Mac’s View: Draw has been kind to Donegal for once

For once, the championship draw was good to Donegal after drawing Cork in Tuesday morning’s draw on Morning Ireland on RTE Radio One.

It was good because of the home draw, which is brilliant to get, especially after the long trek to Killarney for the now infamous clash with Kerry.

I bet all Donegal supporters glued to their radios on Tuesday morning breathed a selective sigh of relief when Jarlath Burns drew Donegal out first. It was the second gem of good news the Uachtaran brought us.

Prior to the draw, he had told us that Sean MacCumhaill Park would be ready for the game, saying that he had spoken to Mary Coughlan the day before and she had confirmed that it was all systems go.

Again, that was brilliant news because the last thing officials and supporters alike wanted was another mad scramble for tickets. Given its capacity of 17,000/18,000, there should be plenty of tickets for everybody that wants to attend, especially as Cork football supporters are not great travellers.

It was a good draw too in that we avoided big hitters Armagh and Galway, two of the favourites for the championship along with Donegal and Kerry.

Despite the defeat and the manner of their defeat by Donegal, Kerry, the reigning champions, have been installed as favourites with Donegal second, Galway third and Armagh fourth placed favourites

Galway and Armagh would be tricky assignments in Pearse Stadium and the Athletic Grounds. For that matter, too, Cork would be a challenge in Pairc Ui Caoimh, or they might have taken us to Pairc Ui Rinn.

That is not to say we will not have our work cut out for us against the Rebels in Ballybofey. But the fact that it is a home game makes it a good draw and the best we could have got.

Cork were promoted along with Meath in the league and lost the Division Two league final to Meath, going down by two points. But they turned that result around in the first round of games in the All-Ireland series.

They have lost one of their top defenders, Mattie Taylor, this week with a cruciate injury which rules him out for the rest of the season.

Cork are not great travellers, and they don’t have a good record in Donegal.

But they have a lot of good footballers all over the field and have a number of exceptionally good forwards, players that can ask questions of Donegal.

If Donegal were to be less than 100% for the game, they have the potential to trouble us.

But after the Down game, I have no worries on that front. Jim will have them well primed.

The prize for the winners is a big qualification for an All-Ireland quarter-final place and a two-week gap to the next game. The losers face a third game and the possibility of an away tie.

The draw has thrown up a number of other interesting ties in both group 2A and 2B. Mark McHugh takes his all-conquering Westmeath team to Salthill where Galway provide the opposition. Galway at home will prove a stern test but Westmeath, after last weekend’s scare against Cavan, have momentum.

Louth and Gavin Devlin, after their big win over Dublin, have a home time against Ulster champions Armagh while Tyrone host Mayo in Healy Park.

In 2B the stakes are much higher, where it is a case of the winner taking all and for the losers their championship season is over.

It is all or nothing for Derry and Meath who meet in Celtic Park and for Monaghan and Roscommon in Clones; Kerry and Kildare in Newbridge and Cavan and Dublin in Kingspan Breffni Park.

There are a number of cracking games there. They are being spread out over Saturday and Sunday, so hopefully we will get to see a number of them. The championship gets underway in earnest the weekend after next. Enjoy.

Congratulations to Karl Lacey on their win over Dublin in the Tier Two All-Ireland Minor Championship in Longford on Saturday.

It was, by all accounts, a close game throughout, with Mark Anthony McGuinness scoring a late point for a 2-12 to 0-17 win over the Dubs. They meet Down next in the semi-final.

A huge congratulations to Kilcar and all the Donegal winners of the All-Ireland finals in the Comórtas Peile Na Gaeltachta championship hosted by Kilcar last weekend.

It was a clean sweep of All-Ireland titles for Donegal clubs with Kilcar winning the junior ladies, Naomh Columba the Intermediate ladies, Termon the senior ladies, Gaeil Fhánada the junior men and Gaoth Dobhair the senior men.

Comhghairdeas to players, managements and officials from all clubs on their success.

And a huge comhghairdheas to Kilcar on the successful running of the Comórtas, which by all accounts was top notch and nothing less than you would expect from the club.

I have to compliment the club on Towney and how it looked on Television. A picture postcard is the only way to describe it.