gaa first championship blog

TYRONE VS DOWN

 

Niall Morgan was the first goalkeeper to score a score in an All Ireland match. He was also the first player to be replaced with the new black card system. But should he have been as the Tyrone penalty to the one Tyrone got was quite similar in the first half. There were way too many wides in the first half as neither team were clinical. Tyrone led by 1-4 to 0-3 at half time and looked much the stronger and when they scored there second goal just after the break the game seemed to open up at least that was what happened with Down as they were able to get two quick goals hitting 5 scores without reply. Why Tyrone were able to get back into this match was because Down missed an easy score and Sean Cavanagh became the hero of the match as he hit the final two scores to bring the match to a replay.

 

Each team had a big lead that they let go of at the wrong time. So in my opinion both teams will be thinking the same thing and that is how can we stop this from happening again? Tyrone will need a defender to stop Down from running through the centre and Down will think they will not get a golden period like that again so they need to keep it close through the match.

As a Tyrone fan I am optimistic but I know that the next couple of rounds will not be easy to get through as there is a lot that they need to work on. They showed great fighting spirit towards the end.

ROSCOMMON VS LETRIM

Roscommon cruised into a 1.17 to Leitrim’s 0.15 and debutant. Kieran Murtagh was the man that seemed to catch your eye. Leitrim did seem to be much better in the second half than the first but never seemed to be near where Roscommon were in terms of class or scoring.

LOUTH VS WESTMEATH

Kieran Martin scored a quality goal from an angle. Brian Burns first touch was a catch and a simple on one which lead to a simple goal. Louth lead by 1.04 to 1.09 against Westmeath but they then did become a lot stronger a lot later in the match

LONGFORD VS OFFALY

Longford seemed to pull of the shock of the day as they defeated Offaly as they had a goal that did not stand but the luck that was in this match did balance itself out as Offaly got a man sent off that did not seem to be completely right either Longford won by 0.19 to 0.15

LAOIS VS WICKLOW

 

A bad Laois defence allowed Wicklow to score the only goal of the game in a very comfortable win for Laois as they were able to hit score after score after score as they were able to win the game by 0.21 to Wicklow’s 1.11

                                                                               HURLING

 

The match of this preliminary group will be between Laois and Antrim on Sunday as Laois managed to get the win to secure a quarter final spot. The winner will play Wexford and the looser will play Galway. Laois seemed to be much the stronger in their win over Carlow as they won the three matches that they needed to reach the second round.