The Tipperary hurlers and the Mayo footballers are no one’s idea of the most popular teams in Galway’s GAA circles. And yet after the first round of the national football and hurling leagues, and after two defeats to such fierce local rivals, the feeling in Galway is unexpectedly buoyant.
Accounting for the optimism is five impressive debutants for the hurlers, and first-timers racking up 2-10 of the footballers’ total of 2-18. Of course, given how few games intercounty teams actually play, that’s not really how it should be, but the thought occurs once again, this is just a deeply weird pair of competitions.
The ferocity of the exchanges in Thurles during an extreme weather event on Saturday evening, and the 20,000-plus crowd that filed into Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, are symptoms of the leagues’ deathless nature. If the players are energised by it, and fans are still engaged, who cares if none of it actually matters in any real sense?
The best advice is to just roll with it. And it’s more fun when young players stand up and start making a name for themselves. In the Páirc, they were getting justifiably excited about William Buckley, who grabbed 1-4 for the home team.
The Galway hurlers were perhaps the most vivid example all weekend of losing in the most palatable fashion possible. If you’re going to lose a tight game to a bitter rival, then make sure you do it with some new faces.
The team has been in need of structural overhaul for a while now and Saturday was just the start of what promises to be a big rebuild. Cillian Trayers at full back appears to be an enthusiastic student of Daithí Burke’s approach to physical contact (ie, seek it out wherever possible and enjoy it). Jason Rabbitte, Rory Burke and Aaron Niland worked hard and got some big scores up front as well.
The following day in Salthill, Fionn McDonagh, a fine hurler himself, hit 1-4, and Ciarán Mulhern pulled the strings beautifully from centre forward. Add that to Shane McGrath’s goal and Oisín McDonagh’s three points and it was a pretty productive day out. Losing to Mayo is never pleasant – but if you absolutely must, then that’s how to do it.
Mayo and Donegal had the satisfaction of seeing goalscoring debuts for Darragh Beirne and Shea Malone, and winning. And Tomás Kennedy got the most spectacular score of the weekend when his buzzer-beater snatched the two points for Kerry against Roscommon in Killarney.
Beirne, Malone and Kennedy have all long been flagged as potential breakout stars and they’ve started 2026 in the mood. Just presenting their fans with the possibility of a championship impact while we’re still in January is a gift.
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It might not be out of order to suggest a degree of sympathy for the sponsors of a competition treated in such cavalier fashion by its stakeholders, but the GAA’s arrangements with Allianz remain in the spotlight.
The GAA took the issue out of players’ hands last weekend by not sending the backboards with Allianz insignia that are usually behind players and managers in pre- and postgame interviews to any of the games shown on television over the weekend.
They were right to feel concerned, as we have it on very good authority that one of the players of the match this weekend would not have accepted his award in front of Allianz hoarding, had it been in place.
The Dubs had placed themselves at the vanguard by virtue of a story on the RTÉ website early last week which reported that players would not speak in front of Allianz-branded backboards. But Ger Brennan presented a more nuanced view when questioned after their game on Saturday.
“As Dublin manager, I’m apolitical, I’m here to concentrate on the football and that’s exactly how we’re going about our business and as a management, whatever players want to do and members of the management team in their own capacity.
“If they’re taking a stand on a particular issue, they have our full respect and full support, but I don’t know where the story came from. I have ideas but ...”
He revealed after the game that he was “happy enough” to be interviewed in front of Allianz branding “if that was the case”. It appears both Dublin panels will be free to follow their conscience on this, but maybe not everyone in their county board feels as strongly as that. That’s fair enough.
A bigger story was what happened in Omagh. There was no mention of Allianz whatsoever in Tyrone’s 24-page match programme for their game against Kildare. There was an Allianz banner behind each goal in the first half, but they were gone or covered up by the time the second half had begun.
Dealing with players making a personal choice is one thing but, from Croke Park’s perspective, a county basically attempting to scrub the competition sponsors from a game played in their own ground is another.
The league is where the stars of the future first make their name and that might be the single most important function the competition performs. Those young players might be overwhelmed by the prospect of making a politically oriented statement over the next few weeks, but more established players feel far less encumbered. That may yet make itself clear over the coming weeks.
