Weekend GAA Preview: Old rivals reunited, opportunity knocks in Ulster and Leinster’s dark horses

The Gaelic Football Championship really kicks into gear this weekend when old rivals get reacquainted in Connacht, opportunity knocks in Ulster and the dark horses get their Leinster campaign underway.

Will Galway be waiting in the long grass in Salthill?

As the GAA goes, you can’t ask for a more over-used cliché than the one above but it certainly applies to Pearse Stadium on Sunday, when the Tribesmen will be looking to put one over their oldest and closest rivals in green and red.

As All-Ireland finalists and as the team with the longest reign in Division One, James Horan’s side are deservedly favourites but there are question marks hanging over them all the same. For one, where are the scores going to come from?

Without Andy Moran and Alan Dillon (from the start at least), Mayo will be lacking two serious leaders in a forward line that will also be missing the scoring threat of their top scorer in the league (Jason Doherty) and an excellent ball-winner in Michael Conroy.

As a result, the most prolific of their starting six on Sunday, Cillian O’Connor, will start out on the ’40 and the inside forward line has a very callow look about it. When you consider that Mayo only managed two goals during the league, the potential lack of firepower must be a concern for Horan, even if he has the luxury of calling on two proven if not fully-fit gunslingers in Moran and Dillon from the bench.

That’s enough for Horan to worry about on his own side before he even starts to think about Galway, who should be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years on the back of two under-21 All-Ireland titles in three seasons.

Alan Mulholland has called on only two of the side that tasted success over Cork in the under-21 final two weeks ago – midfield pair Fintan Ó Curraoin and Thomas Flynn (who starts at right-half forward) – and they have been blended into a side that contains plenty of experience in the likes of Gary Sice, Sean Armstrong and Michael Meehan, who has a decent record in past outings against Mayo.

Mayo should still have enough to get over the line on Sunday evening, but the fact that they have each claimed 38 victories in their previous 76 Championship meetings is a testament to just how close this rivalry is and we don’t expect anything different this weekend as the Championship gets into full swing.

Huge opportunity awaits Ulster pair

There is no doubting that Ulster remains the toughest and most competitive province out there but with all due respect to everyone else, there’s also no doubting that most of the tough games will take place on one side of the draw.

With Donegal, Tyrone, Derry and Down all battling it out in one half, there is a massive opportunity for all of the other sides in the province to reach an Ulster final and with Jamie Clarke back in tow, Armagh would appear to be the leading contenders to make it there.

The return of one of the game's best forwards is a huge boost for Armagh

Cavan will eventually bear the fruits of their recent provincial success at under-21 level but whether they will be strong enough to overcome The Orchard County remains to be seen, although we suspect that their fans will relish taunting them with ‘How do you like them apples?’ jibes afterwards. Enough fruit metaphors in that paragraph? No?

Armagh are the favourites, but with a psychic llama, yes, a psychic llama, on their side, who knows, Cavan might just pull off an upset.

Can Westmeath be Leinster’s dark horses?

If you were to ask which counties made the most of the league campaign just gone across all four divisions, then Westmeath would certainly be near the top of the list.

The Lake County didn’t end up with any silverware having lost the Division Two League Final to Derry, but they did finish ahead of the likes of Galway, Armagh and Laois after winning five out of seven games, which means that next season they will take their place in a top flight that is becoming more and more competitive by the year.

Their progress so far this season has led many to tip them for a decent run in the Championship, even if their run in Leinster at least will more than likely come to an end at the quarter-final stage against Dublin if they can beat Carlow this weekend.

Carlow will have to improve an awful lot from a league campaign in which they win only two games in Division Four to give Westmeath something to think about in Mullingar and they might have to draw on the sort of spirit that helped them to give Meath an almighty fright last season.

While on the subject of Carlow, we’d like to take the opportunity to commend them for taking the step of putting the slogan 'Suicide Aware: Living is Winning' on the jerseys to be worn by their footballers and hurlers this weekend to give even more exposure to a worthy cause.