A weekend off from covering sports is never really a weekend off. The Sunday Game was my bread and butter GAA last weekend as the sunny weather in Ireland took me out and about during the day. I had – earlier last week – toyed with the idea of heading to Clones to watch Tyrone vs. Armagh in the Ulster Championship. But to be honest, I enjoyed the weekend of rest and relaxation ahead of a big sports weekend ahead.
In the end – as an Armagh man – maybe I made the right decision. By all accounts, the orange men did themselves proud but Tyrone are All-Ireland Champions and can grind out a win with the best of them.
The Sunday Game pundits were decent in their appraisal of the game, which lacked the bite for last week’s encounter between Derry and Monaghan – of which the players are now paying for. There was a major emphasis on referee -Pat McEnaney's - performance from the panel, but he did well and the clips showed his mettle. An interesting stat was that Tyrone made 30 scoring chances, with 12 wides, Armagh made 20 with 6 wides.
As for Armagh, they are a work in progress. Peter McDonnell’s selection, I thought, worked well bar one or two players. A number 15 still has to be found in order to rack up winning scores, while a scoring half forward is still the sides achilles heel when it comes to tight games. The midfield of Toner and Lavery looked very good and it will be interesting come next month, when maybe, Charlie Vernon can take a place on the ’40, with Toner and Lavery lording it around the middle.
As for me over the Bank Holiday Weekend it was BBQ and Corona in the Dublin sunshine. This weekend it is back to the nitty gritty of Christy Ring Hurling and Hill 16 being swamped with the Dubs…..bring on the summer.
