It’s Saturday morning, stuff to do and all that, so this needs to be a quick one.

Opinions appear divided amongst previewers and bookies as to the likely outcome of tomorrow’s NFL clash with Kerry at McHale Park (throw-in 2.30pm).  RTE and the Irish Times (sub required) go for us, while Hogan Stand and Paddy Power are in the Green and Gold camp, the latter quoting Kerry at 4/6.  (Incidentally, I think there might be some money to be made off Paddy Power this evening, as they’re offering Monaghan at the ludicrously generous odds of 5/2 to turn over Dublin at Parnell Park tonight.  Monaghan have two league wins under their belt already and look to be in fine fettle, whereas the Dubs have only played – and won – the once.  Sure, they’re hard to beat in Parnell Park but those odds on Monaghan still look overly generous to me.)

I think we have a good chance tomorrow (making those 6/4 odds look reasonably attractive too) of recording our third league victory in a row over Kerry.  We’re fielding a very experienced side, whereas they have a more experimental line-up (albeit one staffed exclusively by Kerrymen) and, in a mid-March clash, that might count for something.  It’s also the case that we’ve got a very poor return in terms of league points for the reasonably good form we’ve showed over our opening three games and so, if you believe in karmic fairness and all that kind of stuff,  you might expect us to reap the rewards tomorrow.  Or not, as the case may be.

I do have a concern that we’re falling into the trap of fielding a “settled” side, in the hope of gaining league points, at the expense of trying to find that elusive, unbeatable championship fifteen.  If we win tomorrow, however, I suppose I won’t be complaining.  It’s a while since we last won a match that mattered: the qualifier victory over Cavan back in early July all of eight months ago was the last one.  We’re definitely overdue a win and wins over Kerry (rare as they are) are always nice to record so it would be doubly pleasing if we could claim our first competitive win of the year tomorrow.