No joy for our minor panellists Seán, Mark, Brian and Zach ...

No joy for our minor panellists Seán, Mark, Brian and Zach in the Leinster minor football championship V Dublin. From the club perspective it was good to have four players on the panel even if they did not see any action against Dublin. It has been a long time since four Mullingar Shamrocks players made it on to a Westmeath county minor panel. Well done to Denis and Killian for playing their part in a solid win against Limerick.

Some perspective on the minor match might be appropriate.

(1) This was a fine display by Westmeath in what was a really good game of football with great scores, lots of direct attacking, wonderful skill on display from players on both sides. Gaelic football can be an exciting sport and a game worth watching when the players are not tied up in tactical knots.

(2) Much post-match comment reflected on the contribution made by the Dublin substitutes. This should not have been a surprise as this is what happens when a county with a population of 1.3 million competes on an equal basis with a county of 89,000 people. This is a fact of geography, life is unfair and we have to live with this until the county system is changed in the GAA sometime in the distant future.

(3) Much was also made of the apparent fitness advantage of the Dublin players. This is what happens when a county that received €1.3 million for games development from the GAA in 2018 competes against a county that received €146,000 from the same source for the same purpose in the same year. This is referred to as financial doping in some quarters but we know since last week that it is not the financial top-loading that is the most significant factor in Dublin's dominance. John Horan, the President of the GAA for Dublin explained that it is the quality of volunteerism that matters. He can't be wrong can he?