Kerry went top on their own, Dublin got it right, just, against Donegal and Sean Boylan was left seething after Ollie Murphy was sent off and the Derry fans gave Meath a hard time when they were leaving the field at Celtic Park.

That just about sums up the action in the fifth round of games in the Church and General National League, a series of games which left Offaly and neighbours Laois, the only two sides with one hundred per cent records, good enough for them to lead Division 2A and 2B respectively.

Dublin's performance in Parnell Park was just about good enough, no more. But after the debacle in Roscommon team boss Tommy Carr was pleased." We have two or three months to work on our faults," he said afterwards.

And Donegal manager Declan Bonner sounded a warning to future Dublin opponents when he observed;" Physically Dublin were much stronger than us, they won the battle in the air hands down." So if Dublin can straighten out those shooting boots, they may throw a serious challenge at the League title, who knows.

Even Kerry, two points winners against Roscommon did not please their critics in Killarney. A brilliant early goal from Seamus Moynihan should have been the stepping stone to greatness for Kerry but they squandered far too many chances and shot an amazing fifteen wides.

And in the heel of the hunt they were happy to escape with a two points win but two more points from their remaining games against Donegal and Galway should be enough to see them safely into the semi finals. But manager Paudi O'Se was far from impressed with the finishing.

"We had opportunities to punch points but were inclined to go for the kill and it did not work, ” he said " and that's a lesson we will have to learn. In all the All Ireland finals I have won no team ever gave us a tougher fight than Roscommon and nothing has changed."

John Gilhooley, Conor Connelly, Stephen Lohan, Fergal O'Donnell and Frankie Dolan led Roscommon's wonderful fight back, in fact Lohan and Derek Duggan edged Roscommon front early in the second half. Had Kerry taken their chances it might have been easy but this is a more than useful Roscommon side. Watch them go in the Championship.

Ante post favourites Galway made a triumphant trip to Omagh, winning a classic against Tyrone by a single point. And they can thank fit against goalkeeper Martin McNamara for keeping them in second spot just a point behind Kerry.

The former All Star goalkeeper was playing his first game of the season and earned his keep with two brilliant saves in the second half, both from Brian Dooher. Tyrone were quickly into a three points lead but Galway always showed greater confidence and self-belief.

Gary Fahy kept a tight rein on Peter Canavan who managed only a single point but Galway had a wide spread of scorers and this ability to keep popping over the points makes them a very attractive and impressive side. Their next outing against the Dubs should be a cracker.

Ulster Champions Armagh are still propping up the Div 1 A table with just two points and after the drawn with Cork in Crossmaglen, they can count themselves lucky to have those. Had Cork taken even a fraction of the chances they created in the first half, Armagh might have been swamped by half time.

But Cork blew their chances, indulged in far too much short hand passing stuff and paid the penalty by dropping a point they might have won handsomely. Now they have only two more competitive games before they begin the defence of their Munster Championship title.

Sean Boylan was an angry man after Meath's rough and tumble draw with Derry in Celtic Park, angry not with the single point but the sending off of striker Ollie Murphy. Murphy tangled with Sean Marty Lockhart in an off the ball incident directly after the Meath man had scored a great goal.

A head butt was the alleged offence but Boylan insisted that whatever about striking, there had been no head butting. If it comes to a hearing Lockhart will certainly be called to give evidence. Boylan will go all the way to protect his player.

But there was nothing he could do about the hostile reaction of the Derry fans when Meath were leaving the pitch. That hurt Boylan more than dropping a point and almost certainly turning the remainder of their League campaign into preparation for the defence of their All Ireland Championship title.

Derry are still top of Division 1 B but manager Eamonn Coleman was not happy that they stopped playing after racing into a six points lead." We decided we had done enough and did not compete and that was an open invitation to Meath to come back into the game." he said.

"And teams of Meath's calibre don't need a second invitation, we had two points in the bag but were lucky to have ended with one" he added.

Kildare and Clare also drew in Newbridge and Kildare must still be kicking themselves for blowing this one, having had a five points lead going into the last eleven minutes. Clare's Martin Daly almost grabbed a late, late winner. But in spite of getting a point, Kildare are now in a relegation scrap and the fans won't like that.

Sligo got it right against Mayo at Charlestown and it was the fist time they had beaten Mayo in the League since 1973. The sides meet again in the Championship in the summer and Sligo gave a real Championship performance in this rehearsal.

Paul Taylor and Eamonn O'Hara turned on the style for Sligo who led by six points with twenty minutes remaining but slightly lost their grip. And Mayo did themselves no favours by shooting fifteen wides.

Down are beginning to look the part after a brace of draws against Clare and Meath. Greg McCartan turned on the style in the second half and Mickey Linden, even though he scored only a point was a real torment. Fermanagh can have no complaints.

In Division 2 A Limerick led table toppers Offaly four times in Tullamore. But a goal in each half saw Offaly safely home quite comfortably against the bottom county. London, who share the bottom rung, were handsomely beaten by Antrim in Ruislip.

Louth and Leitrim also won but while Louth look good enough to stay in touch, nobody looks good enough to cause Offaly any problems.

And in Division 2 B the same applies to Laois who have won their five games, the latest by seven points from Wexford. Monaghan and Longford also won to stay in touch but that's about all.

© Tom Keogh 2001

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