[caption id="attachment_71783" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Longford's Sean McCormack is tackled by Billy Sheehan of Laois at Pearse Park in the Leinster championship game in Longford."]
THE All-Ireland Football campaign is very much up and running following victories for Donegal, Galway, Louth, Longford and Limerick over the weekend.
And while no sensible person will read too much into preliminary and first round matches in May, both Donegal and Galway have good reason to feel pleased with themselves. Donegal opened their defense of the Ulster Championship with a 1-16 to 1-10 victory over Cavan at Breffni Park.
Galway were even more emphatic winners, trouncing Roscommon by 3-15 to 0-10 at Dr Hyde Park. There was clear evidence that both are moving in the right direction.
Take Donegal. During last season's campaign that eventually saw them lose to Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final, there was considerable criticism of manager Jim McGuinness's over dependence on a blanket defense.
But there are definite signs that they have moved on. While they are still strong defensively, they are now more prepared to throw players forward in support of the attack.
Basically, they did what they had to do against a young Cavan side. Despite the absence of the injured Michael Murphy, they had the match well in control by half-time.
At that stage, they were 1-7 to 0-4 clear, a six-point cushion they maintained during the second period. In the absence of Murphy, Colm McFadden was the main torn in Cavan's side.
He contributed 1-6, slotting home a penalty and also kicking five frees. Rory Kavanagh also did well, marking his 100th appearance with three points from play.
Cavan started promisingly, picking off long range scores to lead 0-3 to 0-1 after seven minutes but thereafter they couldn't match a much superior Donegal outfit. In the circumstances, Cavan full-forward Eugene Keating did really well to manage five points from play.
He was also pulled down for a second half penalty which substitute Niall McDermott scored from with 10 minutes left.
Kavanagh, the Donegal captain summed it up: "It wasn't a classic, but we had to go out to win and we did that. We'll have boys like Michael Murphy back from injury the next day and will be the better for it."
That next day will see Donegal play Derry on June 11 while Cavan will go into the qualifiers, starting on June 23. In Connacht, Galway are through to a semi-final meeting with Sligo on June 9 following their demolition of a disappointing Roscommon.
Manager Alan Mulholland has every reason to feel encouraged. They started really well, had a bit of a digy patch in the middle of the game, but then pulled well clear again following the introduction of Padraic Joyce and Michael Meehan.
But the man-of-the-match was undoubtedly Paul Conroy at full-forward. He delivered 1-4 from play and also helped to set up Mark Hehir for Galway's first goal.
Effectively, the match was over by the 23rd minute after Conroy had sent a low shot into the net for Galway's second goal. Behind by 2-7 to 0-3, Roscommon were already a beaten team.
Sadly, their main threat Donal Shine had an off day, managing just two frees. To further discourage the home supporters, Galway brought on Meehan and Joyce to wreak havoc in the second half.
Meehan showed that he is hopefully at long last over his injury problems by scoring two points and then setting up a goal for Gary Sice. Joe Bergin also had a big day, dominating at midfield.
Mulholland expressed his satisfaction saying: "We are not going to pretend we didn't play well. The first 20 minutes was really good, the middle third a bit ropey but we brought on Padraic Joyce and Michael Meehan to see us out for the last 20 minutes."
In Leinster, Louth booked a clash with All-Ireland champions Dublin at Croke Park on June 3 after winning a nail-biting encounter 2-9 to 0-14 against Westmeath at Navan. It took a scrambled goal from debutant substitute Danny O'Connor six minutes into injury time to give Louth their victory.
It was hard on Westmeath who had looked in control for much of the second half. As their manager Pat Flanagan put it: "Sometimes you don't get the rub of the green, we hit the crossbar, they score with a toe-poke of a goal."
Louth boss Peter Fitzpatrick reacted, stating: "A match is not over until the final whistle and we have learnt that the hard way in recent years. Danny O'Connor is a young lad only 21 years of age.
"We saw him playing for his club a few weeks ago and put him in the panel. He got the goal and that's what it is all about."
Either way, Louth are going to have to improve an awful lot if they are to extend Dublin. Importantly, they got the goals and Westmeath didn't, the first of them coming from Ronan Carroll in the first half.
John Heslin gave fine performance for Westmeath, scoring five points, but unfortunately his efforts counted for nothing when O'Connor struck home his late goal.
Neither was there much in the meeting of Longford and Laois at Pearse Park. Longford staged an outstanding comeback to come from 0-9 to 0-3 behind before winning 1-10 to 0-12.
Laois must still be wondering how they let it slip. Manager Justin McNulty reflected: "We controlled the game for long periods. They took their chances, we didn't."
That's true but credit must go to Longford for beating Laois for the first time in 44 years. The game changing moment came early in the second half when Paul Barden was on hand to score a well taken goal.
Barden, the Longford center-forward and captain, was an inspirationl figure, finishing with 1-2. Eventually, Longford got their noses in front but they had to witstand a late scare when the ball finished in their net following a free.
But the Sligo referee Michael Duffy quite rightly ruled it out. All of which means that Longford will play Wexford in the next round at Corke Park on June 3 with Laois going into the qualifiers.
The only game in the Munster Senior Football Championship, meanwhile, saw Limerick comfortably get the better of Waterford 2-12 to 0-7. Ian Ryan was the hero, scoring 1-8.
Westmeath shock Antrim
THERE was a big shock in the first round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship when Westmeath overcame Antrim 0-14 to 0-12 at Mullingar.
The victory was all the more noteworthy because Westmeath played with only 14 men for 46 minutes. Ahead 0-8 to 0-3 at the interval, Antrim must have thought the job was done.
But Westmeath roared back with an outstanding second half effort. Niall O'Brien contributed 0-8, six from frees, as they went ahead in the closing minutes.
Their reward is a quarter-final meeting with Galway. Elsewhere in the Leinster Championship, Laois got the better of Carlow by 0-20 to 0-13 at Dr Cullen Park with Willie Hyland getting a remarkable 13 points. They will face Dublin in the last eight.
