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Jack O'Connor is fascinating as usual in this morning's Irish Times. Food for thought for Dublin fans.



Wait until the last 10 minutes tosee what Dublin are really made of

Wed, May 30, 2007

Jack O'Connor feels that the Dubs should concentrate on adding a bit more pattern and method to their game

This weekend brings the Dubs back to championship action for the first time since their big blow-up against Mayo last year. They've had nine months to think about a slip-up of Devon Loch proportions. It will be interesting to see what they have learned.

Their pattern of fade outs is too steady to be pure coincidence. Back in February 2004 in my third league match with Kerry we played the Dubs in Parnell Park. They blew us away in the first 20 minutes. Things looked so bad for us that on the one occasion I ventured up the sideline from the dugout some Dub roared behind me, Bring Back Paw-dee.

We reeled them in the second half though. I noticed that Dublin players who had been flying early on just vanished before the end. Later in the year in the All-Ireland quarter-final they threw in the towel after a Dara Cinnéide goal.

They lost big leads in the league this year to Tyrone and Mayo. And in the 2005 quarter-final they lost a five-point lead to Tyrone, they lost leads to Armagh and Westmeath back in '04, Armagh again in '02.

There is a pattern, but is there an explanation? I think there are a couple of fundamental problems. Dublin's policy is to try to steamroll teams from the start attacking from every sector, backs, midfielders, etc. Their forwards run like lunatics all over the pitch. They constantly rotate as in volleyball so that fellas who are fleadhed from running out the field get a breather inside.

An example of this rotation gone mad came last year in the semi-final when Ray Cosgrove went from wing forward to corner forward and carried Peadar Gardiner with him. Gardiner didn't like being in alien territory. Cosgrove kicked two points from the corner. Five minutes later Cosgrove was landed out at wing forward again. That sort of stuff. Rotating for the sake of it.

At the end of the day they have no discernible pattern or shape. Can anybody reel off the Dublin forward line or the positions they play in? Alan Brogan and Conal Keaney are as good as you'll find but can you name the positions they play in?

The teams who win All-Irelands down the years always have a settled look about their forward line especially the inside line. Doyle-Keaveney-McCarthy. That hardly ever changed. Sheehy-Bomber-Egan was set in stone. Dubs will remember O'Rourke-Stafford-Flynn.

You can move backs to do marking jobs, but forwards thrive on familiarity with a position and with each other. Look at the other partnerships of recent years. They were telepathic. Clarke and McDonnell. Mulligan and Canavan. Even Gooch and Donaghy. I don't want to labour this, but the importance of settled forwards cannot be overstated.

There is only so long too you can keep up the frenetic pace. It upsets the opposition for a while, but pattern and method are more important. It's Foreman versus Ali, the Rumble in the Jungle. Look at Armagh. They don't go at one hundred miles per hour. They play to a discernible pattern all through. They control the tempo. Therefore they always have a chance.

And for the Dubs the Blue Army is a double-edged sword. They have chosen to feed off it by marching to the Hill before games. Almost officially they are saying, we are empowered by the Hill! It is as if the atmosphere drives the Dubs to such a frenzy that they start games like the horse bolting from the stall, running as hard as he can for as long as he can. The horse has nothing left in the final furlong where races are won and lost.

The crowd are fine when the team is fine. They feed off each other. When the team go into a lull the crowd go quiet. The Dubs appear to get disheartened. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. For the last 10 minutes against Mayo last year you could hear a pin drop on the Hill.

The need to please the crowd is dangerous. Top teams are made up of a fair proportion of lads who do unheralded donkey work. Unseen stuff. How many of these do Dublin have? A Brian Dooher? A Paul Galvin? A Martin O'Rourke? Scavengers around the middle third? Dublin have too many players trying to please the Blue Army. It is amazing what you can achieve if nobody cares who gets the credit.

The Dubs need to steady up and play a more measured and methodical game. Psychologically the Dubs are vulnerable this week and nobody are better than Meath to exploit that. Colm Coyle will be telling his men to hang on to Dublin's coat tails till the last 10 minutes. Then we'll see what they are made of.

If Dublin can win a tight game on Sunday they might be a serious proposition. To win a game coming from behind in the last 10 minutes would do more good than all the shrinks in the country. This is a great test as Meath have patented the come-from-behind win down through the years. I was in Croke Park in 1996 when Coyle himself kicked a holy mary from his own half-back line that hopped over the bar to give Meath a second chance against Mayo in the All-Ireland final.

Pillar will be asking his men this week, have you got the carraigs to battle to the wire when it is going against you. Where are the leaders. Look to Fermanagh and Tyrone two weeks ago. Who wins the break when the game is on the line. Seán Cavanagh caught the final kick-out. Tyrone manufactured a score. Can Dublin do that?

The GAA needs the Dubs. They play exciting, attacking football. They are the only side who come near to filling Croke Park. Winning Sam would capture the hearts and minds of the myriad of young Dubs who could be lost to soccer and other less stressful past-times.

The key is to get the balance right on the field.

Agus Rud Eile . . .

In a strange way the result from Ballybofey on Sunday could be a positive for both teams.

Armagh don't need another Ulster championship. In fact, Stephen McDonnell has admitted he knows well where his Celtic Cross is, but he isn't too sure about the Ulster medals. They can take a lot of heart from Sunday.

By any objective analysis they were the better team. They have a system which means they will be hard to beat. When Ronan Clarke and Brian Mallon come back they will be a handful for anyone.

For Donegal the result was everything. They were fortuitous, but they stuck with it in the face of Armagh's relentless tackling. They need to settle their forward line, though, and getting Brendan Devenney back is crucial to them.

They tried to run the ball through Armagh on Sunday and that was playing into their hands or in most cases their bodies. Armagh have so much gym work done they are going around looking for fellas to bounce off. Why give them the opportunity? To beat Armagh you have to kick the ball.

And when you do you have to have fellas inside who show over and back relentlessly for that ball. That's the key. The irony is that on one of the few times they kicked the ball in Donegal got the vital goal.

When Armagh sit down to think of it this week they will wonder what was the big deal about coming through the battlefield of Ulster anyway. They have a few injuries. They've six weeks to the qualifiers.

They can work under the radar. Get men back. It will work well. The nearest they came to getting their second All-Ireland was being beaten in Ulster by Monaghan in 2003.

Winning an All-Ireland is about coming good at the right time. It's a long year. You want to time your form for quarter-final time onwards. A nice draw in the first round of the qualifiers and Armagh will be serious.

People forget that last year against Kerry they played great football and we only put them away for good when we got a breakaway goal from Darren O'Sullivan. Anyone who thinks that Armagh are gone away are mistaken. The question that Armagh's situation creates is with a championship only starting at the quarter-final stage is it worth winning a provincial championship anymore?

I would guess within five years we will have a different championship format, something along Champions League lines. I know the GAA hate copying other codes, but if it makes the product more attractive and exciting to hell with the begrudgers.

© 2007 The Irish Times

Níl mórán le rá agamsa a stócaigh, ach bhí an snáithín seo ag titim síos beagán agus sílimse féin gur chóir duinn an Ghaeilge a choinnéal ar an gcéad leathanach más fhéidir linn. Baineann níos mó leis an gCLC ná na cluichí amháin.

On a completly unrelated note and indeed non GAA note, it was interesting to see the failure of the 'Support the Rossport Luddites 'candidates in Mayo.

What candidates were they? I don't think any of the candidates supported the Shell to Sea campaign - Crowley did for a while, but backed down in February when certain elements appeared to highjack the campaign for their own ends. But hey - what have you been up to lately Northsideboy? 

Willie Joe at http://mayogaablog.blogspot.com has a link to a piece in Sunday's Tribune about three Mayomen in management in Connacht at the moment - Johnno, Ford and Maughan. Makes for distracting reading after Sunday.



IF it's all the same to yourself, we'll dive deep into the memory bank for just a minute.

Out comes a strand from 1983, a wisp that seemed of little importance at the time. Mayo had drawn the All Ireland under-21 final when a member of the panel announced he had already booked a holiday. His manager told him he'd be bringing his boots but that still wasn't enough. On his return he was kept back for 40 minutes after a tough training session and subjected to the most gruelling workout of his young life. Whether he had drank or not while away, no chances were being taken.

A few days later John O'Mahony guided that Mayo side past Derry and already had his eye on conducting an out-of-tune orchestra. John Maughan played a key role in the backs that afternoon and no matter what he had been put through, still reckons both holiday and overtime were worth it.

Completing the spine of that defence was Peter Ford, a classy, masterful defender who had watched closely as his good friend from UCG had been taken to the limit. The tone looked to be set for a decade in Mayo. Instead the tone was set for a generation in Connacht.

Hard to remember now just how bad western football was at that stage, so here's a quick reminder. The last time a side from the province had won an All Ireland senior title was 1966 when Galway completed the three-in-a-row and in the intervening years only once had the Connacht champions beaten Leinster or Munster opposition. All that was about to change. "I'd say John O'Mahony would have had his eye on that team maturing and him passing into senior fairly fast, " says Kevin McStay who played on that under-21 side.

"It would have been 1988 when he got his first opening and it was an immediate impact and that's what he normally does. When you talk about John O'Mahony you think of impact. He's not a guy that waits around for long.

Look what he did in '88."

It was that season they took Connacht by storm and might have won an All Ireland semifinal against Meath. It only took a year for the side to learn from their mistakes and in 1989 they were in an All Ireland final, their first since 1951 while picking up their first back-to-back provincial crowns since that same year.

"I think it's just that his allround people skills are very impressive and you want to do your very best for any team John O'Mahony is involved with, " continues McStay. "Sounds simple and in theory it is. But how many have done it? He gets that kind of feel-good factor very early. You can say he was lucky with the bunch he had coming through in Mayo but other events have shown that was never it. Look at what he did with Galway when he took them to their first All Ireland in 35 years. That was probably his greatest achievement.

That and taking Leitrim to a Connacht title in 1994 which was unprecedented and still is."

It was around that time Mayo were again sinking into a trough. With an aging team and time running short for many, they turned on their manager and the Brian McDonald affair began and ended. Ford was nominated as a leader of that bloodless coup and it may have been that incident which drew him into county management and that has kept him from managing the one side he really desires. "I had known Peter as a player and had been in UCG with him, " says Maughan. "I had great time for him as a footballer. He starred on Sigerson teams and from a boxing background he has tremendous self-discipline and is very fit, very strong and a very capable operator.

Maybe it was hard to recognise any management skills back then but the way he had grown by the time I got involved with Mayo in 1995, he was one of the guys I really went after because I respected his knowledge of the game and his ability and he was part of my team for two years.

It was great to have him on board."

Just like O'Mahony had done, the combination of Maughan and Ford quickly pulled the county from the bog water. In 1995, a few months before they would be taken apart by Galway in the Connacht final, the side travelled to Tyrone for a league game. John Casey came across a programme that day and remembers looking at it and feeling small. Maughan had named the team earlier in the week but in front of him, under the banner of Maigh Eo read An Other times 15.

Tyrone people didn't care who these guys were. After all, they were nobodies. Yet within a year-and-a-half, the side were in an All Ireland final. It would be eight years before named opponents could say the same.

"I always saw John O'Mahony as a very deep thinker and I believe Peter Ford has taken a lot of that with him from years under him as a player, " says Martin Carney.

"He may even be deeper than his old mentor. I think both he and John Maughan were a very good combination but Peter had his own ideas. He wasn't as well known when Mayo were going well but I remember listening in awe to him in 2002 when he was in charge of Sligo. They had already stunned football by beating Tyrone but listening to the plans and strategies he was using to counteract the threat of Armagh it was easy to see why. Particularly the way he used Ciaran Quinn and John McPartland that day, the way he employed those nearly brought about Armagh's downfall."

That day Kieran McGeeney was continually forced onto his left foot. Sligo tried to pressure Armagh from afar, preventing their forwards from scoring at a distance.

Had Kerry done the same Armagh would not have won that All Ireland. Had Ford better raw materials, Sligo would have been in an All Ireland semi-final for the first time since 1975 and only their fourth ever and they would have done it by swatting Armagh and Tyrone from a perch too.

"I look at the three of them and it's amazing the drive and energy they have put in, " says McStay. "Be it in Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo or Galway, they have given those counties some amazing times and brought success where there was none and that is not easy when in charge in the west.

And they all still have huge ambitions. I suppose Peter is completely committed to Galway and is so competitive and focused he is desperate to win today. But at some stage I'm sure he would love to take charge of Mayo but people always look back to that incident as a player when McDonald was in charge. He stood up and a lot of people would not have agreed, but he had the moral courage to go through.

He was up front. He didn't do it in a Machiavellian way, instead a letter was signed and that was before teams would have done that sort of thing. He'd have very strong ideas about what he wants to do and where he wants to go.

And because of that and his background I'm sure Mayo has hurt, he was sure he was going to get the job when it changed from John Maughan and Pat Holmes got it. I guess John O'Mahony of course, having won his All Ireland with Galway would love to do it with Mayo and all that adds to it today."

And as for John Maughan?

He's in Roscommon, waiting to upstage the both of them.

well my considered opinions are that-

galway have a much better forward line than mayo.
Galway dominated the breaks because they were the hungrier team.
Bergin outshoe the mayo midfield- though mc garrity is  ahuge loss.
HIggins and heaney never gave up - too reliant on motimer- if he's marked well the game is up for mayo.
Burke and hanley were oustanding the in the full back line giving a solidity that hasn't been there since 2001.
Wasn't really any bright spots from a mayo perspective except that the current mayo team will never win an all-ireland unless they find 5-6 new players.

Very hard to argue with any of that Indiana, in fairness. Conor Mortimer absolutely dominated Mayo's scoring in the league - you can see the stats at http://mayogaablog.blogspot.com - which meant that once Burke put the ball and chain on Conor, the scores dried up completely. Alan Dillon is like a man with a crisis of confidence lately, and he was the only other reasonable potent scorer. Last year seems like a very long time away for Kevin O'Neill. There's no point in kicking men when they're down, but the time for a new generation is getting very, very soon. Presuming there is a new generation, of course.

Ryano the Rossie is ri ... correct. Galway won fair and square. They were up for it, Mayo were not. Hats off to them. Bane took his goals really well, Bergin was outstanding in midfield, Burke superlative in the backs. As regards his Reverence the Monsignor's points, about refereeing standards and that sort thing, that's not really to the point. Something to be raised at Congress maybe. In the meantime, until that happy day when the rules as written are enforced, the best thing to do would be to remember what Ger Loughnane told his Clare team in the early nineties - the referee will not protect you, you must be able to protect yourselves. That mightn't be very Corinthian, but that's certainly the way it is.

As regards the bigger picture, Galway are surely pushing for a place at the top table now. I'm tired off all this old guff about only Kerry, Tyrone and Armagh being All-Ireland contenders. Galway are on the list now too, and fair play to them. No complaints from this Mayo jurist.

I think we might be putting the blame on the wrong man here boys.

What Brolly said was completely out of order, and Grimley was right to have a go at him about it. O'Rourke can be just as bad. But it's Michael Lyster that's running the show. He chairs the discussion, and he could even be head of sport at RTÉ as well. It's up to him to set the tone for the discussion and he's plainly setting it wrong.

Now, you hear him getting the boys to row back sometimes, but all that does is confuse the issue. RTÉ should have an editorial policy about how these games are going to assessed. These are our national games - they deserve to be treated as being as important as they are. And having the two boys up there will smart-alec licences do the games a great disservice.

Although if we're relying on Lyster to tighten the ship, we might need to look elsewhere, as his remarkable Aertel piece shows: http://www.rte.ie/aertel/411-01.html

People will still manage to say Dublin are being hyped up! 

The Sunday Times preview is five pages long. One full page is an interview with Alan Brogan. That's twenty per cent, for a team that's "written off." QED.

I haven't seen anyone write Dublin off, to be honest. Some have said they're off the pace, which isn't the same as being written off, but on the other hand, Seán Óg de Paor tipped them to win the thing, which surprised me slightly. So did someone else on the radio recently, but I can't quite remember who it was. Don't worry about it Tayto, we'll be hearing plenty about Dublin yet.

Best of luck in the election, by the way.

 

However we have, i believe plenty of players to fill full forward.

You might name them a Ghaeilgeoir. I thought Mayo have been struggling to find a full-foward since Jimmy Burke's day.

Is Paul Clancy back in action for Galway? He was massive for them against Mayo two years ago in Salthill.

"Buailte go h-ard agus ... BUAILTE GO CRINN!" is one of Mícheál Ó Sé's classics, go maire sé an céad.

didnt want to resort to mud slinging or cheap slaggin but is it any wonder Armagh are one of the most hated counties about.

Bejapers but I wonder what you'd come up with if you did resort to mud slinging or cheap slaggin. 

Oh, and someone was looking for a Mayo nominee for this. I nominate John Finn, of course.

The Lone Shark works for Ladbrokes. http://www.ladbrokes.com.

What an astonishing amount of bets he's put up there. I think he deserves a lot of support. Are any of these available in the shops Lone Shark? Online betting has its pluses of course, but the shops for the atmosphere and cameraderie always.

Jack O'Connor had some interesting thoughts on the League Final in yesterday's Irish Times. From what he's saying, if the playing surface isn't looked at, teams will need two Championship game plans, one for games in Croker and one for games at any other pitch in the country.

I do think it's interesting, however, that Mayo players had more trouble with the surface than Donegal. Is that just bias on my part, or has there been a revolution in Donegal in the cobbler's trade?



http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2007/0425/1177280209602.html

Win can help slake Donegal thirst

Wed, Apr 25, 2007

Jack O'Connor's column:Former Kerry manager Jack O'Connorlooks at the tactical and psychological implications of last Sunday's league final

There's been a fair number of stories over the past few years about Donegal players bonding over the black stuff. They will have discovered something on Sunday though. Winning a big match in Croke Park is the best way of all to bond. The celebrations after the game showed how much it meant to them.

For Mayo now the season is more than anything a test of mental fortitude. Another big final lost and they have to overcome the grief of defeat and take the positives out of the game.

They showed great heart in hanging in there, although Donegal were the better team. They have to remember too that Donegal were at full strength; and with Ronan McGarrity, Trevor Mortimer, David Brady and Ciarán McDonald, Mayo would be a significantly better side.

If McDonald comes back and is right I would play him inside at full forward. He has the strength to win ball in there and Mayo need that.

Andy Moran had a fantastic game on Sunday, seeing off three different markers, but I am convinced that Conor Mortimer needs a playmaker to get him motoring. It isn't happening for him from play at the moment.

Ger Brady had one of those days on Sunday too where nothing went right for him. I felt he would have been relieved to get the call to come ashore. It was obvious from early on that he had lost his confidence. When that happens you are as well getting a fella out of the firing line.

At least the above seemed obvious from high in the stand; maybe it was not so glaringly obvious from ground level. Where I was sitting it struck me, looking at the good football men doing the stats for both sides nearby, that sometimes their expertise might be better used just for simple football stuff like that.

It comes down to players at the end of the day. They are playing well or playing badly and no amount of stats will camouflage or alter that.

Mayo still have a share of problems. They withdrew their full back early on. Not a good sign. And they would also benefit from swapping David Heaney and Billy Joe Padden. Somehow, Padden doesn't look quite right at number six but Heaney could do the job at centre back. Inside, Keith Higgins has improved. And Enda Devenney looks useful at wing back.

The big challenge now for John O'Mahony is to keep his side believing in the Republican mantra: "Tiocfaidh ar lá."

As for Donegal, they look like a team on the up. They have at least nine forwards for six positions, a great situation for a manager and the only language players really understand.

When Donegal brought on subs on Sunday they weren't just giving them a run, they strengthened the team each time. That the three subs scored in injury time proved that.

Brendan Devenney and Colm McFadden are very good players but they play like individuals. When they develop as a partnership - like Clarke and McDonnell or Donaghy and Gooch - they will do serious damage. The potential is there because McFadden is big and that allows Donegal the option of the early ball with Devenney floating around working off him.

The high ball in the modern game unnerves backs more than anything else. They all have pace nowadays and they all like coming on to the ball played in front of them. Donegal now have that option.

They have weaknesses at the back though. Thanks to their riches in the forward lines, they could move Christy Toye to midfield for his pace and athleticism and push Kevin Cassidy to the half-back line. Cassidy is solid and strong but doesn't look like a bona fide midfielder.

The real problems are, however, in the full-back line, where Andy Moran made hay on Sunday. Paddy Campbell wasn't bothered with him and Neil McGee was also withdrawn off him.

When Kieran Donaghy was on the field against Donegal in Letterkenny Kerry scored freely.

Brian McIver's slogan for the month ahead is clear: "A lot done, more to do." He is in a great position though. He virtually sacrificed last year by showing a couple of players the road in order to impose his style and his discipline on the team.

The prospect of Armagh coming to town and McIver's experiences of that side will combine to keep the lid on the players.

People might say they showed their hand a little early by winning the league. I don't believe that. The confidence they gained on Sunday will outweigh that factor easily.

'And another thing . . .'

That old chestnut about the Croke Park surface came up for roasting again at the weekend. You don't like to be too tough about it. Those in charge of the pitch are, you might say, caught between a rock and a hard place. They have to find a balance between playability and durability.

With players going out there you'd be basically advising them to wear the six studs. With Kerry over the last few years one man who wouldn't wear them for love or money was Mike McCarthy. We'd be looking at Mike wondering if he was going to stay on his feet. He just had this thing that he had to wear the moulded studs. Your heart would be in your mouth every time the ball would go in but Mike being Mike got away with it 99 times out of 100.

One match I remember is the All-Ireland quarter-final against Armagh last year. Seán O'Sullivan hit the deck two or three times early on and I asked what kind of boots he had on. Moulded studs. In the heat of battle I sent Harry O'Neill all around the pitch and into the dressingroom to bring out a pair of six-studded boots.

The Croke Park pitch poses unique problems. Five matches in less than 24 hours at the weekend is a heavy toll so the pitch has to be durable.

The nightmare scenario is a drought followed by a shower before a game. That happened on Sunday before the league final. The players in the two colleges games didn't experience the same problems because the rain stayed away for them. The problems may have been caused by evening dew or the pitch being watered too much. Either way there are difficulties. Sometimes on Sunday the game looked like Bambi on Ice as lads went to ground with nobody near.

You need some nerve now to play in the full-back line in Croke Park on a wet day. One slip and you're dead. You are fine on a straight run but when you have to turn sharply it's trouble. The high ball in Croke Park where full-back lines have to turn is going to be a significant weapon. Defenders are looking at a tough station.

The debate on footwear goes on. But the ground is so hard that no matter what studs you have you won't get grip some days. It's a real issue when players already have enough to worry about on the big day. Long-term the aesthetics of the pitch might have to be sacrificed for playability and pragmatism. It's a wonderful-looking pitch. It holds up with no muck or bog. But maybe we'll have to put up with a little bog for players to get a grip.

Finally, it was a pity to see so many empty seats on Sunday. And it was a chance wasted. The GAA should be encouraging as many kids as possible to attend matches like Sunday's where the place is going to be less than half full anyway. What a possible investment for the future.

There should be free entry for the kids and subsidised transport. Any youngster worth his salt would be hooked straight away by a visit to our theatre of dreams. That's advertising you couldn't buy.

Give kids the incentive to play the games and you've invested in the future.
© 2007 The Irish Times

There's an interview with John Maughan in this morning's Irish Times. I've pasted it below, but I was surprised to see him say that he's never won a national title. Didn't he win the B Championship with Clare in 1991 or 1992?



http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2007/0426/1177280304342.html

Maughan targets elusive national title

Ian O'Riordan

Thu, Apr 26, 2007

"You know I've still never won a national title as manager." It's only when John Maughan volunteers this information that the full meaning of Sunday's National Football League Division Two final is appreciated.

When introduced eight years ago it was seen as a sort of bonus prize on top of promotion, and yet the title has become a respectable honour in itself. When Louth won it in 2000 it was hailed as a major breakthrough, and similarly with Westmeath in 2001 and Monaghan in 2005.

Now Roscommon are in a position to win their first such honour, and for Maughan that would be some consolation for all the other national titles he missed out on when managing Mayo. And if recent finals are anything to go by Sunday's game against Meath, set for Breffni Park, Cavan, will be as hard fought as any competition final this year.

"This is definitely a title well worth chasing," adds Maughan, now in his second year as Roscommon manager, "We'll certainly be going all out to win on Sunday. We've nothing to lose by going all out. Hopefully we can pull it off but of course Meath are going to be very difficult opposition . . . "

Roscommon looked the slightly more impressive team in their semi-final win over Cavan at Croke Park last Saturday, whereas Meath relied on two early goals to get past Monaghan. However, Roscommon's win came with a price as star midfielder Seamus O'Neill went over on his ankle in the final minutes, and is ruled out of Sunday's game.

"That is a big blow for us," admits Maughan, "and a big, strapping player like that is not easily replaced. You always regret not taking him off in that situation, when the game was effectively won, but the important thing now is getting him right for the championship. Thankfully we're not out until June 17th (against either Sligo or New York) so there should be sufficient time for him to make a full recovery.

"It the meantime it looks like we'll also be without centre-half back John Nolan, who has picked up a chest infection. He's actually the third player we'll have lost in that position, but other than that we're not badly off with injuries."

Meath have contested the Division Two final once before, losing to Monaghan in a classic finish two years ago. Trailing by two points going into injury time, Paul Finlay's 35-metre free was somehow directed into the Meath net by their own defender Mark Ward, thus securing a Monaghan victory.

All previous editions of the Division Two final have been extremely close contests: Louth's inaugural win in 2000 was only decided by Simon Gerard's goal, giving them a first national title since the B final three years previous.

Westmeath had only a point to spare over Cork when winning in 2001, and it was only Kerry's four-point win over Laois in 2002 that bucked the trend. When Westmeath won it again in 2003 they also had just the single point to spare over Limerick, and in 2004 Offaly secured a two-point win over Down, allowing Ciarán McManus to collect some winning silverware on the Hogan Stand podium as captain.

After Monaghan's win two years ago, Louth repeated their success with yet another hard-fought win over Donegal, which went to a replay before Louth prevailed by three points.

Division Two success, however, hasn't been easily transferred to the championship. Louth were promptly brought back down to earth last year when losing to Meath in the opening round of the Leinster championship, and similarly with Monaghan, well beaten by Derry in their first Ulster championship march, and also Offaly the year before, losing to Westmeath just a few weeks after collecting their Division Two title.

Meath, meanwhile, are set to include Graham Geraghty in their starting line-up for Sunday's game. Geraghty has been carrying a leg injury in recent weeks but appeared as a second-half substitute in the win over Monaghan, hitting a typically classy point.

Armagh manager Joe Kernan could be dealt another blow in advance of his team's Ulster championship tie against newly-crowned National League champions Donegal on May 27th.

Full back Francie Bellew sustained a knee injury while assisting Crossmaglen Rangers in their opening Armagh League against Clan na Gael. Bellew has undergone a scan and is considered doubtful. Armagh are already without long-term injury victims Ronan Clarke and Brian Mallon.
© 2007 The Irish Times