Maybe it was just a curious coincidence that three of the four counties punished for breaking Covid-19 regulations during the lockdown started with losses in the Allianz NFL.
Cork were beaten by Kildare in neutral Thurles; Monaghan, a well-established Division 1 team, were beaten by an Armagh side playing their first top-tier game since 2012; and Down received a 13-point shellacking at the hands of Mayo.
Or perhaps, in light of Down manager Paddy Tally’s claim that “most counties would have been doing something quietly and away from the camera – we just happened to be the ones that were caught”, those four teams were forced to strictly obey the rules and down tools while everyone else privately got on with their business and reached the start line in better shape?
Covid issues continue to be front and centre heading into weekend number three of competitive inter-county action.
Two positive Covid cases have been confirmed within Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford hurling panel though county chairman Micheal Martin has stated there is no current threat to Sunday’s Division 1B tie against Kilkenny.
As for Tally and Down, they’ll attempt to bounce back from their Mayo mauling when they play Meath – but at Armagh’s Athletic Grounds instead of Newry, part of their punishment for the breach of Covid regulations last January.
“We’re going up to Armagh ... through Newry, that would be a better way of putting it,” smiled Meath manager Andy McEntee who described the weeks and months building up to last weekend’s Round 1 win over Westmeath as difficult.
“Ah it was frustrating, everybody was frustrated and you get concerned. I mean, everybody was talking about teams training and not training. You come into the first game then and you have no idea where you’re at.
“You wake up that morning and say, ‘God, what sort of shape are Westmeath in? What sort of shape are we in?’ Internal games and fellas training on their own are all very fine but there’s no replacing training time together and game time.”
Meath just about got through that Division 2 north tie with neighbours Westmeath, scoring seven of the game’s last nine points to win by the narrowest of margins.
Loss of home advantage
A win over Down would secure a semi-final place after just two games, as long as Mayo beat Westmeath elsewhere, while Down would be consigned to a relegation play-off.
With all of that in mind, the loss of home advantage could be hugely significant for Down this weekend.
Mind you, there’s no guarantee Meath will win considering that the victory against Westmeath was their first in the league in 26 months, a fact that surprised McEntee.
“You’re after telling me something that I wasn’t even aware of, I might as well tell you that,” said the 2019 and 2020 Leinster final manager. “I hadn’t thought about that. Now that you say it, of course you’re right but I hadn’t thought about it, I don’t think anybody had mentioned it. It seems so long ago for starters since we’d played in Division 1 and we felt all along that even though we didn’t get any wins there, we performed well so it wasn’t an issue.”
Meath will be without attacker Shane Walsh for the Down date due to injury while midfielder Ronan Jones broke his arm in a challenge game.
Eoin Harkin, a rare county senior from junior club Dunsany, did make a promising full league debut against Westmeath, however, while there were first league appearances for subs Fionn Reilly and David Dillon.
McEntee also confirmed that Mickey Newman, who struck 5-55 across 15 League and Championship games in 2019 before missing 2020 with a hip injury, is training with the panel.
Newman revealed in March that a hip specialist told him in late 2019 that “inter-county football will no longer happen for me” though the 30-year-old clearly has little interest in retirement.
“Mickey is enjoying it too much, that’s the truth,” said McEntee. “He likes the setup, he likes the players, he’s a bit of a father figure.
“There’s a couple of north Meath fellas that he picks up on the way to training. He obviously can’t do that at the moment but ordinarily he would, he’s very close to the lads and he’s a very level-headed and humorous fella to have around the panel so it’ll be great to see him back in action.”
