Four more teams join the scrap-heap
It's not even the end of July and the dreams of 20 football teams are over already.
It's a long boring summer for these fellas now - even watching games on the TV will bring back bad memories of their most recent defeat.
The only escape or sanctuary is your club and that is where you can find a cure for the internal hurt inside.
I always felt by going back training and playing with your club team refocused the mind and it was certainly the best way of getting over the disappointment of your county's demise.
Four more teams will be joining the scrapheap after next weekend's action.
Kerry - one step from headquartersKerry play Antrim in Tullamore and while the Kingdom have the dirty diesel syndrome I expect them to pull through here by sheer cuteness and experience.
Kerry management have delayed on naming the 1st fifteen and while there is talks of big names being axed I would be surprised if they make wholesale changes but maybe a few positional changes.
The horse Kennelly should make some appearance on Sunday and he will be a most welcomed addition considering he was our best performer over the two Cork matches.
Antrim will be confident considering their good showing against Tyrone and only for their nervous start they may feel they may have given Tyrone a serious run for their money.
Unlike Tyrone, Antrim will go into this game knowing their are plenty of weak spots in this Kerry team and no doubt they will try to expolit them.
Kerry though are like a sleeping giant and I fear the team when they do decide to wake up and play. Kerry will know they are only one step from a game in headquarters and this will be a major motivating factor on Sunday. No one will want to draw a Kerry team in Croker.
Donegal v Galway - hard to guage this oneThe draw of the round is the Galway and Donegal game. I did not expect Donegal to beat Derry. Donegal are a hard team to gauge, they have plenty of talent but have never built on their national league success of 2007.
They have qaulity players - Lacey, Cassidy, Toye to name a few and they should have more medals to show for their efforts. Lack of discipline seems to be a major stumbling block up there and couple this with the county boards fiasco of their appointment of the senior manager, things don't look overly bright for Donegal.
That's why last weekend's defeat was such a shock and no doubt they will be hell-bent in sinking the Tribesman as well.
Galway will be disappointed after last Sunday's defeat to their old rivals but they will know once the dust settled after a few days that Mayo were the far better team on the day and much improvement will be required in order to pull one over Donegal.
They will need 70 minutes from both Michael Meehan and PJ Joyce and if they can get a similar performance from Armstrong and Nikky Joyce, well they would be a hanful upfront.
Galway's midfield is weak point Midfield is a major achilles heal for Galway while their wings back prefer to sally up the field as opposed to concentrating on their primarly job -marking your man, close continuous marking, something they forgot to do against Mayo.
Donegal, if allowed the same time on the ball will also punish Galway's defence. Galway must realise that games are not won by outscoring the opposition but by a teak tough no nonsense defence system.
My fiver on Sunday, well a hesitant vote to Galway
Micko would give testicle for win! Mick O'Dwyer brings his Wicklow army to his old stomping ground in Portlaoise to play against his 1st adopted county of Kildare.
This has the makings of a great game. Micko is an ultra-comptitive rogue and no doubt he would give his right testicle to pull a victory over the Lilywhites, similar to what he did to Kerry in 1998.
Gezzers team have made great strides and I feel they will have enough in the tank to beat Wicklow but I would not write off the shock of the season here.
Meath v Roscommon - the Loyals haven't the speed Meath play Roscommon in Round 3 Qualifiers, The Rossies struggled to get a result over Wexford but these 2 games will probably give the the required momentum to topple the Loyals.
Meath are a far cry from the team which had households names like Giles (their key man), Geraghty (gifted player), McDermott (gifted and tough) and Fay (gifted and even tougher).
I had the pleasure of playing with those lads in international rules and I must say they revelled in the physicality stakes. Fay was awesome full back horsing into the biggest Aussies they could throw at him in full forward. Seam Marty and I were like nippers shooting in picking up the breaks. Meath don't have such leaders right now and are in a building process.
Its been so long now since we saw the Rebels playing, surely there must be cobwebs on their boot laces by now. This is certainly not the ideal preparation for Provincial winners and to me the whole back door system plays against Provincial winners.
Cork reward for win - boring six weeks
What is Cork's reward for success? A six-week boring training programme with no one to play with bar the 30 guys on the panel. This stinks of staleness and even the best trainer in the world will not keep a 6 week period fresh and focussed without a match thrown in against someone to channel their energies.
Will the GAA at least allow all Provincial winners the advantage of a home draw in the Quarter finals.
How many big Provincial winners since inception have fallen at quarter final stage, to hand I can name Armagh, Galway, Kildare and I think Tyrone in 2004 to name a few. No doubt if they had a home venue this would not have happened.
all the best
The Pony