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For articles about the All Ireland final, including semi final analysis etc.

[kerrygold]

JOHN O'KEEFFE FOOTBALL ANALYST : The two main positives for Kerry came in the performances of Tadhg Kennelly and substitute Tommy Walsh

REACHING A sixth All-Ireland football final in succession is a terrific achievement and Kerry will be delighted to notch another milestone but will be perhaps less enthused about the manner of yesterday’s victory over Meath at Croke Park.

As a spectacle, yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final was a huge disappointment. There was some mitigation in greasy underfoot conditions but not to the extent that it absolved players from poorly-directed passes and general aimless hoofing.

The Kerry players boast a better skills set and that primarily allowed them to win this match; that and having the ability to tweak their patterns to suit the conditions. Meath competed gamely early on and managed to shade the possession stakes but they failed to use the ball wisely. They were far too profligate in their distribution and shooting.

They lacked composure and the sense of panicked option-taking was very evident whether taking on the posts or trying to find a colleague.

Before the match, the hype centred on whether the Meath backs could cope with the Kerry forwards while at the same time alighting on how their own sharpshooters might make life difficult for the Kingdom’s defenders.

Meath held Kerry to 2-8 and the backs deserve credit for keeping them to a relatively modest total but there was a preoccupation with that aspect of the game with little apparent thought about how they were going to amass a match-winning tally of their own. The focus was on not losing rather than trying to figure out a way to win.

They did stop Kerry playing at times on the one hand but were devoid of ideas at the other end of the pitch. They elected to kick 50-yard balls into their full-forward line, mostly poorly directed that sent the beleaguered Meath forwards tearing after lost causes or getting mugged in cul-de-sacs close to the touchline.

Meath’s three inside forwards were isolated, their lot made even worse by the fact that the team attacked in straight lines. Conditions favoured defenders so there had to be more subtlety and variety but the Leinster side never offered anything. One long ball after another skidded over the end line.

There would have been more profit in using Joe Sheridan as a target man. In the first half Brian Farrell’s point apart, Cian Ward – he kicked a couple of marvellous points from the sideline – was the only other outlet for scores.

Kerry enjoyed a little bit more guile and invention up front on a day when Colm Cooper, Declan O’Sullivan and Darren O’Sullivan were by no means close to their best. Instead it was left to others to pick up the slack, notably Paul Galvin and Tomás Ó Sé who worked hard to pilfer breaking ball around midfield.

But the real catalysts and the two main positives for Kerry from the afternoon’s fare came in the performances of Tadhg Kennelly and substitute Tommy Walsh.

Kennelly had a huge game, perpetually in motion and covering huge tranches of Croke Park. His passing was assured, his work-rate industrious and it will copper-fasten his starting place in the final.

Walsh offered a reminder of the value of a bona-fide target man, manifest in the way in which he scored the game’s second goal. It ended the match as a contest. There was an appropriate symmetry in that two of Kerry’s most effective performers combined in that moment: Kennelly’s perfectly-weighted diagonal ball allowed Walsh to use his aerial prowess, shrug off Anthony Moyles and finish to the net.

In the conditions that pertained, the more skilful players tend to make a better fist of controlling the ball and weighing the pass. Kerry used the diagonal long ball shrewdly and were also able to improve their tactics with the relevant personnel changes.

Walsh’s goal allowed his side to amble towards the winning post.

The placing of Séamus Scanlon in front of the fullback line was a clever tactical variation that allowed him to help break up Meath attacks and then carry ball forward in the opposite direction. He was very effective on the day.

Meath were unfortunate to lose their captain Stephen Bray to injury but it wouldn’t have altered the outcome. By the middle point of the second half they were palpably disheartened and lost their shape as five substitutes were introduced.

It’s a young team and they will have learned a lesson or two yesterday that will stand to them.

The road ahead is a long one but this Meath team is capable of returning to this stage of the championship once it matures a little.

The penalty was a contentious award that underlines the folly of a defender making any contact with a forward in front of his own goal. The referee made a split-second decision without the benefit of a replay and was conned by Colm Cooper’s dramatic dive.

It’s something that shouldn’t be borrowed from other sports.

Kerry didn’t fire anything like on all cylinders and there’s certainly plenty to occupy Jack O’Connor at training over the coming weeks, practice that should be very well-attended locally as there is some serious competition for All-Ireland final places.

That final promises to be an intriguing contest between the two best football teams in this season’s championship.

Kerry will improve from yesterday’s display; they’ll need to if they’re to enjoy a successful conclusion to their campaign.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

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O’Connor reveals focused Kingdom's war cry
By Fintan O’Toole

Monday, August 31, 2009



IT’S been a summer of fluctuating fortunes for Jack O’Connor.



June saw the turmoil of an exit from the Munster championship, July was a rancorous affair with his side operating under a fog of rumours. Yet by August everything has fallen neatly into place.

When the show moved to the big house in Croke Park, Kerry were still standing. Dublin were swatted aside with ease in the quarter-final, Meath seen off yesterday in a war of attrition on a sodden day. Kerry are down to the last two for the sixth successive year. Easy to understand, then, why O’Connor looked so satisfied at 5pm yesterday evening.

"It’s a huge landmark for a county with the tradition that we have to be there for the sixth year. This team has been written off so many times. Our last war cry before leaving the dressing room today was that they’d been written off as far back as 2001. But they keep coming back."

Some players were singled out for special praise. Like Mike McCarthy, who shuffled from retirement into centre-back in midsummer and has made a momentous contribution ever since then.

"Mike’s still going strong, he’s still defying the odds. I thought he’d a powerful second half. He gave us great momentum and shored up the backline. I just hope he has another big performance in him."

And Tommy Walsh, the Kerins O’Rahilly’s beanpole who absorbed his omission from the starting 15 and fired 1-2 when introduced.

"That’s the way you want a fella to react when you leave him off. There’s good spirit in our camp despite all the rumours of disunity. Fellas realise if they have a bad day, they might be let off the next day. But he put down a marker for the next day."

Of all their semi-final successes, this latest Kerry win will rank low in terms of quality with the pitch a major factor. Yet O’Connor was nonplussed and remarked it was the type of win that will stand to Kerry.

"We played the league final here back in April and there was no intensity in it. But today’s game, every ball was hard fought for. That’s the way you want a semi-final to pan out. You don’t want a loose, open game where there’s no physicality.

"When you get rain on top of that pitch, you’re looking at an ice rink. A drop of rain on a hard sod means there’s no give in it. Look we’re not going to go over this old chestnut again. That’s the great imponderable, how do you get a surface, that gets so much traffic, to be playable?"

O’Connor dismissed any pre-match notions of a repeat of the Dublin destruction as churlish.

"I don’t think the team, panel or management were complacent before this. The Dublin game is not the real world. We said that all the week. Meath always keep plugging away. Their backs stuck in tight to our forwards and we found it hard to make headway in the first half.

"Midfield was one area we worked on because Meath destroyed Mayo in the middle of the field. There was one stat where three of their men got 15 breaks between them: Kenny, Peadar Byrne and Joe Sheridan. So that was an area we zoomed in on. We did pretty well there. We’ve a lot of work to do and I don’t think today would frighten the daylights out of Cork."

Mention of the old enemy on September 20, prompts O’Connor to go into underdog mode. There’s no doubt in his mind as to who will carry the mantle of favouritism into the All-Ireland football showdown.

"Cork beat us by eight points and that’s comprehensive in any language. This old story about Cork not performing in Croke Park, has been put to bed now. We’ll be put to the pin of our collar.

"They’re the best team in this year’s championship. That’s a fact and they’ll probably be favourites going into the final. But we feel we’ll give them a better game than we did in June. We’ve the physical work done and it’ll be a case of us mentally tuning in now for the final."



This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, August 31, 2009



Read more: www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/oconnor-reveals-focused-kingdoms-war-cry-99840.html#ixzz0Pkb7KpYt

[Seoirse Ui Duic]

Kerry give little away in cruising past Meath
Kerry 2-8 Meath 1-7

NEVER mind the journey -- it's all about the destination. Darran O'Sullivan slips as he scores Kerry's first goal from a penalty in yesterday's All-Ireland SFC semi-final against Meath

Kerry head into September in familiar territory, having qualified for the All-Ireland final for the sixth successive year and for the eighth time this decade.

The voyage hasn't been without its troubles but they survived all the squalls and will sail into the final quite confident that they can mark the GAA's 125th anniversary in the company of Sam Maguire.

They will have to play a whole better than they did against Meath in yesterday's semi-final but, as they proved against Dublin, they are well capable of turning up the power when the occasion demands.

They needed to do it early on against Dublin to convince themselves that the inertia which had clung to them up to then wasn't a permanent condition and while they dropped back considerably yesterday, they were still far too good for Meath in a terribly disappointing game.

The final score flattered Meath, who trailed by 2-8 to 0-6 heading into stoppage time before a pointed free by Brian Farrell and a consolation goal from Cian Ward ate into Kerry's lead, even if there was never a possibility of it being completely wiped out.

Indeed, from the moment Tommy Walsh scored Kerry's second goal in the first minute of the second half, Meath were chasing a lost cause. Even then they didn't do it particularly well, scoring just two points (one from a line ball) in 35 minutes before finally making some progress in stoppage time.

Kerry didn't have to do anything especially impressive to put daylight between themselves and their sloppy pursuers, who were in trouble in every line, starting with goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke, whose kicking put his side under pressure on several occasions.

It was an added problem in a long line for Meath, but it was far from the perfect display from Kerry either. The sides kicked 32 wides between them while they managed a total of 18 scores, which is unusually low for any game, let alone an All-Ireland semi-final played on a calm, damp afternoon.

Pre-match rain left the pitch extremely slippy and, with some players obviously wearing the wrong boots for the conditions, there were several examples of players falling over as they tried to turn. Bouncing the ball was also a hazardous business as it tended to squirt away from the carrier.

Still, the conditions can't be blamed for all the poor kicking and most certainly not for the inaccurate passing which led to a remarkably high number of possession turnovers.

Meath were especially culpable in this regard and since they were operating off a lower possession ratio than Kerry, they could ill-afford to be so careless.

Just as they had done against Dublin, Kerry struck early in the first half, albeit with considerable help from Meath in the form of a rash tackle by full-back Anthony Moyles on Colm Cooper in the third minute. The main danger appeared to have passed as the ball had squirted away but Moyles took Cooper's legs, prompting referee Gearoid O Conamha to signal for a penalty.

Darran O'Sullivan slipped as he made contact with the ball but his shot still beat O'Rourke, who also lost his footing, to set Kerry on their way. However, unlike the quarter-final, where Dublin melted under the early heat, Meath hung on in there and created enough chances to build up a decent score, but were betrayed by poor shooting.

Farrell's 15th-minute point was their only score of a first quarter, during which they shot seven wides. By half-time, their wides tally had reached 10 (to Kerry's seven) but two late points from Ward had cut the deficit to two points, 1-3 to 0-4.

Farrell's point was Meath's only score from open play, a truly dismal return, but Kerry weren't a whole lot better, as 1-1 of their total had come from placed balls.

Meath had to begin repair work after just seven minutes when captain Stephen Bray was forced out with an injured collar bone, and Jack O'Connor began unloading his subs after 28 minutes when he sent Tommy Walsh in for Donncha Walsh. It was to prove hugely significant as Walsh went on to score 1-2.

His goal came a minute into the second half when Tadhg Kennelly targeted him with an accurately delivered diagonal ball which Walsh fielded expertly before spinning away from Moyles and beating O'Rourke with a crisp drive. By the 46th minute, Kerry had opened up an eight-point advantage (2-7 to 0-5) and the contest was effectively over.

The only remaining item on the agenda was whether or not Kerry would gallop on towards the sort of score they produced against Dublin, but Meath kept battling on, even if a recovery was never on the cards. Still, they restricted Kerry to one point in the closing 25 minutes but could make no impression at the other end until stoppage time.

By then, Kerry could afford to lose concentration as they had banked enough to withstand a few raids. If Walsh's arrival led to a major improvement in the Kerry attack, they had several other plus factors too which underpinned their efforts to become the first team since Dublin in 1974-'79 to reach six successive All-Ireland finals.

Kennelly and Paul Galvin were industrious all through the game; Seamus Scanlon did well at midfield, while Mike McCarthy locked the defence tightly from his centre-back look-out point. His return to the scene has greatly strengthened the Kerry defence, and Marc O Se and Tom O'Sullivan also did well in front of goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy, who is enjoying a really good season.

O'Connor was in the happy position of being able to withdraw Darragh O Se and Cooper on the hour mark, with Declan O'Sullivan following some minutes later.

Meath manager Eamonn O'Brien also emptied his bench, but it made no appreciable difference on a day when the Meath attack found the Kerry defence far more security-conscious than Mayo had been in the quarter-final.

Cork manager Conor Counihan, who was among the 50,770 crowd, won't have learned anything about Kerry that he didn't already know. They won with the minimum of fuss yesterday and will be happy to have conceded so little but, at the same time, will not be satisfied with their final return, especially as they shot 16 wides, nine of which came in the second half.

reaction

Ten scores is remarkably low in a 70-minute game, but then Cork won the Munster final after scoring just eight times against Limerick. Bookmaker reaction to yesterday's game was to install Cork as marginal favourites to win the final, leaving Kerry in the most unusual position of being outsiders on the big day.

It's a rating they will relish. For while they were far from foot-perfect yesterday, they still did more than enough to grab control of a game that certainly won't go down as one of the classic semi-finals.

Meath had taken full advantage of the 'back door' to re-build their season and then gave their supporters real hope when they hit Mayo for 2-15 in the quarter-final but it was back to reality yesterday against a superior force who would probably have found another gear had the occasion demanded.

Scorers -- Kerry: T Walsh 1-2, Darran O'Sullivan 1-1 (1-0 pen), C Cooper 0-3 (2f), T Kennelly 0-2. Meath: C Ward 1-4 (0-2f, 0-2 sidelines), B Farrell 0-2 (1f), J Sheridan 0-1.

Kerry: D Murphy 7; M O Se 7, T Griffin 6, T O'Sullivan 7; T O Se 7, M McCarthy 8, K Young 6; D O Se 6, S Scanlon 7; P Galvin 7, T Kennelly 8, D Walsh 5; C Cooper 6, Declan O'Sullivan 6, Darran O'Sullivan 6. Subs: T Walsh 8 for D Walsh (28), A O'Mahony 7 for Young (51), M Quirke 6 for D O Se (60), P O'Connor 6 for Cooper (60), B Sheehan for Declan O'Sullivan (66).

Meath: P O'Rourke 5; C O'Connor 6, A Moyles 5, E Harrington 7; S Kenny 5, C McGuinness 6, C King 5; N Crawford 5, B Meade 5; S Bray 5, J Sheridan 6, P Byrne 5; C Ward 7, D Bray 5, B Farrell 6. Subs: M Burke 6 for S Bray (7), J Queeney 6 for Kenny (45), N McKeigue 5 for D Bray (48), M Ward 5 for Crawford (54), K Reilly 5 for King (58).

Referee: G O Conamha (Galway)

[Seoirse Ui Duic]

CORK AND KERRY TO MEET FOR 19th TIME THIS DECADE

For the second time in three seasons, Cork and Kerry will meet in the GAA All-Ireland senior football final on September 20 after Kerry clinched their place in the decider with a four point win over Meath in last Sunday's semi-final.

It will bring to 19 the number of times the counties have clashed in the championship this decade. Kerry have won ten to Cork's four while there have been four draws, two of which came in 2008 and 2009.

Kerry were easy winners over Cork (3-13 to 1-9) in the 2007 All-Ireland final.
Since then the counties have met five times with Cork having won two, Kerry one while there were two draws. All four of Cork's wins this decade have come in the Munster championship but they have yet to beat Kerry in Croke Park.
The counties have clashed six times in Croke Park since 2002 with Kerry having won five in (2002-2005-2006-2007-2008) while there was also a draw in 2008.

Kerry are back in the final for a sixth successive year, something last achieved byDublin in 1974-79.
It will be Kerry's 8th appearance in the final this decade. The only years they missed out on were 2001 and 2003. It's the third time since the All-Ireland qualifiers were introduced in 2001 that two counties from the same province have qualified for the final. Armagh met Tyrone in 2003 while Cork and Kerry clashed in 2007.
The All-Ireland minor final will be between Armagh and Mayo.

Cork v Kerry: 18 Championship Clashes (2000-2009)

2009 - Cork 1-17 Kerry 0-12 (Munster semi-final) replay
2009 - Cork 1-10 Kerry 0-13 (Munster semi-final) Draw
2008 - Kerry 2-14 Cork 1-13 (All-Ireland semi-final) Replay
2008 - Kerry 1-13 Cork 3-7 (All-Ireland semi-final) Draw
2008 - Cork 1-16 Kerry 1-11 (Munster final)
2007 - Kerry 3-13 Cork 1-9 (All-Ireland final)
2007 - Kerry 1-15 Cork 1-13 (Munster final)
2006 - Kerry 0-16 Cork 0-10 (All-Ireland semi-final)
2006 - Cork 1-12 Kerry 0-9 (Munster final) Replay
2006 - Cork 0-10 Kerry 0-10 (Munster final) Draw
2005 - Kerry 1-19 Cork 0-9 (All-Ireland semi-final)
2005 - Kerry 1-11 Cork 0-11 (Munster final)
2004 - Kerry 0-15 Cork 0-7 (Munster semi-final)
2002 - Kerry 3-19 Cork 2-7 (All-Ireland semi-final)
2002 - Cork 0-15 Kerry 1-9 (Munster semi-final) Replay
2002 - Cork 0-8 Kerry 0-8 (Munster semi-final) Draw
2001 - Kerry 0-19 Cork 0-13 (Munster final)
2000 - Kerry 2-15 Cork 1-13 (Munster semi-final)

Kerry 10, Cork 4, Draw 4

[kerrygold]

By Colm Keys


Tuesday September 01 2009

Kerry football captain Darran O'Sullivan would like to see less grass on the Croke Park pitch surface for the All-Ireland final in three weeks' time.

O'Sullivan slipped as he converted a third-minute penalty to send Kerry clear against Meath and had repeated difficulty finding his feet in extremely testing conditions.

The Ulster Bank employee felt the grass was longer than he had experienced before and would like to see it shortened for the final.

"I'm no expert on these matters but I did feel it was too long. There was more of it than usual," he said.

"The surface was very slippy alright. I was wearing steel blades and I probably wasn't comfortable."

The pitch surface has not taken well to rain since it was laid in the wake of the U2 concert at the end of July.

On dry days it is perfect but on the day of the Meath and Mayo All-Ireland quarter-final, it was noticeably greasy in the first half after early rain.

Persistent drizzle on Sunday made life difficult for most players although some who had the more conventional six long-stud boot seemed to cope better.

Stadium manager, Peter McKenna said after the game that work will be carried out between now and this Sunday's All-Ireland hurling finals, but time restricts the scope for what can be done.

Croke Park's surface has come in for criticism in the past, but over the last three seasons there has been serious improvement.

The pitch was due for replacement anyway in 2010 but that was brought forward to facilitate U2. O'Sullivan (pictured) admitted relief to see the penalty creep in past Paddy O'Rourke as he fell. "I think I actually hit it with both feet the way I fell. I wasn't nervous about my footing at that stage but it was on my mind after that," he said.

Kerry manager, Jack O'Connor, said it wasn't "acceptable" that players who have trained all year should have to contend with the surface the way it was. "For players twisting and turning it was in the lap of the gods," he said.

Kerry regrouped last night in Killarney after their four-point semi-final win to assess the fitness of their players.

"There are bumps and bruises but nothing serious," said O'Connor, who also confirmed that Colm Cooper showed no ill effects from the groin injury that hampered his preparations in the build up to the game.

O'Connor confirmed that Kieran Donaghy was available if required against Meath, but lack of match practice cautioned the management into keeping him in reserve.

"He'll put in a good two weeks now and hopefully that will bring him on. He'll be in contention," he added.

- Colm Keys

[kerrygold]

Royal win will stand to Kingdom, says Scanlon
By Jim O’Sullivan

Tuesday, September 01, 2009



WHATEVER about the lack of entertainment at Croke Park on Sunday, Kerry midfielder Seamus Scanlon is satisfied that the game will aid their preparations for the September 20 All-Ireland football final.



"I think we are in a great position. That was a tough game. We needed it after the game against Dublin because we didn’t know where we were either. Meath gave everything and they were physical in the tackle. The game is going to stand to us in the final.’’

And, while he and his team-mates may downplay their chances of beating Conor Counihan’s steadily improving team, the Currow midfielder has no doubt the Munster champions will be the bookmakers’ fancy to win back the Sam Maguire Cup after an absence of 19 years.

"I’d say Cork will be favourites ... and I hope that they are,’’ he said, tongue-in-cheek.

Interestingly, in view of the criticism of the pitch on Sunday, Scanlon had no real complaints other than to acknowledge that "it gets greasy in the rain, like most pitches".

"The actual surface is fine,’’ he commented. "Conditions were greasy enough early on and you wouldn’t want to be bouncing the ball too much, but when it dried up we got to grips with it.’’

Overall, he felt that the conditions had a lot to do with the fact that the game didn’t run more smoothly and that it was so disappointing as a contest. More pertinently, however, he conceded that Kerry employed the wrong tactics in the first-half – that they weren’t getting ‘direct’ ball into the full-forwards.

"It was a different story with the dry ball,’’ he added. "When Tommy (Walsh) went in there for the second-half we started to get good ball into him and he did well.’’

And, while it had been congested out around midfield for most of the first-half, he felt that Kerry won most of the ‘breaking ball’ through the vigilant play of the like of Tomás O Sé and Paul Galvin.

Agreeing that the final is going to be "a totally different game", Scanlon feels that it will be important for both teams to start well. "This is a different Cork team to last year. Physically they are a stronger team. They showed that against Tyrone. It’s going to be a massive challenge for us to win.’’

However, he takes heart from the progress they have made since going under to Cork in the Munster semi-final replay in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

"I know we kind of struggled through some of the qualifier games, but in each one we showed signs of improvement. I know we gave Dublin a bit of a whitewash, but Sunday’s game is going to bring us on leaps and bounds.’’

Experienced defender Tom O’Sullivan, who has hit a rich vein of form, denied the Kingdom had been hoping to meet Tyrone in the final. "To be quite honest about it, we just wanted to get to the final and that’s being straight up about it. Fair enough we are playing Cork, but we have no problem playing them in an All-Ireland final.

"We played them before in a final and we have played them in Munster finals. We are used to it at this stage, we know each other so much at this stage. But, it will certainly be a tough game.

"People will be saying that we were kind of poor against Meath, so I’d say Cork will certainly go into the game as favourites. I know it’s hard to play as well as we did against Dublin. That will probably never happen again, but we certainly went way down in our play on Sunday. We’ll have to improve if we want to put it up against Cork.’’

Not pleased about certain aspects of their play on Sunday – pointing out that the last thing backs want to see is their forwards kicking ball short or into a goalkeeper’s hands – he agreed with Scanlon’s view that they did very well from broken play.

"That was the big thing we took out of the game,’’ he added, "the way our half-backs and half-forwards won so much breaking ball. I think we did very well and we shored things up fairly well in the full-back line as well.

"But, we’ll certainly have to improve. Cork beat Tyrone well in their semi-final. That was something we couldn’t do last year.

"The way they played against Tyrone, they were outstanding to be fair to them – all over the field. They were always fast and they were always strong.

"This year they just seem to be a lot hungrier. The vibe coming from Cork (he was stationed there with the Gardaí for a few years) is that they are there to win. Not just to play a game.’’

Reflecting on the counties’ historic meeting in the 2007 final, he feels it could have been a very different story if Kerry hadn’t got easy goals at vital stages of the game.

"We got the dream start. That probably won’t happen in three weeks time!’’



This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, September 01, 2009



Read more: www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/royal-win-will-stand-to-kingdom-says-scanlon-99903.html#ixzz0PqFmLiHy

[kaywhy]

THINGS TO BE GETTING ON WITH
All-Ireland finalists Cork and Kerry begin their planning in earnest this week for the Sept 20th football decider. Sports editor Tony Leen says their list of objectives should include:


CORK
1. Preparing for an aerial assault: Michael Shields’ near faultless displays at full back this season convinced many that the issue of Graham Canty being ‘wasted’ in the full back line was history. However, there was a worrying half an hour with Donegal’s Michael Murphy, and now the prospect of Kerry reverting to an aerial assault to the full forward line that may include Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh. There’s very few secrets that survive over the county bounds these days, so Conor Counihan’s management team should be aware in advance of Kerry’s attacking plans. But if Cork stick with Lynch, Shields and Carey, they’re taking a calculated gamble. However Counihan won’t want to push Canty back into the full back line, and may prefer to apply pressure on the delivery, as Tyrone managed so successfully in last year’s final. Speaking of the 2008 final, if Cork were to pull a Joe McMahon out of the hat, what odds Fintan Goold being given a special job for the final?

2. Keeping Kerry’s half backs honest: There’s been much talk about Cork’s marauding half back line. Graham Canty exploited a tactical faux pas by Tyrone to make hay (and Daniel Goulding’s goal), but one suspects Kerry won’t be as accommodating. However, just as important could be the role of Cork wing forwards Paul Kerrigan and Paddy Kelly - both more creative than destructive. Kerry’s Tomás Ó Sé harvested an amazing nine midfield breaks on Sunday, and left Meath’s Peadar Byrne a broken man. Mike McCarthy and Killian Young are not averse to bolting forward either, so it’s critical that the Cork half forwards keep them honest and focused on the job they’re picked for - i.e defending and going backwards.

3. Minimising turnovers: Cork’s attacking prowess was necessarily blunted in the quarter final by their reduction to fourteen men, and subsequent drift backwards. But on too many occasions, they invited Tyrone back onto them by turning over possession in no-pressure situations. On the presumption that both sides retain a full complement of players, Kerry will happily employ such turnover ball to rapid effect against a Cork defence that won’t be lying as deep this time.
Additionally, there’s a real sense that the Cork full forward line has the edge on Kerry’s full back line - if only they can get fast, quality ball. Too many Cork turnovers against Tyrone were caused by advancing players running into trouble and not making the ball do the work - much to the annoyance of Messrs Goulding and O’Connor in the corners.

KERRY
1 Taking the sheen off Cork’s diamond: Nowhere was Cork’s superiority over Kerry in Munster more evident than in Pearse O’Neill and co’s driving runs through the heart of the Kerry defence. It was seen by many as conclusive evidence that the Kingdom were a spent force, unable to counter Cork’s physical strength and fitness. However, there were mitigating circumstances - Marc Ó Sé picked up a hamstring injury during the game and Paul Galvin was sent off (opening up the spaces on the right flank). Tommy Griffin has since returned to full back, where he’ll be matched with Colm O’Neill, but the key clash will feature the recently returned Mike McCarthy’s joust with Pearse O’Neill. If the Kilcummin man can’t handle O’Neill, Kerry are in trouble.

2 Devising an attacking game plan: Eight into six doesn’t, but Jack O’Connor’s management team won’t complain. Sunday’s starting sextet will battle with Tommy Walsh and Kieran Donaghy for final places, giving the selectors tactical as well as personnel options up front. Whereas the Kingdom got their attacking plan spot on for the Dublin quarter-final, the same strategy malfunctioned in the first half last Sunday against Meath. By shaking up his deck for the final, Jack O’Connor may force a positional rethink in the Cork defence - would Conor Counihan be happy to leave Michael Shields at full back if Kieran Donaghy was on the edge of the square? Where will Declan O’Sullivan start? Tadhg Kennelly’s display on Sunday, not to mention his efforts against Graham Canty in June suggest he may be deployed on the Cork captain in three weeks. At a series of levels, Kerry’s forward thinking will be pivotal.

3 Working on placed balls: It’s an issue they’ve been aware of since the start of this season - who’ll pop the long-length frees if neither Bryan Sheehan or David Moran are on the field? To some it’s incidental, but in the close games, a reliable dead ball expert is the difference between winning and losing an All-Ireland - and Kerry don’t have one from 1 to 15.
Cork have their own problems with Donncha O’Connor’s radar off in the semi-final, but the Rebels have the Ballydesmond man, plus Daniel Goulding, if required. On Sunday, Kerry were reduced to Colm Cooper trying to work a short 45 with Tadhg Kennelly in the first half. Kerry’s penalty woes are not behind them either. Darran O’Sullivan lost his footing in the run-up to Sunday’s penalty, and though it trickled past Paddy O’Rourke, it was less than convincing.

[Seoirse Ui Duic]

Press Release

1 September 2009

GAA All Ireland Football Final Referees

The GAA have confirmed that Marty Duffy of Sligo has been appointed to referee the GAA All Ireland Senior football championship final between Kerry and Cork at Croke Park on Sunday, September 20th. The Enniscrone/Kilglass man will be taking charge of his first ever All Ireland senior final. M. Duffy has previously refereed a number of Sligo and Connacht Finals and took charge of this years Allianz National Football League Final between Kerry and Derry. He also officiated at the Dublin V Tyrone league meeting on 31st January 2009.

The ESB All Ireland minor football final will be refereed by Eddie Kinsella of Laois. He joined the National Referees panel in 2005 and won Junior and Intermediate Club Championships with his Club, Courtwood in 1988 and 1989.

[kerrygold]

Dark clouds of '09 need silver lining



By Martin Breheny


Wednesday September 02 2009

Perhaps it's the volatile times we live in, global cooling (note to climate zealots: this country is getting colder in every imaginable way) or just sheer coincidence, but it has been one of those strange football championships.

Indeed, unless Kerry and Cork deliver a classic final, the 2009 season will be recalled as more pass than honours. Sure, there were several exciting occasions from the 61-match programme to date, but they shouldn't be confused with real quality.

It was great to see Division 3 and 4 counties, Wicklow, Antrim, Limerick and Sligo doing so well against higher-ranked opposition, but what did it indicate? Have they accelerated dramatically or has the pace in front slowed?

It's a mixture of both, although probably more the latter than the former. Getting so-called weaker counties closer to the main action is welcome, but only if comes about through their rapid advancement rather than a drop in standards higher up the scale. After all, a falling tide lowers all boats.

There are a number of worrying pointers to suggest that the top end is not as high as it used to be. Kerry won an All-Ireland semi-final scoring just 10 times last Sunday, while Cork won the Munster final with eight scores. Kerry haven't won a semi-final with so few scores since beating Galway (1-8 to 0-8) in 1960. Unlike last Sunday, that was a 60-minute game, so it was higher in real terms.

Up to this year, no Munster title had been won with eight scores since 1967, when Cork beat Kerry (0-8 to 0-7) -- also in a 60-minute game. Stats can be used to support any argument, but when you see the likes of Kerry and Cork, now officially the two best teams in the country, winning major games with so few scores it makes you wonder.

Glowing

Facts or figures apart, cast your mind back to the Leinster, Ulster and Connacht championships and ask yourself this: how good were they? Leinster produced little of note up to the final where the Dublin v Kildare game attracted glowing reviews.

In hindsight, that game was overvalued, largely because it was close, high-scoring, took a few dramatic twists and packed Croke Park. Nonetheless, it was short on real quality.

Dublin's subsequent demolition by Kerry supports that view and while Kildare drew credit for running Tyrone close, the form didn't hold up as the defending champions were well beaten by Cork. It's now a matter of record that Leinster has had its worst-ever decade in the championship, having failed to win any title and managing to get just one representative through to the final.

With due respects to Antrim, their advance to the Ulster final definitely pointed to a decline in standards in the province. Tyrone took the title, but were clearly some way off 2008 All-Ireland levels, while Down, Armagh, Fermanagh, Derry, Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal could have taken no encouragement from their Ulster form.

Another close Connacht final between Galway and Mayo was later shown up to be no more than a lively encounter between two mid-ranked teams. The qualifiers produced lots of interesting Saturday evening action, but nothing to suggest that the basic benchmark hadn't dropped.

However cleverly they are disguised in end-of season reviews, the truth is that two of the four All-Ireland quarter-finals were embarrassingly one-sided, while both semi-finals were very disappointing.

Still, there's hope for the final, not least in that the two most consistent counties of 2009 (one defeat each from 29 League and Championship games) have made it through. And with the All-Ireland championship at stake in the GAA's 125th anniversary year, there will be an added edge across the Cork-Kerry hedge.

Hopefully, the quality levels will rise well above what we've seen to far this year. The championship needs it to counter the justified feeling that Gaelic football is trapped in a phase where more teams than ever are capable of beating each other on a given day, while few would come close to having a chance of beating the best of their predecessors.

But then maybe that was inevitable once football came to be dominated by the abominable handpass and the sterility that passes for modern tactics.

Slip in standard a non-runner
WHATEVER the reasons or explanations, the issue of the Croke Park surface comes down to this: there were no complaints about its condition prior to being removed in late July and few grumbles on the first four weekends that its replacement was used -- but now there are.

Or at least there were last Sunday where players in both minor and senior football semi-finals had problems staying on their feet. Yes, it rained prior to the games and yes, it would appear that some players wore the wrong boots.

However, rain isn't exactly uncommon in Dublin 3 and even when it fell in record torrents during the Kerry-Galway quarter-final last year players were steadier on their feet than they were last Sunday.

Pitch experts are working on the surface this week to get it right for next Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final and hopefully they will succeed because it would be unthinkable -- not to mention unacceptable -- if the joint-biggest occasion on the GAA calendar was marred by an unreliable surface.

Kernan bids to alter history
MANY have tried, but none have succeeded, so far at least. Managing two counties to All-Ireland glory is among the tallest of tall orders, so Joe Kernan will be under no illusions about the challenge facing him in Galway where expectations will be high.

Among the All-Ireland winning managers who subsequently tried their luck with different counties are:

Football: Mick O'Dwyer (Kerry to Kildare/Laois/Wicklow); John O'Mahony (Galway back to his native Mayo); Paidi O Se (Kerry to Westmeath); Eugene McGee (Offaly to Cavan); Eamonn Coleman (Derry to Cavan). Hurling: Ger Loughnane (Clare to Galway); 'Babs' Keating (Tipperary to Laois/Offaly); Eamonn Cregan (Offaly back to his native Limerick); Cyril Farrell (Galway to Wexford); Dermot Healy (Offaly back to his native Kilkenny).

O'Dwyer, now with Wicklow, came closest of all to the double when he led Kildare to the 1998 All-Ireland final, while O'Mahony is still plugging on with Mayo where Kernan's move to their great rivals will be noted and worried about.

- Martin Breheny

[kerrygold]

Wednesday, September 2, 2009Decision not to punish Miskella has ramifications
SEÁN MORAN on gaelic games Citing body would ultimately be the best solution when it comes to enforcing discipline

EVERYONE KNOWS the old argument. Consistency of enforcement is important but you still shouldn’t break rules because someone else gets away with it. You can’t tell the gardaí­ as your breathalyser starts to smoke that there were lads going in the other direction who’d had twice as much as you.

That’s in the real world. In the world of Gaelic games where the connection between misbehaviour and punishment is at times as easy to grasp as quantum physics, consistency of enforcement has become paradoxically a formidable weapon in the armoury of those trying to evade deserved censure.

But there is equally a developing problem in justifying sporadic acts of enforcement when similar infractions get treated quite differently depending on circumstances.

Consequently all 50,000 of us in Croke Park last Sunday knew that when Meath’s Brian Farrell was bundled (or punched) over by Darragh Ó Sé there was no chance on earth of a suspension. This wasn’t to do with the merits of the incident, which were admittedly ambiguous, but the fact that it just wouldn’t have been conscionable.

A week previously John Miskella, albeit under provocation, hit out at Brian McGuigan and struck the Tyrone player. Referee John Bannon traipsed down to one of his Hill 16 umpires, Peter O’Reilly, and having consulted him returned to issue a yellow card to the Cork half back.

You had to wonder what O’Reilly said to his referee. It wouldn’t be his call to recommend a yellow card; he would have simply described what happened.

One player hit another. It was up to Bannon to issue a red card or do nothing if the umpire hadn’t seen an infraction. A yellow card made no sense.

Asking the referee to review his decision, which is the only action the Central Competitions Control Committee can take, was the next step.

Unfortunately this is becoming an unreliable methodology. Two years ago Cavan referee Brian Crowe refused to review a yellow card in almost identical circumstances issued to another Cork half back, Noel O’Leary, for hitting Meath’s Graham Geraghty and as a result saved the player from missing the All-Ireland final.

Crowe has had few big matches since but that precedent didn’t influence Bannon, whose last match before retirement was the Cork-Tyrone semi-final, leaving him free to do what he wanted. He declined to review the decision and Miskella is free to play on Sunday fortnight.

There was widespread approval of the decision not to charge Miskella. A player in his 30s whose career has been disrupted by injury, he has had a super championship.

But the decision not to make him accountable for his actions had a serious effect. It made it virtually impossible for anyone in last Sunday’s Kerry-Meath semi-final to be suspended on video evidence. Had some incident made that unavoidable there would have been uproar in Kerry.

There is a view among some members of the GAA that no player should miss an All-Ireland final through suspension. This permeates into officialdom.

Bannon and Crowe weren’t the first referees to balk at having to take personal responsibility for a player missing a final – Michael Monahan ducked out of giving John McEntee a red card in the 2003 semi-final against Donegal after the Armagh man had elbowed an opponent in front of him – and in a way who’d blame them? There would be no thanks for doing the right thing, just a storm of recrimination, hand wringing and special pleading.

But the fact is a player who commits a red-card offence knows what he is doing and can have no complaints when the prescribed sanction is applied.

One man who must be watching the developments of the past two weeks with a wistful air is Tipperary’s Brian O’Meara. As his county gets ready for its first All-Ireland in eight years O’Meara will remember well the lead-up to the last one. Having become involved – uncharacteristically – in a digging match with Wexford’s Liam Dunne the wing forward ended up suspended for the final.

As can be seen from the length of time it’s taken the county to get back to an All-Ireland, this was a devastating suspension, as it ruled him out of the big day and the honour of being part of a winning team. As a punishment it was, however, fully within the rules and fair. O’Meara had to bite the bullet despite predictable hue and cry, including a national newspaper campaign (complete with badges) to lift the ban but he could be forgiven a pang of resentment when he sees what’s happened in the meantime.

It has by and large been a quiet summer for discipline on the playing field. The new CCCC and Central Hearings Committee have functioned carefully and effectively and discipline has been more consistently applied.

That happier state of affairs has been qualified by recent events. A better way of handling unpopular decisions would surely be to have a citing commission that would do its work quickly and consistently.

Referring to the proposal for such a body, made by the Queen’s Belfast legal academic Dr Jack Anderson, GAA director general Páraic Duffy in his annual report last April said: “These proposals merit serious consideration. In my view, however, given that our current system needs some more time to “bed down” we should give our incoming committees time to operate within the current parameters before contemplating further re-construction.

“The incoming committees will benefit from improvements in procedure that have been incorporated by the Rule Book Task Force in the new Disciplinary Handbook and that draw on recommendations from DRA (Disputes Resolution Authority) adjudications on recent cases. By the end of this year it will be clear whether our current disciplinary system requires a further overhaul or not.

“While our disciplinary structures are a source of constant debate, issues of disciplinary breakdown continue to have a negative impact on the image of our association. It is important to put this into context. There is no doubt that discipline in our games has improved considerably over the past 20 years.

“That said, any incident of unacceptable behaviour that is not adequately dealt with is hugely damaging to our reputation and image. There is an onus on all our units to show courage and leadership in ensuring that disciplinary rules and procedures are fully and fairly applied in all instances of serious indiscipline.”

That call to allow the new committees time to settle was reasonable and their performance has been impressive but it is clear the decision made some years ago to force the CCCC to ask referees to review their decisions instead of simply over-riding them when manifestly incorrect has created a paralysis when it comes to enforcing discipline in semi-finals, where we now almost have established precedents for amnesties.

The CCCC should take back that authority under rule but in the circumstances it’s hard not to believe that a citing body would ultimately be the best solution.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

[chrism]

Home > Sport > Gaelic Football

Wednesday September 02 2009

LAST Sunday's semi-finals, in both minor and senior, were disappointing affairs and certainly from this remove, the advantage very much rests with Armagh and Cork for All-Ireland final day glory. That might change as preparations intensify over the next few weeks but it's unlikely to.

And for yet another year of this decade, the province of Leinster will not be represented on final day. It reflects very much the standards that prevail in Leinster and it really is a subject that must be addressed. By the way, 2008 had a similar conclusion.

Meath lost by four. But it could just as easily have been 14. I had anticipated a greater return from Meath and of course the loss of their captain Stephen Bray early doors was felt. But only two forwards - Joe Sheridan and Brian Farrell, scored points from play and that was just a single point each.

Meath are not at this level and it will take at least another year of patience and further team building before they are. They can now officially apply for membership of the Best of the Rest Club which has Galway, Mayo, Monaghan, Dublin, and Derry hanging in there.

If that appears to suggest these teams are on the cusp of a breakthrough, nothing could be further from the truth. Meath took out Mayo and after last Sunday we might ask, where does that place the Green and Red? And remember, Mayo beat Galway, more handily than the one-point margin suggests. All things considered, Tyrone, Kerry and Cork (but not necessarily in that order) constitute the GAA's Bermuda Triangle - all teams they meet are likely to go missing.

Kerry limped through to yet another final and the impressive records they set in going so are noted above. But was it the type of form to suggest their problems are behind them? Certainly not and if one was to concentrate on the mis-firing forward line alone, there are areas that will need immediate attention.

'The Gooch' is well off his best and nothing short of his best will take Anthony Lynch on final day. Declan O'Sullivan, the best player in the country, is now getting confused between his best position of centre-half forward and the other three positions Kerry need him to play in.

Kerry have no reliable freetaker from distance and the sight of Cooper having to wait for two or three different runs on a '45' underlines this. They need Bryan Sheehan for the dead balls but won't gamble on his general contributions from play. It's a call.

Donnacha Walsh is hardly up to this standard and the introduction of Tommy Walsh will now lead to a debate on what selection starts and what tactics dominate. Did I mention that Donaghy will also be available?

Cork have their proven 15 or 18 players and their method of play was altered 12 months ago, so that it is now well bedded-in. Over the next few weeks we'll get a chance to see how preparations might change the balance of power but just now, the underdogs in both the minor and senior matches have plenty to be getting on with.


Kevin McStay

[patinkerry]

Final Planning Begins

By Paul Brennan

Wednesday September 02 2009

IT'S a headache they would rather have than not at this time of year but Jack O'Connor and his selectors face some major selection problems ahead of the All-Ireland Final meeting of Kerry and Cork on September 20.

With Tommy Walsh making the strongest case possible for inclusion in the Championship showpiece in less than three weeks, the management will have to think long and hard about whether to start the Kerins O'Rahillys man – who scored 1-2 in the second half of Sunday's semifinal win over Meath – or whether to keep the 20year in cold storage and spring him from the bench at some stage in the final.

Kieran Donaghy is also ready to return to action giving Jack O'Connor, Ger O'Keeffe and Eamonn Fitzmaurice another selection dilemma as Kerry prepare for their sixth consecutive All-Ireland Final.

Kennelly, who replaced Walsh in the starting team last Sunday, will almost certainly start in his first All-Ireland Final, and he has already deemed his decision to give up his football career in Australia to come home and try to win an All-Ireland medal the right one.

"I put so much into coming home, and it's been a success either way already, whether we win or lose," he said in the aftermath of Kerry's 2-8 to 1-7 win over Meath.

As for Jack O'Connor the preparations for what will be his fourth All-Ireland Final as a manager have already begun, with O'Connor making no bones about the new, if familiar, challenge facing the team.

"Cork beat us by eight points (in the Munster semi-final). I think that's comprehensive in anyone's language,' O'Connor said. " This old chestnut about Cork not being able to perform in Croke Park has been well put to bed now. It's going to be a huge battle and we know we are going to be put to the pin of our collar to keep on Cork's coat tails because they've been by far the most impressive team in the championship. That's not me trying to build them up. That's a fact. They will be favourites for the final and rightly so.

"We're going into a final now against a right good Cork team. But we feel we can put it up to them," the Kerry manager said.

- Paul Brennan

[patinkerry]

Thursday, September 03, 2009

JACK: REBELS WELL POISED
By: Kieran McCarthy

JACK O’Connor believes that Cork are favourites to win this month’s All-Ireland senior football championship final.

The Kerry manager feels that the Rebels have been the best team in the championship this season and that they will rightfully start the All-Ireland final on Sunday, September 20, as the team to beat.

Speaking after Sunday’s 2-8 to 1-7 victory against Meath, O’Connor said: "They will probably be favourites going into final and rightly so.

"They beat us by eight points (in the Munster semi-final). That’s comprehensive in any man’s language. This old chestnut about Cork not performing in Croke Park, I think that they have put that well to bed now.

"It’s going to be a huge, huge battle. We are going to be put to the pin of our collar here to keep on Cork’s coat-tails because there are by far the most impressive team in the country. I am not just trying to build them up. That’s a fact," the Kerry boss added.

The thoughts of O’Connor were echoed by Darragh " Sé who feels that Kerry need to be in peak condition if they are to deny Cork a first All-Ireland senior football title since 1990.

"We are anxious to get our game right because obviously the way Cork are playing at the moment, if you’re not at your best then you won’t beat them," the Gaeltacht man said.

"Sunday’s game was a game that we needed. We are still finding out about ourselves. We are not as good as we were against Dublin but we are not as bad we probably were today," " Sé added.

Meanwhile, Kerry County Board Chairman Jerome Conway believes that no disciplinary action will be taken by the Central Controls Committee (CCCC) following an incident late in the first half of Kerry’s All-Ireland semi-final clash with Meath involving Darragh " Sé.

The talismatic midfielder was involved in an altercation with Meath full forward Brian Farrell, who had already been yellow-carded in the first half of the game.

Farrell made a bee-line for " Sé as both sets of play-ers made their way outfield following a Meath attack and in the ensuing incident the players fell to the ground, with Farrell requiring treatment for a bloody nose.

Referee Gearóid " Conámha, following consultation with his umpires, took no action and allowed the game to proceed.

" Conámha’s decision means that any retrospective punishment is now up to the CCCC, however, speaking to The Kingdom on Monday evening, Jerome Conway said he believes that no action will be taken.

The County Board chairman said that the CCCC had not indicated by Monday morning that it would examine the matter and, as far as he was concerned, that was the end of the matter.

[patinkerry]

Thursday, September 03, 2009

A case for the defence
By: Kieran McCarthy

IS it any coincidence that Kerry’s return to form in this year’s All-Ireland championship has coincided with the second coming of Mike McCarthy? Or perhaps that Tommy Griffin is now the resident number three? Or that Tom O’Sullivan is back in his favoured corner?

Maybe it’s got more to do with Tomás Ó Sé’s surge in form? Perhaps, it’s down to Marc Ó Sé’s rediscovery of his in recent games? Or could Killian Young’s presence be the key?

Or possibly is Diarmuid Murphy’s sublime shot-stopping one of the sole reasons that Kerry now finds itself preparing for a sixth All-Ireland final in succession?

In truth, it’s a combination of all these factors as these seven players, not to mention the defensive subs that have come on, have all played their part in turning the Kerry back line - often seen as the Achilles heel of this team over the years - into the meanest in the country.

Kerry conceded just 1-7 against Meath (just 1-2 from play), the Dubs scored the same amount (1-5 from play), and both of those games included the concession of goals that didn’t make one iota of a difference to the final score.

Antrim scored 1-10, as did Sligo, while Longford managed 0-11. Fair enough, Cork blitzed Kerry in the Munster semi-final replay, racking up 1-17, but they scored just 1-10 in the drawn game.

On average, Kerry have conceded just under 0-13 a game, and if you take the Cork victory out, that number drops even lower. It’s impressive stuff.

The Kingdom’s forwards always grab the headlines. It’s a no-brainer in the newspaper industry. Kerry football sells newspapers, and there’s no more iconic figures than Colm Cooper, Kieran Donaghy, Declan O’Sullivan or Paul Galvin to plaster across the front of a newspaper. It’s guaranteed to boost sales.

But while it’s the men up front, who score the goals and the points, that end up on the back page of every national newspaper in the country on a Monday morning after the game, they wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for their backs.

Sunday’s 2-8 to 1-7 victory in the All-Ireland semi-final is the perfect example.

While Kerry struggled up front - a lot to do with the condition of the pitch, it must be noted - the county’s backs were absolutely heroic throughout.

Meath scored 1-2 from play in over 70 minutes. That includes Cian Ward’s late goal in injury time that was no more than scoreboard cosmetics.

To restrict the opposition - no matter who they are - to just 1-2 from play at senior inter-county standard is a job well done, but to achieve such a feat in an All-Ireland semi-final is, quite literally, astounding.

The likes of Mike Mac, Tomás Ó Sé, Tommy Griffin and the rest of the Kerry defence do not get the recognition they deserve. They are every bit as important as the forwards, though, like in any sport, it’s the men that get the scores that are fashionable. That’s life, that’s sport.

Yet again on Sunday, Mike Mac played a blinder and Jack O’Connor deserves huge credit for coaxing the Kilcummin man out of retirement.

It’s no secret that he didn’t want to return to fill the troublesome full back slot, so he has made centre back his own - Aidan O’Mahony is the man to lose out here, what a sub to bring on though - but there was no need to worry about the number three slot as Tommy Griffin has just made it his own.

The Dingle man is an incredible asset to Kerry. For years, he was tagged as Mr Versatile - how that irked him - the man that Kerry would look to when a hole needed plugging, but now he is a mainstay of the team.

Kerry have needed a full back for many seasons. We had one the whole time, right under our noses. Again on Sunday against Meath, Griffin was a huge figure, and he loves the physical battles.

The revelation that is Griffin at full back has allowed Tom O’Sullivan and Marc Ó Sé to go back to the corners that they relish, instead of being used intermittingly as full backs.

O’Sullivan is loving life back in the corner - he is even scoring points for Christ’s sake! - while Marc is coming into form at the right time.

Now, the Kerry full back line, often labelled as a weakness, has a solid and stable look about it. That’s what was needed.

What makes it even better is that if a team goes in with a two-man full forward line, then all of the three in that last line of defence have experience of being a full back.

Behind them is the goal-keeper of the championship to date, and perhaps the player of the championship.

Goalkeepers might not usually win accolades such as Player of the Year but I challenge you to name a more crucial player for Kerry in this year’s championship?

Just when it looked liked Ger Reidy or some fresh blood was about to challenge Murphy, he has responded with superb performance after superb performance.

Some of his saves this season have been right out of the top drawer and his penalty stop against Sligo kept Kerry in the championship.

When you add in the half back line, where Tomás Ó Sé was a colossus on Sunday against Meath - just check out the match stats on page 81 - Kerry’s defensive lines look incredibly strong.

That’s what they will need to be against Cork in the final, but these back seven are also the reason that I believe Kerry will win this game.

Cork might be showing the better form right now, they might have beaten Tyrone and they did thump Kerry in Pairc Uí Chaoimh.

But this is a different Kerry team.

Tommy Griffin has come in at full back since then, allowing Tom back out to the corner. Mike Mac is a new addition since that defeat, Killian Young has a few games under his belt, Marc isn’t struggling with a hamstring injury as he did that day, while Tomás is playing a lot better now.

Basically, it’s a completely different back line-up in terms of form, confidence, ability and personnel.

That’s why Kerry will win a record 36th All-Ireland title. Jack’s men have the scoring forwards, the naturals in front of the posts, while the backs are a class apart.

The case for the defence now rests

[Control]

Sept 4, 2009 7:21:49 GMT Mickmack said:

Cork's quiet man
By vincent hogan


Saturday August 22 2009

They remember him as a kind of counter-terrorist.

From high in the stands, he was never especially visible. If anything, he slipped through games like a rumour through a parish. Stealthy and whispering almost, occasionally catching your attention like a light tap on the shoulder. Never a raised voice.

But Conor Counihan had a nose for danger and, invariably, it tugged him to the eye of any quarrel.

Larry Tompkins probably marked Counihan more often than any other man and is adamant that he never faced tougher. Cork training sessions were salted routinely by battles on the '40' that countenanced neither gentility nor equivocation between the two. Yet, long before they wore the same, blood-red tunic, Tompkins and Counihan were acquainted.

Larry remembers, especially, a National League game in Newbridge when he was still playing for Kildare. He recalls ending up "heading for the line" after being met by what he describes as "one of those hard, crunching tackles" from the Cork centre-back.

"I remember it well," chuckles their former team-mate and current RTE 'Sunday Game' analyst, Tony Davis. "A cold day above in Newbridge and Larry ran amok for the first 20 minutes. I didn't know Larry, had never heard of him. But I remember somebody saying beforehand: 'There's this fella Tompkins playing centre-forward and he's a dinger'.

"He would have been over and back to America at the time. Anyway, I remember watching Counihan and he was lining him up. Next thing, bang; Larry's collarbone gone.

"Conor had a knack of doing collarbones, actually. He did several of them, including his own. I remember a week before a Munster final against Kerry, we were below in the Pairc training and Tom Mannix had his collarbone done by him.

honest

"It's just he had an almost triangular-shaped body in so far as his shoulders were probably the widest part. And he had this timing. If he hit you, you stayed hit. But a very honest fella."

Counihan's balance of calm and controlled fury is still revered today in a county that, because of Kerry's proximity, clings to its memories with white-knuckled fists. He had the gift of engaging in war without embracing any of the hatreds that war might foster.

After Meath beat Cork in the mean-spirited '88 All-Ireland final replay, most of the Cork players were so consumed with anger and spite, they resembled tragic figures in a grand opera. On the Monday, they chose to stay away from the official lunch, preferring the comforts of their own company in the pubs scattered around Heuston Station.

Counihan, though, was one of the few who made a point of going to the Burlington Hotel. It just wasn't his style to pull the blinds.

He was a footballer who relished certainty. Tompkins recalls: "We would have had hard tussles on the field. I would have respected that and he would have respected it. When I came to Cork first, I often slagged him about that tackle in Newbridge.

"But it was always the same story with Conor on the training field. There was no nonsense. He was coming in to get the best possible out of himself. He didn't want to leave there having gone through the motions. There was always a few guys set the standard at training and he was one of them

"People often ask who was the hardest person I marked and I would have no hesitation in saying Conor. He was a real no-nonsense guy, very difficult to play against and a real leader on the field. If you were going to war, he'd be the guy you'd want with you in the front line."

Counihan's lineage wasn't dusted with the privilege of a big city club or the defiance nurtured in the great churches of the west. He hailed from East Cork, from a club -- Aghada -- little known and little celebrated outside an intimate circle.

Yet, Aghada would win county junior and intermediate medals with Counihan in the vanguard and -- tomorrow in Croke Park -- will have three of their number, Pearse O'Neill, Kieran O'Connor and Brendan Crowley, wearing the red of Cork. Counihan has been at the core of Aghada's growth, endlessly taking kids, building teams, always sewing a fresh crop.

Davis recalls winning an All-Ireland junior medal with Counihan way back in '84. The sequence at the time was that you won the title at home, then effectively played an exhibition final abroad. "A bit of a PR stunt," as Davis remembers.

different

In '84, Cork's final opponents were Warwickshire in Coventry. Cork won the game by 22 points and, on the flight home, Davis sat next to Counihan, the two of them trying to weigh up their likely career paths. At the time, they occupied different worlds.

Davis already had All-Ireland minor and U-21 medals to his name. He was being fast-tracked to a senior inter-county career. His club, O'Donovan Rossa in Skibbereen, was energetic and pro-active, destined to win an All-Ireland title within nine years.

"Conor would have been a bit unsure back then as to where he fitted into the picture," recalls Davis.

Yet, within a year, Counihan was captain as divisional side, Imokilly, won a county senior title. Two years later, they were champions again, Counihan -- by now -- a fixture with Cork seniors.

He would win successive All Star awards for his contribution to the All-Ireland victories of '89 and '90, a bulwark presence at centre-back as Billy Morgan's team stitched four Munster titles together, having seen Kerry win 11 of the previous 12.

Famously, a controversial challenge on Jack O'Shea in the '88 Munster final triggered a free-for-all and decanted the observation from late Galway star -- Enda Colleran -- on 'The Sunday Game' that it was something "which should only happen over candlelit dinner and by agreement."

Yet, both Morgan and Tompkins saw clear leadership material in the quiet ferocity Counihan brought to his football. Morgan immediately recruited him to his management team as a backs specialist after Counihan's retirement in '93 and, later that decade, Tompkins took him on board for a three-year stint as a selector.

Larry reflects: "If you just met Conor and knew nothing about football, he'd still be a guy you'd enjoy having a drink with. He's just a fella that's very solid. If he'd won 20 All-Irelands, you wouldn't know he'd won one. Or even been involved in any.

"Put it this way: if you heard someone didn't like Conor Counihan, it would be the other fella you'd question, not Conor."

Davis concurs, with one gentle proviso. "Beneath that calm exterior, there's a serious ruthless streak, I can guarantee you," he says. "Conor has always been a man that will win. That's what people talk about in relation to Ulster football. This serious hunger to win. Well, I think Conor mirrors that, without being up front about it. There's no show or high fives in him.

"He's a bit like a Kerry man in a way. There's no oul' bull*. No exterior show of anything. But there's a serious, cold, ruthless streak involved with him. The hardness is there and always has been."

Counihan has looked a natural fit as Cork manager, even if the county seemed slow to recognise it. Having been beaten for the position when Morgan returned to replace Tompkins, he then saw Teddy Holland step into the role, albeit for a troubled, fractious period.

With the county seemingly accident prone in industrial relations, Counihan thus inherited a position that demanded the diplomatic skills of a hostage negotiator.

He pointedly avoided taking sides when his players supported the hurlers' strike, observing simply that he had "sympathy for everyone involved".

Dr Con Murphy has been a constant presence in Cork dressing-rooms since long before Counihan first wore the county shirt and sees a deep core of manliness and wisdom in the current manager.

"He has brought the same qualities he had as a player," suggests Murphy. "To me, what's very important in a manager is the absence of ego.

"I wouldn't say Conor goes about his business unnoticed, but he's not one of these fellas ranting and raving or running up and down the line all the time.

"He manages like he played. He's dead straightforward."

authority

Davis agrees, suggesting that Counihan's natural authority has Cork looking dangerous now.

The marriage of old soldiers like Anthony Lynch and Nicholas Murphy to a batch of gifted U-21 stars emits a healthy glow.

"I think there's more of a streak in Cork this year that we can actually finish a team off," says Davis, while sounding a cautionary note about tomorrow's opponents.

"It may sound a bit arrogant in a way, but we know that we can beat Kerry. Nobody really knows if we can beat Tyrone though. Because they're a team that just hates losing. If it's level with 10 minutes to go, the chips almost always come down on Tyrone's side. You know what they're going to be like. They're a real, dogged, hard team to beat.

"We've never met anything like that. So it's a new experience for the lads. Tyrone's tackling is ferocious. They've been through so much, they're a really tight unit. And until Cork beat somebody like that, you can't talk about them as being contenders.

"Because Tyrone are the team."

Tompkins' view on tomorrow is simple: Cork's players need to radiate their manager's qualities, not lean on them. "At the end of the day, All-Irelands are won by players, not by people standing on the line," he says.

"Ninety per cent of managers have their teams well prepared. It's the fellas out on the field that matter most then. Look at Tyrone. We've seen it time and time again with people like Sean Cavanagh and Brian Dooher, they take the game by the scruff of the neck when it's needed.

"Cork have lots of potential and, no question, Conor's given everybody a fair crack of the whip. But we'll see this Sunday if Cork have those type of players."

No one will await that answer more intently than the silver-haired figure standing, quiet and watchful, on the line.

- vincent hogan

[Corner Back]

Sept 1, 2009 7:50:01 GMT Seoirse Ui Duic said:

CORK AND KERRY TO MEET FOR 19th TIME THIS DECADE

For the second time in three seasons, Cork and Kerry will meet in the GAA All-Ireland senior football final on September 20 after Kerry clinched their place in the decider with a four point win over Meath in last Sunday's semi-final.

It will bring to 19 the number of times the counties have clashed in the championship this decade. Kerry have won ten to Cork's four while there have been four draws, two of which came in 2008 and 2009.

Kerry were easy winners over Cork (3-13 to 1-9) in the 2007 All-Ireland final.
Since then the counties have met five times with Cork having won two, Kerry one while there were two draws. All four of Cork's wins this decade have come in the Munster championship but they have yet to beat Kerry in Croke Park.
The counties have clashed six times in Croke Park since 2002 with Kerry having won five in (2002-2005-2006-2007-2008) while there was also a draw in 2008.

Kerry are back in the final for a sixth successive year, something last achieved byDublin in 1974-79.
It will be Kerry's 8th appearance in the final this decade. The only years they missed out on were 2001 and 2003. It's the third time since the All-Ireland qualifiers were introduced in 2001 that two counties from the same province have qualified for the final. Armagh met Tyrone in 2003 while Cork and Kerry clashed in 2007.
The All-Ireland minor final will be between Armagh and Mayo.

Cork v Kerry: 18 Championship Clashes (2000-2009)

2009 - Cork 1-17 Kerry 0-12 (Munster semi-final) replay
2009 - Cork 1-10 Kerry 0-13 (Munster semi-final) Draw
2008 - Kerry 2-14 Cork 1-13 (All-Ireland semi-final) Replay
2008 - Kerry 1-13 Cork 3-7 (All-Ireland semi-final) Draw
2008 - Cork 1-16 Kerry 1-11 (Munster final)
2007 - Kerry 3-13 Cork 1-9 (All-Ireland final)
2007 - Kerry 1-15 Cork 1-13 (Munster final)
2006 - Kerry 0-16 Cork 0-10 (All-Ireland semi-final)
2006 - Cork 1-12 Kerry 0-9 (Munster final) Replay
2006 - Cork 0-10 Kerry 0-10 (Munster final) Draw
2005 - Kerry 1-19 Cork 0-9 (All-Ireland semi-final)
2005 - Kerry 1-11 Cork 0-11 (Munster final)
2004 - Kerry 0-15 Cork 0-7 (Munster semi-final)
2002 - Kerry 3-19 Cork 2-7 (All-Ireland semi-final)
2002 - Cork 0-15 Kerry 1-9 (Munster semi-final) Replay
2002 - Cork 0-8 Kerry 0-8 (Munster semi-final) Draw
2001 - Kerry 0-19 Cork 0-13 (Munster final)
2000 - Kerry 2-15 Cork 1-13 (Munster semi-final)

Kerry 10, Cork 4, Draw 4

Lies, Damn lies and statistics....

Kerry have only beaten Cork once since Conor Counihan has taken over. Thats 20% success rate

[kerrygold]

Donaghy boost for Kingdom
By Tony Leen

Saturday, September 05, 2009



KIERAN DONAGHY has stepped up his bid for a dramatic return to Kerry colours for the All-Ireland final by taking a full part in Kingdom training.



Donaghy’s rehabilitation will be stepped up next week after returning to full football duties on Thursday night.

The Austin Stacks man has progressed rapidly in the last week but Kerry management are not in favour of releasing him to play a competitive game for Stacks tomorrow in a county league game in Tralee.

Having been limited to rehab work in running shoes with trainer Alan O’Sullivan prior to the All-Ireland semi-final, he’s been training in boots again this week, and fitness-wise, will be ready for the September 20 showdown with Cork.

However, whether the Kerry selectors believe he has enough football in him to merit a start in two weeks is yet to be determined.

The Kerry management must decide whether to set up their attack with a target man in the full forward line, or retain Declan O’Sullivan on the edge of the square.

Meanwhile, another Kerry man, Daniel Nelligan, will be replaced as Munster Council deputy chief executive by Clare’s Enda McGuane, the provincial body has confirmed.

Mr McGuane hails from Cooraclare, Co Clare and is a member of a well known GAA family. A former inter-county footballer, Enda was a member of the Clare senior football panel from 1997 until 2001.

He served as an officer in the Irish Army for 14 years and held posts both in Ireland and overseas. Munster Council officials have paid glowing tributes to Daniel Nelligan, who has opted for a different career path.

Elsewhere, former Westmeath manager Tomas O’Flatharta is to challenge Joe Kernan for the position of Galway football manager.

O’Flatharta has told Galway officials he is willing to go forward for the job after being among the nominees when the deadline passed yesterday afternoon.

Kernan remains the favourite for the job — five clubs in Galway nominated him — but O’Flatharta has informed the Tribesmen he is willing to go forward.

Ironically, one of the Kerryman’s greatest days in charge of Westmeath came when they shocked Galway in the All-Ireland qualifiers at Pearse Stadium two years ago.

O’Flatharta, who took over in Westmeath from fellow Kerryman Páidí Ó Sé, was among five men nominated for the position.

But the others — Sligo boss Kevin Walsh, former Clare manager Frank Doherty and Pete Warren, a selector with John O’Mahony when they won the 1998 and 2001 All-Ireland titles — informed Galway officials yesterday that they would not be going forward.

Galway Football Board secretary Seamus O’Grady confirmed Kernan and O’Flatharta had declared their intention to go forward for the position.



This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, September 05, 2009



Read more: www.irishexaminer.com/sport/donaghy-boost-for-kingdom-100255.html#ixzz0QE5TSD58

[kerrygold]

The confidence trick
Previously racked with self-doubt despite his superlative form, now Mike McCarthy has returned to the Kerry fold as a true leader
Ewan MacKenna
Here's one for you. With the 2006 All Ireland final running its course amidst a din of disinterest around Croke Park, the Kerry defence decided to briefly halt their brutal hunt of Mayo and take a moment out for themselves. There were 10 minutes of irrelevance left when Mike McCarthy and Tom O'Sullivan came together and began chatting on the edge of the small square. The conversation that ensued about their future was so misplaced, it even forced Conor Mortimer to forget the shackles and the measly three points he had mustered and flash a smile in their direction. There and then, minutes out from his third All Ireland and with just 28 years on the clock, McCarthy decided he'd had enough of it all and would be retiring.




Both bizarre and surreal but then again, nothing about McCarthy had ever bordered on footballing normality.




Take the morning he first received the greatest honour that can be bestowed on a Kerry man. Having walked away from 1998 with an under-21 All Ireland, McCarthy received his call up to the senior panel the following year. The father of former president and fellow Kilcummin clubman Seán Kelly went to offer his congratulations to the youngster but was met with an individual drowning in self doubt. "I won't be on that Kerry panel long," said McCarthy. "I'm not good enough for that group. Can't see it lasting."




A cocktail of success, awards and nationwide praise did little to instil the confidence people presumed he was dripping with. By 2002 McCarthy had an All Ireland, an All Star and two Munster titles to his name and international rules manager John O'Keeffe saw his steely ruthlessness and underrated skill levels as ideal for Ireland. But when he asked McCarthy to trials, he was met with a blunt refusal. "No, no John," replied McCarthy to his countyman. "I wouldn't be anywhere near good enough for that. Sure I'd just be shown up by the other lads there."




"Even though he plays confidently on the field he never rates himself totally," says Kelly, now a Fine Gael MEP. "I've seen instances where at half-time he'd be playing a blinder and he'd be asking the trainer to take him off because he felt he wasn't playing well. It has to be something to do with striving for perfection but it is also probably an innate modesty. He's a generous guy and says good things about other people and knocks himself. That's just him. Always worried about letting teammates down."




But in truth others have let McCarthy down rather than the other way around. Back in the 2000 league semi-final he was thrown the full-back jersey only to run into Graham Geraghty at the height of his powers and was taken apart. Instead of giving him another chance against someone other than the country's finest full-forward, the management left Seamus Moynihan to live out his days in the number three shirt and McCarthy disappeared into the corner.




"He knew his place after that, too much so," says former teammate Dara Ó Cinnéide. "He'd stick to his own spot and never step out off the football pitch. He never really engaged with the public. But when Jack took over, he always seemed to play well at full-back. I know Páidí Ó Sé found it very hard to figure him out but Jack understood he was a quiet fella from his time as selector and put a lot of effort into Mike."




But even then McCarthy looked like a man that was getting limited enjoyment out of it all. The nickname Zizou that went with his thinning hair never bothered him nor the wind ups Tom O'Sullivan always sprung on him in the dressing room. His fellow back, who was born without nerves, would often meander over to an uptight McCarthy before big games and throw out lines such as, 'Jesus I'd hate to get a roasting from Ollie Murphy today' and 'You're not winning the sprints in training, you're surely going to get taken for five or six points out here'. What really bothered him was playing full-back.




"He's a very complex fella and you'll never get inside his head," continues Ó Cinnéide. "I am sure he hated playing there. He's a fantastic footballer but he hated to see jersey pulling, he's a very clean player and that's why he hated playing full-back. You can't play full-back fairly anymore and he was too honest and he hated any player, teammates too, who resorted to dirt. Drove him mad. Also I think he didn't like the public profile. It wasn't like he was a reckless loose cannon in his private life, but he just liked to be anonymous and left alone."




A little known story about McCarthy involved the 2004 All Ireland. After the semi-final win over Derry a minor scandal erupted not too dissimilar to the lukewarm water Colm Cooper and Tomás Ó Sé found themselves in this year. The difference was Mike McCarthy very nearly skipped the final altogether because of the attention he'd gotten and it took serious convincing to make him turn out for that showpiece game. He just wanted to play football and get on with life and that's what he's been doing ever since he left the Kerry team in 2006.




With Kilcummin where last year he was told in advance he'd be receiving the senior player of the year award and so tried to wriggle free of attending the awards dinner. "A lot of people said when he retired he might wind it down but that wasn't the case and he cranked it up big time at club level," says Kilcummin chairman Shane O'Callaghan. "He made a major contribution to the club. And we did eventually get him to those awards with a bit of convincing."




And with Castleisland soccer club. "He's centre-half and he dominates," says manager Edward Hartnett. "He's a great presence on a team. I think a lot of players are just intimidated by that alone. Never missed training and his reading of the game was exceptional for a fella who hadn't played at the premier level before. Leads by example. Every tackle he just has to win it. He just has to. Phenomenal."




So phenomenal that when Castleisland played Tralee Dynamos, a side just a tier off the League of Ireland, the opposition approached Hartnett afterwards and inquired about McCarthy on the basis they'd never come across anyone as dominating in his position. And so phenomenal was his return to Kerry this year that out of an adult membership of 250, ticket requests in Kilcummin have doubled and 170 have been given out before today's game.




But why did he come back? Did he realise that running away only wears out your shoes?




"Sure he was bred to play football and what I would consider a throwback to what any good intercounty player should be in that he can play anywhere," says former Kerry selector Seán Counihan who was behind bringing him into the senior set-up initially. "Now I was surprised because I know several approaches were made to him last year. But when talking about why he came back you have to talk about who approached him. I know there were a lot of rumours about Seamus Moynihan's involvement in getting him back."




Counihan watched him train his first night back with the Kerry team and was amazed by how well he kept pace with those that had been training since January, but Hartnett in Castleisland never had any worries. "Sure he has a great natural engine, was training once a week with us, twice with Kilcummin and then playing a game for each. That's five night's a week." And Ó Cinnéide is convinced part of the deal for McCarthy returning was not returning to full-back. But what they all agree on, as does the rest of Kerry, is that his return is a gamble that has turned Kerry's season around.




"It's always a risk coming back after two years," says Seán Kelly, "but I've seen all the games since he came back. He's getting better by the minute." "My feeling is that he is getting more and more vocal within that group," adds Ó Cinnéide. "In my time he'd have let other people do all the talking. It's not that he's lacking in confidence but what he's doing now is what he was always capable of. He was a leader against Antrim whereas he was never let be before."




Perhaps he's at last realised what the rest of Kerry already knew. Mick McCarthy. Superstar. Whether he likes it or not.




[e-mail]

August 30, 2009

[longball2]

Football Analyst, Liam Hayes - I promise never to repeat my Suite deal

A few good men: GAA president Christy Cooney and Director General Paraic DuffyI was spotted in the GAA's very large corporate box last Sunday. And yes, I have to admit that my wife and I did spend the afternoon in the very large room which is Suite 686, Level Six, where we did eat well, enjoyed a glass or two of nice wine, and then helped ourselves to the GAA's massive personal balcony which would be large enough to house our Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue's entire family and most of his constituents, no problem at all.




Unlike the most self-indulgent politician in the modern history of the state, I'm 'fessing up 100 per cent to my few hours of luxury last Sunday afternoon. Furthermore, I'd like to promise readers of this page that it was my first time in Suite 686, and it shall be my last.




That's nothing against GAA president Christy Cooney and Director General Paraic Duffy, who extended the invitation and who were perfect hosts on the day. Truth is, I like the pair of them and I think they are good, decent men who are very likely to offer the old association the best combined leadership it has ever enjoyed.




Frankly, I like Christy's and Paraic's style of going about their business.




All of this is a problem for me because, as some of you might know by now, I have a confounded habit of regularly taking prisoners, as opposed to not taking prisoners, in this column and giving them a proper dressing-down. And that sometimes includes some of my best friends. And in the near future, for some reason or other, that will also certainly include Christy and Paraic, I'm sure of it.




Interestingly, and I'm quite proud of this it must be said, at one stage as I was enjoying my fine cut of roast beef last Sunday I counted six individuals within please-pass-the-salt distance about whom I had some difficult things to say in the last year or two.




Graham Geraghty was also in Suite 686 last Sunday, to observe from the same height and distance as myself, Meath's wholly inadequate performance against Kerry. We didn't have very much to say to one another. Not a word actually. Graham would be one of the six individuals numbered above. I never liked how he presented himself as a footballer. However, I always considered him a complete genius on the field.




Last Sunday, if he had been down there instead of being up there with me and the rest of us horsing into our long lunch, then Meath just might have been in with half a chance of defeating Kerry in what was possibly the most atrocious and completely forgettable All Ireland semi-final that has ever been played in Croke Park.




Meath were awful. And Kerry did not have to be anything other than 'awful plus one' to make their way through to the final itself. We'll get into that game soon enough. But not today. All that needs to be said is that the two best teams in the country are in the All Ireland final on 20 September and, even if they have made their way to the great day by different routes entirely (Kerry walked, hitched and cycled, and therefore had to endure a triathlon of sorts), we must be thankful that number one (Cork) and number two (Kerry) are safely ensconced in the last game of the season.




Looking back on this season from the vantage point of the first week of September, nobody else can be very happy it seems to me. Take the two beaten All Ireland semi-finalists, for starters. Normally teams which make it to a semi have so much to take away with them from getting close, but not close enough, to lifting Sam Maguire. Not this Meath team, I'm afraid.




It's very hard to see how they can improve in any shape or form from everything they did, and didn't do, this summer. Nigel Crawford and Anthony Moyles will be gone soon. And then – is this just me? – but is half the Meath team barely five foot tall? I don't think Meath would even be a safe bet to win the All Ireland minor title in 2010.




Tyrone have got to be disappointed too. This was a poor summer of football. Exciting and entertaining, yes, but damned poor in quality and this therefore was a glorious opportunity for Tyrone to win back-to-back All Ireland titles. Truth is, they were not good enough and they never played well enough at any time in 2010.




And the rest of the field? Monaghan and Kildare are still lingering in the news this last week. They are both within the chasing pack of long-shot contenders for an All Ireland title. Seamus McEneaney is staying where he is for another season. So too is Kieran McGeeney. The pair of them are stubborn and hard-working, and they have got to be admired. The big problem for the two of them – no more than Eamonn O'Brien in Meath, actually – is the absence of a genuine touch of genius in any starting 15 they can put on the field.




The Graham Geraghtys of this world are, indeed, hard to come by and every single team could do with one before seriously considering themselves capable of taking a big step up in life. Now, imagine me saying that about Graham Geraghty? I'll say it one more time, lunch in Suite 686 only makes people kind and soft in the head.

[Control]

The same people who have come on here giving out about people not heeding advice and running onto the pitch yesterday, are the same people who comment on a thread which is for articles only!! :-)

Please, articles only on this thread.

[Derek]

Not sure if this is up already but its in todays examiner.

Sports Desk Blog
<< Bennett’s performance the only positive in a wash-out finale | Game, set and product placement, Ms Williams >> Things to be keeping Jack and Conor busy
September 1, 2009 11:12 by Pete


THINGS TO BE GETTING ON WITH
All-Ireland finalists Cork and Kerry begin their planning in earnest this week for the Sept 20th football decider. Sports editor Tony Leen says their list of objectives should include:


CORK
1. Preparing for an aerial assault: Michael Shields’ near faultless displays at full back this season convinced many that the issue of Graham Canty being ‘wasted’ in the full back line was history. However, there was a worrying half an hour with Donegal’s Michael Murphy, and now the prospect of Kerry reverting to an aerial assault to the full forward line that may include Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh. There’s very few secrets that survive over the county bounds these days, so Conor Counihan’s management team should be aware in advance of Kerry’s attacking plans. But if Cork stick with Lynch, Shields and Carey, they’re taking a calculated gamble. However Counihan won’t want to push Canty back into the full back line, and may prefer to apply pressure on the delivery, as Tyrone managed so successfully in last year’s final. Speaking of the 2008 final, if Cork were to pull a Joe McMahon out of the hat, what odds Fintan Goold being given a special job for the final?

2. Keeping Kerry’s half backs honest: There’s been much talk about Cork’s marauding half back line. Graham Canty exploited a tactical faux pas by Tyrone to make hay (and Daniel Goulding’s goal), but one suspects Kerry won’t be as accommodating. However, just as important could be the role of Cork wing forwards Paul Kerrigan and Paddy Kelly - both more creative than destructive. Kerry’s Tomás Ó Sé harvested an amazing nine midfield breaks on Sunday, and left Meath’s Peadar Byrne a broken man. Mike McCarthy and Killian Young are not averse to bolting forward either, so it’s critical that the Cork half forwards keep them honest and focused on the job they’re picked for - i.e defending and going backwards.

3. Minimising turnovers: Cork’s attacking prowess was necessarily blunted in the quarter final by their reduction to fourteen men, and subsequent drift backwards. But on too many occasions, they invited Tyrone back onto them by turning over possession in no-pressure situations. On the presumption that both sides retain a full complement of players, Kerry will happily employ such turnover ball to rapid effect against a Cork defence that won’t be lying as deep this time.
Additionally, there’s a real sense that the Cork full forward line has the edge on Kerry’s full back line - if only they can get fast, quality ball. Too many Cork turnovers against Tyrone were caused by advancing players running into trouble and not making the ball do the work - much to the annoyance of Messrs Goulding and O’Connor in the corners.

KERRY
1 Taking the sheen off Cork’s diamond: Nowhere was Cork’s superiority over Kerry in Munster more evident than in Pearse O’Neill and co’s driving runs through the heart of the Kerry defence. It was seen by many as conclusive evidence that the Kingdom were a spent force, unable to counter Cork’s physical strength and fitness. However, there were mitigating circumstances - Marc Ó Sé picked up a hamstring injury during the game and Paul Galvin was sent off (opening up the spaces on the right flank). Tommy Griffin has since returned to full back, where he’ll be matched with Colm O’Neill, but the key clash will feature the recently returned Mike McCarthy’s joust with Pearse O’Neill. If the Kilcummin man can’t handle O’Neill, Kerry are in trouble.

2 Devising an attacking game plan: Eight into six doesn’t, but Jack O’Connor’s management team won’t complain. Sunday’s starting sextet will battle with Tommy Walsh and Kieran Donaghy for final places, giving the selectors tactical as well as personnel options up front. Whereas the Kingdom got their attacking plan spot on for the Dublin quarter-final, the same strategy malfunctioned in the first half last Sunday against Meath. By shaking up his deck for the final, Jack O’Connor may force a positional rethink in the Cork defence - would Conor Counihan be happy to leave Michael Shields at full back if Kieran Donaghy was on the edge of the square? Where will Declan O’Sullivan start? Tadhg Kennelly’s display on Sunday, not to mention his efforts against Graham Canty in June suggest he may be deployed on the Cork captain in three weeks. At a series of levels, Kerry’s forward thinking will be pivotal.

3 Working on placed balls: It’s an issue they’ve been aware of since the start of this season - who’ll pop the long-length frees if neither Bryan Sheehan or David Moran are on the field? To some it’s incidental, but in the close games, a reliable dead ball expert is the difference between winning and losing an All-Ireland - and Kerry don’t have one from 1 to 15.
Cork have their own problems with Donncha O’Connor’s radar off in the semi-final, but the Rebels have the Ballydesmond man, plus Daniel Goulding, if required. On Sunday, Kerry were reduced to Colm Cooper trying to work a short 45 with Tadhg Kennelly in the first half. Kerry’s penalty woes are not behind them either. Darran O’Sullivan lost his footing in the run-up to Sunday’s penalty, and though it trickled past Paddy O’Rourke, it was less than convincing.

[kerrygold]

Wednesday, September 9, 2009Donaghy's availability gives O'Connor plenty to ponder

IAN O'RIORDANKERRY MANAGER Jack O’Connor is facing what might be called a selection blessing ahead of the All-Ireland football final following the news that Kieran Donaghy has returned to full training and is bidding to regain his place in the forward line for the showdown with Cork in Croke Park on Sunday week.

Donaghy took a full part in Kerry training sessions over the weekend, unlike recent weeks, where he was limited to mostly running practice – without wearing his boots – due to the recurrence of a broken bone in his foot sustained in the All-Ireland qualifier against Longford on July 11th. He has not featured for Kerry in the four games since, although he was included on the list of substitutes for the semi-final against Meath last Sunday week.

Now, however, Donaghy is effectively back to full fitness, but it still seems unlikely O’Connor will return him to the starting 15.

His lack of match practice may count against him, and it’s more likely Tommy Walsh will be restored to the starting line-up after being dropped for the Meath game. Yet, Walsh was called into action just 27 minutes into game, replacing Donnacha Walsh, and responded in devastating fashion – scoring 1-3 in the early second half rush that put an end to Meath’s chances.

It seems more likely, therefore, that Walsh will start this time in place of his namesake, with Donaghy kept in reserve.

O’Connor is enjoying a largely injury-free run to Sunday week’s final. There was some surprise when Aidan O’Mahony lined out for his club Rathmore in a senior football league match against Tarbert over the weekend, although he came through without any problems. Forward Seán O’Sullivan was also in action for his club Cromane at the weekend as they defeated Ballydonoghue.

Neither O’Mahony nor O’Sullivan were able to nail down a starting place for the Meath game – although O’Mahony did come on as a substitute – and it’s likely they won’t start against Cork either. The Cork camp are also reporting an injury-free build-up to Sunday week.

Meanwhile, the problem of underage GAA talent taking up offers from Australian Football League clubs continues with the news that one of Derry’s brightest prospects, Chrissy McKaigue, has signed for the Sydney Swans.

The 20-year-old from Slaughtneil has agreed a two-year international rookie deal and will move to Sydney at the end of next month in the hope of following in the footsteps of Tadhg Kennelly, who won an AFL Premiership medal with the Swans in 2005.

Finally, the battle to top the 2009 senior football championship scoring chart will go right down to Sunday week as Colm “Gooch” Cooper of Kerry and Donncha O’Connor of Cork are still in close contention.

Donegal’s Michael Murphy currently leads the table on 0-36, followed by Cian Ward of Meath on 3-26 (35 points), but with these players done for the year, the attention turns to Cooper and O’Connor who are in joint third place on a total of 31 points.

The annual GOAL hurling challenge takes place this evening when All-Ireland champions Kilkenny take on Ballyhale Shamrocks at Kilkenny’s Nowlan Park. Throw-in is at 6.30pm.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

[kaywhy]

Sam could hinge on battle of Bainisteoirí

By Coman Goggins


Thursday September 10 2009

SO, as the GAA calendar approaches Sunday week's All-Ireland football final and the concluding men's inter-county fixture of this season, a quick look back to last Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final, and Kilkenny's historic achievement in completing the four in a row, highlights many of the key qualities required for success.

A team that knows and understands how to win a match, and how important those final 10 minutes really are. A strong panel, enter Martin Comerford and Michael Fennelly. However, perhaps crucially, the most important thing is having the right manager patrolling the sideline.


CRAVES

In Brian Cody, Kilkenny appear to have just that. A man who craves success, who expects the same from his players, and who puts the team first in all that both he and his management team tries to do.

It is this honest approach, something all players crave, that places Kilkenny at the pinnacle of hurling greatness.

By drawing from this, what the Cats have, and what I imagine is the envy of many teams, is a complete trust between players and management that copperfastens the journey a team undertakes each year in their attempt to reach the promised land.

It is often stated at team meetings that the starting 15 will be picked on current form and on due merit, but in a lot of cases managers often backtrack. They stick with the tried and tested and tend not to opt for the 'springer' who may have shone in training or challenge games.

This is where Cody differs from the most of the rest. In their quest for a fourth All-Ireland title in as many years, he has tweaked and altered his team, sending out a the message that no one is irreplaceable. This year for example, it was Comerford and James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick, who failed to make the starting side on All-Ireland final day.

What this creates, though, is a hunger and drive at training that allows a player to believe that they can potentially make the team, not because of last year's, or indeed last week's, exploits, but because they are showing well at the right time and are the player in form.

Sure, it helps that you have a squad laden with talent, but the manager's job is to keep everyone on their toes, most importantly the substitutes who, as Comerford showed, can often make the difference when introduced if they are in the right frame of mind.

Where all this leads to is the sideline battle between Cork supremo Conor Counihan and Kerry boss Jack O'Connor, which has the potential to tilt this All-Ireland final into their respective county's grasp.

To date, this year you can't but be impressed with the way Counihan has re-shaped and re-ignited this Cork team. It could be argued he has learned a little from Cody. He rarely if ever gives away details about his team that may show a chink of light to an opposing manager, therefore protecting all the work he is trying to do.


ENFORCED

Throughout the championship he has also made changes to his team, albeit some enforced, confident in the belief that the next man in is up to a job, and creating that trust in a squad that can't be bought but is very hard-earned.

Unfortunately I'm old enough to remember the latter part of Conor Counihan's playing days, and my memory of him is as a skilful yet tough and uncompromising player.

Like Cody, who gave us a brief glimpse of the iron fist during his post match 'chat' with Marty Morrissey, I'm sure Counihan's bite can match the bark if required.

However, as is often the case, it's what happens on the third Sunday of September, and not what precedes it that determines the level of success or otherwise of a manager and his team.

With O'Connor having been here before he will hope to be able draw on his and this squad's experiences of 2004, 2006 and 2007 (Pat O'Shea manager in '07) as he bids to rally his troops. He too has had to make big calls this summer, dropping Colm Cooper and Tomás ó Sé from the first 15 for their qualifier game against Antrim.

He also had foresight, or at least was prepared to listen, when it was suggested that Mike McCarthy might be interested in making a dramatic return. A comeback that has not only filled a gaping hole in what was a rocky defence, but has undeniably bolstered the team.

While arguably O'Connor might sooner prefer and have expected to be facing up to Mickey Harte and Tyrone, he must be cognisant of the fact that Counihan has had the better of him already this summer, and that he needs to produce a plan and a team that can banish those Munster semi-final memories.

Before and during Sunday week's showdown, both managers have decisions to make, some of which will prove unpopular, but all of which they believe are in the interests of the team.

In picking their teams they will disappoint, but as Cody has shown, management isn't about being popular, it's about success.

- Coman Goggins

[Control3]

Cooper 'flying' ahead of final fling



KERRY chairman Jerome Conway moved to quash renewed speculation regarding Colm Cooper's fitness ahead of the All-Ireland final with Cork by claiming the Dr Crokes man was "flying" in training, writes donnchadh boyle.

Reports emanating from the Kingdom last night suggested that the hip injury Cooper sustained prior to the win over Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final had flared up and had restricted his participation in a behind-closed-doors game on Sunday.

However, Conway, who was present at the training session, dismissed the reports.

"That's rubbish," Conway said. "I was there and I can tell you he was flying in training. It wasn't a full-blown game but he seemed to be going very well and didn't have any complaints afterwards."

Meanwhile Tadhg Kennelly has put all thoughts of returning to Australia out of his mind until after next Sunday week's All-Ireland football final.

Speculation intensified this week that he was poised to resume his AFL career when it emerged Sydney Swans coach Paul Roos was travelling to Ireland for the football final; but Kennelly said yesterday that nothing should be read into that.

"Paul has been a close friend of mine for a long time and I'm delighted he's coming over for the final. But as for me going back to Sydney, I'm thinking of nothing right now except the All-Ireland final."

However, in what may be a pointer that his AFL days are over, he said that his last two years in Sydney had been very difficult because of injuries.

"I probably didn't play one game in that period when I was over 80pc fit. Knee, shoulder, you name it, I got it. I was unlucky. It was very frustrating not being able to play the way I wanted."

- donnchadh boyle

[austinstacksabu]

ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL: TOM HUMPHRIES asks Darragh Ó Sé about the highlights of his 16-season Kerry career, the lowlights, and whether he’ll be extending that intercounty vocation into next year.

HE WORKS daily in the most humbling of environments, making his crust as an estate agent on Tralee’s Street of Champions. Micko has a fast food joint across the way. Mikey Sheehy, the Bomber, Seánie Walsh and more all toil within hailing distance.

He walks in the considerable shadow of his uncle Páidí, like Sheehy one of that rare breed (five men in all) with eight All-Ireland senior football medals in the drawer. He plays for club and county with two brothers of considerable accomplishment.

He wears the jersey of the most storied and glorious county in football.

And yet he stands out luminously, as one of those footballers for whom the Christian name is sufficient for recognition and discussion.

He is an Ó Sé and a proud one, but first and foremost he is Darragh. His own self.

Sixteen seasons shedding sweat in the Kerry engine room, the most demanding job in football, have led to this. Next Sunday, he plays his ninth All-Ireland final, his 81st championship game and strikes out looking for his sixth All-Ireland medal. He does these things with the same ravenous hunger with which he went about winning his first medal.

In that sense, he is a warrior of the old school. He draws his motivation from a well that never runs dry. Kerry.

“I get great motivation out of just playing for Kerry. I love the jersey. I like the golden years. I like the history of everything that went before. I like that we are a little continuation of that. I enjoy that. I just like Kerry football, the whole thing, the big package.

“That’s doesn’t work for everyone. Other guys, it doesn’t do it for them. Management’s job is to get those guys ticking. It is a tough job, but for me that’s it. I just love playing for Kerry.”

That sense of spiritual communion between Darragh and those who pay to watch him accounts in part for his enduring popularity in a county where criticism is often swingeing and harsh. He began playing before the time of radio phone-ins and internet chat rooms, but in his spirit, his demeanour and the style of his play he seems to embody the sporting aspirations of the unique football county he sprang from.

His reputation is larger now than it was mid career.

That’s Darragh Ó Sé.

He represents the essence of the game in Kerry and his decision to cling perhaps by the fingernails (if that is what it took) to a place on the team and the panel when anybody else would have walked off into a golden sunset represents what every Kerry fan thinks they would do too.

But every Kerry fan doesn’t have to slog around Fitzgerald Stadium shedding the pounds that accrue to a man of 34 years of age when he takes the winter and spring off to be there for his new baby.

When Ella arrived seven and a half months ago he was far from decided about his footballing future. He came back in the end just to have a go at it. There was the bit of hunger left and he craved the challenge. At 34 the metabolism slows and you have to work twice as hard to get the fitness back. He worked harder than anyone. Summer was hardly started before he was back in the cockpit.

“This year is a huge bonus. This was a big year at home for myself and Amy. To come back in the spring and to go through the mill? I’d often say when I was struggling, what the hell brought me back? But I wouldn’t change it.

“Even when things are going bad for me personally I am competing at a level that at my age I would hope to compete at. There is nothing to compare to a team victory. All the work goes in by everybody and the victory is shared by 36, 37 people. That is huge.

“For me that is the real enjoyment. You can look forward to that sense of achievement in winning. Doubting yourself and coming through. All the combinations. Am I good? Am I feeling gammy? It is a great game. If it were PlayStation it would be the best game ever made. This game is so great because there are so many variables. It’s human beings. Nothing will compare. Of course, there is family and work etc, but in general day-to-day stuff nothing will give that buzz again.

“That’s what is enjoyable. It is for yourself, in a sense. The challenge of winning. Enjoying the game, competing, getting fit again. Disappointment is part of that too. At the end, though, it is still worth it. Had we lost against Sligo, say, it would still have been worth coming back.”

Really?

“It would of course. If I got five or 10 minutes with those players, playing in the Kerry jersey with them. It would, of course.”

So coming back. It wasn’t imperative that you had to start every game. You would have taken the five or 10 minutes if necessary? “I came back with an open mind. We had new management. I didn’t know what they were thinking. It was a vague thing. I didn’t know where I was, playing-wise. I don’t pick the teams. It just fell the way it did.

“Coming back in I knew there was a process to be gone through. The midfield that were there through the league were super. They won every game, but you have to believe you will start. Training is no good unless you believe that. The same as the fellas I compete with for the place, they have to believe they will start too or they are no good either. And that makes for good football. For aggressiveness and physical play. And that brings the team on.

“There is a bond there. You know you wouldn’t be where you are but for those players who push you on. There is a fierce competitiveness there between you as individuals, but at the same time there is a bond because you know that by competing as hard as you can with each other you make the team better.

“There is a common goal. That is the reality of it. There is a good unity that comes from that. So, when I came back, being part of that was what I was looking for.”

Sixteen summers, five All-Ireland medals, nine All-Ireland finals, four Kerry managers, 12 midfield partners, 21 different counties played, only one of which he never got the better of.

Tyrone are missing from next Sunday’s final. Will-o’-the-wisps vanishing again when Kerry most badly wanted to play them.

Regrets?

“Yerra, we have had our cracks at Tyrone. We wouldn’t be too caught up about it. We had our few chances at them and by and large most teams that beat you deserve to beat you. I felt maybe last year we shot ourselves in the foot a bit, but it’s like Tipp against Kilkenny. I hold no resentment toward them and Tipp must be the same way. Tyrone held the cup going home at the end of the day. That’s sport.

“Last week Tipp put in such an admirable effort to win. Like the Marty Morrissey thing. I could see Brian Cody’s point. They put in the effort to win when it got tough. A free over the bar from 100 yards after Benny Dunne was sent off, the Shefflin penalty. The Comerford goal.

“For such an excellent team Kilkenny deserve their accolades. They don’t care about records. They want to get as much as possible out of the group that is there now. I understand that.”

Meath in 2001 is the one game that he can’t explain to himself. It defies analysis. Refuses to be parsed or dissected or reduced in significance by the passage of time. Tyrone rank surprisingly low on his list of regrets.

“People ask if beating them (Meath) the last day (in the All-Ireland semi-final) fixed that. No. It didn’t really. It’s not the same team anymore. We don’t know what happened that day. Meath were as good as us. They won the All-Ireland in 1999 and we won in 2000 so we weren’t 10 or 15 points worse than them. That day and losing the club final to Caltra in 2004, maybe losing to Armagh as captain in 2002 – they were the worst.

“Tyrone, you’d have to package the games together. Would I have liked to have beaten Tyrone? Of course. But I don’t lie awake at night. Tyrone? I can look at the games and say this went wrong or that went wrong. I don’t lose sleep over it.”

All that costs him sleep is the buzzing of his mobile the odd evening when Paul Galvin sends him reports on training written in the style of Ross O’Carroll Kelly: “Dorra, I said to Jack, roysh, these fockers . . . ”

The pair travel from Tralee to Killarney together for training a few times a week. Old stagers who don’t feel the need to talk about football anymore. Either that, or the car journeys are a chance to escape the talk about the game which permeates all aspects of Kerry life like a constant light drizzle.

This season has been typical of the goldfish bowl existence the Kerry footballer endures. Rumours swirled over the heads of the panel from the time they lost against Cork until they beat Dublin in Croke Park.

Then, of course, the rumours cleared like a morning mist.

“It got exaggerated this year. The management were looking for something to buck things up perhaps. The boys (Colm Cooper and Tomás Ó Sé) weren’t far offside, in fairness. Where it got messy was that it made the papers. The lads have families.

“It went too far in that respect. Management are management and they have to do their job, but in Kerry you have the rumour machine. It is crazy. Everyone gets sucked in, like your man in Willy Wonka getting sucked into the machine. Everyone in the county is like that.”

Darragh’s way of dealing with it is perhaps the healthiest and most novel. “I can’t help adding to it! Somebody would ask me something ridiculous like ‘did Donaghy and Galvin have a big fight in training?’ Sure you can’t help but look surprised and say to them, ‘well, sorry, I can’t comment on that’. And you know then that it will take legs. You can make it fun then. I go into training and tell the lads, knock a bit of craic out of it.

It’s easy for me, I’ve been around the block for so long. If you took any notice of the stuff you would go mad. My wife couldn’t believe this craic at first. How is it happening? These rumours, where are they coming from? The one thing about Kerry people is that we have writers and poets and we love a good story.”

He has heard volumes of stories about himself, naturally. Many of the great ones are about Jack O’Connor and himself sparring off verbally, sometimes physically. He tells you this and then pauses unable to help himself. The mischievous grin gives him away.

“Of course, you wouldn’t know what’s true and what’s not true there either! Ah, there have been several good ones about myself. A lot of them would be related to where you were seen. You could be working in Kenmare, meeting a client, and be spotted there.

“You would be somewhere else the following day. There’d be two different rumours going then as to what you would be doing in those places. This is the ideal rumour scenario. Was he drinking? Was he not? What was he doing in Kenmare? Same as in the other place?”

He heard one story this summer concerning Tadhg Kennelly. A man just approached him, a reliable man offering the currency of solid sources. He swore the story was true.

“He was there, apparently. I asked him. I said, ‘Are you sure of that’? He said he was, he was 100 per cent sure. This is a decent man. He was totally convinced, but I happened to be there at the function he was talking about and nothing happened yet this poor man believed it like gospel.

“Sometimes then there are rumours that I put out myself. A few years ago I made one up about an incident at training.

“I told a certain barman in Kerry that Barry O’Shea had a row with Páidí in training and it got messy and continued in the showers where Barry hit Páidí. I said to him, ‘You have to keep that under your hat now. Please.’ Four or five days later your man rings me, abusing me. ‘That never happened.’ I said, ‘but sure I assume you didn’t tell anybody, did you’? ‘Ah, * you!’ he says.”

It all helps, he reckons. It relates to what Páidí said about the rough animals. It just all adds to the joyful mystery of what Kerry football is. No matter where you go in Kerry there will always be talk of the football and rumour and anecdote and innuendo.

“That contributes to the interest and the culture of it. You are never far from it. That brings a seriousness in itself, it brings its own pressure. You don’t want to be part of the team that comes home without the bacon. It can be constructive.

“In the panel then when the stuff is going on, well I don’t really buy into the siege mentality stuff, but it works in a way You’re dealing with it. If you get caught up in it you won’t see the wood for the trees at all.

“At the end, the beauty of the Kerry rumour machine is that it work so efficiently it defeats itself. The rumour spreads like mad and at the end of the day there will 10 or 12 different versions of the same rumour going around the county and nobody knows what to believe. Sure you have to enjoy that!”

And so?

Is next Sunday the final curtain.

“My last game: I don’t know. I’ll retire when Maurice Fitz retires! Maurice always says to me that he is still available for selection, he never retired. I haven’t thought about it this year. I have enjoyed every minute and every second. I came on the panel in 1993 and we had a great bunch of lads. Ogie in charge. Good spirit there. We were good, but just not good enough. Cork were strong, the northern teams were strong, we had an excellent minor team in 1994 and good under-21 sides after.

“But from my point of view, those years gave me great grounding – 1997 for me was so special I appreciated everything that came after.”

He delivers a lengthy encomium on the merits of this Cork team and their manager, Conor Counihan. Then he sighs.

“Sure, it’s a huge challenge for us, but where else would you be at this hour of life, but in Croke Park on Sunday? It’s a Cork- Kerry game. It’s an unknown. How good they will be? How good we will be?

“I get sick of this thing in a way of arguing that we are underdogs or they are underdogs. It’s Cork v Kerry. Anything can happen. There are no underdogs.”

“You can sit down afterwards and say how did I compete here, how did I do there? I broke even here etc. Next day, it’s Pearse O’Neill or Alan O’Connor or whoever, they are all big bruisers so you would challenge yourself again. If it is not happening for you, can you make it happen for somebody else. That is the real enjoyment. You can look forward to that sense of achievement. That is what I will miss too.”

He gets up, proposes coffee next door with Mikey Sheehy, greatness supping with greatness. They are joined by John L McElligott and the trio rib each other mercilessly with a humour and a frankness built on a sure foundation of respect and friendship. That’s Kerry, the great reeks of football history are always towering over you.

Next Sunday, win or lose, Darragh Ó Sé joins that elite group of men who have lived and thrived at the highest altitude.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

[Control3]

Cooper and Donaghy give Kerry double fitness boost

Sunday September 13 2009

KERRY manager Jack O'Connor received a double boost yesterday when two of his star forwards, Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy, came through a full training session in Killarney.

Both men will now be fit to take their place in the squad for next Sunday's All-Ireland final against fierce rivals Cork.

There was speculation last week that Cooper was struggling with a hip injury but his participation at yesterday's session refuted those suggestions.

Donaghy also took a full part in training after breaking a bone in his foot in the Qualifier victory over Longford at the start of July.

The 2007 Footballer of the Year had been restricted to rehab work in running shoes prior to the All-Ireland semifinal win over Meath, but trained in football boots last week and looked to be ready for action yesterday.

Whether he starts the final remains to be seen — Declan O'Sullivan started on the edge of the square against both Dublin and Meath, while Tommy Walsh made a big impact in the position when he was introduced at full-forward against the Royals.

Meanwhile, the Armagh County Board meets tomorrow to discuss the county’s managerial crisis. The senior footballers are anxious to have their feelings expressed at this gathering.

The Management Committee will place all the facts before delegates and a new sub-committee is likely to be formed to oversee the appointment of the new manager. Delegates will also be briefed on the developments of the past few weeks.

Initially, a five-man subcommittee was formed to find a replacement for Peter McDonnell but this group dissolved and the board's Management Committee have already expressed grave disappointment at that. This also led to the players slating the selection procedure as a “flawed process”.

In Waterford, John Kiely's five-year reign as county senior football manager looks to be at an end. The 2009 squad were yesterday thanked by Kiely for their efforts over the last number of seasons and it's understood that the Kilrossanty man, who claimed several big scalps during his tenure, will not be asked to stay on for next season.

The county’s football board will meet tonight to discuss the appointment of his successor. Former Tipperary manager Johnny Owens is just one of the names being considered.

[kerrygold]

Football Analyst, Liam Hayes - Croker men in a tizzy over the way fans walked on grass. Did ye forget U2, boys?

Action stations: there's a good chance the supporters will walk the field next Sunday Over the last 125 years not one single person, to the best of my knowledge, has been badly injured or left for dead or has been, most unfortunately, blown to smithereens, while making their way onto the field in the immediate aftermath of an All Ireland hurling or football final. However, that smooth record almost went up in smoke last Sunday when, we're told, Croke Park's smartest and wisest of men, just in the nick of time, got word to their stewards to remove all the fireworks and glitter bombs from the path of tens of thousands of advancing Kilkenny supporters.




Those glitter bombs, in case Kilkenny hurling supporters still don't know, were wired to charges! Any one of you, at any moment late last Sunday afternoon, could have arrived back in MacDonagh Junction in Kilkenny City a full 24 hours before your victorious four-in-a-row team.




Furthermore, as a word of warning to Cork and Kerry football supporters, those glitter bombs are going to be re-wired for next Sunday's All Ireland football final.




Nice, huh!




Here we all are, merrily celebrating a century and a quarter of splendiferous Gaelic football and hurling history, and the GAA president Christy Cooney and Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna are busily wiring the place with explosives, and telling football and hurling fans who have been running across Croker's precious grass for the last 124 years to feck off with themselves, or else.




Or else, what? If they don't stay on Hill 16 or remain in their seats, then someday in the future each supporter who walks uninvited onto the field might be fined and the same supporters might also be banned from coming near the stadium again for 10 years. Those were the words of Mr McKenna this very week.




Happy Birthday to all of us. Just last week, I forewarned Christy Cooney and his Director General Páuric Duffy that, despite my great confidence in them as the newest guardians of the GAA – and despite the fact that they served me up a fine lunch in Suite 686 a fortnight ago – that one or both of them will remain in grave danger of receiving a yellow card in this column at any time.




Christy is an awfully lucky man he is not getting a straight red.




Our president told Kilkenny supporters that they put themselves and their children in danger by coming onto the field last Sunday. Untrue. Christy and his explosives experts put the Kilkenny supporters in danger.




Our president told us that the actions of the Kilkenny supporters spoiled a "fabulous extravaganza" which would have been "truly spectacular". Who cares? GAA folk never requested fireworks and glitter bombs .




Our president told us that supporters denied themselves the sight of seeing the Kilkenny team running around the empty field with the Liam McCarthy Cup. Kilkenny supporters didn't want to see their team running around the field – they wanted to run around the field themselves. As they always do.




Our president told us the Kilkenny team had to go through the tunnel under the Hogan Stand after the presentation, and that the Kilkenny players missed out on celebrating with their own supporters. Winning All Ireland teams always go under the Hogan Stand and are perfectly happy to do so in order to have their supporters celebrate freely and safely on the field.




I believe Christy Cooney is a good president, and I believe he will be remembered as being a superb president perhaps, and I would like to think that this last week he was just not quite himself. How could anyone, in their right mind, think that it was a good idea to 'wire' Croker on the very day that Kilkenny's brilliant supporters would be seeking to celebrate an historic four in-a-row with the greatest hurling team there has ever been? How could anyone in their wildest dreams ever imagine that they could have been kept apart?




My money's also on the Cork and Kerry supporters next Sunday. Go for it, lads! Men first. Women and children in-tow.




Next Sunday has an awful lot to live up to after the magnificent, breathtaking final which Kilkenny and Tipperary presented to the country. But, I'm hopeful. This Cork team is powerful and incredibly skilful, and is an absolute joy to watch. By some considerable distance they have been the outstanding football team in the country in 2009. Furthermore, I absolutely refuse to believe that there is even the remotest possibility that they will crumble in front of their neighbours on this occasion. And further than furthermore, it is far more likely that they will do their manager rightly proud.




But that does not mean that Conor Counihan is fairly certain of getting to watch his team lift Sam. Cork have been the best football team in the country these last eight and a half months, but Jack O'Connor has been the country's best football manager. By far. O'Connor has overcome so many hairy obstacles, loads of little niggly problems, and one or two near fiascos, in his first year back as Kerry team boss. Sure, on a regular basis, I have been one of his harshest critics, but equally I have never denied him his standing as one of the bravest and most resolute of characters to ever walk a Gaelic football sideline over the last decade.




O'Connor bungled some early summer team selections, particularly for the first round of the championship against Cork when he sent out the door of his dressing-room one of the poorest, misshapen Kerry teams we have seen in many years, and with Aidan O'Mahony losing form, with Colm Cooper and Marc Ó Sé temporarily losing faith in themselves and the team by having a few stiff drinks, and with Kieran Donaghy losing out through injury for virtually the whole championship, O'Connor has struggled month after month to get this Kerry football team anywhere near fourth gear.




O'Connor could have given up on the season after those two early performances against Cork when he himself and his team were wiped off the field and out the stadium gates by their neighbours. The middle portion of Kerry's season which produced three more below-par performances against Longford, Sligo and Antrim left Kerry five games into a championship season without one decent performance to build upon. Victory over Dublin was far too easy and, by the end, the entire 70 minutes was quite unbelievable. Then came the non-entity of the semi-final against Meath.




Jack O'Connor has had seven games, but only one big win, in the All Ireland quarter-final, which may have been the real thing or may not have been any such thing. To get where he is this morning, therefore, O'Connor has had to work harder than any other football manager in the country.




And he has had to get through this long and difficult summer while also having, never forget, the most crazed, passionate and demanding army of football supporters there is in the country, talking noisily behind his back. If Kerry win this All Ireland it may not rank as one of the most outstanding championships in the county's rich and glorious history, but it might very well be the most satisfying and deserving of All Irelands ever won by any Kerry football manager.




It's strange, this one between Kerry and Cork.




Very strange because, for once, the great uncertainty hanging over this game between the two teams, is mainly if not entirely centred on Kerry. This time, we know for sure that Cork are the better team and that they are playing the better football, and we also know for sure (yes, we do!) that there is no question of Counihan's men turning into a basket case of mumbling, fumbling individuals well before half-time. We know who Cork are this year, and we know what they can do. Next Sunday, they will be putting in a big, commanding performance.




Will Kerry wobble? Will they reverse up? Will they freeze? This is a triple-barrelled question which normally has to be answered by the Cork football team before and during highly pressurised games against Kerry. This time, Kerry have to come up with nearly all the answers if they are win a truly remarkable All Ireland crown.




Whoever wins, neither army of supporters should be at all worried about killing off the costly grass in Croke Park. Gaelic football and hurling fans have been traipsing up and down the field every September for the last 125 years or so.




The only reason the place was left in a bit of state, after the not too fancy footwork of the Kilkenny supporters last Sunday, was because the GAA bosses decided to recklessly invite U2 to make themselves at home in Croker in the middle of the championship, and then dig up and replace the whole surface at ridiculous, breakneck speed. If we hadn't seen U2 completely abuse the field in the middle of the summer there would have been no danger of any damaging being caused last Sunday or next.




My, oh my. Do you think Michael Cusack and the lads were dreaming of glitter bombs 125 years ago?




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September 13, 2009

[kerrygold]

Home and Away Trek For Glory
Kerry's Tadhg Kennelly and Cork's Michael Shields had different experiences in Australia but they shared a dream to return and win All Irelands with their county.
Ewan MacKenna traces their paths to next Sunday


123Officially, it was the Cork strike of late 2007 that saw Michael Shields head for Australia without shedding a drop of regret. Having returned from a three-week trial with Carlton Football Club in Melbourne, he came home with a future to decide only to find his city burning and Billy Morgan driven out of town. "That is not the way to win All Irelands," Shields said only months after losing one badly at the hands of Kerry. "What's gone on here has made my decision for me." And with that he signed a two-year rookie contract in the AFL.




Unofficially though, Tadhg Kennelly played on Shields' mind every bit as much as Morgan and Teddy Holland and Frank Murphy and the rest of them as he put pen to paper. Only two years earlier Kennelly had made it to the very peak of Aussie Rules and with that came fame and fortune. Take Rebecca Cartwright for instance. The Home and Away actress, who is now married to Lleyton Hewitt, bumped into Kennelly on a Channel 7 night out and the footballer/bachelor was considered in such a league that rumours quickly started about the two. There was the house on Bondi Beach as well. The crowds of 100,000 and wages just as vast. The post box that was filled with thongs on more than one occasion.




Even the trivial became big news with Kennelly. In 2006, when he and the champion Sydney Swans were invited to St Mary's Catholic girls' school in Wollongong, a question and answers session saw his teammate Lewis Roberts-Thompson quizzed about his most embarrassing moment. When he pondered a little too long Kennelly stepped forward, pulled his teammate's trousers to the ground and told the girls that was his most embarrassing moment before their eyes. Kennelly was such a star that the story made the national news and he was forced to issue national apologies.




But like so many other Irish recruits, Shields never noticed the shadows he had to pass through to reach the bright lights until he was standing right there in the darkness. And when he arrived in Carlton he struggled badly with their time trials around the two-mile track at Princes Park. Elite athletes are expected to complete the pre-season run in close to 10 minutes. The average is 11 minutes and 30 seconds. Shields came home towards the tail of the field in 12 minutes and nine.




"It wasn't about money but there was a potential career there," said Shields. "You could be a star. So I just went for it. But it's a new country. There's no family there. You have to make new friends. The Ó hAilpíns were my best friends. I stuck with them everywhere. They got me through everything. But if everything isn't going right with your game you get frustrated as well."




Like the Ó hAilpíns had been before him, he was transferred to Carlton's minor league VFL affiliate the Northern Bullants and it was there in the suburbs of Melbourne that he would play all his football in Australia in front of sparse crowds, first with their reserve team and finally a couple of games for their senior side. But also like the Ó hAilpíns, the semi-professional mismatch of students, Carlton reserves and adults that had found their level wasn't what he expected when leaving home.




"But he was really starting to get used to the game," says Bullants General Manager Gary O'Sullivan. "Tadhg Kennelly struggled early too but the more they train and the more games they get, the more used to it they get. Sometimes he'd be caught holding the ball because the thought process wasn't to get rid of it as quick as he should and that's not a criticism, that's just something you have to get used to. But he was a strong boy and good solid runner and had the physical attributes required."




"The biggest challenge was actually picking up the style of play," adds David Teague, his coach at the Bullants and the development officer at Carlton. "His skills came along not too badly but the challenge of the gameplan took him a little bit longer. But he'd improved a lot from when he got here. His skills definitely improved, catching the oval ball was probably the one thing that continued to challenge him. He was picking up the game and to get a senior game in the VFL was a really good effort."




He was picking up weight too. The four day a week sessions with Carlton involved an hour-and-a-half of weights each morning, a lunch packed with carbohydrates for energy and protein for growth, and an extended afternoon on the field. But in truth he was never going to stick it. Back in Cork he was considered a homebird and all were surprised he left. So friends were anything but when they started to get calls insisting his return was a matter of when rather than if. And when Cork won the Munster title last year it proved too much of a lure and his days as a professional were over.




But hey, just ask Shields and he'll tell you it's better to have tried and failed. Then again, ask Kennelly and he'll tell you it's better still to have tried and succeeded.




• • •




Hard to believe it now but Tadhg Kennelly suffered from homesickness for a while too. After playing for the Irish under-17 international rules side, the Sydney Swans found him to be a decent 1,500m runner and whisked him away in 1999. Problem was he got lost in Heathrow when trying to switch planes and by the time he was in Australia he woke every morning with sore and reddened eyes and thought about heading for the airport rather than training. When he finally decided to stay, the tackling that awaited him each day did little to endear the place to him.




Just as Shields added 10 kilos of muscle, Kennelly added 12 to his frame in three months. And having left for Australia at 72 kilos, he'll play the All Ireland final at around the 90 mark. But while fear drove Shields home, fear of failure made Kennelly stay. "I was at sea," he told the Tribune upon his return to Kerry. "Got totally homesick and I remember crying in the bed alone. A lot. They couldn't pronounce my name. I called the ball a rabbit. But I'm glad I stayed because those nights have probably made me the person I am."




That person is as hard as nails. In 2007 his knee clicked out in a game and seeing the cap jutting out as he lay on the ground, he tried to put it back in but only made it worse. And even the Aussies found him tough as the spectacle of him dislocating his shoulder became worth the admission fee although the regularity meant it even popped out one night while he was sleeping. But there was one blow he simply couldn't take. That came in late 2005 when his father passed away. Only months earlier Tim had watched his son win a Premiership and joked in the Sydney dressing room afterwards about his bad heart taking a beating.




"The night it happened was very freaky," Tadhg said. "The fire alarm went off and my flatmate was about seven feet so he just reached up, turned it off and went to bed. Then about a half an hour later I got a phone call from my brother and I knew. For the first time I realised how far away Australia was. I drank a lot to be honest. At the time, initially, in my own mind I said f**k that, I'm not going back down there. F**k it all.




"But then when I sat down with my family I just felt I was unfinished there. I had a battle within myself about this anger I had towards the country. I was going out with a girl and ended up breaking up with her because it was, f**k Australia and f**k everything about it. But I think Mom could probably see that I wasn't happy in Ireland either. She said go back but by God that was the hardest thing I had ever done, to leave my mother at the airport that day."




But unfinished business was finished so here and now is Tadhg Kennelly a week away from an All Ireland final, 30 years after his father captained Kerry to a title. There's something comforting about that. Tim got the captaincy after a toss up with Feale Rangers clubmate Jimmy Deenihan and it's not hard to see where Tadhg got his toughness and persistence. After his side of the coin came up Tim told Deenihan that "I won't let you down" and they would win another county title.




Two year's later in 1980 during the first half of a county semi-final and with Rangers down two points, Kennelly broke his collar bone. As he went off to get an injection, Deenihan shouted over, "If you go off now, the team will fall apart". Kennelly played on and somehow kept tabs on Ger Power of all people. It cost him six months of football but by the following September, Kerry won the All Ireland and the new captain Deenihan reminded him, "You didn't let me down".




In fact on the altar at Tim's funeral Tadhg recalled what his father had taught him as a youngster. "If you made a few sprints and were a bit tired, the first thing we did as young fellas was put our hands on our hips. 'Take your hands off your hips', he'd say as he always believed it showed a sign of weakness. The second thing was when you'd get an opponent giving you a hard time, without fail he'd say, 'God didn't give you elbows to pick your nose so use them boy'."




"In the first couple of months of him being around he gave the lads a sense of worth and a sense of purpose that what they are doing must be important if this guy is coming home for it," says Dara Ó Cinnéide of Kennelly's eventual return. "Kicking the ball at full speed was always going to be his big problem but now he's got that right and you'd he expecting another improvement the next day because as a man who's played at the level he has in Australia, the occasion certainly won't get to him. He'll play a big part if Kerry win it."




And if they are to go all the way, the journey home to fulfil his destiny will be completed.




• • •




When Michael Shields did make it back to Ireland in July last year, the comforts he had known were gone. His club St Finbarr's were amazingly intermediate and the game he had excelled at suddenly seemed beyond him. During the drawn final in last year's intermediate championship against St Vincent's he looked more like a junior player. "I was all over the place," he said. "The way the ball was hopping, I was judging it badly. The way I was kicking the ball was wrong."




But behind the scenes he had already started to put things right. Last Autumn he joined up with Noel O'Leary and substitute goalkeeper Kevin Murphy and took to boxing in Rylane just outside Blarney. "Michael was very strong and dedicated," says Rylane's coach Dan Lane. "He showed to me he had great heart. He's strong too. Initially he came looking to me for fitness but then he said he wanted to fight." That fight was in January against Niall Murphy from CIT and against all odds Shields won 85kg contest convincingly.




"He was in a muscle mass training phase in Carlton which is the foundation on top of which you build your strength and speed," says the Cork fitness team who have helped Shields shed the 10 kilos he put on in Australia. "When he came back the volume of weight training would have been 50 per cent less and with the amount of running in Gaelic football, his weight would drop but his strength and power wouldn't and that was the key. Michael is one of the strongest guys in the squad but his lateral movement was better and his ability to turn was much quicker. Boxing played a big part in helping him in that as it's very aerobic."




And during this season he's shown why he was seen as the long-term replacement for Graham Canty before he ever went away. In the league he got on top of Cian Ward and Ross Munnelly while holding Ronan Clarke scoreless. He impressed against Kerry in the Munster championship and last day out Owen Mulligan's two points were both dead balls.




"He came back to us and had really, really bulked up," says Tony Leahy who managed Shields when Cork won the under-21 All Ireland in 2007 and now is in charge of a Finbarr's side through to the county senior final.




"It took him a while to settle but by now he's been a revelation. He struggled at times when he came back and it did take him time to get his confidence back but that's a world away to this season. He's also matured a lot and the Australia experience has done him good. He's been vital to us getting to a final and vital to Cork getting to a final."




And in that All Ireland decider, having taken a less glamorous path, he'll at last come face to face with Kennelly, a man he followed but could never catch.




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September 13, 2009

[Control3]

Kerry duo Cooper and Galvin passed fit for decider




By Tony Leen
Monday, September 14, 2009

COLM COOPER and Paul Galvin have been passed fit and will start Sunday’s All-Ireland football final for Kerry against Cork – but the Croke Park decider has come too soon for Kieran Donaghy to line out from the start.

Kingdom coach Jack O’Connor says his squad, appearing in a sixth successive decider, have overcome "niggles, bits and pieces", and will choose from a full deck this week.

Their options will include the returning Kieran Donaghy, but it looks like Tommy Walsh, Donncha Walsh and captain Darran O’Sullivan will be battling for two places in attack.

Said O’Connor of Donaghy’s return: "He’s been playing football now for the last couple of weeks and showing pretty good form in training, so we’re happy enough with him. Obviously it would be great if he had a bit more time."

His Cork counterpart Conor Counihan also has minor injury worries, with corner back Ray Carey battling to overcome a shoulder injury. Douglas’ dual player Eoin Cadogan has forced his way into contention and if the Clyda Rovers defender were to miss out, Cadogan could get a surprise start in the full back line.

O’Connor believes that, whatever the line-ups, Sunday’s football final will be a ferociously intense 70 minutes.

"Cork have taken a few points on board from the northern teams, where they’re getting a lot of bodies back and tackling ferociously at times. And the key for us is we’re going to have to move the ball very quickly, because if you dwell on the ball, these fellas are taking tackling to a new level."

After losing to Cork in Munster, taking to the road in the qualifiers always meant that Kerry were vulnerable on the qualifier route.

‘‘What you have to remember is that a team that loses an All-Ireland final – which Kerry did last year – they want to free-wheel or fast-forward back into another final. People don’t realise that there is a lot of mental baggage if you lose an All-Ireland final. So you just want to get the opportunity to get back into a final again, and I think the boys were probably saying ‘this is a long road back into a final.’ And it was a bit of a struggle, mentally, more than anything else.

"But I think once they got back to Croke Park and they got the smell of it again in their nostrils, they got their motivation back."

However the Kerry coach believes that altering Championship structures is imperative: "I’ve always said that the championship format, with the provincial system and you having to wait around for games, will have to change, sooner rather than later. It’s abnormal players waiting around four or five weeks between matches. You are training all the year for four or five matches; and the way we had matches four weeks in a row, and the fourth week we hit our best form.

‘‘So this thing about players being tired from too many matches is a joke. They get tired from training – and they get bored from training – so matches are what they look forward to. The championship should be made more compact or has to be changed to a championship league-type format."

If Kerry clinch their 36th All-Ireland on Sunday, the return of centre back Mike McCarthy will be viewed as one of the masterstrokes of the season.

"I know he’s defied the odds a bit like Brian Corcoran, but class is permanent and that man is a natural enough athlete, he has good pace, and didn’t take that much time at all,’’ said O’Connor.

"He was marooned in the full-back line, a bit like Seamus Moynihan, for years; and there was a great footballer somewhere inside that wasn’t been expressed."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, September 14, 2009

Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/kerry-duo-cooper-and-galvin-passed-fit-for-decider-100851.html#ixzz0R41Gbd5z