HARD LINES…Kevin Cassidy wasn’t arguing with the decision, but he felt sympathy for Neil McGee

I GUESS you could say that after four or five weeks of competitive matches, it’s only now that the games are beginning to heat up a little.

Up until this point games have been so predictable that the results of most games were inevitable, and the only uncertainty was the margin of victory.

Cork’s defeat by Tipperary last weekend was the only real upset and if I’m honest I would even question if it was an upset.

Granted Tipp’ haven’t beaten Cork in a lifetime but Cork have been so poor over the past number of years that if no other team in Munster apart from Kerry were able to take advantage of this, then you would have to ask yourself why on earth the other teams in that province even bother.

Here in Ulster last weekend Donegal dismantled Fermanagh with relative ease, I said here last week that in order for Fermanagh to beat Donegal they would need two goals.

Now they did have two great chances but their forwards simply weren’t clinical enough to make those chances count, meaning Donegal ran out comfortable winners in the end.

The main talking point was Neil McGee’s sending off. Neil will be a massive loss for the rest of Donegal’s Ulster campaign. I’m not standing up for Neil as you simply can’t do that and expect to get away with it but that doesn’t mean that I don’t sympathise with him.

I’ve played alongside Neil for the best part of 15 years and to understand last weekend’s moment of madness you need to understand how he plays. Neil plays on the edge and he relishes the physical nature of our game. I’ve seen him burst out of defence like that a thousand times but the only difference this week was that his arm was slightly higher than normal, meaning he connected with young Corrigan’s jaw and he left the referee with no option.

Neil will dust himself down and do all he can to drive his teammates on but my fear is that by the time his suspension has been served serious damage may have been inflicted upon Donegal’s season.
With the leaser teams being swatted away like an annoying midgie on a summer’s evening, it’s now time for the teams with serious aspirations to step up to the plate.

From here on in games will be harder to call and the bounce of the ball could decide them and that for me is the real Championship action.

This weekend the young pretenders Cavan lock horns with Tyrone which should be a fantastic contest. Both teams must surely have serious ambitions for the summer ahead so this game will tell us a lot about them both.

Cavan must step up to the mark this year more than ever, they have had their underage success so it’s now time for those boys to become men. This never comes easy and to get over the line and make a real impact this year they are going to have to overcome a vibrant Tyrone team and then a dogged, battle-hardened Monaghan or Donegal, not an easy feat but then again winning and creating a legacy never is.

They need to show tremendous mental and physical strength, should they get a run on Tyrone they need to show that mental steel to see it through and take the scalp.

Should they fail, and fail miserably like other years, then those young lads’ confidence will be shattered and they could end up being one of those annoying midges that the bigger teams just swish out of their way.

With both Monaghan and Donegal perhaps moving past their sell by date, then after this season there will be an opportunity for one of these two teams to rule supreme for the next few years in Ulster.
The smart money would be on Tyrone to kick on and carry that baton but those young Cavan men will have those ambitions as well.

Having looked at both teams in their last outings you would have to say that Tyrone look a step or two ahead at this moment in time.

I’m not sure Cian Mackey and Sennie Johnston will get to enjoy the same amount of room which the Armagh defence afforded them and things could be a little more claustrophobic in their on Sunday.

For that reason I’m going to go with Tyrone by four but at least this week there is a little hesitation before you can make a prediction.
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