A DAY for champions, contenders and leaders to all taste defeat as the Church and General Football League experienced some significant tremors while Waterford IT upset UCC's quest for a fourth consecutive Fitzgibbon Cup.
All-Ireland champions Galway crashed to a nine-point defeat at the hands of Tyrone as Peter Canavan inspired the 1-13 to 0-7 victory at Tuam. Galway captain Ray Silke and his half-back colleague John Divilly were sent off as was Tyrone midfielder Ciaran McBride. Dublin suffered their first defeat of the league in their game against Donegal at Ballyshannon with some worrying signs that the rejuvenated squad still has some learning to do. Despite replacing three forwards, Dublin's scoring ability fell well short while the full-back line looked creaky.
The clash between Cork and Armagh at Pairc Ui Rinn was always going to be a tightly-fought affair as the Northerners attempted to close the gap on the leading two, Cork and Dublin. In they end the visitors came away with a onepoint win and created a nice trio of seven points-a-piece at the top of Division 1A. Kildare manager Mick O'Dwyer insists that there is little emphasis being put on the county's league campaign yet their win over Clare in Cusack Park moves them ahead of Meath at the top of Division 1B to remain the only unbeaten side left in the entire league.
The Leinster champions casually built a first-half lead but Clare substitute Ger Keane completed one of the best movements of the match to put Clare in front. Karl O'Dwyer and Paul McCormack helped restore the lead in the final 20 minutes to put Kildare in the driving seat for the play-off position.
Meath, meanwhile, fell from the top after their disappointing show against Derry in Navan while Mayo jumped to third on the table with a comfortable win in Monaghan.
The main result in Division 2A had leaders Wicklow loose the only perfect record so far in an incident-packed contest in Mullingar. Ger Heavin and Dessie Dolan helped Westmeath notch up the five point win, 1-17 to 2-9, and leave them top of the table on scoring average. Kerry's one-point win over Limerick in Tralee may yet prove to be crucial.
It moves them to second and back into contention for the later stages.
In Division 2B, Carlow managed to stay in front with an unconvincing win over Cavan, while Wexford's slip-up in Enniskillen sees them drop to fourth as Sligo beat Waterford to grab the runner-up position.
Waterford still had something to cheer about as the Waterford IT hurlers had far too much ability for UCC in the Fitzgibbon Cup, even if their 13-point lead at one stage was reduced to six.
Wexford club Rathnure also pulled off an emphatic win in Parnell Park to reach the All-Ireland hurling final for the sixth time. They have yet to claim the highest honour, but the 2-19 to 1-8 victory over Down champions Ballygalget may make them favourites come St Patrick's Day.
The only hurling league fixture of the day had Offaly wallowing in the Birr mire as Galway had an easy win over the reigning All-Ireland champions.
