Cavan’s defensive record is overestimated by RTÉ’s Paul Flynn

The famous ‘John 3:16′ and later ‘John 3:7′ placards, carried by supporter Frank Hogan, became part of the iconography of GAA summers from the 1980s on.

In that spirit, let us commandeer another – ‘John 8:7′ – this week. That’s the biblical verse dealing with the whole ‘Let he without sin cast the first stone’ situation.

The Schemozzle certainly isn’t that – without sin - but we’ll cast it anyway in the direction of RTÉ pundit Paul Flynn, who predicted a close contest between Cavan and Tyrone. That call was off the mark, perhaps because his info let him down.

In Flynn’s preview, he reckoned Cavan had been “very impressive at the back” and “they have new, young players in Niall Carolan and Sean McEvoy, who has been excellent in midfield”.

Tipperary go toe-to-toe with Limerick to underline their credentials

Galway too good for Roscommon as they look to secure fourth Connacht title on the spin

GAA as it happened: Munster hurling championship kicks off with two thrilling draws

In reality, Cavan conceded 159 points, an average of 22.7 points per game, in the National League, which meant that, defensively, they ranked 28th out of the 32 teams in the country.

‘New’ corner-back Carolan, who is the fourth generation of his family to play represent Cavan, is now in his fourth season as a starter. Former Republic of Ireland U17 international McEvoy, meanwhile, did light things up during the league but as a corner-forward.

In fairness to Flynn, he did call the results of three of the four National League finals correctly and has generally been on the money in the opening weeks of the championship.

Linfield player says GAA more demanding than soccer

Had things worked out differently, Antrim could have had another leading attacker to call on against Armagh on Saturday – and he has some history with the Orchard, too.

In 2017, Matthew Fitzpatrick was handed a 48-week ban after the Central Hearings Committee ruled he had “deliberately misled” them following a league game against Armagh. That was overturned following the high-profile intervention of Joe Brolly, who reportedly provided legal services in exchange for a pint of Guinness.

Fitzpatrick is now playing for Linfield and has been shortlisted for the NI Premiership Player of the Year award, having helped them win the league.

“I’ve still had people messaging me looking for tickets - I don’t know how they think a Linfield player gets tickets for an Antrim game!” Fitzpatrick, a member of host club St John’s, told Belfast Live.

He believes the demands on GAA players outstrip that of soccer.

“When I compare my season to theirs - I’ve probably played 50 games this season. Antrim will do well to play 15 maybe?”

“The demands on Gaelic footballers are much greater than the demands on me as a professional footballer.”

In words

“The losing of Ray… Ray was lording the skies.” − Westmeath manager Dermot McCabe understandably bemoaned the loss of former AFL star Ray Connellan, who was having a superb match at midfield, to injury. Kildare subsequently kicked on to win the match.

Tyrone hurlers top the ‘longest traveller’ stat

The “longest traveller” stat is a staple in horseracing and on a weekend where there 15 championship matches, it is perhaps relevant in intercounty football and hurling too.

Leaving aside the overseas teams (London, Lancashire and Warwickshire) in action, the side who travelled furthest over the weekend was Tyrone hurlers, whose trek to Aughrim from their county grounds in Omagh represented a 540km, six-and-a-half hour round trip.

Next longest travellers were Louth hurlers, who had a 404km round trip to face Sligo. The shortest trip, according to Google maps, was for the Donegal hurlers; from their county grounds in Ballybofey to Celtic Park in Derry is just 47.6km.

And given the manager Mickey McCann and four starting players on the Donegal side came from the Burt club, whose home grounds at Hibernian Park is only 11km from the Derry city venue, it was about as close as inter-county away games get.

Micko’s legacy continues today

The late Mick O’Dwyer’s Kerry senior debut in 1956 against Carlow, a game recalled in several tributes since his passing, saw him line out with some veterans such as Jim Brosnan and Tom Moriarty who had played in the 1940s alongside Paddy ‘Bawn’ Brosnan, who had himself represented the Kingdom at senior level as far back as the 1930s.

In such a way, it is possible to draw a line through a handful of players, going right back to the earliest days of the association. Micko’s legacy continues through Wicklow’s Dean Healy, who is, to the best of our knowledge, the only currently active inter-county footballer to play under O’Dwyer.

Healy made his debut in 2011, O’Dwyer’s final season as Garden boss, and is still going strong, scoring 0-4 against Dublin yesterday.

In numbers

9.3 points − The average margin of victory in the three matches to date in the Ulster SFC, supposedly the most competitive of the four provincial championships.