Saffron positivity

2021 is a crucial year for the Saffrons across all fronts. Obviously the hurlers’ progress will be front and centre as they are going to be playing at the top level of their sport in both the league and championship. That means more excitement, more anticipation and crucially more scrutiny. The question is whether they can handle that. And my prediction is that they will handle it, but handling it and winning aren’t the same thing. In the past the Saffrons have proven that they can get themselves going for the big day of hurling, particularly when they bring the big guns up to Dunloy. However, what I expect is that Gleeson will use the bigger matches against the likes of Kilkenny, Wexford and Clare as testers but it will be the clash with Dublin and Laois where they will focus their efforts in the league. If they can get safety in division one then they can go out and enjoy the championship. In football, promotion is a very likely possibility. They have had three goes at it and missed out narrowly. A new manager, on this occasion Enda McGinley, will give them a bounce. In Camogie, there’s fantastic potential as the Saffrons reached the intermediate final last year. New management Paul McKillen and Jim McKernan can carry on that work.

RONAN SCOTT

I WATCHED the Armagh ladies this year and saw a team breakthrough that should remain at the top for the next few seasons. Ronan Murphy’s side pushed eventual champions Dublin all the way in the semi-final and I think it will be the Orchard county, not Cork, Donegal or Galway, who will be their biggest rival in 2021. The Tir Chonaill county have made mincemeat of Armagh in recent meetings and the physical difference has been massive, but Armagh are making ground. Clodagh McCambridge’s emergence as one of the best full-backs in the country is also massive for a defence that, at times, has been a bit open in recent seasons. Shauna Grey now needs to put her hand up as a specialist sweeper, and she has the tools to do that. Midfield still looks patchy, especially as I think Caroline O’Hanlon may be used in a more advanced role next season, but it’s the attack that will put the fear of God into nearly every team. With Blaithin Mackin coming from deep and feeding bullets to her older sister Aimee, Aoife McCoy’s darting sprints, Kelly Mallon’s ability to win any sort of ball and the underrated contribution of Catherine Marley, this is a frontline with serious ammunition. Alex Clarke, younger sister of Jamie, also looks primed to add a bit of sparkle to this exciting young side.

NIALL MCCOY

Keeping it going

BACK in 1997, Cavan were riding the crest of a wave. Ulster Champions, a fine team and the like. They failed to build on it, but there’s probably an easy answer why – Martin McHugh left the job in the wake of their All-Ireland defeat to Kerry, and his successor Liam Austin wasn’t popular with the players. So if Mickey Graham sticks around for another while, they should at least be able to keep up some of the good work of the last two years. One of the great things about Cavan this year is that they were a real team – everyone did their bit, whether they were subs, young lads, or veterans like Killian Clarke or Killian Brady. It’ll therefore be interesting to see if Dara McVeety and Conor Moynagh will be able to jump straight back into the starting 15 if they do return at some point. Luckily for them, they’ve been handed a reprieve from the All-Ireland ‘B’ competition as they won the Ulster Championship, while they’ll still have to duke it out in Division Three after being relegated. It’s hard to see them winning Ulster again as their cards have most definitely been marked, but they should be competitive anyway.

NIALL GARTLAND

Derry development

RECENTLY Kieran McKeever told this publication that Derry are measuring success in the quality of their coaching rather than the size of their trophy cabinet. That is an analysis that was voiced by Stephen Barker, the county chairman at the Oak Leaf AGM. So there will be no predictions of great glorious wins at intercounty level here. Instead, the prediction for Derry is one of development. And in particular it is the development of an attacking strategy. Rory Gallagher appears to have created a solid defensive base to work from. They had one of the very best defensive records this year, conceding 13 points on average in the league. The only teams with a better record played less games owing to postponements. What 2021 will bring will be a development of how the team transition the ball, and how they utilise Conor Glass who returned from Australia, and their star forward Shane McGuigan. In hurling, Derry should get a bump with the appointment of new management and they also will use the hurt from losing out to Down last year to drive them on to success.

RONAN SCOTT

Donegal response

THERE’S hurt in Donegal this year. Deep frustration. The conclusion that many have taken from the Ulster final was that Donegal creaked under the pressure and their weakness was shown. I don’t think that’s entirely fair. For long periods of that match Donegal played very well and were in control of the game. What they came up against was a team that would not give up, and who fought hard until they got the breaks that they needed to win. That game will define Donegal’s 2021. The Donegal team will carry that defeat in their hearts until they can get back onto the field and prove that they are not a waning force. And it is going to be scary when they do. The response will be a lot like what happened when Monaghan beat Donegal in the 2013 decider, stopping their bid for three in a row. The Donegal men returned the following year and put Monaghan to the sword. Cavan had best be warned. In hurling, Donegal can certainly build on the good progress of 2020. They beat Armagh in the league final to get promotion to Division 2B, so things can only get better. In ladies football, the quality is still there. Glenfin beat Termon in the senior championship in Donegal and so many of those players are ready to feed into the county team. They will only get better this year.

RONAN SCOTT

Down will battle to

avoid Taitleann Cup

THE news that the Taitleann Cup places are going to be decided after the National League is bad for Paddy Tally’s Down side. It really leaves little room for error. The Mourne county are expected to face Mayo, Meath and Westmeath in their three games and finishing in the bottom two would see them into the Division Two relegation matches against one of Clare, Kildare, Laois or Cork. If you were to rank the four teams in their section Mayo would be clearly out in front, Meath would just edge Down while they are probably ahead of Westmeath. It could all come down to that match with the Royal county and the stakes could be huge. The winner could be looking at Division One, the loser Division Three and the Taitleann Cup – depending on how the Ulster Championship would go later in the season. I think Down will finish in the bottom two, but I also think they have the ability to survive in the relegation play-offs. No matter what side they would face there, it would be a difficult ask, but it’s a young team emerging with a lot of energy in their ranks. The likes of Liam Kerr and Daniel Guinness add a few more options, and with Caolan Mooney in top form, they should be okay. It could be a hairy start to the inter-county season for them though.

NIALL MCCOY

Stormy waters

If there’s one thing Fermanagh can do without, it’s losing a rake of their top players. So it will be massively concerning for Fermanagh fans to learn that Ryan and Conall Jones and Tomas and Ruairi Corrigan haven’t been involved in the pre-season. It would be hard to overestimate the potential problem here: they were so reliant on Tomas Corrigan, for example, to lead the way up front in their ill-fated Ulster Championship clash against Down. They’ve a few other absentees at present – Sean Quigley sat this year out, Ultan Kelm has struggled with injury, and Che Cullen isn’t able to commit at the moment. Manager Ryan McMenamin must be wondering what on earth he can do to rectify things, but the league is still two months away, and there’s a chance he can coax a few of the players back into the fold. Expectations will be fairly low whatever happens, so maybe it’s for the best that they were relegated into Division Three. The important thing next season is that they avoid a further relegation, as that really would send alarm bells ringing.

NIALL GARTLAND

Farney to bounce back

ANYONE who knows Steven Poacher knows that he likes to talk….a lot. I would be in regular contact with the Down man about coaching and different things, and the one man he has raved about over the years has been Donie Buckley. The highly-rated coach, who has been with Mayo and Kerry previously, has been added to Seamus McEnaney’s backroom team after Conor Laverty left to take the Down u-20 job. Monaghan need a spark because they have been drifting in the championship over the last few seasons. Since narrowly losing to Tyrone in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final, they have lost to Cavan twice, were well beaten by Armagh with a sketchy win over Fermanagh in the Qualifiers the only victory in that time. We had been used to Monaghan being at the tail-end of the championship for the five or six seasons before that so it has been a surprise to see them wilt a bit. It is, wisdom would perceive, a team with a lot of miles on the clock, but it is still a team with buckets of quality. Gaelic Life understands that Jim McGuinness was another possible name suggested as Laverty’s replacement, but it’s Buckley who will take up the role. He can breathe new life into this side as they aim to get back on the horse.

NIALL MCCOY

A new era

I don’t know whether Tyrone will fare much better in the coming years under their new management, though I’m certainly hoping so. What I do expect is change, lots and lots of change. First of all, Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher will be keen to put their own stamp on things. Second of all, it looks like the panel is undergoing a drastic shake-up, and thirdly, it’s all set up for Tyrone to play a different brand of football anyway as Cathal McShane and Conor McKenna have the potential to form a deadly partnership up front. Sadly, it’ll be the end of an era for a few players as it’s understood there’s already been cuts after recent trials were held at Garvaghey. From a Tyrone perspective, 2021 should be pretty fascinating, though the lack of a pre-season may count against the team given the amount of changes on the panel. It’ll be interesting to see if Logan and Dooher can keep everyone happy as it seems like there’s going to be a lot of tricky forwards on the team – Lee Brennan, Darragh Canavan, Connor McAliskey and Darren McCurry etc. Midfield is an area of concern and it was interesting to learn that they trialled Niall Morgan at midfield in recent in-house games. In terms of my overall prediction, I’m not expecting miracles in the league but they should come together nicely in the championship.

NIALL GARTLAND