LAST weekend in the championship we saw Derrygonnelly toppled from their throne by Ederney. In Galway the mighty Corofin, whom Joe Brolly seems to consider as the perfect football team, were toppled from their perch. Dungannon ended their long championship drought this year as well. For those of us who need to draw a conclusion quickly in order to fill some column inches, one might be tempted to suggest that shorter seasons benefit the underdog. Yet at the same time, we still had the likes of Cargin winning in Antrim, and this weekend big guns Sleacht Néill take on defending champions Magherafelt in Derry. While over in Donegal, the champions Naomh Conaill are up against the mighty Kilcar with all their stars. So has the shortened season really benefitted the smaller sides?

RONAN SCOTT

I WAS reading Gaelic Life last Thursday and Ronan Scott’s interview with Ciaran Clifford caught my eye. The Armagh defender was chatting ahead of Cuchulainn’s ultimately unsuccessful Armagh SHC title bid against Middletown. Clifford spoke about how John Toner, who guided Armagh Harps to the football title a few years ago, was in charge and doing a really good job. It’s not something we hear about too regularly, but maybe the skills between being a football manager and a hurling manager are more transferable than we realise. In 1997 Frank Dawson was named as Down’s new hurling manager and years later he would take the Antrim footballers. Oisin McConville has also worked with the Laois hurlers, although more on the motivation side of things. I could see that man going well with a hurl, mind you.

NIALL MCCOY

BALLYBODEN’S James McCarthy said that the reason they won their first Dublin title since 2015 was because they approached this year a lot differently. With the truncated season, there was a lot less time spent analysing their opponents and more time enjoying playing football. But it did get me thinking – it does seem to be the year of the underdog (if you can call Ballymun that). Dungannon came up trumps in Tyrone, Ederney did likewise in Fermanagh, and Kingscourt and Crosserlough knocked out the heavy-hitters Cavan Gaels and Castlerahan en route to the Cavan final. Kingscourt boss David Lennon says the players felt slighted by a pre-championship preview which placed them eighth in the pecking order, and the events of the last month or two suggests that it’s hunger that separates the wheat from the chaff.

NIALL GARTLAND

DID you see David Clifford’s thunderbolt while playing for East Kerry at the weekend? The goalie barely had time to blink as he unleashed an amazing shot from 20 yards with his ‘weaker’ foot, and I doubt there’s any other player in the country that would even have had the audacity to try it. However, I’ve often seen talk online that he’s set to become the greatest player of all time, and it’s way, way too early for that. He has the talent, but who knows what way his career will pan out – he may end up hampered by injury, he may lose motivation, Dublin may continue to rule the roost. The signs are definitely good as he’s excelled in his couple of years out of the minor ranks, but it’s still early days really.

NIALL GARTLAND

LAST week’s big interview with Rory Woods reminded me just how class a player he was. He was the type of lad who was always going to put on a big performance, and who you watched just to see how he could take hold of a game. There was a pang of disappointment in me that he didn’t achieve more. He really should have played football for a lot longer. However, what I took away from the interview was that he enjoyed the banter. He said that his favourite memories were sitting in the changing room with his team-mates having the craic. To further that thought, when we put the story out on social media we were hit with some suggestions as to how much craic Rory had been in America. Further proof that football isn’t just about winning.

RONAN SCOTT

ONE of the greatest things about last weekend’s club action was the countless stories about some, ahem, experienced players finally reaching the Promised Land. Let’s take some former county men. 39-year-old Martin McGrath finally got his hands on a senior medal with Ederney while Barry Shannon, a few weeks shy of turning 40, collected his first championship title as Forkhill won the Armagh Junior crown. Louth had a couple of tales as Aaron Hoey, aged 43, tasted championship success for the first time with a late point putting the cap on St Bride’s first-ever Intermediate crown. JP Rooney, another Wee county veteran, also won a first Senior title at 41 as Naomh Mairtin, managed by Silverbridge man Fergal Reel, won the Senior competition.

NIALL MCCOY