Can You Feel it?

The 125th running of the All-Ireland Championship is underway, and in the picture below you can see how the GAA officially launched this year's competitions; by bringing a few high-profile captains (last year's provincial winners and Tyrone by the looks of it) together to don 1884 get-up.

How authentic it was too. Brian Dooher, Graham Canty and the like in their vintage rig-outs, dust caps, and Puma Kings.

With the pristine, modern stands of Croke Park providing an almost anachronistic backdrop, perhaps the GAA were trying to remind us once more about how far the Association has come since its 19th century inception. Perhaps the thought never even crossed their minds.

Either way it hardly matters, because the action starts for real this weekend; that's if we're prepared to forget about the New York v Mayo charade last Sunday. And with it takes place that most notorious of rounds in the most demanding provinical competition: The Ulster SFC preliminary round.

What a horrible place in which to find yourself.

As if the prospect of three rounds in Ulster wasn't bad enough (although Derry supporters have forgotten what even that might be like), a fourth makes winning the title a near impossibility. Over the last half-century only Armagh (in 2005) have managed to win the Ulster crown after having been drawn in the preliminary round.

Thankfully Derry have managed to avoid preliminary participation this year. That fate belongs to Down and Fermanagh and it's a difficult game to call.

Fermanagh recieved rave reviews during last year's Championship and they came close to winning the Ulster title. But they didn't quite manage it, and when looking beyond the hype, it's very hard to get excited about Malachy O'Rourke's side. They played five games in total during last season's campaign... they won two.

Creeping past a rudderless Derry in the Ulster semi-final was as good as it got for the Ernemen, with all their problems exposed in an awful display in Croke Park against Kildare.

A misfiring forward line was their achilles heel throughout 2008, and they don't seem to have rectified the problem. They suffered a terrible NFL campaign in Division 2, collecting only three points, and achieving relegation in the process. O'Rourke looks to have contracted a case of 'second-season syndrome', but the first season wasn't even anything special.

Down's 2008 season came pretty close to mirroring Fermanagh's. A promising Ulster campaign started with a surprise first round victory against Tyrone, but just like the Ernemen, their provincial challenge was ended by Armagh, before a weak performance in Croke Park against Leinster opposition (Wexford) ended their summer.

If Fermanagh's problems lie mainly in attack, then Down's lie primarily in defence, part of the reason why they succumbed to Tipperary in the recent NFL Division 3 Final, and also why they are unlikely to still be in the Championship hunt come late summer.

It all adds up to make this a 50/50 game on Sunday. I.e. don't rush to the bookies for this one. Both teams have big problems, but if gun was put to my head I'd possibly fancy Down to shade it.

Fermanagh will miss Ryan McCloskey (who was the rock on which their defence was formed last season), and with Barry Owens out they are weakened in this area. Up front meanwhile, they risk starting with two newcomers in a hopeful attempt to boost their scoring power.

Down boast more firepower with Daniel Hughes and Paul McComiskey impressing in the forward-line, while Benny Coulter's possible appearance could add further strength to this area. They should get the scores required to win the game.

It isn't an entirely exciting prospect at Brewster Park, but despite the weaknesses and inconsistencies of both sides, don't be surprised to see Sunday's winner in this year's Ulster Final (as they fall into the weaker side of the Ulster SFC draw).

However, history will be against them if they get there.

All the Manager's Men

The following is Derry's 35-man Senior Football Championship panel announced this week by manager Damian Cassidy:

Goalkeepers: Shane McGuckian, Barry Gillis, John Deighan

Defenders: Sean Martin Lockhart, Kevin McGuckian, Dermot McBride, Niall McCusker, Kevin McCloy, Carlos McWilliams, Joe Keenan, Gerard O'Kane, Brian Óg McAlary, Chrissy McKaigue, Paul Carton, Barry McGoldrick, Sean Leo McGoldrick

Midfielders: Patsy Bradley, Fergal Doherty, Joe Diver, James Conway, Enda Muldoon

Forwards: Gavin McShane, Paul Murphy, Enda Lynn, Brian Mullan, Paul Young, Barry McGuigan, James Kielt, Cailin O'Boyle, Eoghan Brown, Eoin Bradley, Mark Lynch, Seamus Bradley, Paddy Bradley, Danny Mulholland

Fergal Doherty will captain the squad, while vice-Captain Niall McCusker will miss the Ulster SFC opener against Monaghan after undergoing groin surgery this week.

Newcomers to the panel are Gavin McShane, who played McKenna Cup football for Derry earlier in the season; Danny Mulholland, who played in the same competition for UUJ; and Cailin O'Boyle and Carlos McWilliams, who both played in Derry's 2007 Minor side.

Taking the Ring-road

It's getting harder and harder to make sense of GAA competitions these days, what with back-doors and round-robins, and trap-doors and all the rest of it. At least Santa Claus has the decency to go down the chimney.

It's got to the stage that even when watching BBC's The Apprentice, I'm half expecting the losing candidate to appear in some sort of loser's round on BBC Four the following Saturday night, with the winner appearing at the quarter-final stage. If there was one. But no. When Alan Sugar says "You're fired!", that's the end of the road.

And rightly so. Some of our competitions could pay notice.

Anyway, I digress. If any of you are still reading I'll cut a long story short. Even though they suffered a four-point defeat to Down last Saturday, Derry's hurlers are still well and truly in this year's Christy Ring Cup. A win against Wicklow this weekend will qualify them for a quarter-final.

Sam Dodds amassed a personal tally of 0-17, but his side still came up short against the Mournemen, who were unable to field for a friendly against Limerick just a week before!

The Oakleafers had a convincing 18-point victory over Wicklow in the NHL back in March, and will be confident of repeating a similar feat at Banagher this Saturday. A win could even set up a rematch with Down in the last-eight, if Down manage to get beat by Kerry in their Round 2 game.

Make sense?

Hell's Garden

Wicklow football has always had the reputation of having a particularly physical breed of the club game, but this weekend it decided to take the biscuit once and for all.

Six players were sent off after what the Irish Independent describes as a "vicious brawl" (and also - with gross understatement - as an "unseemly fracas"!) between Rathnew and Stratford, ten minutes from the end of a Senior league game. A Stratford player ended up hospitalised after being knocked out, while a Rathnew player lost two teeth. A 'witness' speaks:

"It was one of the worst incidents I have seen at a match in a long time, with punches flying in from all sides and angles. Blood was spilled as the fighting spread from the '45 to the 14-metre line and it lasted for several minutes."

When the fighting finally ground to a halt, three players from Stratford and two more from Rathnew were lying prostrate on the ground. The game took 25 minutes to restart after two ambulances had been and gone, and three players from each side were sent off.

How or why the referee didn't abandon this game is beyond me!

The Wicklow County Board will launch an investigation into the brawl after they receive the referee's match report. He's probably still writing it.

Incidentally, Stratford ended up winning the game by seven points against the eleven-men of Rathnew, who had a player sent off earlier in the game.

Black-book Black-balled

Without the merest hint of a warning, the GAA announced at the tail end of last week that it has decided to discontinue the practice of referees showing the black book to players. This will take immediate effect.

"In future referees will inform a player who has committed a 'Noting/Ticking' infraction that his number has been recorded and that a repeat offence will earn the player in question a yellow card. The only change arising from this decision is that referees will no longer display the black book to players meaning play will no longer be stopped to allow for this practice."

There'll be no more phrases like "he's got the black book", or "he's only ticked him", or (my personal favourite) "he's on a black tick" (whatever that's supposed to mean?!) heard in the stands and terraces.

And there is a serious gripe to be had with this so-called "procedural change". How the hell are the good, paying spectators in the stands, and those sitting comfortably watching on TV, going to know if or when a player has been ticked?

It reminds me of the good old days, before even yellow and red cards had been introduced to the playing fields of football and hurling. The offending player's name would be taken as a caution, and if they were to be sent-off the referee pointed to the line. It was a guessing match most of the time for spectators, and even players had difficulty knowing what the referee had just done. Sure poor Charlie Redmond didn't know if he was coming or going!

Removing the black-book seems like a needless change from the GAA. Referees actions are difficult enough to interpret at the best of times; this will only serve to put fans (and even players) further in the dark.

Start Spreading the News

Poor Mayo. John O'Mahony is having a torrid time this week trying to get his team ready for the opening round of the Championship.

Apparently, the Championship starts this weekend (though most of us should be forgiven if we have failed to notice the fact that Mayo are taking on New York this Sunday in the Connacht SFC).

And Mayo are struggling. There's lads doing exams, and there's a number of injuries. The team picked to face New York shows eight changes from Mayo's last championship game and contains four SFC debutants. In Friday's Irish Independent O'Mahony sounded worried:

"It shows how many young players we have in our squad. The New York game has come right in middle of exams, which is far from ideal. It's very demanding on the lads."

Speaking over a week ago the Fine Gael TD was equally optimistic:

"It will be important we don’t pick up any injuries as we won’t want to be stretched any further. Taking New York for granted would be very foolish."

Wake up and smell the Starbucks John... you're playing New York!

I'm reluctant to start into the usual northern complaint about Ulster teams having to negotiate through the quagmire of quicksand that is the Ulster SFC, but with Derry facing Monaghan, Tyrone playing Armagh and the coin-flipping outcome that Fermanagh and Down will produce (in a preliminary round!!), facing New York should be no more difficult than a stroll through Central Park.

It's another argument for another day (and Paddy Heaney had that day a few weeks ago in his 'Against the Breeze' column in the Irish News) but it highlights once more, the deficiencies in our Championship system. The disparities between the provinces. Galway and Mayo in Connacht, and Cork and Kerry in Munster are in the fast-track queue to the All-Ireland quarter-final.

O'Mahony and Mayo should be delighted with an early summer break Stateside. The rest of us are getting the waders out.

Shock Absorbers

They may have suffered defeats in the first round of the Derry SFC, but last year's finalists Ballinderry and Slaughtneil will still have a major say in the outcome of this year's competition.

And it's all thanks to the new back-door system. There was some opposition across Derry to the new championship format, but it's bound to have found a few new friends after the weekend's results.

Lavey caused the biggest surprise by securing a 1-09 to 0-10 victory over current holders and pre-championship favourites Ballinderry, while Swatragh also had two points to spare in their 2-05 to 0-09 win over local rivals Slaughtneil.

Coleraine came close to causing a third major upset, but they lost out by a single point to Bellaghy (0-10 to 1-06). Ballinascreen were impressive in their demolition of Castledawson (2-13 to 0-07), while Newbridge, Dungiven, Kilrea and Glenullin also registered victories.

The eight clubs who lost their first round games, must win two successive games to reach the last eight. The first round winners hold the advantage of getting two bites at the quarter-final cherry.

But the Shamrocks and Slaughtneil will still fancy their chances. The back-door draw has pitted them against Banagher and Coleraine respectively; games that should help them get their championship aspirations back on track. In fact, Ballinderry still assume favouritism (6/4) for the Derry SFC. This alone provides a clear indication of how little the first round defeat is likely to affect them.

Meanwhile, in the secound round 'winners' draw, Lavey have been rewarded with a game against Bellaghy while Swatragh will meet Glenullin.