In Laois and Offaly, they're just happy to be back.
The weekend was missed, due to the goverment's and NPHET's reluctance to give any advanced notice on the lifting of lock-down restrictions, but the county boards didn't hang around.
In both counties, a full round of football championship games were played with the Offaly and Laois GAA streaming services working in overdrive to sate their people's longing to see our games.
It sure doesn't beat being there but it's a close second and the quality of streaming provided by both counties was certainly worth the money.
In Laois, the reigning champions Portlaoise took care of Ballylinan in a low-scoring 1-8 to 0-5 victory but the performance of the round undoubtedly came from the O'Dempseys club, who put seven goals past Courtwood on Monday.
Their highly rated youngster Mark Barry was unsurprisingly prominent on the scoring charts but it was his first half back heel which really caught the eye. With the Courtwood defence caught off guard when a point-effort hit the post, the county under-20 player was quickest to react with a
slick drag and back-heel.
Credit: Laois GAA TV.
Emo Celtic - Barry's former club - will be proud to see those soccer skills paying off. Elsewhere in Laois, Portarlington beat Stradbally by a point while Ballyfin also won by the bare minimum over Rosenallis.
In Offaly, reigning champions Ferbane picked up from where they left off with Cian Johnson, another highly rated youngster, scoring the pick of the bunch with stanchion-rocker against Bracknagh.
https://twitter.com/GAA__JOE/status/1298519457418162177
There were also wins for Edenderry, Clara and Rhode in the Offaly SFC.
https://twitter.com/Offaly_GAA/status/1298561608009035781
It's been a long and at times disheartening year for counties like Laois, Offaly and Kildare who have had numerous false dawns when it comes to getting their championships going this year. Here's to hoping that the waiting is over and that the games will be back in Kildare soon.
