Mayo v Roscommon, Saturday, 7.0pm
It shows the strength of Connacht football that there are three teams from the province in the first division this year.
Mayo have home advantage and I’m sure James Horan would love to start with a win, Anthony Cunningham is new in the job with Roscommon. Mayo didn’t start the year well, but I’m sure they’re going to come out fighting fit in this league and I would predict a home win.
If you go on statistics, there are 60% home wins in the league, so there is a big advantage to playing at home.
There’s an old saying in football that you should never go back, but when he went so close it was always going to be tempting for James Horan. If someone was to ask me though did I think were Mayo going to win an All-Ireland, I would have to say I don’t think so.
Kerry v Tyrone, Sunday, 2.0pm
This is probably the best game of the round. With Peter Keane in charge of Kerry now he’ll want to start running as fast as possible; he’ll be hoping to unearth the new David Clifford and he’ll be throwing in the young lads that he won All-Irelands with at minor level. These are exciting times in Kerry football; Keane is asking for patience, but there’s no patience in Kerry, only next September.
I’m expecting a Kerry win even though Tyrone always take the league very seriously under Mickey Harte and I’m expecting the Kingdom to be in the shake-up in league and Championship.
Monaghan v Dublin, Sunday, 2.0pm
I expect to see total Dublin concentration on the Championship and I don’t think they’ll pass too much remark on the league.
This is a great opportunity for Monaghan – the engine of the Dublin team will be missing; Ciaran Kilkenny, Brian Fenton, James McCarthy, the Kilmacud Crokes players Cian O’Sullivan and Paul Mannion will probably be rested. Jim Gavin will be looking to find a new Niall Scully or Brian Howard, who made such a big impact last year.
There are going to be changes in the Dublin team this summer, but I think this is going to be Monaghan’s day.
Galway v Cavan, Sunday, 2.30pm
Galway are a team on the move; they have improved incrementally over the years and they are a team with great prospects this year. They have added in a few new players – Galway for me this weekend.
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