THERE wasn’t a cow milked in London as the fairytale football story of 2011 saw the Exiles advance to Round Two of the All-Ireland qualifiers. Donegal stuck two fingers up at their puke football detractors and controversial referring decisions overshadowed some cracking encounters of the third round kind as the All-Ireland Football Championship finally sprung into life.
The latest offering of the GAA's weekend winners and losers are as follows.
WINNERS
London
AN historic day in Ruislip where London recorded their first All-Ireland Championship victory since 1977 following a richly deserved 0-15 to 0-9 win over Fermanagh. The warning signs were there following London's narrow loss to Mayo after extra time in the opening round of the Connacht Championship and Paul Goggin's side saw off Fermanagh to proudly take their place in the second round of the 'back door'. A home tie with Waterford offers the Exiles a fantastic opportunity to continue one of the most unlikeliest championship runs for many years and based on Saturday's performance few would bet against London from progressing.
Jim McGuiness
THE Donegal manager is entitled to a wry smile after his side defeated Tyrone in the Ulster SFC semi-final. A magnificent defensive display from the Tír Conaill men cemented a first provincial final appearance since 2006 and a first decider without either Tyrone or Armagh for nearly a decade. It is too early to say if the balance of power is shifting north of the border as Donegal's earlier victories over Antrim and Cavan left a lot to be desired. McGuiness was forced to defend his team's negative tactics on more than one occasion but should Donegal go on to win an Ulster title or progress even further in the championship then neither he or his county's supporters will care one iota.
Cian Ward
THE Meath corner forward contributed four goals during his side's clinical 5-8 to 2-8 dismantling of Louth in Saturday's ones-sided qualifier at Brefni Park. Ward produced a stellar individual display and scored an amazing 4-3 of his side's final total. Irrespective of the poor quality of Louth's defence the Royals’ star forward netted four cracking goals to set up an eminently winnable third round qualifier at home to Galway. Seamus McEnaney has endured a difficult start as new manager of the Meath senior team but if he can continue to get the best out of Cian Ward then a long summer awaits the Royal County.
Wexford
SHANE ROCHE starred for a Wexford side that proved too strong for a gallant Carlow in Sunday's curtain raiser at Croke Park. With London, Dublin and Mayo grabbing all the weekend headlines Wexford have quietly qualified for the Leinster final following impressive performances over Westmeath, Louth and now Carlow. An all-action attacking division will trouble Dublin in the provincial final. Watch this space.
Notable mentions too for Down's Conor Laverty whose diving clearance off the line in last minute of his side's one point defeat of Clare prevented a shock defeat for last year's All-Ireland finalists.
LOSERS
Cormac Reilly
REFEREE Cormac Reilly took charge of the Leinster Football semi final between Dublin and Kildare in Croke Park on Sunday and made a complete hash of his assigned task. The decision to award a late free to the Dubs from which Bernard Brogan pointed to win the game was the worst of a number of poor decisions made by the official. Referees have the most difficult job in the GAA because they never receive any praise and any poor performances (such as yesterday) are forensically analysed on TV and in the press. Yet the common consensus is that the Lilywhites have every right to feel aggrieved about the Meath man’s decision to award a late free against Kildare corner back Aindriu MacLochlainn.
Louth
WHAT a difference a year makes. From the highs of reaching the 2010 Leinster Football title only to be denied by a controversial Joe Sheridan goal to the lows of consecutive championship defeats in 2011. Louth footballers bowed out of this year's campaign after conceding five goals in a one-sided defeat to - of all teams - Meath on Saturday night.
Galway
A WEEK on from their hurler's disappointing defeat to Dublin the Galway footballers' abysmal display in the ‘Connacht Clasico’ will have had many of the Tribesmen's supporters crying into their pints. Despite enjoying a four point interval lead Galway produced an absolutely abject second half display registering only a single point on the scoreboard while a hungrier, motivated and clearly fitter Mayo team steamrolled the maroon and whites into submission. An early exit beckons with a difficult away trip to Meath in the second round of the qualifiers.
*Follow Ger McCarthy on Twitter: @offcentrecircle
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/51XMMktNu1Y/post.aspx
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