Oisín McConville: I couldn't cause Dublin trouble with Wicklow... but Ulster sides can
It's not every day that you come up against Dublin in an inter-county football context but I had that privilege, shall we say, last Sunday week when the Wicklow side which I currently manage took on the Dubs in the Leinster Senior Football Championship.
Not surprisingly, defeat was our lot but while we went under, to my mind my Wicklow played with spirit and courage throughout. There was never any real prospect that we were going to put a dent in the Dubs' formidable reputation but I was proud of the spirit and courage that my team showed on the day.
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See pictures as Wicklow and St Pats take to the field in Jim Connors' memory
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a day ago
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Chadwicks Wexford Park hosting Wicklow versus Waterford Tailteann Cup clash
And while it would be stretching it to apply that adjective to events about to unfold in Chadwicks Wexford Park, the novelty value is at least worthy of note. I'm referring to the national GAA fixture list for next Saturday, and the fact that our main county ground will play host to a neutral game after a gap of almost 20 years. Eyebrows were raised – albeit in a positive way – when the games were perused and it emerged that Wicklow will be meeting Waterford in their Group 2 game in the Tailteann Cup in Chadwicks Wexford Park at 6 p.m., with Dublin's Barry Tiernan the man in the middle for this third round encounter. While it's the perfect location in a geographical sense for once, the opportunities to stage such matches don't come around often in this part of the world. Being stuck in the south-east corner of the country comes with its disadvantages, unlike midlands towns such as Portlaoise and Tullamore that routinely serve as the venue for neutral encounters. By way of comparison, the last such match to take place in Wexford Park was on May 21, 2006, when Carlow defeated Wicklow by 4-9 to 0-12 in the first round of the Leinster Senior football championship. There was a time when the venue was used regularly for meetings between Kilkenny and Dublin in the Leinster Senior hurling championship, but we are rapidly approaching the 50th anniversary of the last such occurrence – on June 29, 1975 when the Cats triumphed in a semi-final by 3-16 to 1-7. The legendary Eddie Keher led the scoring stakes for the winners with 1-8, while Mick 'Cloney' Brennan and the late Liam 'Chunky' O'Brien added goals in a game refereed by Noel Matthews, the Meath-born and Enniscorthy-based Garda who has also passed to his eternal reward. An interesting name on the Dublin team at midfield was another long-time Enniscorthy resident and former St. Peter's College principal Pat Quigley, a native of Tipperary who was their joint top scorer with 0-4 along with former All Star Mick Bermingham (1-1). The curtain-raiser that day saw the Wexford Minors lose a Leinster semi-final to Dublin by 3-11 to 3-9, with the team including John 'Stella' Walker in goal, Jimmy Holohan at right half-back, John Conran at right half-forward, and Ger Flood at right corner-forward. Moving forward to that football game in 2006, the outcome prompted Wicklow manager Hugh Kenny to announce his resignation in the dressing-room afterwards. 'I told the lads that whatever match they play in the future, I'll be there to support them but the time is right to make way,' he said. 'I had made up my mind a long time ago that I'd go if we didn't beat Carlow in the championship, and I'm sticking to that.' Shane Scanlon, reporting for the 'Irish Independent' noted that: 'Wexford Park soaked up an avalanche of overnight rain, but you'd scarcely think so such was the pristine state of the sod.' Former Meath midfielder Liam Hayes was managing the Carlow side, and they were powered to victory with goals from man of the match Thomas Walsh, Alan Kelly, Simon Rea and Brian Carbery. Saturday's game is likely to attract a few curious neutral observers from Wexford, and I'm hoping that the venue will also be considered for an even bigger hurling game that may or may not happen in the coming weeks. With Kilkenny already through to the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor hurling championship semi-final, their opposition will be provided by Waterford if the Déise lads first overcome Limerick in Thurles on Sunday. Should that pairing arise, then Chadwicks Wexford Park would be the most suitable venue. While county HQ hasn't been used much for neutral matches in recent times, a fair share of schools, colleges, LGFA and camogie games have taken place in the likes of Gorey, Bellefield, St. Patrick's Park and New Ross. One of the most unusual saw Páirc Uí Shíocháin host Slaughtneil of Derry's victory over Sarsfields from Galway in the AIB All-Ireland Senior Club camogie semi-final three years ago. Geographically it was a bizarre choice, but it was borne out of necessity due to bad weather that had ruled out all potential locations in the northern half of the country.
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Armagh have scoring power to win battle of champions
They may be complaining of dead rubbers in certain other sports but there's none of that in the All-Ireland Football Championship this weekend, especially not in the fearsome Group 4. The last two All-Ireland champions collide in Croke Park, the first time they've met in championship in Kieran McGeeney's reign. Meanwhile, things could be getting edgy up in Derry, where Galway need a result. I know few enough people saw it but the Armagh-Derry game was a fairly rip-roaring affair. Kieran McGeeney was talking before about how it's nearly impossible to defend in the new game, with all the enhancements brought in to make forwards' lives easier. He probably saw nothing to change his mind last weekend. Armagh were on top for most of the game and with 15 minutes left, it looked like they'd give them a right pasting. Their range of scorers was especially impressive, with Conor Turbitt, Oisín Conaty, Andrew Murnin and Ross McQuillan all clipping over points at will. Derry were headed for a defeat not that dissimilar to their league loss in Armagh a few months ago. Then they hit two goals in a minute and the game took off in another direction entirely. It was a chaotic finish and Derry could have hit a bagful more of goals. You could have driven a fleet of Ulster buses up the middle of the Orchard defence in the last 10 minutes and Derry seemed to make a goal chance every other minute. Brendan Rogers fired so many shots at Rafferty in the second half, he ran out of bullets. For Armagh, it might have been a litle alarming. If you're allowing that much open space in the Athletic Grounds, then Croke Park won't be any more forgiving in that regard. By 66 minutes, the gap was down to four points, which with the two-point arc and a wind behind them was a managable deficit. But Derry missed a late two-point effort and the All-Ireland champions held out. I know Geezer attributed the scare afterwards to the spate of substitutions that were made when the game looked to have been settled. Running the bench can leave you a little shapeless and disjointed if you're not careful or alert. Strange to say, it's up front where Dublin might have issues in this one, especially if Con O'Callaghan hasn't recovered from the injury incurred against Galway. While Armagh have been running up big tallies, the Dubs have been more modest on the scoring side of the ledger and Colm Basquel and Cormac Costello have been pretty wasteful in the last couple of matches. So much hinges on the Cuala man's availability, not just on account of his own brilliance but the minding he takes which allows space for his team-mates. McGeeney has only managed Armagh in two competitive games against the Dubs (and one fairly hot and heavy challenge match, I believe), both of which were in the league. They've won the two of them. With their scoring power, I'd back them to make it three this weekend and take control of the group. The other match in the group has even more riding on it as Galway take on Derry. Whoever loses here could be staring down the barrel of elimination which would be hard to stomach for Galway, given the hype that's surrounded them for much of the summer. We're still waiting for the Derry team of 2022/23 to re-emerge. Zero competitive wins from 10 games in 2025. Have they a scalp in them? They showed a bit of life in the Athletic Grounds, particularly in the attacking sense. We know they have the players. It's a big game for Galway's much-vaunted middle third. They were wiped in the first half he last day. Not alone that, Galway were the only team not to beat Derry in Division 1, after being killed on breaking ball in the second half in Celtic Park. They were lucky enough to scrape a draw in the end. As is often the case with Galway, we're waiting with bated breath for what combination of forwards is named. Padraic Joyce was dropping suggestions the last day that Damien Comer was close to a return but then we won't know until the team is named - and possibly not for a couple of days after that. The outlet he offers could be especially potent against Derry. We saw how he destroyed them in the All-Ireland semi-final a few years ago and they've been conceding goals by the boat-load this year. Considering Galway's attacking depth and Derry's porousness, I'd expect Galway to win but it's a dangerous game. It's potentially a last-chance saloon game for Mayo in Omagh after what has been a fairly turbulent week - my God, was it turbulent... A loss here and it's hard to see them chasing down Donegal in the final round, especially if score difference is in the mix. We all had a shock at the start of the week when news emerged that Kevin McStay had taken ill was and was in hospital. Fortunately, he's recovering, albeit stepping back from the role for a little bit. We're all wishing Kevin the best in his recovery, a man who has given so much to Mayo football as a player and a manager. As he said in his statement, he'll be with the players in spirit this weekend, with Stephen Rochford the man in charge for the trip to Tyrone. On form, you can't make a case for Mayo but in the circumstances, with the emotion of the situation, you wouldn't be that shocked if they pulled something ouf of the fire. Watch Dublin v Armagh in the All-Ireland Football Championship on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1. Highlights on The Sunday Game at 9.30pm
