Five things we learned from the GAA weekend: Nothing beats being there

Meanwhile, off Broadway

The embattled football championship produced a defiant sign of life in Cork on Saturday afternoon. As the sun beat down on the June bank holiday weekend, a good crowd of Donegal supporters arrived in town after the longest journey the county has ever had to make for a championship match.

An attendance of 7,251 wasn’t going to set any records but in the homely confines of Páirc Uí Rinn, it felt big and atmospheric. Spectators were fortunate to be presented with a rip-roaring championship match. Cork have proved adept at performing in the new format of All-Ireland group stages.

From five matches, they have now won four, the exception being last year’s home defeat by Kerry, which was tinged by regret and a little misfortune – not always sentiments felt after matches against their neighbours.

The local consensus was that the smaller venue suited the occasion better than the more spacious confines of Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

John Cleary’s team rose to the occasion, their tentative, invariably turned over forward movement of the early stages evolving into sharper, more confident counter attacks, which Donegal struggled to contain to the point of conceding the first three goals of their championship.

As local commentators reminded listeners, the live match was exclusively available on radio. No television. No GAAGo.

In this lack of live pictures, it was similar to last year’s Leinster hurling finale between Wexford and Kilkenny when the home side produced an outstanding performance to avoid being regraded to the McDonagh Cup.

Stakes might not have been that high on Saturday in Cork but when the home team produces an unexpected performance and result, there is surely added significance for those present when nobody else is able to watch.

Nothing beats being there. Seán Moran

Football championship a prisoner of its own device

There are 19 games left in the 2024 football championship and, at least in theory, it’s still anyone’s to win. Six out of the 16 teams have already had three defeats but their prospects are just as live as those who’ve won all their games.

Derry have played three games since the league final and have lost all three, with a points difference of -23. They’re still in the championship. Monaghan haven’t won a game since January. They’re still in the championship. Since the start of April, the collective record of Roscommon, Meath, Clare, Westmeath and Cavan reads: Played 18 Won 3 Lost 15. And they’re all still in the championship.

Worse again, some of them don’t even need to win their last game to stay alive. A draw will be enough for Westmeath, Roscommon and Monaghan to progress to the preliminary quarter-final. Truly, this is the Hotel California of competition formats. Teams are checking out all over the place but nobody is leaving.

Last year, the excitement of the final Sunday did offer up a rebuke of sorts to the grousing about the format. But it all feels a bit forced. The difference between coming second and third is marginal enough – only one of the home teams won their preliminary quarter-final last year. Maybe there’ll be something in the Dublin v Mayo or Galway v Armagh games but when everybody knows the work of getting through has already been done, it will take the edge off.

The current structure still has nominally another year to run but surely this whole thing needs a rethink over the winter. Malachy Clerkin

Rising tide needs to lift all of Offaly’s boats

Four hours before the throw-in of the All-Ireland under-20 hurling final on Saturday O’Loughlin Gaels was thronged. Situated just a few hundred yards from Nowlan Park, it is a popular spot for parking and lounging before any big game at the venue, but this was parking and lounging on a scale never seen before.

Apart from their main pitch in front of the clubhouse, which was occupied by a couple of hundred children in Offaly jerseys having a puck around, every sod of grass on their fine property was covered by cars, carefully stewarded into rows, scores of them. By mid-afternoon there must have been over a thousand cars on site, with the remaining spaces filling up fast. Arriving at 3 o’clock for a 7.15pm throw-in it felt like you were late.

The massive cross-generational following for this charismatic group of Offaly hurlers has been one of hurling’s joyful stories for the last three seasons. Cork and Limerick consistently generate the biggest attendances in the hurling championship, but the population of Cork city and county is nearly 600,000 and the population of Limerick city and county is over 200,000.

The population of Offaly is just over 80,000, about a quarter of whom were congregated in Nowlan Park on Saturday night. It was an extraordinary mobilisation, eclipsing – per captia – the estimated 100,000 Borussia Dortmund fans who reportedly landed in London for the Champions League final on the same evening.

Convincing those Offaly fans to support their senior team in the Joe McDonagh final next Saturday is the next challenge. Last year, six days after their under-20 hurlers brought a massive following to Thurles for their All-Ireland final against Cork, only a fraction of that number turned up in Croke Park to see their seniors play Carlow.

Offaly have waited so long for this tide that they can’t afford to leave any boat beached. Denis Walsh

Not much in the way of home comforts

Much has been made of Derry’s third defeat in this year’s championship – but the fact two of those losses were incurred on home ground doesn’t indicate Celtic Park is any sort of fortress. Indeed, of their last four games at the venue this season (league and championship), Derry have lost three.

However, unconvincing home performances were not confined to Derry at the weekend. Of the eight All-Ireland senior football championship group games, five were won by the away team – Armagh (v Derry), Galway (v Westmeath), Kerry (v Meath), Dublin (v Cavan) and Mayo (v Roscommon). Only two home sides posted wins – Tyrone beating Clare and Cork overcoming Donegal. Monaghan and Louth drew in Clones. The good news for all involved is that the decisive last round of games will take place at neutral venues. Gordon Mannning

Waterford pay the price for Kildare beating

You have to feel for Waterford. Their win over Longford at the weekend was their second championship victory in 2024 – and still it wasn’t enough to go through to the knockout stages of the Tailteann Cup. They haven’t won two games in a summer since 1911 when they beat Clare and Kerry to make the Munster final. But the season still feels like it has come to a premature end.

It has taken a confluence of events to knock them out. One feature of the Tailteann Cup from the beginning is that a spot is reserved for New York in preliminary quarter-finals. It’s a laudable thing, in all fairness – it wouldn’t make sense for them to play in the group stage, with all the travel that would involve for everyone concerned.

New York’s spot comes at the expense of the third-placed team with the worst points difference. Which, in a normal year, would be fair enough. Except this isn’t really a normal year because Kildare have found themselves slumming it in the Tailteann. They gave Waterford a 5-15 to 0-6 punishment beating in their game, leaving Paul Shankey’s side with a ruinous points difference. It was the biggest margin in any Tailteann Cup match since the competition began in 2022.

So despite beating Longford on Saturday and running up a 4-12 to 1-16 scoreline along the way, it meant Waterford’s season is over. A rough one for them to take. Malachy Clerkin