No counties for small men

The dressing rooms in Dr Hyde Park are out on a limb and last Saturday night, despite a biting wind, a group of disappointed Sligo fans hung around to see up close the team that had just taken them apart.

Their facial expressions were the equivalent of an audible gasp, and as one giant after another passed by, the words finally came. “Christ, they have some big men in that part of the country.”

It was only accurate to a point though. The truth is, t it’s something they’ve been working on ever since Kieran McGeeney rode into town. Little wonder then, that back when they were pummelling Offaly in their Leinster opener, a journalist in the press box who’d covered plenty of oval ball action noted that Peter Kelly was like a rugby centre. And he’s only the corner-back, a position where clingy and quick were once the key attributes.