Before we look ahead, we have to start with a tip of the cap to the provincial championships.<\/p>\n
We saw scenes in the last fortnight\u2014with Roscommon, Westmeath, Armagh \u2014 that reminded everyone why these titles still hold such massive weight for the players and their communities.<\/p>\n
But as we pivot to the All-Ireland series this weekend, there’s a real conversation to be had about the structure.<\/p>\n
There is a glaring flaw in the system that needs to be ironed out by next year, and it\u2019s the disadvantage of reaching the provincial finals.<\/p>\n
While the provincial finalists were out there putting their full hands on the table, the challengers \u2014 the teams who exited a week or two earlier \u2014 have been sitting in the long grass. They\u2019ve had the luxury of time.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve had extra weeks to review their opposition in microscopic detail, while the provincial winners have had to manage recovery, celebrations, and a very short turnaround. In my time with Dublin, we traded heavily on that kind of deep, player-led analysis.<\/p>\n
If you have three weeks to prep for one team, but they only have five days to prep for you, that\u2019s a massive head start. I\u2019d be keeping a very sharp eye out for a ‘provincial final hangover’ this weekend. <\/p>\n
\n
I\u2019ll be down covering the Meath and Cork game for RT\u00c9 radio, and it should be a cracker It\u2019s currently sitting at one-all this season. Meath took the spoils in the league final.<\/p>\n
This is going to be incredibly tight. We know how difficult it is to travel down to Cork and try to dig out a result – but I sense a real ‘bounce-back’ factor in this Meath group.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve had five weeks to reset, to look at where things went wrong against Westmeath, and I think we\u2019re going to see a much more clinical and dominant Meath team.<\/p>\n
\n
Elsewhere, you\u2019d expect Galway to have too much physicality and fire-power for Kildare, but don’t count the Lily Whites out completely.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll be hurting after that Westmeath game\u2014a match they really should have put to bed\u2014and they\u2019ll take some positives from the chances they created \u2013 now they need to execute those chances.<\/p>\n
\n
Then you have Roscommon and Tyrone, which is a total toss-up.<\/p>\n
Can Roscommon keep that incredible momentum and belief going? Or will we see the ‘aggrieved’ Tyrone?<\/p>\n
They had Armagh on the ropes in Ulster and let it slip, and a Tyrone team with a chip on its shoulder is a dangerous animal.<\/p>\n
\n
But the game everyone is talking about\u2014the one that really defines the weekend \u2014 is Kerry versus Donegal. It\u2019s a fascinating tactical battle.<\/p>\n
We remember Donegal blowing Kerry away in the league final; they completely shut down the kickout options for Shane Murphy and dominated that middle sector.<\/p>\n
Kerry didn\u2019t have Shane Ryan that day and he is still out, and they were missing the likes of Brian \u00d3 Beaglaoich, who is on the bench and Gavin White (missing again) as short options.<\/p>\n
Kerry have regrouped since then, of course, but the psychology here is weighted toward Donegal. They\u2019ve had the time to build up that healthy hunger we saw from Down recently.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been able to sit back and analyse Kerry\u2019s provincial final while Kerry were still focused on Cork.<\/p>\n
Kerry couldn’t even think about Donegal until the Monday morning. It\u2019s a game of massive jeopardy\u2014the loser goes into a lethal loser\u2019s pot where an unfavourable draw could end your season prematurely.<\/p>\n
To be honest, all of these games could go either way; the margins between these teams are thinner than they\u2019ve been in years.<\/p>\n
Paul Flynn was speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio 1’s Morning Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n Listen to the RT\u00c9 GAA Podcast on the RT\u00c9 Radio Player<\/a>, Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie<\/p>\n Watch Galway v Kildare in the All-Ireland Football Championship first round on Saturday from 7.20pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1<\/p>\n Watch a provincial hurling double-header, Dublin v Kilkenny (2pm) and Cork v Clare (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1<\/p>\n Watch The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RT\u00c9 News app and on rte.ie\/sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before we look ahead, we have to start with a tip of the cap to the provincial championships.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-461605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}