BRIAN MCENIFF COLUMN: Big gap in standard with one-sided provincial finals

We have just over a week to go until Donegal are back in action and there is very little news coming out from the camp. I’m told that they had a challenge match with Fermanagh last weekend in Enniskillen but nobody can tell me any details surrounding it. That seems to be the way with the intercounty scene now, everything is kept in-house.

What we saw last weekend was the huge gap that exists between the top teams and the rest in the championship with big margins of victory in the Munster and Connacht senior championship finals

Donegal will face Clare on Saturday week with a 2 p.m. throw-in in Cusack Park in Ennis. Clare got a bit of a tanking against Kerry in the Munster final. They were beaten by 15 points but also missed a couple of goals.  However, Kerry were super.

With Clare, it is a reflection of football at the minute. They have been relegated to Division 3, while Sligo seniors, who were recently promoted from Division 4, got a similar tanking from Galway in the Connacht senior final in Castlebar. There was 14 points between these two sides at the finish with a very good Galway side on top.

Now we are into the All-Ireland series with four groups of four teams and each team will play three games and at the end of that only four teams will be dropped - the bottom team in each group. The second and third teams in the groups will then play-off.

If they were looking at the thing seriously only the top two should be going forward. The way it is looking at the moment, there is not going to be that much excitement in the games coming up. There will be a few big games  like Kerry v Mayo and Galway v Tyrone but even if a team loses, they can still recover and be a contender late in the season. It looks like there will be games that are akin to dead rubber games with very little excitement.

But going back to the provincial finals on Sunday, I was most impressed with the two teams, Galway and Kerry, in the way they won their provincial titles. There is no doubt that they will be in the final shakedown.  Galway have come along from last year and Kerry are as sharp as ever. It is hard to see past them at the minute. They will be there or thereabouts.

They are two well oiled machines. It was sad really for Clare and Sligo. Sligo had only come up from Division 4. I would like to congratulate them on winning the All-Ireland U-20 semi-final. That was a great success. They have been building there for several years. It is a good return for a small county.

I was looking at that Kildare side who they will meet in the final this Saturday. I have seen them a couple of times now on the TV. They got the better of Down in a close game in the other semi-final. It’s a good county, Kildare. There are a lot of good quality clubs in that county. They always produced tall, rangy footballers in Kildare. They beat Dublin in Leinster and I was watching that game.

A turbulent period but Donegal simply have to find a response in Clare - McLoone

The Naomh Conaill man acknowledges that the team is up against it in terms of results. But, he insists, it would be wrong for supporters to completely throw in the towel on them

SUNDAY GAME

I was watching the Sunday Game last weekend and I have to say I agree with the sentiments expressed by the two hurling analysts Donal Óg Cusack and Jackie Tyrrell on head high tackles and GAAGO

These head high tackles in hurling have to be wiped out. Red cards should be issued right away and no second chance. There is no point in referees opting out and giving them yellow cards.

There was an instance in the All-Ireland U-20 football semi-final on Saturday in Pearse Stadium when a Kerry player was shown red for a very high and dangerous tackle on a Sligo player.  It was the correct decision and I think our own referee, Enda McFeely, was the linesman involved and should be complimented for it. That was a red card incident and it was dealt with properly.

On the GAAGO issue, and the fact that some of the most high profile games in recent weeks have not been available to the ordinary punter, that has to be dealt with. The better games have to be made available free to air, especially those hurling games in Munster. The recent Clare v Limerick encounter and last weekend’s Cork v Tipperary games were not freely available and that is a shame. That was a cracking match which ended in a draw.

I did avail of seeing those games on GAAGO myself and there was an overall price at the beginning of the year which works out quite cheap. But at the same time it is important to make the big games available. There needs to be more information available about it and the GAA will have to be more proactive in making sure that the big games are available. A few tweaks could help.

LOCAL LEAGUES

I have not seen any league tables recently and it would good to have them in print, but there were some good games last weekend close to home. I was at the Bundoran and Ballyshannon games with one of them on Saturday and the other on Sunday and they were very enjoyable.

On Sunday I went into Ballyshannon to see the locals. Gaoth Dobhair were undefeated before Sunday and lost that record. That’s not a bad Ballyshannon side. Gaoth Dobhair weren’t tuned in in the first half but Ballyshannon played with a good intensity and a good bit of flair as well.

Bundoran gave Glenties a good game on Saturday evening. That’s a young Bundoran team, and considering that Glenties had three of the All-Ireland winning team playing, it was a good contest. They are an experienced side, and are better than Bundoran but they battled.

You know rightly who the top four or five teams are and who are in the rest really. That’s a problem. Ballyshannon have elevated themselves into the top table now. But they lack a wee bit of leadership on the pitch.

Good luck this weekend to the minors who play Cavan on Saturday evening and need a win to stay in the Ulster championship. Good luck also to our hurlers who will be hoping to remain unbeaten when they take on Wicklow in Letterkenny.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell