Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
He looks like a man that could carry two cows on each shoulder
MAHER BEEFS UP THE GALWAY CHALLENGE
IT WOULDN’T surprise me at all if tomorrow’s League final is a dress rehearsal for the All-Ireland in July.
Even though Galway pushed Kerry hard last year, I wasn’t convinced by them.
Indeed, if you asked me in January, I’d have had Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Armagh and Derry ahead of them in the pecking order for Sam.
But, from what I’ve seen of them in recent weeks, Galway are a serious team that will be very hard to beat.
What stood out to me was the way they dug out a result against Armagh and the gutsy manner of their win over Kerry a week ago.
Pádraic Joyce is one of the smartest football men around and he has them purring along nicely.
Given his own playing career and his ideas about how the game should be played, it’s no surprise that they have plenty of attacking flair.
But Joyce has got a steeliness out of them too, especially in defence.
They have the best defensive record in Division One, and that didn’t happen by accident.
There was talk of Damien Comer’s injury derailing their season but he’s back sooner than expected and he looked surprisingly sharp when he came on against Kerry.
Good
We know how good the likes of Comer and Shane Walsh are. Joyce would have been looking for others to put their hands up during the League.
One who has done so is John Maher.
I love what I’ve seen from him so far.
He looks like a man that could carry two cows on each shoulder without breaking sweat.
Maher showed against Kerry that he has plenty of football in him too.
Tomorrow’s game with Mayo could be a cracker, because of the higher stakes of their rivalry — both at provincial and national level.
How on earth do you explain Mayo?
James Horan steps down. They lose Lee Keegan, probably the greatest player in their history.
Oisín Mullins, comfortably one of the best defenders in Ireland, heads to Australia.
Lesson
So you’d figure Kevin McStay and Co would be up against it.
There’s a lesson there for us in Donegal.
There’s clearly a transition process going on in my own county but Mayo show that doesn’t mean you have to accept that it involves leaving the top table.
There are plenty of new faces in the Mayo team but it’s old stager in Aidan O’Shea who has taken many by surprise.
A few years ago, I made a strong case for O’Shea at fullforward but Dublin did a job on him there and he wasn’t given a decent run in the position again until this year.
It just makes so much sense to have him on the edge of the square now, with the offensive mark being such a weapon.
Mayo have a serious amount of quality in attack but you always need a focal point — and O’Shea is just that.
There were video clips from the Donegal game going around of his work-rate, hunting down goalkeeper Shaun Patton a few times and winning turnovers.
Anyone who’s watched O’Shea over the years — or played against him — will know that he goes through a serious amount of horsing.
I’d often hear eejits saying he doesn’t score enough and I’d fire that back at them.
Mayo and Galway are really good kicking teams now, but also have strong runners.
They can play the game in different ways.
They also look strong in goals now, which hasn’t always been the case.
Overall, Mayo and Galway
‘This League might be remembered more for the return of Cluxton’
look more balanced to me than any other teams, including Kerry, and that’s why I think they’re the top two going into the Championship. Joyce has made it very clear that Galway want to win the League as it’s been so long since they’ve done so, but I think it’ll be Mayo’s day.
Return
Strange thing is, this League might well be remembered more for the return of Stephen Cluxton.
If you’d asked me at the start of the year to pick out the 100 most unlikely things that could happen in Gaelic football in 2023, I don’t think Cluxton’s return would have been in there.
It completely blindsided me, as it blindsided everyone else.
Will he give the Dublin squad a lift or will it create a bit of tension that could be a negative?
The only way I can answer it is by thinking of the county that I know best. Michael Murphy was as important to Donegal as Cluxton was to Dublin. If Michael came back in a couple of years, would he be welcomed? With open arms.
Back
Cluxton isn’t coming back for the long haul, we know that.
Maybe he’ll stay involved as a coach or even manager down the road.
But it shows us all that Dublin are throwing everything at this year. That’s why Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion were coaxed back. It’s why Dessie Farrell brought Pat Gilroy on board. Dublin haven’t any superstars coming through so maybe they feel this is the last fling for the likes of Mick Fitzsimons, James McCarthy, Dean Rock and Ciarán Kilkenny.
Mix
And they want to throw everything possible at the mix. Philly McMahon has been calling for Jonny Cooper to come back too.
That shows the way Dublin are thinking.
I’m guessing Farrell is on the final lap as manager and looking for percentages everywhere he can get it, much like Jim Gavin parachuting Diarmuid Connolly in for a bounce in his final year.
This will be a Championship where at least six teams can genuinely go into it considering themselves contenders so a small bounce might be all that’s needed. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all if Cluxton starts against Derry tomorrow. He played in a challenge against a Meath selection on Monday and what’s the point in bringing him back if you don’t get him match sharp for Championship?
Derry got the better of Dublin in Celtic Park, but I think the Dubs will avenge hate.
And Cavan and Sligo to win the other two divisional finals.