And They're Off!

A Roundup Of GAA Championship Action From Jackie Cahill

It was a mixed weekend for Antrim as the GAA hurling and football All-Ireland championships cranked into gear with a whimper rather than a bang.

The words 'puke football' as coined by Pat Spillane were bandied around the RTE Sunday Game studios following Donegal's 1-10 to 0-7 victory over the Saffrons in Ballybofey.

The hosts emerged six-point winners in a drab encounter which saw Antrim sub Mark Dougan red-carded towards the finish after appearing to aim an elbow at a grounded Karl Lacey.

In recent weeks, Donegal boss Jim McGuinness had made no apologies for the style of play adopted by his side.

It's typical Ulster football, based on the blanket defence and a high work-rate.

Donegal flood men behind the ball when they don't have possession but when they win it, they're more than capable of wreaking havoc at the other end of the pitch.

Not surprisingly, it was captain Michael Murphy who ran the show in a roving commission around the middle of the field and in attack.

Donegal will now meet Cavan in the Ulster quarter-final but a massive improvement is needed if they are to progress further in the competition.

The result was all that really mattered against Antrim but at some point, Donegal will have to come out of their shells and chase a game.

Colm McFadden opened the scoring for the winners in the second minute but they endured a 19-minute barren run after that.

Donegal did enough to lead by 0-6 to 0-3 at half-time before Tomas McCann's point cut the gap to two points.

But Donegal kicked on from there to open up a 0-9 to 0-4 advantage with minimum fuss in greasy conditions.

In stoppage time, Mark McHugh, son of Donegal's former All-Ireland SFC medallist Martin, put the gloss on a routine win with a stoppage time goal.

Antrim's mood at the final whistle was in stark contrast to Saturday evening in Portlaoise, when Dinny Cahill's senior hurlers recorded a very first Leinster SHC victory.

Punters who lumped on the Ulster outfit at 5/6 were well pleased leaving O'Moore Park following a 1-21 to 3-12 victory against Brendan Fennelly's Laois.

Antrim did it the hard way too, overturning a 1-5 to 2-7 interval deficit to run out three-point winners.

Antrim had Neal McAuley sent off in the 40th minute but that failed to derail their challenge as a run of points turned the game on its head.

Neil Foyle and Willie Hyland scored first half goals for Laois to cancel out Simon McCrory's early green flag but it was one-way traffic towards the home goal in the second half.

Remarkably, Antrim won the second period by 0-16 to 1-5 as ace free-taker Neil McManus finished the game with a personal tally of 0-10.

In the closing stages, Conor McCann hit three glorious scores from play as Antrim turned up the heat to set up a quarter-final meeting with Wexford in less than a fortnight.

With this landmark victory under their belts, Antrim will not fear a Wexford team lucky to retain Division 1 National League status this year.

The dubious reward for the winners of that quarter-final clash is a semi-final showdown with Brian Cody's wounded Kilkenny.

Meanwhile, Munster football's 'big two' enter the championship arena next weekend in the Munster SFC quarter-finals.

Kerry have home advantage against Tipperary in a repeat of last year's meeting between the sides and anything other than a comfortable Kingdom victory will come as a major surprise.

And Cork, reigning All-Ireland and NFL champions, are the hottest of favourites to advance past Clare.

In the Leinster SFC preliminary round, Laois have home advantage against Longford.

Under the stewardship of former Armagh star Justin McNulty, Laois have been a team reborn this season, contesting an NFL Division 2 semi-final against Donegal.

McNulty has attempted to instil Armagh traits into the Laois players, who have beefed up considerably, and their greater levels of physicality, coupled with a better standard of football in Division 2, should stand the O'Moore County in good stead.

Elsewhere, last year's beaten All-Ireland SFC semi-finalists Kildare open their Leinster championship campaign against Wicklow, managed by former Kildare boss Mick O'Dwyer.

Take the Lilywhites to emerge victorious here and after struggling in the province in recent seasons, boss Kieran McGeeney will be targeting a strong provincial challenge.

In Connacht, back last year's beaten finalists Sligo to see off the challenge of a Leitrim team decimated by defections from last year's squad.

And in Ulster, home advnatage for Derry whould be enough to see them past the challenge of Fermanagh.

Derry, however, will struggle to launch an extended championship challenge after losing ace marksman Paddy Bradley for the entire season through cruciate knee ligament damage.

In other news, Offaly hurler James Rigney's season is also at an end after he cracked his left arm in training last Friday night.

Rigney missed the entire National Hurling League campaign after breaking the same arm against Cork in last February's opening League match.