Some championship losers have regrouped, counted the cost and are looking for answers. Chief among them is Wicklow where the search for answers has spilled over into recrimination. Conor Kane's lead in the Wicklow People saw former county board chairman Pat Lawless launch a broadside - more a full frontal attack actually - on the current administration's failure to develop football structures in the county. Lawless disparages the county board for its failure to implement the recommendations of county team manager Niall Rennick.
The lack of a physio and general back-up staff, the failure to set up a supporters' club, the failure to improve the Laragh training centre and even the provision of sub-standard footballs were all listed in Lawless's attack. "The blame for this most recent disaster (the Meath defeat) must rest on the County Management Committee and the County Board who continuously elect theses people to office," said Lawless.
In the Munster Express, the outlook for Waterford's defeated hurlers was spelt out in bleak terms by Tom Young in his Where do we go from here? front page piece. "The point is everything has been done right over the past three years under a fine coach. After all the sacrifices and the training and the Nutron diets, we are still short of what is required for a Munster or All-Ireland triumph," wrote a resigned Young.
In Kildare, Mick O'Dwyer's future with the county dominated the post-mortem of their defeat to Offaly. While county board officials expressed their hope that O'Dwyer would stay at the helm, O'Dwyer wasn't making any announcements. John Roddy in the Kildare Nationalist was reading between the lines, though. "Interestingly enough, when discussing his future, he (O'Dwyer) tended not to use the word `we' but rather `Kildare'," wrote Roddy.
In the Derry Journal, Joe Brolly was reflecting not on defeat but on the fortunate refereeing decision that let Cavan back into their drawn match yesterday week. It wasn't the first time Cavan had benefited, according to Brolly. "Look back to the 1997 Ulster final. We were robbed by a few bad decisions, but we didn't grumble, we just took our oil." Cavan took a dose of Derry oil yesterday.
