Art aware of ups and downs

Among the few things which are certain going into the concluding round of the Allianz Football League this Sunday is that Tyrone and Mayo are assured of semi-final places.

Just who joins them and who drops from the top divisions still needs a little more sorting out. For Tyrone joint-manager Art McRory, this season's league conformed to the trend he has seen develop in the competition in recent years. A good start is half the race over, and from then on there is no great shifting of positions.

"Well, the league can be funny animal," he says. "If you get a result in the first couple of matches the whole thing seems to roll on automatic pilot. But if you start to struggle at all you have to flog like hell to try and keep the thing together.

"We just happened to get away early and it has rolled along very nicely for us. And so, after winning the first two or three games, I did expect we would qualify for the semi-finals. And I would have been disappointed after the start that we got if we didn't qualify."

Though Tyrone still need to win their final game against Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday to be assured of the top position, the semi-final place will go some way in making up for last year when they missed out on the play-offs because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Not that what happened a year ago had any bearing in this season's league campaign: McRory makes it clear that foot-and-mouth and last year was never mentioned once this season. But now that his team is in the semi-finals the focus has become a little sharper.

"Well, certainly the attitude now is to try go on to win the thing. And to give you a straight answer, I think we can win it. Though it hasn't been translated into any extra urgency in the training, because we're still doing the usual amount for this time of year. If things are going the way they're going, then why change it?

If it's not broken, then no need to fix it." It promises, however, to be an exciting play-off phase, and McRory reckons the competition will only get harder.

"Obviously Mayo are unbeaten, but I honestly think our section was the stronger of the two. And I think whoever comes out with us will be hard to beat from here on. We've had several games in our section where there were just a couple of points in it, like against Dublin and Galway, and the results could have gone either way. For some mysterious reason we had an easy win against Roscommon.

"And without doubt it has been a useful league for everyone, much more so than the previous version. But then the previous version was a 19th-century league.

We have moved on from that, but maybe we have another step or two to go yet. The next thing to do is to get four divisions, A, B, C and D, or else integrate it with the championship and run the two of them together."

With their six wins in six games, Mayo are the only unbeaten team across all four divisions and, like Tyrone, are already assured of progressing no matter what happens in the final round of games. Their final Division 1B game is against Fermanagh in Enniskillen.

Tyrone's result against Cork on Sunday will help decide the complicated situation of who is relegated from Division 1A. Westmeath and Offaly, who play each other in Tullamore, are favourites to go down.

However, if Cork (currently on four points) lose and Dublin (5) lose, one of them could be brought into relegation territory, depending on the result in Tullamore.

Westmeath must win to have any chance of survival, but if Offaly win they have a chance of passing both Cork and Dublin. If Offaly lose they will go down, while Westmeath could survive at the expense of Cork,

The question of who will join Tyrone from Division 1A in the semi-finals is more clear-cut. Roscommon (on nine points) play hosts to Donegal (on eight points) in Hyde Park on Sunday, and the winners there will progress. A draw would be good enough for Roscommon.

There are three teams in contention for the remaining play-off place in Division 1B - Cavan, Sligo and Fermanagh. It seems certain, however, that the last place will be decided on who wins between Sligo and Cavan, who are set to meet in Markievicz Park. Clare and Derry appear doomed to relegation.