Derry back in business
It is time to talk about Derry – the form team in the National Football League.
After losing their opening round match to Meath in January, Derry continued to hold an ignominious record of having not won a league game since March 2024. They went from Division One league champions to relegation fodder in a matter of months. Free-falling Derry.
But having ended their winless streak by beating Tyrone in round two, they have since chalked up four consecutive victories and sit joint top of the Division Two table. They also boast two hugely impressive stats – they are the top scoring team across all four divisions and they are also the side with the meanest defence in the country.
Derry have amassed 123 points after five games and conceded only 77 points.
Their scoring difference of plus 46 is in a different postcode to the other 31 teams in the National Football League. Down are the nearest to Derry in terms of scoring difference, with plus 22.
In their last two games combined, Derry have scored a staggering 3-56. They hammered Offaly 2-25 to 0-8, before a crushing 1-31 to 0-14 victory over Cork last weekend. And Cork had entered that game as one of only four teams in the country with a 100 per cent winning record. When you include two-pointers, Derry only shipped seven scores against Offaly and 12 against the Rebels.
Their remaining two games will see Derry travel to face Louth in round six and finally a home against Cavan. Despite the tight nature of the group, given their scoring difference advantage, the Oak Leafers are primed to make an immediate return to Division One.
Considering the depth of talent in the squad with players including Conor Glass, Brendan Rogers, Shane McGuigan and Gareth McKinless, it’s hardly surprising Derry are back winning games again.
But there is no denying the return of Ciarán Meenagh appears to have finally helped the squad to move on from a couple of seasons where off-the-field matters and a managerial revolving door proved significant distractions.
Derry were Ulster champions in 2022 and 2023. Meenagh was a selector in both of those seasons and actually filled the position of interim manager for the 2023 triumph after Rory Gallagher had stepped down days before the provincial decider.
Meenagh was not in a position to take the job on a permanent basis at the end of that season, but the Tyrone man was coaxed to return ahead of the 2026 campaign. It is said you should never go back, but Meenagh might be about to disprove that theory. – Gordon Manning
Changing the rearguard
For any manager, changing the goalkeeper is one of the biggest calls. Tipperary did it before their make-or-break game against Clare in round three of the Munster championship last summer and Rhys Shelly ended the year as the All-Star goalie. As soon as Nickie Quaid was fit Limerick changed their goalie midstream last year too, but that was a different dynamic.
For Cork and Kilkenny there are other issues at play. Paudie O’Sullivan played his first competitive game for Cork in Nowlan Park on Sunday while Aidan Tallis continues to impress in what has been a breakthrough season for him, regardless of what happens between now and the championship.
The local expectation is that Eoin Murphy will be available over the coming weeks and will resume his position as Kilkenny’s number one. Murphy has been one of the outstanding goalkeepers of his or any other generation, but he turned 35 last August and his form has dipped a little over the last couple of seasons. It is not inconceivable that this will be his last year.
Patrick Collins has been Cork’s first choice goalkeeper for the last five seasons, but he hasn’t always been convincing and after the All-Ireland final last year he would have been regarded as one of the Cork players under most pressure to keep his place for this season.
If Cork were seriously considering a change, though, the expectation was that O’Sullivan would have been introduced earlier than round four of the league. The young Fr O’Neill’s player made one excellent save on his debut and survived a couple of hairy moments, including a goalmouth scramble just before half-time.
On first appearances it looked like he was hooked while trying to play the ball across his goal in a risky manoeuvre; replays showed that he was fouled but Thomas Walsh hadn’t whistled for an infringement and if Kilkenny had forced the ball over the line the goal would have stood.
O’Sullivan is clearly very talented and has been touted as a future Cork goalie for a while. Whether Cork are prepared to take that plunge between now and the first round of the championship will be a big call, whichever way they dice it. – Denis Walsh
Armagh’s lack of depth costing them
With five minutes to go in Castlebar, we were scrambling at our match programmes and wondering what was going on. Armagh had a sub warming up but he was wearing number 28. The numbers on the sheet only went up to 26 so we were momentarily confused as to what Kieran McGeeney was up to.
As it turned out, the number 28 was the sub goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty. He was listed at 16 in the programme but McGeeney was bringing him on in the forward line. For the second week in a row, Armagh only used two of their five substitutes. for the second week in a row, McGeeney waited until after the hour mark to play his hand.
Armagh are down a lot of high-profile bodies just now. From the team that won the All-Ireland in 2024, McGeeney is missing Rory Grugan, Andrew Murnin, Barry McCambridge, Joe McElroy, Paddy Burns, Rian O’Neill, Niall Grimley and Stefan Campbell (the latter three have all left the panel, at least for now). Aidan Forker has been on the bench for the past two weekends without coming on.
For years, we said that Armagh are the squad with the greatest depth -and to some extent, this league has shown that to be true. A team losing that amount of front-line bodies should be getting hammered regularly (See: Monaghan). But Armagh have been right in there at the death against Galway, Donegal, Roscommon and Mayo. They aren’t in that bad a place.
But when you’re bringing on your sub goalie as your attacking threat off the bench, it feels telling. The long and the short of it is that McGeeney clearly doesn’t trust that he has match-winners within his supporting cast any more. Armagh will be a force when they get their main men back. But the depth that won them Sam Maguire isn’t there any more.
Could be telling come the business end of the summer. – Malachy Clerkin
Attacking returns for Dublin
Dublin’s big win in Roscommon was cheering for manager Ger Brennan, who has been finding it predictably tricky to balance trying out new players with amassing the points necessary to survive in Division One.
By his own account, he has had a look at “47, 48 players” since taking over at the beginning of the season.
Going into the weekend, the county was occupying one of the two relegation slots. The win moves them up the table ahead of Galway and Armagh – for added intrigue, the two counties they have yet to play in what will be like an elimination series.
Looking at Dublin’s performances, basic details suggest that defence is not the major issue. Only Kerry have conceded fewer scores.
Up front, it has been a different story. Even after Sunday’s 11-point win, the county has a scoring difference of zero and their total for the season is second lowest in the division, ahead only of doomed Monaghan, who are resolutely adrift at the bottom of the table.
There have been extenuating circumstances. Captain Con O’Callaghan has been plagued by injury, his absence making Sunday’s big score all the more impressive. Former All Star forward Colm Basquel and Cormac Costello have both been injured for a while.
For a side that averaged just over 17 points up to last weekend, registering 1-21 represented welcome improvement. Most conspicuous was the success rate with two-pointers, harnessing first-half wind advantage. Five of those scores compared with seven for the entire campaign until Sunday – four of which had come from O’Callaghan.
Having lamented a record of taking more pots at two-pointers than anyone else for no better return than the worst conversion rate out there (seven from at least 30) Brennan was able to celebrate the reset.
“It’s great now. The lads do practise them, to be fair. We run a lot of different scenarios, as all teams do in training. Again, when you have a plan and you work hard, eventually, with a bit of luck and momentum, things will come off. Today, most of what we tried came off, which is pleasing.”
After a week’s rest, it will be crunch time for Dublin with two matches, Armagh (at home) and Galway (away) in the following eight days. Having a more productive attack will be a big help. – Seán Moran
Story of Tipperary footballers worth keeping an eye on
The Tipperary footballers are quietly becoming one of the stories of the league. For the past few seasons, they’ve made basically no impression on Division Four, fizzling out the longer their spring campaigns have gone on. More than any team in the four divisions, they have a ready-made excuse to do likewise this year, as they continue to process the brutal shock of death of their manager Philly Ryan last November.
But to their credit, they’ve kept finding results. An opening day draw against London might not sound great on the ear but London have beaten Longford and Waterford since then and are nobody’s mugs. Tipp lost to Carlow, who look to be the best team in the division, before a last-gasp draw against Longford and a convincing win against Leitrim on Sunday.
Time and again, Tipp could have thrown their hat at it over the past few weeks but they’ve dug out results against the head when it mattered. They have a huge clash against Wicklow in Aughrim in two weeks’ time. A win will put them in pole position for promotion, with Waterford coming to Thurles on the last day.
Whatever happens, they’re doing their former manager proud. – Malachy Clerkin