THE Antrim hurlers are having their best season in some time, and it’s no coincidence that they have real strength-in-depth in their panel. They’ve coped without Neil McManus, who was injured, and they were able to rest Joe Maskey at the weekend. They’ve tended to flatter to deceive a bit in recent years but they’re really pushing hard and having that competition for places must be a God-send for their manager Darren Gleeson, who too deserves a lot of credit. It’s probably why Dublin never appear to lose motivation either –  so many top players are duking it out for other top players for a place in the panel, let alone the starting 15.

NIALL GARTLAND

GOOD news this week as full panels will be allowed in for the conclusion of the various championships as Ireland moves back to Level three. I think the GAA need to go further, especially as most finals will now be played in Croke Park. I propose that every player and coach on a panel should be issued two tickets to give to parents, partners, friends, whatever. This would still lead to a couple of hundred maximum in an 82,000 capacity stadium. You could come and go to the game barely meeting a sinner. Given what the county game has given us in this most difficult of seasons, it would be a nice reward for the players.

NIALL MCCOY

ANYONE who follows my inane ramblings on Twitter will know that I often give off about the low quality of goal shooting in Gaelic football. It is the one thing that doesn’t compute for me. Never has our game been in a better place in terms of skill, but the majority of shots at goal seem to be a case of blast it and see how it goes. There are a few exceptions. Dublin’s shooting for goals during their dominance stands out a mile, while players like Jamie Clarke, David Clifford and Jamie Brennan seem to have it down to a tee. Step forward Aimee Mackin. I have been watching the Armagh player for years and the standard of her goal-taking is amazing. Her latest against Dublin was a ‘Mugsy’ special and she has a fantastic range of strikes. Her soccer background shows in a lot of her three-pointers, and a lot of male footballers could study her for technique.

NIALL MCCOY

IT’S not quite a communist revolution, but it was interesting to hear Feargal Logan espouse the power of the collective in last Wednesday night’s press conference at Garvaghey. Joint-managers Logan and Brian Dooher are flanked by three men of similar stature in their backroom team – Collie Holmes, Joe McMahon and Peter Donnelly – so it’ll be fascinating to see how they work together as a group. Logan says there’ll be no hierarchy, even though he accepts the buck stops with him and Brian, so it’ll be a fair change from the obvious hierarchy that existed when Mickey Harte was in charge. Harte brought great success to Tyrone, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat (and the radical socialist in me is as excited as a wean  at Christmas).

NIALL GARTLAND

I READ Jim McGuinness’s Irish Times piece which suggested that the championship could be saved. In the piece, one of the things suggested was to level the financial playing field. The argument about finances tends to paint Dublin as having an unfair advantage. I’m not bought by the ‘finance’ argument as  putting the Dubs ahead of everyone else, but I accept those who hold that argument close to their bosom. What I would say is that finances aren’t the only area that could be levelled. One aspect that I think would be great to level is preparation. If county teams have different lengths of preparation some will have an advantage over others. The way to create a preparation window was proven this year. It is simply to halt all county training until club championship ends.

RONAN SCOTT

COULD  Derry city become a stronghold of GAA? It seems like a fanciful  idea. The city is better known for soccer. The Irish team has a rake of lads from the Maiden City. But the county GAA team has none. It’s a stark statistic. Yet at the same time, take a look at Antrim. They have plenty of county footballers from Belfast, yet the Saffrons are still a Division Four team. Perhaps that’s missing the point. GAA is not about trophies, it’s about participation. And for the Association to grow and prosper it needs its numbers to grow across Ireland. In order for Derry to succeed the clubs who are doing work there need to get support so they can increase their numbers. That’s the plan that’s in place, and it’s notable that the county board see success as the game flourishing in the city more than it does trophies.

RONAN SCOTT