both at home, hosting teams - Kerry and Monaghan - that are two points above them. Needless to say, a win for either home county will bring them right back into the race, while simultaneously dragging the losing team down into the bottom half of the table.
Defending League champions, Mayo, will be under particular pressure on Saturday evening to get the victory against Kerry, and whatever about thoughts of successfully defending that title at this stage, relegation for James Horan’s team would likely be catastrophic for the Connacht county. Kerry hardly need reminding that they lost twice to Mayo in last year’s League, but, oddly enough, the Kingdom has a better record against Mayo in Castlebar than they have on home soil in either Tralee or Killarney. Kerry’s last two trips to MacHale Park, in 2016 and 2018, have been successful, but there’s no denying that Mayo have been somewhat of a bogey team for the Kingdom, across League and Championship, in recent seasons. And a wounded and desperate Mayo is always a dangerous animal.
We wrote here last week about a general desire to see a few faces in the Kerry team over the remainder of the league, though last Sunday we saw just one player make his senior debut in the green and gold. Take a bow, David Shaw, who grasped his opportunity very well, kicking two fine points and generally showing himself to be up to the standard required: at least against a Meath team that is, as we’ve established, the runt of the Division One litter thus far.
Shaw and Liam Kearney are the only two newcomers to senior football so far in 2020 (we’re discounting the McGrath Cup) and MacHale Park on Saturday night is unlikely to entice Peter Keane to throw too many, if any, more into the mix. Paudie Clifford is, according to the manager, training his way back to fitness but reading between the lines it seems like a debut against Monaghan in a fortnight might be a more realistic target for the Fossa forward. Jack Sherwood is also a couple of weeks away from being available.
James O’Donoghue, we’re told, is being ‘managed’ so it will be interesting to see if, after two and a half games sitting out, the Legion man is brought back into the match-day panel or, indeed, the team. For a player who missed a lot of football last year through injury, but who stormed back to action with really positive football against Dublin and then in the first half against Galway, one would imagine that what O’Donoghue needs now more than anything is to be playing. The hothouse that is MacHale Park on a Saturday night under lights is the sort of environment that would really tell the management what they want to know about the 2014 Footballer of the Year, and, we presume, a place the player himself would want to be.
This Kerry management have shown themselves to be reasonably restrained from match to match when it comes to team selection so we shouldn’t expect too many changes to the starting team from that which took to the field in Fitzgerald Stadium last Sunday. Certainly, Dara Moynihan and Tommy Walsh did enough to put their hand up for a starting jersey, while Diarmuid O’Connor would surely be worth a long look at on Saturday, possibly at midfield where Kerry struggled for long periods against Meath.
Away from Kerry, and Galway - who travel to Navan to take on Meath - will be expected to win there and remain on top of the division come Sunday evening. Dublin would have to beat Tyrone by a huge score to leapfrog the Tribesmen, and even though Tyrone were crushed by Galway last weekend, it’s unlikely they will fold that badly in Omagh against the Dubs.
In fact, such is the nature of the League that a Tyrone win couldn’t be ruled out, although the news that Cathal McShane will be sidelined with an ankle injury for some five months is a huge set-back to Mickey Harte’s team.
NOT since Micko and Páidí pitched up in Laois and Westmeath over 15 years ago has there been as much interest from Kerry in the fortunes of so many Leinster teams. After a wobbly start Paul Galvin seems to be finding his feet in Wexford, and the Model county now sit in second place in Division Four. The Yellowbellies have six points from four games, two behind Limerick, and one ahead of Antrim. A couple of divisions above that Micheal Quirke has Laois in fifth place on the table, but they are only there by virtue of scoring difference. Laois are just one point off leaders Cavan, and have Roscommon, Armagh and Westmeath for company on five points. It’s who is just below Laois, however, that will have piqued most interest in the Kingdom. Kildare are sixth in Division One currently, but have only three points and, along with Fermanagh and Clare, are becoming a little detached from the rest of the field. Manager Jack O’Connor knows a thing or three about managing teams in tight spots, and there’s a long way to go yet, but the Tier 2 Championship comes into play for all counties who finish the league as Division 3 and 4 team, so relegation must be avoided at all costs.