The iconic late singer’s hopeful prophecy was very much an anthem for British troops going into battle at the time of World War II. As if to say to themselves We’ll Meet Again by way of convincing themselves it would be so.
Of course, with actual armed conflict, there are no such guarantees, as the unnecessary and possibly illegal wars started by George W. Bush, Tony Blair and the big bloated orange gasbag currently in the White House have horrifically proven.
On a (slightly) lighter note, the old anthem will have been ringing in a lot of ears following Monday morning’s draw for Round 3 of the All Ireland SFC in the race for the Sam Maguire Cup. Pitting the losers of the matches in Round 2A (Donegal, Mayo, Armagh, Westmeath) against those who survived the death trap that was 2B – Meath, Dublin, Monaghan, Kerry – and what potentially cracking contests they have thrown up.
The draw, held on Morning Ireland earlier today, threw up the following gems:
Mayo v. Meath
Kerry v. Armagh
Dublin v. Donegal
Monaghan v. Roscommon
Pick the bones out of all that. Talking point one – Dublin playing host to Donegal, BUT will possibly have to do so in Parnell Park, given that the Tailteann Cup semi finals are set-in-stone in GAA HQ and, adding another layer of intrigue is the fact that Leinster Rugby take on The Bulls in the United Rugby Championship Final at the nation’s best stadium also over the weekend.
The ironic thing is, if the Donnycarney venue is brought into play, it might actually play into the hands of their opponents. Especially in this case, given that the age profile of the Donegal team is on the way down the hill. With Ryan McHugh, Michael Murphy and Jason McGee having more big days behind them than in front.
Thus, it stands to reason that the tighter confines of the official home of Dublin GAA would seem to suit the ageing battalion from the north west. Elsewhere, (thankfully soon to be former) GAA President Jarlath Burns will indeed not be seen as a prophet among his own people having ‘awarded’ them a trip to where the pale moon rises.
Mind you, I would contend that the only reason Jack O’Connor’s side are entitled to start favourites are those very home comforts. They have been obliterated twice by the aforementioned Donegal side (once in Killarney) who themselves had their soft underbelly exposed again by improving but still trailing Cork – in Ballybofey as well.
Albeit Meath put a bit more bulk behind the latter piece of form by recovering from the capitulation against John Cleary’s Rebels in recording an impressive enough victory against Derry on Saturday last. But it would surely be foolhardy to cast Armagh to the losing docket box just yet.
In reality, they were only undone by either a malfunction or a shortcoming at the host ground. Either there was no hooter or it wasn’t good enough to be heard. In whichever case was the issue in Inniskeen on Sunday, surely on a larger scale, it prompts the following questions for the CCCC:
(a) Are there criteria relating to a countdown timer and/or a hooter which a venue must pass in order to host matches?
(b) If said venues don’t meet whatever those stipulations may exist, how are the passed to host inter county matches?
(c) How can it even be considered to be fair that a few grounds – Croke Park, Semple Stadium and Pairc Ui Chaoimh – to have HawkEye facilities when other grounds do not.
The irony of the whole thing being that Louth now have a Joe Sheridan goal of their own. Through no fault of their own I must rapidly add. But the facts are that the only reason Sam Mulroy’s goal was allowed to stand was due to the lack of a countdown timer and/or hooter.
I said it in this space last week that it simply has to be the case that if some grounds – yes even Croke Park itself – has either or both of the elements referred to above, they all must. Anything else is simply inequitable and untennable.
Anyway, moving on, the third pairing out put Mayo and Meath on a collision course once again. Somebody informed yours truly in the aftermath of the draw that, seemingly, on all bar one occasion (2009) whoever has won clashes between the two has gone on to contest the Sam Maguire final.
There’s no suggestion from this corner at least that either are capable of arriving at such locations this time around but I would be firmly of the view that they are two sides which are very evenly matched.
If you go on a line of form that Meath drew with Roscommon and beat Galway last term and that – notionally at least – both of those would presently be considered to be ahead of the green and red at present, that has to leave the Royals in with a fighting chance.
Finally, it must be said that the fourth of the weekend’s knockout fixtures, the meeting of Monaghan and Westmeath is every bit as intriguing as the others to try and decipher.
Even though, for some unjustified reason, it doesn’t seem likely to generate as much hype as the other matches. Despite the reality that both these teams are old hands at punching above their weight.
The same could be said about Meath. Roll on the weekend.
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