Dublin and Donegal are the two pacesetters at this stage of the Championship.
As of now, the Ulster Champions possess the most potent strike force capable of stopping the Dubs' drive for five.
They’re a brilliantly coached, very well oiled machine and have improved enormously since last year.
Their fringe players and lesser lights have moved to a new level to become proper leaders on the field.
The Donegal style of play is superb – blistering transition coupled with an amazing array of strikers throughout the field. Their ability to execute from 40 or 50 yards is the best in the country at this moment.
Donegal had 12 scorers against Cavan and some of their scores from distance were electrifying.
The snipers come from all over the park, but it’s their strike technique that’s so impressive.
The improvement in players like McMenamin, McFadden, McGee, Thompson, Brennan and Langan is remarkable. You can see they have been coached superbly.
Donegal’s use of the ball is so intelligent. They play so smart but they’re also a ruthless bunch that are deceptively physical. They display real ferocity in the tackle.
In Shaun Patton they have a goalkeeping gem. His kick-outs are radar-like - he’s a massive addition. At the other end in Clones on Sunday, Raymond Galligan struggled badly for Cavan with his kick-outs.
Donegal now have the tactical know-how to take out the opposition’s best players. They look like the real deal – and will be, once they shore up their defence.
A Cavan team that never gave up should never have scored 2-16. So that aspect of their game was sloppy, but overall Donegal are a mean, ruthless skillful outfit.
Cavan didn’t deal with the occasion well. Their minds weren’t right and Donegal stopped their running game so effectively that their big players struggled to make an impact.
Cavan stood off the Donegal players far too much, giving them time to score at will from distance. It was the one thing that Cavan couldn’t afford to do and the game was over as a contest at half-time.
Tactically Cavan got their set-up wrong and their approach played right into Donegal’s hands. They need to get their heads right and get back to basics.
Questions to answer for Kerry
On the evidence of the Munster final, Cork’s spirit is back with a bang while Kerry are still trying to find their heart and soul after another poor defensive display.
Cork could have won the game on Saturday if they were more clinical – they missed five goal chances and had twice as many wides as Kerry.
The Rebels carved the Kingdom’s defence open time and time again and it was only real self belief that was lacking.
What certainly wasn’t lacking was heart and character.
David Clifford and Stephen O’Brien carried the fight alone at times for Kerry. But Ruairi Deane (above) was the best player on the field and with a bit more composure in front of goal, he would have beaten Kerry on his own.
The Kingdom’s tackling was shocking and their defensive awareness was non-existent.
Yes, 1-19 was a good score they put up, but what’s required ahead of the Super 8s is serious emergency surgery on a very porous defence.
Meath left to lick wounds after a total humiliation
Scoring just 0-4 in nearly 80 minutes in a Leinster final against Dublin will live long in the memory.
It’s a scoreline that will haunt everyone and anyone who cares about Meath football for many, many years to come.
It’s 64 years since there was a worse score from a side in a Leinster decider, a fact that there’s no running or hiding from.
The sad part is that Dublin were very average and particularly poor in the first half, when Meath’s defence fought so well for so long.
They put huge pressure on the Dublin forwards, who didn’t like the close attention.
Eventually Meath’s backs were over-run and the defensive line broke.
Losing is not the problem. It’s the horrible manner of this defeat that may do damage. Andy McEntee was hurting in his post- match interview.
He’s a proud Meath man who now knows his team are no closer to Dublin than they were when he first took over, and that’s the hardest thing to accept for the Royals management team.
It’s a long way back but everyone must forget such a pitiful, sorrowful display now. We are only one game from the Super 8s.
Meath must dust themselves down, get their act together and come back fighting. There’s no other way.
Pairc Ui Chaoimh pich still isn't right
As we saw on Saturday night, the Pairc Ui Chaoimh pitch is still not right.
The amount of times players lost their footing from under them was scary.
The playing surface continues to be a big problem as it caused several issues throughout the Munster final.
It has to be addressed before there is a serious injury to a player. Skidding and sliding on that surface is a joke.
After all the money that was spent on the stadium, just sort this out ASAP.
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