Monday Morning Corner Back: Intensity, departures and early Mayo omens

With a very clear nod to SI’s Peter King, here’s our look back at the weekend’s GAA action.

It’s all about one word; intensity

It’s a word you’re going to hear an awful lot of this summer and it got a couple of early, and appropriate, airings on Sunday.

First out of the traps was Galway’s vanquished gaffer Alan Mulholland. He admitted that his team couldn’t live with Mayo’s ‘intensity’ while a winning manager, Westmeath’s Pat Flanagan, had a pop at his team for dropping their ‘intensity’ in the second half against Carlow.

Galway were so far off the pace in Salthill on Sunday that a lack of intensity was only a small part of their problem though. Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Tribesmen.

They made basic errors in defence that were mercilessly punished by last year’s All-Ireland finalists. They contrived to get not one, but two men sent off, a breakdown of discipline that is simply unforgiveable in the modern game, and they seemed unable to change their plan of attack when they fell so far behind.

Definitely some questions have to be asked of the men on the Galway sideline regarding how their side fell so far short of being competitive. Mayo are good, very good, and Galway haven’t been either of those for a while, but a 17-point defeat, to your fiercest rivals, at home, is one of those results that will leave a mark.

The good news, and we use the term loosely, for Mulholland and his team is that they have six weeks to try and fix it for the Qualifiers. Galway’s record on their travels is abysmal but there is a duty on the players to restore some pride in that maroon shirt at the next opportunity.

And speaking of maroon, Westmeath’s cob-web clearing win over Carlow, even with the second-half drop off, was impressive. Kieran Martin’s two first-half goals sealed it before the break and the likes of Dessie Dolan, Denis Glennon and John Heslin all showed why they deserve to be in Division 1 next term.

It’s Dublin up next for Westmeath, and while that is a significant step up, to say the least, we saw enough to think it won’t be all one way traffic at Croke Park on June 1.

Gone too Earley

He seems to have been around forever so to learn that Kildare’s Dermot Earley is just 34 was a shock. Sadly, the news that the Lilywhite legend was quitting wasn’t.

After enduring a fair few seasons of heart break on the injury front, a back injury, that at times left him unable to walk, has meant the end of a 16-year career of inter-county football. We pay a pictorial tribute to the great man here but the summers will be considerably duller without him taking to the skies to field balls in midfield.

Dunne deal

We must mention Cavan Mark Dunne, who scored an impressive 0-9 on his Championship debut for Cavan. The Breffni beat Armagh by four points on Sunday in the Ulster prelim and while a great disallowed goal by Jamie Clarke could have made it a closer game, the best team won. Cavan’s road to an Ulster final for the first time since 2001 is wide open.

Jamie Clarke makes his feelings known to Maurice Deegan

Cat’s scan

The hurling championship hasn’t hit its stride yet, though hats off to Laois for their win over Antrim on Saturday. The big news of the weekend was the injury to Kilkenny’s Michael Fennelly. Twitter was abuzz of his ankle injury on Friday and while the news out of Ballyhale since suggests it is ligament damage rather than a break, the star man of the League final could be out of action for a while. Add in the absence of Henry Shefflin and maybe even a panel as strong as Kilkenny’s will be stretched...

And finally...

No county loves their omens more than Mayo. Remember last year when they said that the last time they won the All-Ireland was on September 23 and that was the date of the Donegal game?

Their 2013 campaign is only 70 minutes old and already we have a doozy. The last time Mayo put four goals past Galway? 1951. And we all know how important a year that is to Mayo folk...