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Post by Control3 on Sept 14, 2009 7:50:30 GMT
Counihan is cool, calm and not for uncorkingALL-IRELAND FOOTBALL FINAL COUNTDOWN:
Conor Counihan takes his talented side into the crucible where their status as the form team will be put to its final test, writes Seán Moran CONOR COUNIHAN is well able for the pressure of the Cork footballers’ media night. As his playing career might have suggested, he answers all questions asked of him firmly and without fuss, cuts off any penetrating runs, makes no mistakes and gives nothing away. His calmness has held together and developed the team he took over in controversial circumstances after the county board had been forced to revoke their appointment of Teddy Holland. That was a little over 18 months ago and since then the progress has in many ways been hard to credit. The team was in recovery then after the 10-point hammering by Kerry in the 2007 All-Ireland final. Now Counihan prepares to take Cork to Croke Park next Sunday to face Kerry again but this time as favourites. “In terms of addressing it, I haven’t dwelt on it too much,” he says of two years ago. “Obviously it was a big disappointment for the lads themselves but it’s history now. They have moved on. The reality is they are back in an All-Ireland final; that proves in itself they have moved on. We have to move on again in terms of a positive outlook.” Although he denies it – “We’re just glad to be in a final now, whoever it is we’re glad to be there. The fact that it’s Kerry adds a bit more rivalry and it’s great” – the sight of the neighbours waiting once more in the All-Ireland final must be an uncomfortable one. At the best of times, teams don’t like to be facing opponents they’ve already beaten earlier in the championship but Kerry have almost made a vocation out of throwing Cork’s season back in their faces once the championship reaches Croke Park. But Counihan plausibly points out that a year ago in the All-Ireland semi-final, little over a month after a strange rain-lashed victory in the Munster final, his team came to Croke Park and even if they didn’t play particularly well, battled hard until the end and forced a draw on the first day, the county’s best result against their old tormentors at All-Ireland level. “I don’t know,” he says when asked about the difference between playing Kerry in Munster and in Croke Park. “I suppose the (’08) Munster championship was a game when we were in big trouble and we came back in very bad conditions. We went to Croke Park the second day, gave them a big start, came back at them, and let it slip. That was a disappointing feature, but it certainly showed we were closing the gap and we learned a bit more.” Counihan has had a long career with Cork in which to learn. His inter-county involvement goes back nearly 30 years and he played on the Cork under-21 side that lost the 1980 All-Ireland final to Down before going on to make his senior debut a year later. He was a pivotal figure in the county championship success of his divisional side Imokilly in 1984 and ’86, playing at centre back in two unexpected victories over a St Finbarr’s side with two All-Irelands under its belt. As centre back on the Cork team, which contested five All-Ireland finals, including the 1988 replay and won back-to-back titles under Billy Morgan in 1989-90, he was a physical barrier on which many an opposition attack broke. Over those finals he conceded just two points to his direct opponents. Reflecting on the differences in inter-county football between now and 20 years ago, he says that the demands have risen steeply. “Speed. Fitness levels are up significantly. In our time we’d have trained particularly hard, maybe not as much collectively but individually. The whole preparation now in terms of diet and lifestyle is very, very different. I think in our time there was a big celebration after matches. “That doesn’t come any more. You’re living for the next game, looking for every advantage, and it’s very demanding on players. It’s a serious business.” Invited to become selector and defence coach in the management team of his inter-county team-mate Larry Tompkins, Counihan produced a unit, which sounds familiar to anyone who’s been watching Cork this season. “The prediction was when the new rules came in that they would result in a big clampdown on defenders,” said Meath selector Frank Foley back in 1999 when referencing Counihan’s influence, “and yet it hasn’t happened. You’ve got this Cork team which gives away very few frees. They’re quick and strong and get to the ball first so that fouling doesn’t arise. Their midfield cover back well and they’re a very effective unit.” Another county selector of the time, Dublin’s Dom Twomey, also paid tribute to Counihan’s handiwork. “It’s the best in the country, better even than Meath’s. They have great pace and are very good man-markers and collectively a good unit. What Cork do best is working back and breaking with ferocious pace.” Work-rate and composure in the manager’s image were the hallmarks of the semi-final win over Tyrone. That victory is of seismic importance in the development of the team. Although Cork don’t fully accept the contrast between their Munster and Croke Park performances, the fact is the only All-Ireland contenders they had faced until last month were Kerry, whom they have yet to beat on the national stage. “It was important to some extent,” he says almost reluctantly of the big Croke Park performance, “but it was more important that it was Tyrone, who have been All-Ireland champions three times in the last number of years. That was the more important thing. “I certainly would have felt confident about it, I’d have to say that. They just seemed to be rightly tuned in. You feel you’re tuned in every day you go out, but I’d say I would have had particular confidence about that game.” The result was achieved despite the controversial sending-off of centrefielder Alan O’Connor, an act of survival into which the manger is reluctant to read too much. “Yeah, but at the same time we did have the cushion all the time of having that bit of a lead. Maybe if it was tighter, would we have held out? I don’t know.” But they did hold out and in six days’ time Counihan takes his impressive amalgam of experience and talented emerging players into the crucible where their status as the form team in this year’s championship will be put to its final test. Looking back to the turmoil he inherited in February 2008 he says he always believed. “The reality was, while I wasn’t directly involved, you always keep your ear to the ground in terms of how things are going and how the lads are doing. I would have been under no illusions but that there were a very dedicated and committed bunch of fellas. “Once you have that, it opens an awful lot up for you.” This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
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Post by kerrygold on Sept 14, 2009 8:24:26 GMT
By Eugene McGee
Monday September 14 2009
The apparent critical components of the Kerry and Cork teams for next Sunday's All-Ireland final will be analysed to the verge of boredom during the coming week, with all sorts of wonderful assumptions drawn by experts and others as to how the game will be won and lost. But there is one facet of Gaelic football that constantly remains as the focal point of team planning over the years, despite the many drastic changes that transformed the game almost out of recognition over the past 40 years.
The midfield contest between Kerry and Cork next Sunday will be as important for the contestants as it was in All-Ireland finals going back to 1887. Despite all the adaptations of midfield play, which started with Down in 1960/61 and continued right up to Tyrone's approach in this decade, midfield control is vital for any team hoping to win the Sam Maguire Cup.
In particular, midfield is important for Kerry. It has always been that way in the Kingdom where many of the greatest icons of the game have come from the wearers of shirt No's 8 or 9.
Everything that Kerry football has stood for over the years has been epitomised by their outstanding midfielders. And this has continued right up to the present day with Darragh O Se, even in the very different styles of midfield play that have emerged during his 16-year career to date. Paddy Kennedy from Annascaul, who won five All-Irelands between 1937 and 1947, is most often referred to by older Kerry people as the best midfielder of them all and even he did not always line out at midfield. He played with the now-defunct Geraldines club in Dublin where he gained legendary status in the capital and was largely responsible for 40,000 people once turning up to see him play for that club against UCD in a Dublin championship semi-final.
Two others stood out as 'the best' Kerry middlemen of all time depending on your points of view. Mick O'Connell had almost mythical qualities to match Christy Ring in hurling. His life on Valentia Island and the dramatic pictures of him rowing across to the mainland to get to training in Killarney -- coupled, of course, with his absolute brilliance at two football skills in particular, the high catch and the long, accurate foot-pass -- set O'Connell apart.
He won four All-Irelands from nine final appearances from 1959 to 1972. These were not the most productive years for outstanding talent in Kerry -- All-Irelands went to Galway and Down (three each) Dublin and Offaly (two each) during his time. But the magic and mystique of O'Connell has never waned, not alone in Kerry but throughout Ireland, such was the brilliance of his range of skills.
During his time at least half-a-dozen different people partnered O'Connell in All-Ireland finals at midfield and something similar has happened to O Se.
Just six years after O'Connell left the Kerry team, another icon arrived when Jack O'Shea played the first of his eight All-Ireland final appearances in 1978. Jack won seven medals from those eight finals, a truly remarkable record for a midfielder particularly in the so-called modern game. While those teams had many stars, there is no doubt, as always the case with Kerry people, special cheers were reserved for spectacular high catching from O'Shea. And on those rare occasions when the Kerry attack was malfunctioning, such as the final of 1981, it was he who was on hand to score a brilliant goal near the finish and end the contest with Offaly.
And so we come to the latest midfield icon from Kerry. It is arguable that, considering the arrival of the qualifiers has greatly increased the number of games required by Kerry to win the Sam Maguire Cup nowadays, the longevity and consistency of O Se puts him on the same high plane as the other Kerry midfielders mentioned. With five medals from his eight final appearances, the An Ghaeltacht player is head and shoulders above any current midfielder for a high level of performance over a lengthy period, and for his leadership role in a Kerry team that has has changed greatly in his time.
With all those great Kerry midfielders and many others almost as good, there were memories etched in people's minds which never left. The clean high catch is the most obvious and even with the pulling and dragging and deliberate breaking of the ball, which lesser midfielders indulge in all the time, O Se like his predecessors can always produce a few almighty catches to rouse the Kerry crowd.
Another trait with all those players was the ability to be on the Kerry goal-line to win opponents' long frees or '45s when Kerry were under pressure. And of course all these great players scored regularly, not a lot in numbers, but often of great importance to a Kerry attack struggling for a period in a game.
Next Sunday, Kerry followers will look in expectation for these and similar trademark plays in the middle of the field from O Se and his partner -- because a Kerry All-Ireland team without a special midfielder is unthinkable.
- Eugene McGee
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animal
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Post by animal on Sept 15, 2009 9:14:07 GMT
O'Sullivan's pact now is to raise the stakes
IAN O'RIORDAN
Tue, Sep 15, 2009
ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL KERRY v CORK: THE STORY goes that 10 minutes before the end of the 2006 All-Ireland final against Mayo, with Kerry already home and dry, Tom O’Sullivan and Mike McCarthy shook hands on the edge of the small square in front of the Davin Stand. McCarthy vowed it would be his last game for Kerry. O’Sullivan said something similar.
Mayo’s Conor Mortimer, who O’Sullivan had just held scoreless, could only shake his head in wonder.
So figure this out: On Sunday, three years after their retirement pact, O’Sullivan will start the All-Ireland final against Cork at corner back – and McCarthy will start at centre back. O’Sullivan’s Rathmore club-mate Aidan O’Mahony, the player who would have covered for either of them, will most likely start on the bench. And they say there are no second acts in Kerry football.
Unlike McCarthy, O’Sullivan never actually retired, lulling himself into another three seasons of holding the fort somewhere in the full-back line. McCarthy’s comeback – after almost three years out of the game – has been nothing short of sensational. Now stationed at centre back, it’s as if he never left the game.
If Kerry are to have any chance of stopping Cork’s juggernaut on Sunday week these are the men you’d want standing in the way. And they say the championship is no country for old men.
O’Sullivan has a thing about playing Cork. He grew up in Rathmore, hard on the border with Cork, the frontline of the great football rivalry. He has a thing about playing Cork because nothing gives him more satisfaction than beating Cork.
When Jack O’Connor famously dropped him for the 2006 Munster final against Cork – payback for O’Sullivan’s apparent casualness at training – they said it was like excluding him from a family wedding. In a sense it worked, even if O’Sullivan has never quite lost his laid-back approach to the game.
“Cork?” he replies, when asked what it means to play them – Again! “Sure they beat us well the first day. They beat us well the second day. So I suppose we’re going to have to play above our best to beat them on Sunday, certainly. If we’ve to have some chance anyway. They’re a very impressive team, without a doubt.
“Very good at winning their own ball. They’ve thundered through the championship, whereas Kerry have only limped through, really. We’re certainly going to be up against it. If we don’t raise it they’ll beat us. Simple as that. I hope every player knows that.”
He turns 31 in two months, and if O’Sullivan is still tinkering with that idea of retirement then Sunday’s result may well decide it. But if he supposedly had enough in 2006, what is driving him on in 2009?
“I think the older you get the more you want to win, because you know you’re shoving on a bit, may only have one or two more years left. Personally, anyway, there’s no problem with hunger. But I really don’t think hunger is an issue with this team.
“We’re back in an All-Ireland final, and know anything can happen now. We’ll just have to see how it goes. Cork will have it, the hunger. Sure they’re on a mission.”
He may be under a little less pressure too, now that Tommy Griffin has taken the reins at full back. O’Sullivan always looked more commanding in the corner:
“Maybe, but positions really don’t matter as much in the modern game. You could be inside in the corner one day or inside full back another day. It depends on the type of player you’re marking as well. To be fair, our half backs, midfield and even out at half forwards have done a lot of hard work out there. Put pressure on the ball coming in. That’s made the job a lot easier for myself and Marc and Tommy.
“Like it worked so well against Dublin. But then I think Dublin just stood off us as well. They let us come so far we could kick points even from far out. That’s the mistake they made. We were well up for it though, after all the criticism. We wanted to put a lot of wrongs right, and I think that took a lot of pressure off us as well.
“Especially going into the Meath game. And even against Cork on Sunday.”
From the moment they lost the Munster semi-final, Cork have never been far from their minds. They’ve met Cork five times in Croke Park this decade, and won every time. “I don’t know. People are saying we peak at the right time. We peaked maybe for Dublin, but went down again against Meath. The physical training has been done, so it’s all mental work now.
“But we are lucky to be here, I’ve no bones about saying that. I think we were very lucky against Sligo. They got a penalty at the end of the game. Thankfully, Diarmuid Murphy saved it. But you can’t predict that. I think as well, though, a lot of those teams are under-rated in the qualifiers.
“They come into the game ready to fight for everything, like dogs. It was very, very hard to play against them. I think sometimes the better teams don’t fight as hard as the poorer teams.
“But what’s taken us this far is taking every game as it comes. We’ve never looked ahead. Going into the qualifiers, we never thought of an All-Ireland. It was each round as it came. That’s what got us this far.
“We still don’t really know where we stand. Or what kind of team we’ll bring up to the final. Hopefully, it will be the good Kerry team.”
Tom O'Sullivan
Position : Left corner back.
Club : Rathmore.
Age : 30.
Occupation : Garda.
Championship debut : Munster SFC v Cork, 2000.
Honours : 4 All-Ireland senior; 6 Munster senior; 1 All-Ireland under-21; 2 Munster under-21; 3 National League; 3 All Stars.
© 2009 The Irish Times
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Post by Control3 on Sept 15, 2009 11:01:08 GMT
Donncha Walsh: ‘I’m used to competition for places.’By Fintan O’Toole Tuesday, September 15, 2009IT’S been another inter-countyseason of fluctuating fortunes forDonncha Walsh. Of Kerry’s seven championship games this summer, he’s started four, been spring from the bench in two, with the encounter against Longford in Pearse Park his only full 70 minutes. Hardly calculated to breed confidence? "There’s serious competition for places alright," he says, "but I’m used to that now, that’s been the story of my inter-county career. "I’ve never managed to nail down a position. Every day at training I’m being asked questions of my ability and that’s nothing new to me. I’ve come to accept that. You can’t afford to have an off-day at training. Some of the more established players can probably have a quiet night at training, but when you’re struggling for places you have to be putting in performances every night and then hope that the management and selectors can notice that." By common consent, Walsh is fighting with Tommy Walsh and Darran O’Sullivan for two spots in the Kerry attack. His form in training since the Meath semi-final will make it hard for the selectors to leave him out. Despite a helpful knack of weighing in with important goals, he is unlikely to throw a wobbler if he’s left out. Tantrums aren’t his style. Walsh has witnessed at first hand Tyrone’s capabilities in recent seasons and was left awestruck at a Munster team finally getting the hang of tackling the Red Hands. "Cork absolutely blew them away. We’ve been trying to crack Tyrone for a number of years and Cork did it. I suppose we were hoping to be the team to do it but Cork were the ones to do it and they did it in style. They were awesome really. "I would have played a lot of Sigerson football there with guys on the Cork panel. I got to know Paddy Kelly at UCC, I’ve massive respect for him and knew he always had the potential to make it. He reads the game very well." Ditto Walsh. Though Paul Galvin’s work ethic is indisputable, clearly Jack O’Connor and co take comfort from having Walsh tracking up and down the opposite channel. Though Donncha was withdrawn early in a tactical shift in the semi-final – Kerry badly needed a target man – he is nonetheless is that rare offering: an intelligent grafter. Remarks Walsh: "After the Cork defeat (in Munster), we had to take a look at ourselves. In the qualifiers, the games were coming thick and fast for us. We didn’t really have time to assess it too much and were only scraping through. "It was a difficult time. Some people say the small pitches didn’t suit us. But we’ve all played in small pitches before. I kind of like going up to those small venues to challenge yourself. It was more we didn’t get our heads right for those games. "But then when we’d some time before the Dublin game, we got things right for that. There’s big excitement now and we’re just looking forward to it." * Man of the match betting: 20/1 This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/donncha-walsh-im-used-to-competition-for-places-100935.html#ixzz0RAikK2iv
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Post by Control3 on Sept 15, 2009 11:04:40 GMT
Where will Declan O’Sullivan be most effective for Kerry?By Tony Leen Tuesday, September 15, 2009WHEN a coach talks about the first name on the teamsheet, is he necessarily referring to the best player at his disposal or the one who anchors a pivotal position on the field? If Jack O’Connor, Conor Counihan and their respective management teams were starting with blank pieces of paper, would they frame their team around an individual or a position? The question is relevant in debating the considerable merits of Declan O’Sullivan, and the occasional problems his admirable versatility brings. I rate the South Kerry man, pound for pound, as the best gaelic footballer in the country and a more natural centre-forward than almost all his peers – Pearse O’Neill included. But his stunning display at full forward against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final offered the public, but more importantly the Kerry selectors, a reminder of what he is capable of beyond his natural habitat – when the service is of a required standard. The illusion supporters have of O’Sullivan as a strong, low to the ground workaholic is framed from the upper tier of whatever stadium he’s performing in. Stand beside him and you’re struck by his powerful, tree-trunk legs, his 6ft frame and his powerful running. Darragh O Sé is of the opinion that he’s as good as anyone he’s played alongside since first donning the Kerry jersey 15 years ago. It’s not that O’Sullivan and the No 14 position are alien to each other, but such has been Kerry’s pre-occupation with Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh these past three seasons that the self-proclaimed princes of gaelic football were in serious danger of becoming a rich man’s Wimbledon (or Stoke, if a more recent comparison is required). Occasionally, but not often enough, O’Sullivan threatens to take such control of a game that he appears to be operating on a different plain to the other 29 players. There was a first half cameo in that flash-flooded scorefest against Galway at Croke Park last season. In the final against Tyrone, O’Sullivan began with atomic intensity also, but whether via the dint of Tyrone sweat or a loss of general Kerry direction, he was not the force his form suggested he should be. Nevertheless, he still was central to the defining moment of that decider, almost poking a match-winning goal past Paschal McConnell in the final ten minutes. So where do Kerry start him against Cork on Sunday? There is no coach who knows the Dromid man better than his club colleague and mentor Jack O’Connor, and he must be smitten by the thought of O’Sullivan in his natural domain on the 40, duking it out with Cork’s captain and talisman Graham Canty. Striking a psychological blow at the heart of Cork (literally and metaphorically) is a tempting proposition for O’Connor – if only it was that simple. First, Tadhg Kennelly has shown twice this season he is more than capable of causing Canty discomfort. He also has the physical strength and durability to limit the Bantry man as an attacking spearhead, and it will be some surprise if Kennelly isn’t the man charged with ‘leading’ the Kerry attack. Which probably means O’Sullivan starts in the full-forward line. With a target man like Tommy Walsh or a speedster like Darran O’Sullivan, who knows? Either way, Declan O’Sullivan close to the Cork goal presents a stark dilemma for Conor Counihan and his co-selectors. Is John Miskella, who has done better than most on O’Sullivan in the past, sacrificed as an attacking wing-back and given the job of shadowing O’Sullivan? It seems ludicrous to even contemplate such a negative move, but such is the danger of an O’Sullivan-Tommy Walsh axis that the Cork selectors have to have considered it at least. For instance, if Kerry use Cooper, Walsh and Declan O’Sullivan in the inside line, will Cork be happy to match up with Lynch, Shields and Carey or will it necessitate a shuffling of the deck? That’s Cork’s problem. Kerry’s is to get Declan O’Sullivan involved early and often – because there’s a good reason he’s the first name on Kerry’s teamsheet month after month. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/where-will-declan-osullivan-be-most-effective-for-kerry-100934.html#ixzz0RAjaRXIA
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Post by Control3 on Sept 15, 2009 11:06:36 GMT
Cuteness the key to enduring rivalryBy Sean Kelly Tuesday, September 15, 2009WE are counting down the days to the eagerly anticipated All-Ireland SFC final between Kerry and Cork. Some people, who don’t know the people of these neighbouring counties, might see this game as the ultimate grudge match. But that would be incorrect. Yes, there is a great rivalry between the two southern stars but it is a rivalry based on mutual respect rather than naked hostility. Granted, during the course of the match in Croke Park on Sunday, there will be no love lost by the combatants but when the game is over, it will be a case of ‘congratulations, and see you next year’. This has all the ingredients of a battle royale between the best two teams in the country. Kerry hammered Cork in the All-Ireland final two years ago, and Cork hammered Kerry in the replayed Munster semi-final this year. But those games will have little bearing on Sunday’s encounter. Cork are a much-improved team and, under the legendary Conor Counihan, they have improved steadily this season, emphasised by a wonderful performance against last year’s champions Tyrone. But Kerry, too, are a much-improved team and also a much changed outfit from the Munster championship loss in Páirc Ui Chaoimh. Most people consider Kerry and& Cork players the cutest in football, and the destination of Sam might all come down to cuteness – a cute pass, a shrewd switch or a clever score. Either way it should be a great occasion. Of course, if one were really cute, one would have a foot in both camps so that you couldn’t really lose. One could, for instance, be from Kerry but have a cousin playing for Cork. Then you’re on a winner, either way. If Kerry won, you could be really proud of your own county and wonderful team. If Kerry lost, you could be very happy for your cousin from Cork. That would be an interesting situation. And do you know what, there is a fellow playing for Cork at wing-forward called Paddy Kelly whose father Johnny comes from Rathmore in County Kerry. The Kellys of Rathmore are close relatives of the Kilcummin Kellys. If Cork win we will be ever closer cousins, as we can boast of an All-Ireland medal in the family! If Kerry win, we won’t say anything about our great cousin on the Cork team. Now that’s real Kerry cuteness. So will Kieran Donaghy and his Kingdom cronies come charging through in the final furlong for a great Kerry victory or will cousin Kelly and his Rebel raiders whisk Sam back to the banks of their own lovely Lee? As the man said – that is the question. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/cuteness-the-key-to-enduring-rivalry-100894.html#ixzz0RAk4FsBp
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Post by clancarre on Sept 15, 2009 20:42:12 GMT
Seamus Moynihan GAA Blog posted: 15-Sep-2009 on Ireland.com
Once again hurling was the winner in Croke Park, as the U21 final was nothing but a roller-coaster all the way through.
I have huge admiration for Kilkenny as they seem to continuously produce quality players and their conveyor belt of underage talent is endless.
Not only do they win at senior level but they put huge emphasis on minor and U21 level and because of this system, Brian Cody has an abundance of talent to choose from, allowing to keep his panel very fresh and competition for places will always be at a premium. Such talent allowed Cody the comfort of leaving Cha Fitzpatrick and Martin Comerford on the bench for final day.
No other county could afford doing this as they would be pivotal players on any other team.
Sunday was a day for the Banner men and no one will begrudge them their day out in the sun.
Clare's winter blues will be shorter
Clare had a horrible year at senior level, this win will no doubt shorten their winter blues and give an injection of hope back into this county.
Beating the Cats in Croker in the ultimate test and this bunch of young players can now look forward to a very bright future in hurling once they don’t get carried away with this win and once Clare County Board push these players to a higher level and prepare them for the ultimate tests to lie ahead at senior level.
As for Kilkenny, no doubt they will be disappointed with this one point defeat but they will still gain 3 or 4 players to freshen up their senior panel and this defeat will not deter or alter Cody’s plans of a 5th All Ireland.
A lot of people compare Kilkenny and Kerry - both powerhouses in their respective games; both having won 30 odd titles; both counties always in the shake up come September.
Kerry's record is not complimentary
The only difference I see right now is that Kilkenny have a far superior underage record over the last 10 years in minor and U-21 level while Kerry’s record over the last 10 years is anything but complimentary.
The last minor title was back in 1994, last final appearance in 2006 losing to Roscommon in a replay. Kerry won the U-21 title in 2008, previous to this Kerry won 3 titles in 1996, 1997 and 1998 – this team forming the backbone to senior all Ireland titles in 1997, 2000 and 2004.
Kerry have slipped at underage and Cork have once again taken over similar to what they did in the 1980’s. It is very simple, if you are not winning at underage and bringing 2 or 3 to the senior table every year, it is inevitable that your senior team will suffer burnout.
But Cork's U21 success has tranformed fortunes
Cork have managed to transform their team this year by introducing their new kids on the block from their U-21 success.
Players like Kerrigan, Kelly, O’ Neill, Goulding have re-energised this Cork team and have given the rebels a huge blend of sped, power, work rate and more important than that players who like Goulding and O’ Neill who know where the goal post are.
The one question mark I had over the above players was their ability to mix it physically with a team like Tyrone but they passed this test with flying colours.
They outfought, outplayed and outscored a Tyrone team which Kerry have struggled with over the last few years. The key reason for this was Cork’s ability to increase their work rate throughout the field.
From Number 1-15 all Cork players left every ounce of energy on the field. They tackled high up the field, didn’t allow Tyrone play their running game and got loads of bodies back into their defence protecting their full back line and made life a misery for the Tyrone forwards.
Kerry been quite naive
Over the last few years Kerry have been quiet naïve when playing Tyrone. Their work rate throughout the field was not good enough, they put too many balls up for grab up front allowing Tyrone build from the back and Kerry allowed their defenders to be exposed in the big spaces in Croker by giving The Tyrone forwards acres of space by not getting their midfielders and wing forwards back to help out the cause.
Cork did this to tremendous effect and hit Tyrone on the break, the way Tyrone likes to play. End result – a huge win for the rebels who now are only 70 minutes to their holy grail.
Cork will be the more confident in the final
Cork will go into this game brimming with confidence are they have every right to be this way.
On the 2 occasions they played Kerry this year they were by far the superior team out working, out running and out scoring Kerry in the replay. If Cork can keep this work rate up combined with the physical edge Counihan has brought to the team, well they will very hard to stop on Sunday.
But Kerry have improved since last Cork clash
What of Kerry, well thankfully this is a far improved team which played Cork on Lee side in June. Kerry have now a settled team.
The first day in Killarney our central spine was not balanced. Tommy Griffin at No.6, Quirke and Kennelly at Midfield, Donnacha Walsh at 11 and Tommy Walsh at 14- this was a very experimental team and Cork just blew them away and Kerry were lucky Noel O’ Leary gifted them a late free kick for a draw.
However even with a shuffled team for the replay, Kerry were completely blown away in Lee side with the Cork defenders were allowed salter out of defence without a hand been put on them.
Thankfully since then, Jack has rejuvenated his team. He now has a full panel to pick from (1st time this year).
Marc O Se hamstring which he tore against Cork in the replay is ok and no doubt he will relish a chance to marking Donnacha O’ Connor again.
Mike Mac return has been inspirational and big Pearse O’Neill will not have come across a player of this calibre before.
Scanlon return to midfield has made a huge difference as his ability to ctach ball over his head is immense and his honest workrate has to be applauded.
Dara O Se is a much fitter player now to the player whostruggled against Cork in Lee side. Kerry will need a huge game from the big man and has he ever left us down.
Upfront Kerry now will have Gally back to play a full match and his form since that blunder has been immense. Horse Kennelly is playing great stuff and he was one of the only players that shone against Cork as Canty was rarely involved that same day.
Kerry will have to dig deep to win
Kerry will need huge games from their inside line – neither Declan, Gooch,Tommy or Darren would be pleased with their performances against Cork in June so next Sunday is the ideal opportunity to right a few wrongs.
But if Thomas 'the star' Kenneally is on...
And then there is the option of the Star – if this man is ready to play well let's say it will be worth 6 points to Kerry.
A big concern is the fact Kerry have no established free taker, Sheehan is making the cut this year. I might be old fashione but I like to have a free taker to notch off the bread and butter scores on final day.
Last word - ref you better be neutral this time
So roll on next Sunday, also Martin Duffy from Sligo is the ref, the last time he was the man in black for Cork v Kerry, he took a set on the O Se brothers sending off Marc and Dara.
Let's hope Duffy does not bring old baggage into this match
All the best
The Pony
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Post by the1theyalllove on Sept 15, 2009 21:58:36 GMT
SIPTU has served notice of industrial action on the Gresham Hotel on O'Connell Street, in a row over redundancies and cuts to working hours.
It's due to begin from midnight on Friday.
The union has agreed to enter talks with the hotel's management at the Labour Relations Commission tomorrow.
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:25:26 GMT
Legends raise Duffy concernsBy Brendan O’Brien Wednesday, September 16, 2009GAA legends Mick O’Dwyer and Billy Morgan have questioned the appointment of Marty Duffy ahead of Pat McEnaney as referee for Sunday’s All-Ireland final. The Sligo official’s CV includes county and provincial finals, as well as the NFL title decider between Kerry and Derry at Croke Park earlier this year, but this will be his first time in charge of the championship’s showpiece event. Duffy has a reputation as a stickler when it comes to refereeing and, if that habit continues next weekend, it will provide a marked contrast to Diarmuid Kirwan’s handling of the hurling final two weekends ago. "Once the game is refereed fairly, you don’t mind," said Morgan at a special Vodafone function yesterday. "I was a bit surprised with the appointment of Mary Duffy as referee. In my opinion, you should have your best man out for the All-Ireland final and I don’t think it should matter if he has refereed two All-Ireland finals or 10 All-Ireland finals. If he is the best man for the job, then he should get it. In my opinion, the best man for the job in the country is Pat McEnaney and I am surprised he didn’t get it." O’Dwyer agreed. "Yes, that is true. McEnaney is certainly the best referee and we should have the best man doing the All-Ireland final because it is a very, very important one. The last day in the hurling final, the referee, he did a great job. He let the game flow. "In football at present any niggling fouls are being pulled. Common sense is very, very important to let the game flow but I have my doubts if this man on Sunday will do that. But anyway, we are hoping that he will do a good job and that he will be fair on the day. The two teams that’s all they want – fair play on the day." Asked later on what grounds Duffy’s appointment could have been made, O’Dwyer replied: "What would be the reason? Politics I suppose. Sure they keep on changing anyway. It’s good to see young fellas coming to it. There aren’t enough young fellas refereeing. They should go through the colleges and get more young fellas involved in the game, that’s most important." In what was a timely comment given the controversy in the hurling decider, O’Dwyer went on to say that referees should be held accountable for decisions made during games. "That’s very important. They’re all the time coming into managers and asking questions. Why not interview referees as well after the game or the following day? Get his opinion." Meanwhile, O’Dwyer will decide on his own future as Wicklow manager in the coming weeks after three years in the role and taking the county on its longest and most successful championship campaign in its history. "You have to reflect as you go on in life. I am doing a bit of reflecting, I am doing a bit of fishing. I am pretty busy at the moment. We’ll have a chat and see how things are. We’ll have to set up a system in Wicklow that is satisfactory if I do go back." O’Dwyer believes the squad requires four or five more players to become a "top class" team and urged the county board to do all in its power to foster a consistent delivery of underage talent through to the senior game. "The underage structure is most important. If they can put that in place, that’s where they’ll come from. Seemingly, about 2,800 young fellas turned out for the Cúl camps this year so that’s an improvement down there. "If they keep those fellas playing, in about 10 years you’ll see the benefits." Whatever O’Dwyer’s intentions, he believes Wicklow’s performances in this year’s championship should earn at least two All-Stars but he believes the system is skewed in favour of those who shine in September. "I’d be expecting a couple of them anyway," he said. "There were some marvellous performances from some of the players. Ciaran Hyland was outstanding. The best forward on every team that we played, who did we put on him? Ciaran Hyland. He did a job on him every time. "Leighton Glynn, sure he has proved it in the Australian game as well, what a footballer he is. Seanie Furlong and Tony Hannon, they’re outstanding. Normally they’ll complete most of the All-Stars out of the All-Ireland final which is totally wrong. They should be done all over the year. Pick your players as you go along. "You have so many points for given games right through. That’s the best way. The fairest way. I mean, a fella can go into an All-Ireland final and perform and be outstanding and a guy who has been consistent all year is not selected. That’s wrong." This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Read more: examiner.ie/sport/legends-raise-duffy-concerns-101011.html#ixzz0RFRXNmOt
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:27:06 GMT
Same again for Cork, but Carey doubtfulBy Fintan O’Toole Wednesday, September 16, 2009RAY CAREY was last night named in the Cork side for Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC decider against Kerry, despite remaining an injury doubt due to a shoulder injury incurred in training. Cork boss Conor Counihan has named an unchanged team from that which defeated Tyrone in the semi-final last month, yet could be forced into an alteration before throw-in if Carey is unavailable. The Clyda Rovers defender will be given every chance by Counihan to prove his fitness. But, if he fails to recover, Kieran O’Connor and Eoin Cadogan will be the leading candidates to replace him. O’Connor started in the drawn Munster semi-final against Kerry and in the narrow Munster final success against Limerick. Cadogan, who only linked up with the panel after the Cork hurlers’ All-Ireland exit against Galway, has only featured briefly, introduced late on in the semi-final win over Tyrone. Cork field only eight survivors from the side that started in the last All-Ireland final meeting between the counties in 2007, although both Daniel Goulding and Anthony Lynch were introduced as subs. Alan O’Connor, Patrick Kelly, Paul Kerrigan, Colm O’Neill and Carey, if fit, will be making All-Ireland final debuts. Counihan insists the nature of Kerry’s huge victory in the 2007 final will have no bearing on Sunday’s match. "People will say different things, but the reality is we’re two years on from 2007. We’re three or four months on from the Munster semi-final. It’s a whole new game. The score is nil all and that’s where you’re started from. The reality is 19 years is too long a time for Cork to be without an All-Ireland. It’s just too long. We went through a period of that time when we were successful but didn’t build on it afterwards. Hopefully that can all change now next Sunday." Meanwhile, injury worries over four Mayo minor players have abated, allowing them to take their place in the Westerners starting side for Sunday’s All-Ireland MFC final clash with Armagh at Croke Park. The two stars of the semi-final win over Down – goalkeeper Micheál Schlingermann and corner-forward Cillian O’Connor – have recovered, together with full-back Keith Rogers and half-back Caolan Crowe. MAYO (MF v Armagh): M Schlingermann; M Walsh, K Rogers, D Gavin; C Charlton, S McDermott, C Crowe; D Kirby, A Farrell; B Ruttledge, D Coen, F Durkan; A Corduff, A Walsh, C O’Connor. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Read more: examiner.ie/sport/same-again-for-cork-but-carey-doubtful-101012.html#ixzz0RFSDJ3Cc
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:29:11 GMT
Are Cork getting the most out of Pearse O’Neill at centre-forward?By Tony Leen Wednesday, September 16, 2009IF the football All Stars were being selected today, is there anyone going to raise an argument against a first GAA gong for Cork’s Pearse O’Neill at centre-forward? Didn’t think so. Hell, in Friday’s pre-All-Ireland final special with this newspaper, I’m guilty of it myself. But how good has O’Neill actually been this summer on the forty for Cork? He started it like a thunderbolt, scorching onto a slip pass (his speciality) from Paul Kerrigan and repeating the near-post misery he visited upon Kerry’s Diarmuid Murphy at Croke Park last year. In the replay at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, he was a figurehead for Conor Counihan’s side, but as an auxiliary midfielder, surging onto Alan Quirke’s pre-planned, down-the-middle kick-outs as an embarrassingly inept Kerry stood and watched. In one way, Kerry will be more than happy if O’Neill is similarly disposed on Sunday at Croke Park, because it will mean, critically, that he is playing the game with his back to the Kerry goal. Let’s face it, Pearse O’Neill is not a centre-forward in the sense of a Declan O’Sullivan, Brian McGuigan or, to move closer to home, Larry Tompkins. That trio spent and spend their afternoon facing their own goal, getting onto ball, spreading it, linking play and occasionally popping up at the business end of an attack. This last bit is what O’Neill does best – when he is coming onto ball and facing the opposition goal, he is nigh unstoppable. In fact, strike nigh. However, Stephen Lucey and Donegal’s Barry Monaghan kept him pointed towards his own goal for much of the Munster and All-Ireland quarter-final respectively, even if Cork seemed to be setting a world scoring record in the latter of those games. The key for Pearse O’Neill against Kerry is to be combining his work around the midfield fringes with more frequent incisive surges at the heart of the Kerry defence. O’Neill will make the surges alright – but he’ll be relying on Goulding, Colm O’Neill and Paddy Kelly to provide the hand-offs to set him on his way. Of course, there’s another factor in O’Neill’s impact in Sunday’s final – Kerry’s Mike McCarthy. The Kilcummin man wasn’t around when the counties clashed in June, and his form since suggests McCarthy would have limited Kerry’s exposure at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But just as Pearse O’Neill is not your prototype centre-forward, nor is McCarthy a hold-your-ground centre-back. When he plays soccer with Castleisland, he probably plays the libero role – organising, prompting and providing a first point of attack. McCarthy, for all the laurels being showered on him, has one problem as a gaelic footballer defender – he’s not nasty enough. It’s why he detested the incarceration of the full-back line, where a fist of someone’s jersey was a pre-requisite and a prerogative. Now that he’s sampled the pure air of the half-back line, is he prepared to indulge in the dirty work of pushing Pearse O’Neill out the field, and towards the sideline? Is he ready to sacrifice his attacking inclinations in the knowledge that if he’s caught wrongside with O’Neill at any stage of Sunday’s final, there’s no catching the Cork man. The Kerry management have not given a moment’s thought to anyone but McCarthy for the job; given how highly they rate Pearse O’Neill that’s a huge vote of confidence in McCarthy. There’s another consideration too – the arrival of Colm O’Neill for Cork. Whereas some have been drooling over that sweet left foot, others have been more impressed with the manner in which the ball sticks when it goes into the Ballyclough man’s constituency – be it high, low, fast or slow. That can only be good news for anyone running onto Colm O’Neill at pace – his namesake, for one. And that All Star? Probably, but that’s got as much to do with the dearth of competition for the spot. And that’s presuming Cork win. Were Kerry to prevail, Tadhg Kennelly could nip in and grab the No 11 jersey. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Read more: examiner.ie/sport/are-cork-getting-the-most-out-of-pearse-oneill-at-centre-forward-101039.html#ixzz0RFSffSPh
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:30:32 GMT
Morgan blasts ‘crazy’ club captaincy systemsBy Brendan O’Brien WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
BILLY MORGAN has described as "crazy" the system which allows county champions to nominate a captain for the senior inter-county side the following season. Both Kilkenny and Tipperary started this year’s All-Ireland final with their captains — Michael Fennelly and Willie Ryan — on the bench and Kerry’s Darran O’Sullivan may do likewise on Sunday. Cork abolished that policy this year when delegates voted to remove the rule — as well as another which allowed the county champions to nominate a selector — and it has allowed Conor Counihan to hand the armband to Graham Canty. "I know clubs, when they win the county, they want to have their man up there but the county team is different to a club team," said Morgan whose second spell as Cork football manager ended after the 2007 All-Ireland final defeat to Kerry. "In my own time, UCC won the county and, when we played the first round of the national league, Sean O’Shea was playing his first game for Cork and he was captain. "It’s crazy. Cork have the ideal captain in Graham Canty. The county should appoint their captain, as the club appoints its captain." If Cork taste victory this weekend it will be their first senior football All-Ireland title to be claimed without Morgan’s input since 1945 and the former goalkeeper believes the current outfit is superior to that which lost two seasons ago. "When we took over in 2004, our aim was to look for players and that, as a team, we would compete. When the time came that we had to step down, if we hadn’t won an All-Ireland, our aim was to have the basis of a team there that could go forward and compete. "In the last two years, there’s a hardcore of the old group there but the younger players that have come through from the U21 set-up, they’re used to winning. They’ve won five out of six Munster titles, they’ve two All-Irelands. They’re used to winning. They’re confident. There’s a confidence about the whole team there now that wasn’t there before." If Cork are better since their last All-Ireland final defeat, then so too are Kerry, certainly according to Mick O’Dwyer who, like Morgan, feels that this game will be won by the team that edges the battle in the trenches in the middle third. Twelve months ago, Kerry faced Tyrone with Bryan Sheehan and Eoin Brosnan as their wing-forwards. This year they are likely to field Paul Galvin and Tadhg Kennelly in those key zones where both men will be expected to scrap as well as score. "Galvin is playing outstanding at present," said O’Dwyer. "He is going to be a big plus. Kennelly is doing exceptionally well. More than likely he will be on the other wing and Declan O’Sullivan will be in the mix too. "That is a great half-forward line but it is an outstanding half-back line for Cork. This is where this game is going to be won and lost. The Kerry half-forward line will have to harass the Cork half-back line, put it under pressure all day." Morgan and O’Dwyer spent many an afternoon in opposite trenches but they were in agreement yet again yesterday when both said that all the pressure will be on Cork this Sunday and that their fate may rest on how they deal with that. "That’s what Cork have got to get over," said Morgan. "Try and forget who’s in the other corner. Cork haven’t beaten Kerry in Croke Park. We’ve lost five times since 2002 and done very well against them in Munster. It’s about getting over that hurdle and it probably is a psychological one. From what I believe, there is no fear in the Cork camp. "They have to go out Sunday and have no fear. Forget it’s Kerry. Go out and play and impose their own game. Kerry will come at them all guns blazing and look for an early lead and put doubts in Cork’s minds again. "Cork have just got to believe in themselves and go for it." This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Read more: examiner.ie/sport/morgan-blasts-crazy-club-captaincy-systems-101002.html#ixzz0RFTEgcbX
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:31:57 GMT
O’Leary galvanised for battleBy Brendan O’Brien Wednesday, September 16, 2009 RTÉ don’t operate a version of Sky’s player cam but they would be well advised to stretch their limited purse strings for Sunday’s All-Ireland final at Croke Park. The championship decider is littered with fertile sub-plots, head-to-heads that could flower into majestic showpieces in their own right. One in particular exudes a sniff of sulphur. Sparks tend to fly when Cork’s Noel O’Leary and Kerry’s Paul Galvin occupy the same few square metres. It is akin to dropping two alpha male elephants into the one herd. Galvin’s rap sheet contains such indiscretions as his 2006 dismissal for an altercation with Armagh’s water carrier John Toal and last season’s suspension after slapping out at Paddy Russell’s book. O’Leary almost missed the 2007 All-Ireland final after swinging a punch at Meath’s Graham Geraghty, having already served a ban earlier that summer for kicking out at an opponent. The victim? Paul Galvin. Both men were sent to the line earlier this summer after an off-the-ball altercation in the opening minutes of the Munster semi-final replay at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Six days earlier, the stage seemed set for similar fireworks when O’Leary replaced Ger Spillane and was dispatched to mark Galvin, who was already on a yellow card. Thousands of minds must have been thinking identical thoughts at the time but both men managed to stay around long enough to hear the final whistle on that occasion. Galvin has, the one faux pas apart, been on his best behaviour this year. So much so that he could well propel himself into the running for Player of the Year on Sunday. O’Leary’s mission — should he be chosen to accept it — will be to do all he can to negate the influence Galvin invariably has when the Kerry engine is purring nicely. "It’s always a bit interesting, I suppose," says O’Leary of their meetings, "but it is a new ball game. Paul is a fantastic footballer and, whoever is going to be on him, we are all going to have to be on our ‘A’ game the next day." It’s an issue he clearly isn’t willing to delve into too deeply. A follow-on enquiry about his experiences beside the Finuge man is lost in a fog of clichés. O’Leary may have the reputation for being a hot-head but he has been knocking around with the Cork seniors since 2003 and no player lasts that long at that level if all they offer is fire. He was criticised for giving away ten metres for Bryan Sheehan’s equalising free in the drawn provincial final but he kept Galvin scoreless that day while picking off a point himself. That said, O’Leary and everyone else on this Cork team will be judged not on what they achieve against Kerry in Killarney or Cork but in Croke Park. They know it too. Like his team-mates, O’Leary prefers not to dwell on the events of September 2007 but, when he does, he remembers a team defeated by nerves and uncharacteristic errors. It isn’t the only itch Cork have to scratch from their previous engagements against Kerry at headquarters and the mental residue from those defeats will surely drift into this weekend. O’Leary’s response to that is to talk of this game as he would any other, as though he always had a feeling Kerry would negotiate a path through the thicket of qualifiers. O’Leary claims he never allowed himself believe that Jack O’Connor’s side would fall, even when they were limping past Longford, Sligo and Antrim in mid-summer. Undoubtedly, Kerry have changed. And for the better. But how, exactly? "There’s only two words that you could say there and that’s ‘Croke Park’. "They love it and there’s no two ways about it. It energises them. They love playing up there. "They seem a fresher team as well. They seemed a bit dead on their feet against us in Cork but seem to have freshened up and seem to have their hunger back." Cork too have evolved. They are bigger and unquestionably a better side than the one which folded so meekly two years ago. New players and a new management structure have revived their spirits. Some of their mental baggage with Kerry and Croke Park was shed in the semi-final when they did what Kerry have failed to do this decade by defeating Tyrone in the championship. That surely must have made it all the sweeter. "To be honest, no," said O’Leary. "It’s fair enough to beat Tyrone but, if we don’t beat Kerry it won’t mean anything. We can talk about the Tyrone game after if we get the right result the next day. This Tyrone thing has gone. It’s about Kerry now." Paul Galvin and all. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Read more: examiner.ie/sport/oleary-galvanised-for-battle-101003.html#ixzz0RFTaKsas
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:33:15 GMT
Marching to a winning tune at CrokerBy Adrian Russell Wednesday, September 16, 2009THE same way you know it’s a general election night when Brian Farrell wears a carnation in his lapel, so too the rich sound of the Artane Band heralds a landmark day in Croke Park for many of us. Despite playing a prominent role in the ritual of the GAA’s red-letter days — providing the soundtrack to the build-up, setting the early tempo in All-Ireland finals with the parade, leading the national anthem — these teenagers ultimately slip away sotto voce from the biggest stage. On Sunday they’ll lead Kerry and Cork around the pitch before the neighbours row again; so, what’s an All-Ireland final day like for the Artane Band? I filed out for a day to find out. 11.45am: The band members trickle into the stadium, under the Davin Stand, while it’s still Sunday morning to prepare for a long day of the Ladies football finals. They chat casually, more still thumb silent instruments while Head of Musicianship of the Artane School of Music, Tony Doherty, starts to get organised. "It’s a big operation, but all the kids know their jobs and they’re very disciplined and good at what they do," he says. 12.30pm: As legendary pianist Fats Waller answered when asked to describe what jazz was: "Lady, if you don’t know, I can’t tell you." So too, the bold, lush sound of these kids – many of whom are in jazz groups in the school — is unmistakable. It’s time for the band’s — and my — first appearance on the hallowed turf, leading out teams for the Mini Game during the interval in the Junior championship decider. We emerge onto the pitch through the Muhammad Ali Gate — named after the legendary pugilist who walked down this tunnel to face Al Blue Lewis in 1972. The Drum Major, 16-year-old Mark Donohue — essentially the captain, if Doherty is the manager — leads the musicians and the teams towards Hill 16 in the shadow of the Cusack Stand, provoking wild reaction from the supporters. "It is a good buzz leading these teams around the pitch but you do get used to it after a while," says Mark. "It’s something else, especially when you’re standing waiting for the parade of the teams on All-Ireland final day — it’s incredible — the noise is deafening. The parade is great because you get a great reaction from the crowd and parts of the stands wake up when the teams come towards them," he adds. It’s certainly woken me up. My ears are bleeding. 2pm: Lunch, a brass band marches on its stomach. The boys and girls of what was formerly, of course, the Artane Boys Band mix easily, enjoying their well-earned rest with sandwiches, cola and sausages. Aideen Kerins, a 15-year-old from Raheny explains that it didn’t take long for the fairer sex to breathe fresh air into the institution. "It was tough enough for the girls coming in," she says, "they had their own traditions and ways of doing things and then we turn up … and that was all gone!" Just like the cocktail sausages. 2:45pm: Peter Falk — the actor best known for his depiction of Lt Colombo — says he takes out his glass eye when weighing himself, such is his attention to detail. Tony Doherty too, it seems, always has ‘one more question ma’m’. Deep beneath the stands, as the intermediate final action is forged in the Croker kiln above, his band is gathered with professional singer Niamh O’Shea to rehearse the national anthem one more time. 3.20pm: Mark Bagnall, a 15-year-old trumpet player remembers the trauma of first entering the Coliseum. "Going on now is like second nature but I’ll never forget the first time — I was shaking!" I know what you mean. The noise is cranked to 11 as we re-emerge for the senior showpiece and the crowd reach fever pitch. 3.45pm: Word reaches us pitchside, in the moments before the throw-in, that Brian Cowen won’t be joining us, as was planned. That probably affects no one really apart from the cabinet colleagues he’s apparently holed up with in Dublin 2, and the Artane Band. The rehearsed Taoiseach’s salute is quickly changed for another tune on the hoof. A lot done, more to do, though... 3.58pm: Today may see the curtain fall on another long GAA season at HQ for the band but soccer and rugby internationals will keep them togged out for months to come. With Giovanni Trapattoni’s men facing crucial qualifiers, the band have already begun practicing the visitors’ anthem. "We started early," says the drum major, "you have a lot of work there to make sure the other team actually recognise it. We don’t want to start an international incident." Now they strike up Amhrán na bhFiann again but a seemingly nervous singer goes on a solo run with the first few lines, racing away from the band. But pros all, it’s not long until we’re as one. 4.50pm: As the second half unfolds above, the band are clocking off after another efficient display, punctuating the days that many will remember forever, but is merely a day at the office for these brass necks. None will hang around to see Valerie Mulcahy hit more of the right notes for Cork in the Ladies Football final. "We get to see bits and pieces of the action," says Shane Folan, 15, with his euphonium tucked under his arm, "but it’s a long day and you just want to go by the time you’re done." I’m done too. Without having played an instrument all day, I feel out of breath and as tired as ‘Blue’ Lewis after being turned into 6ft of lumps by Cassius Clay in front of the Hogan Stand. Aideen Kerins says she and her trombone-playing colleagues "are the baseline — it’s pretty unglamorous I suppose – but we bring depth to the sound." The same could be said of her bandmates; a day in Croker resonates deeper with their presence. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Read more: examiner.ie/sport/marching-to-a-winning-tune-at-croker-101001.html#ixzz0RFTsvQ86
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:34:48 GMT
Morgan and O'Dwyer feel nation's best ref not picked for showpiece
By Donnchadh Boyle Wednesday September 16 2009
BOTH Billy Morgan and Mick O'Dwyer have questioned the appointment of Sligo whistler Marty Duffy as referee for Sunday's All-Ireland football final.
Former Cork player and manager Morgan and Kerry legend O'Dwyer agreed that Monaghan's Pat McEnaney would be the best man for the job and cited the 'common sense' style adopted by Diarmuid Kirwan for the hurling final as the way Sunday's clash should be refereed.
"In my opinion, you should have your best man out for the All-Ireland final and I don't think it should matter if he has refereed two All-Ireland finals or 10," Morgan argued at Vodafone's preview of the decider in Dublin yesterday.
"If he is the best man for the job, then he should get it and in my opinion, the best man for the job in the country is Pat McEnaney. I am surprised he didn't get it."
"The last day in the hurling final, the referee, I think he did a great job," O'Dwyer asserted. "He let the game flow. In football at the present time, any niggling fouls are being pulled. Common sense is very, very important to let the game flow.
"But I have my doubts if this man on Sunday will do that. Anyway, we are hoping that he'll do a good job and that he will be fair on the day, no more than that."
Edge
Cork have abandoned the policy of having club champions choose the county captain while Kerry have persisted with it and Morgan believes the Rebels have the edge in that area.
"When I took over Cork in 1987, (as manager) Conor (Counihan) was captain because Imokilly had won the championship the year before," recalled Morgan.
"But if the system was there then as is there now, I would have kept him as captain of that Cork team because he was a leader on the field and he was as tough as nails. He had all the credentials that made a good captain and a good coach.
"I remember in my own time, UCC won the county and we played the first round of the national league and Sean O'Shea was playing his first game for Cork and he was captain! It's crazy really. Cork have the ideal captain in Graham Canty and the county should appoint their captain as the club appoints its captain.
"Kerry are a very traditional county in the sense that they have kept it. With all due respect to Darran O'Sullivan, who is a lovely young fella, I think that if Jack O'Connor was picking I don't think Darran would be his captain and that's no disrespect to Darran."
Former Tipperary footballer and manager, John Owens, has been appointed Waterford's new senior football manager in succession to John Kiely.
- Donnchadh Boyle
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:35:53 GMT
HQ prepares for explosive display
By Liam and Sam Wednesday September 16 2009
It's been Gaelic football's busiest rivalry over the last two decades, most particularly in recent seasons, and is now providing evidence to suggest that it is perhaps the most explosive.
Kerry and Cork have long since cultivated a reputation for fine, flowing football and, at times, that may be the case.
But judging by the amount of cards -- yellow and red -- that have been dished out in five games over the last two seasons, there is a competitive streak between them that sometimes spills over into something a little less wholesome.
Eight red cards have been issued in the 2008 and 2009 games. The attrition rate was highest in the 2008 Munster final when Cork midfielder Nicholas Murphy got his marching orders, followed by Kerry's Marc O Se -- a decision by Derek Fahy that was later rescinded -- and Darragh O Se for two yellow cards.
In the drawn All-Ireland semi-final, Darragh O Se went again but this was balanced up when Donncha O'Connor's petulant slap to Aidan O'Mahony's face was deemed sufficiently serious to merit red (it was also rescinded). In the replay, Derek Kavanagh became the sixth player to see red in three games.
On to Killarney this year and the drawn Munster semi-final where there were no reds but, in the Pairc UI Chaoimh replay, Cork's Noel O'Leary and Kerry's Paul Galvin were sent off by Pat McEnaney.
In five games since July last year, 35 yellow cards have been shown, 19 to Cork, 16 to Kerry.
Cork's highest total came in this year's Munster semi-final when they picked up six to Kerry's one. In the replay Kerry edged the bookings with three to Cork's two.
A healthy rivalry? Certainly but Sam suggests it's a lot more than that!
- Liam and Sam
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Post by Control3 on Sept 16, 2009 6:38:00 GMT
Star on the rise after long and grinding road Vincent Hogan talks to Kerry ace Kieran Donaghy about his painful route to recoveryBy Vincent Hogan Wednesday September 16 2009
HE TAKES off a shoe and sock and runs his finger down two scars, pencilled faintly in straight lines along the outer rim of his left foot. "One in a million chance I'll see you again," had been the surgeon's observation after the first operation. Something freakish would be needed to defy those odds. Something freakish happened. Kieran Donaghy takes up the story in a kind of staccato commentary. "Longford, my first game back. Was flying, moving well. Had the foot checked beforehand. Screw was perfect. Bone growing back. Johnny (surgeon, John McKenna) says to me: 'You're solid. You're ready to rock.' "And I wanted to keep going now, to basically run myself to empty. You need to do that. Forty-seven minutes. Just went up for a ball. Landed fine. But their full-back, Barry Gilleran, kind of fell into my standing leg accidentally and rolled me out, all the pressure coming down on the bone. "I knew I was in the s**t immediately. But you're stubborn. I was on the ground, saying to myself 'Yerra, get up and run it off.' But after three steps I couldn't go. Knew it was the same bone. "And I'm thinking: 'F**k, that's probably me for the year now'." THE ROAD back is tackled under cover of darkness. Broken parts get fixed in private settings and at ungodly hours. That's just how it has to be and, maybe, knowing this was the worst part. It took Kerry five hours to get home from Longford that day and Donaghy spent the entirety spread-eagled across seats at the back of the bus. Solitary. Crestfallen. Ordinarily, Seamus Scanlon would have joined him in the exit row, but Scanlon knew a hissing grenade when he saw one. "He kind of realised my form," chuckles Donaghy now, "and shot off to another seat." Anyway, as he puts it, "everyone was tired and cranky" that same evening. So, for those five hours, he sat alone with ice clamped to his foot and pain-killers flailing vainly against the throbbing. And with every mile the arithmetic kept side-stepping any flicker of redemption. It was the evening of July 11. Ten weeks had been the window of recovery for that first break. Now 10 weeks would take him to September 19. The day before the All-Ireland final. It worked like this. The first break, sustained in the National League final against Derry, was a shadow fracture of the metatarsal. The second came when the screw tilted inside the bone. So, the same bone broke twice, just in two entirely separate places. A one in a million chance. McKenna operated again the following Wednesday at Santry Sports Clinic and rehabilitation started immediately. Donaghy actually walked onto the train that evening, heeding the advice to get weight back on the foot as soon as possible. And he hobbled, uninvited, into training three days later, drawn to the group like a moth to a flame. They didn't spare him. 'Ah, how's the leg Star?' Darragh O Se would mockingly inquire. "Sure you're like a bad spirit around this place." Maybe two weeks after surgery, he got a text from fitness trainer, Alan O'Sullivan. Again no trace of sympathy. Just a single line 'C'mon you f****r, when are you coming back training?' And, so, the old ritual recommenced. The gym in the Mount Brandon at seven in the morning. Boxing. Swimming. Rowing. O'Sullivan timing everything, pushing. In the evenings, they'd head out with their dogs to Carrahane Strand, to a place at the back of the 14th tee-box in Tralee Golf Club, where a little estuary runs up the beach. Forty minutes of aqua-jogging, water up to his neck. Again the tyranny of the stopwatch. Again a one-tracked mind. "There's no feeling sorry for you like," says Donaghy on reflection. "Alan's an astonishing man really. Did all the work to get me back the first time. Then we're back to square one again and not a bother on him. If I went down to the gym myself, I'd be useless. Because you hit a wall and stop. But you need to go through about two or three walls to actually get there. "So, you've this fella with a stopwatch, barking at you. It's exactly what you need. There's no hiding. He's getting out of bed two hours before he should be to get me going again. Then you've the physios, Louise and Ciara, inside (at Kerry training). They're the people that get you through it." IT'S THREE years since he did that number on Francie Bellew, yet there are still days when he feels like a goofy interloper. Usually, Kerry football careers run in resolutely straight lines -- minor, U-21s, senior, All Star. He looks at Darragh and Gooch and notes how their lives were set on this heady course from early teens. Donaghy's story didn't un-spool that way. It corkscrewed all over the shop. He grew up in thrall to basketball and, specifically, to Michael Jordan. At the age of 15, he played for Ireland. What dreams he had, were hoop dreams. Even his nickname, 'Star', came from that Orlando Magic jacket he wore like a second skin. Rus Bradburd, the American whose book -- Paddy on the Hardwood -- so beautifully recounts a time spent coaching Tralee Tigers, became a pivotal figure in Donaghy's life. He reckoned the big kid had the potential to play at a higher level. And, in 2004, he got him on a flight to Chicago. Donaghy tried out in different places, but nowhere made the impact on him of Ridgeway. The windy city's answer to Harlem. They drove to a gym, through rotting tenements, past old and young drinking out of brown paper bags. And they pulled up outside what looked like a church, this old metal stairway bolted to the side. The guy driving them had this big, growling jeep with darkened windows and fat, chrome rims the size of bath-tubs. He tossed a fifty dollar note in the direction of a few kids, telling them to come find him if anyone started messing with his 'wheels'. "It was only my second day over there," recalls Donaghy. "I'd say they were testing me. The gym was on the second floor. I'll always remember opening this big, creaky door at the top of the stairs. Forty fellas inside all turning to look as I walk in. And I'm the only white man. "There was this older player, killing everyone on court. And I had to go in and mark him. I think their attitude was 'If he gets through this, he'll get through anything.' After that, the colleges were a walk in the park." He got a few offers, but Kerry was pulling him back now. You see, football had inveigled its way into his affections and he was pushing for a place on the Kerry U-21s. It kicked off in the unglamorous surrounds of Junior 'C' football, his cousin -- Aidan O'Connor -- getting him to tog out with a few customers from the Greyhound Bar. That had been in 2001. Donaghy was hopeless, but it was fun. Aidan had pedigree, having played alongside Austin Stacks legends like Ger Power and Mike Sheehy. But he understood the need for laughter in a dressing-room too. His eyes twinkled with friendship and he was a ceremonious embracer. Everyone who came under his care felt like they were loved. Donaghy remembers his first game for Aidan O'Connor, played out in Annascaul. Says he stunk the field. "I was awful," he grins. "I had shot up about a foot in a year and my co-ordination was all over the place. I was clumsy. They started me corner-forward I'd say to keep me out of the way. And I was carted off after about 25 minutes. I'm thinking: 'What did I come back to this poxy game for?' I thought it was a waste of time. "But if you did anything right, you'd hear Aidan's voice telling you you were 'BRILLIANT'. So you'd go out training the next night and forget about it. The craic was mighty. I can honestly say, if Aidan hadn't got me playing with the 'Cs, you wouldn't know what road my life might have taken. "But, next thing, we'd won the county league, winning the final in Austin Stack Park. And, before I knew it, I was called up to Stacks' seniors, training with fellas like Pa Laide and William Kirby. A big thrill." By the time the colleges in Chicago came beckoning, Donaghy had new dreams. HE'S STILL a little saddened when he hears people get triumphal about the day that first nudged him towards greatness. "Yerra, Francie's alright," he shrugs of his battle with Bellew in the 2006 All-Ireland quarter-final. Kerry's season had been tugged from cardiac arrest by Jack O'Connor's decision to pick Donaghy at full-forward in the fourth-round qualifier against Longford. "Either he works or we sink," was O'Connor's own prediction. It worked, Kerry plundering three goals in the opening 13 minutes. Yet, Armagh and Bellew presented a different texture of challenge. And, for long enough, Donaghy could not meet it. He felt the crowd begin to agitate. Once, he came to the sideline to gather a ball and turned infield with a head full of plans. The ball though didn't co-operate, spilling over the line behind him to a symphony of derision. Armagh goalkeeper, Paul Hearty, was inclined to give a running commentary. Donaghy's eye began wandering to the Kerry dug-out, then he heard Gooch's voice. "Just one ball, that's all it takes. Keep going. The chance will come." He looks back now and reckons there was "no earthly reason" for Cooper to pull him under his wing that day. But he did and, sure enough, the chance did come. And Donaghy's goal lifted him to a status in the game he has never since surrendered. Though he doesn't expect to start, Sunday's will be his fourth consecutive All-Ireland final. They may need to chain him to his seat. The County Board was fined for Donaghy's incursions on the field during the drawn Munster Championship game with Cork in Killarney. They told him he'd need to catch himself on. He told them it was raining and he'd got gloves to distribute. "That was my excuse," he laughs. "But I'm no good as a spectator. I felt I had to get down on the pitch. Barry John Walsh was just after going on. He had won a few balls. And I'm down there 'Good man Barry, keep it going...' "I was the same for the Antrim game in the qualifiers. People were around me in the dug-out and I felt confined. So, I got up, went down the line and got on my hunkers. Just for a bit of space." Infamously, a Dublin player kicked him during the quarter-final when Donaghy went on the pitch as a water-carrier. The incident, he says, meant nothing to him. If anything, he felt sympathy for the Dubs that day as their whole season turned to dust. Donaghy considers it a curiosity of our time that the media coverage addresses every happening with such strident certainty. He yearns for a little greyness or uncertainty. "I felt sorry for Dublin because I had a fair idea what they were going to face afterwards. You get up in the morning and go to your job. You face the public. And, when things go bad, it's like it's the end of the world. You don't wish it on anybody, but it was especially tough for Dublin because it happened them last year too. "You know, there's no real science to it. We just got that early goal and kicked on. If Brogan had lamped in a goal for Dublin after 30 seconds, it might just as easily have gone the other way. But it's always this black and white thing. I mean you compare the newspaper cuttings from before and after that game. We go from being finished, to being outstanding. Scintillating even. "But we were exactly the same team after beating Dublin as we were before. Dublin just had an awful day. And that's dreadful for amateur sportsmen who've given up their lives for that cause." In a sense, Kerry's season has been a mirror of Gooch Cooper's. Donaghy expresses incredulity at the level of scrutiny extended to the story of Gooch and Tomas O Se unwinding with a few pints. "You think of the England footballers playing Croatia last week," he says. "They all had a game for their clubs on Saturday, but no-one would say boo if they had a few beers after the international. "But there's pandemonium when Gooch does it. And the thing that kills you is he's the nicest fella. He's just a class act and a class person who doesn't owe Kerry anything. You just feel like telling people to get a grip. "People were saying before the Dublin game that he couldn't play without me. Complete rubbish. What was happening was we were still playing to the methods that suited me, even though I wasn't playing. But people would be getting onto you about Gooch and I'd jump down their throats "It was a disgrace what some people were saying and some people were writing awful rubbish about him too. I'd fight on my back for that fella. You saw in the Dublin game how dangerous Gooch is. He answered them all in a matter of minutes." On Sunday, Kerry will probably hold Donaghy in reserve. If so, he has no quibbles. He has come through three practice games without mishap and the foot feels fine. Funny, one of his better friends in football is Cork centre-forward, Pearse O'Neill. They soldiered together on 'The Underdogs' some years back. "We're good buddies, but this week there's no talking," says Donaghy. "No nothing. It's very quiet. He's one of their key players now and we're going to have to get a handle on him." - Vincent Hogan
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Post by Owenabue on Sept 16, 2009 9:21:51 GMT
Cork abolished that policy this year when delegates voted to remove the rule — as well as another which allowed the county champions to nominate a selector — and it has allowed Conor Counihan to hand the armband to Graham Canty.
It's feckin amazing what passes as journalism at this stage. So tell me Mr O' Brien, who was the Cork captain last year? Who won the club championship in 2007? Notice anything funny??? Or perhaps you could have gone through the old Examiner articles of 2008. Stupidity doesn't even cover the lack of general knowledge.
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Post by kerrygold on Sept 16, 2009 9:38:36 GMT
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Kerry always primed for September combat
SEÁN MORAN on Gaelic GamesKerry’s appearance in another All-Ireland final speaks volumes for the county’s remarkable consistency over the last decade
THE LAST football final of this decade is upon us. It’s been a momentous 10 years, which have seen the breakdown of the old sudden-death system and the creation of an All-Ireland championship that is genuinely difficult to negotiate even for teams with a less-than-strenuous provincial competition.
It’s accordingly all the more extraordinary that Kerry have dominated this decade like none other in their remarkable football history.
On Sunday they could be making off with their fifth title in 10 seasons, an achievement that has only been bettered once and equalled once since the GAA’s foundation – and on each occasion by Dublin, whose first 11 All-Irelands (five in the 1900s and six in the 1890s) were won little more than 20 years after the championships began and frequently with teams heavily dependent on residence-qualified players from other counties.
Furthermore, Kerry have never before contested eight finals in a decade. Of course, the qualifier system and the second chance it offers make that easier to achieve in that defeat in the province doesn’t eliminate a team, but it also means that higher-quality opposition awaits in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
For a county to have reached at least the semi-finals for 10 successive years represents staggering consistency. On Sunday, at most, five survivors from 2000 will start this year’s final, representing a substantial turnover – only Tomás Ó Sé has started every final during the decade to date – and a major feat of management continuity in holding the effort together through four different regimes, allowing that Jack O’Connor is currently on his second tour of duty.
Altogether, Kerry have lost just five championship matches at Croke Park during this period, three against Tyrone and the other two against Meath and Armagh – counties they subsequently beat in the years ahead. Cork have beaten them a further four times in Munster, but, with laser precision, Kerry have yet to let a championship go by without avenging such a loss in the All-Ireland series and are on course to do so again this season.
Tyrone supporters put their own interpretation on the events of the 2000s, seeing in Kerry’s inability to beat them their own claims to be the best team of the decade.
But Tyrone’s championship exits at All-Ireland quarter-final stage or before are in stark contrast to their rivals’ remorselessness. You just know the teams, which defeated Tyrone on those occasions – Derry (2001), Sligo (’02), Mayo (’04), Laois (’06) and Meath (’07) – wouldn’t have come within an ass’s roar of eliminating Kerry.
‘Teams of the decade’ arguments are rarely settled logically, but, in assessing records over a lengthy period, consistency has to be the key criterion. For instance, Down’s 100 per cent record against Kerry, over four championship meetings in the 1960s and ’90s, can’t really be adduced to counter the argument that the latter is the most successful county in the history of the game – statistics tell their own story, baldly but irrefutably.
Kilkenny recently made history by reeling off a fourth successive All-Ireland, capping a decade of unprecedented success, including seven MacCarthy Cups. But that record has been assembled in the context of the county being clearly the most potent force in the game for generations, if not in history, and in an environment without the competitive depth of football. Kilkenny have lost three All-Ireland championship matches, whereas during the same period Kerry have lost just two more than that.
This is not to qualify what Kilkenny have done, but to illustrate the scale of Kerry’s achievement despite the county remaining eminently beatable all the way through the decade. It has been more difficult in one way for Kilkenny as, like Dublin’s footballers, they rarely lose in Leinster and so the second chance is never there to assist them.
Kerry, on the other hand, have pioneered the practice of gradually engaging with the championship and going up the gears from August. It has been constantly startling – not least for Cork – to see the difference in the teams that have lost in the province and the ones that take the field in Croke Park.
Even in years when the outside track wasn’t needed – 2004 for instance – the team still worked its way up to peak performance, even though that meant nearly tripping up against Limerick in the Munster final.
That’s why after contrasting seasons in which Cork have been plainly the form team of the championship, the odds for Sunday’s match are so finely balanced.
It’s the culmination of a most interesting three-way power relationship at the top of football. It wasn’t uncommon to find people in Kerry avidly hoping that Cork would win the semi-final against Tyrone, as they feared the Ulster champions, but were equally certain that they could take Cork.
Tyrone for their part although obviously out of steam and below their best in the semi-final would have had their own difficulties with Cork who, even in less than impressive times, always gave them hard matches in the NFL and for whom they knew their exalted status in the modern game would hold no fears.
So we have a second Cork-Kerry final in three years and a match that hinges on how effectively Cork can ignore the past and the manner in which they have seized-up playing their neighbours in Croke Park and been unable to reproduce the provincial form that has seen them nearly break even against the Kingdom in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Killarney (losing the decade’s contests 4-5) since 2000.
At Cork’s media night everyone was on message about how pleased about/indifferent to the prospect of playing Kerry they really were. Some pointed to their perfectly decent record at Croke Park and how close they had come to getting a result last year. But beneath the insouciance was the underlying knowledge that Kerry are genetically hard-wired for September football in Croke Park.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
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Post by kerrygold on Sept 16, 2009 9:40:51 GMT
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Kingdom back where they want to be
IAN O'RIORDANALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL KERRY v CORK: WE’VE ALWAYS said the Kerry football press day is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.
In Páidí Ó Sé’s time you might get few a shakes of the head and that was about it, but since Jack O’Connor got the keys to the kingdom there’s been a period of glasnost.
The knack, however, is being quick. Kerry footballers don’t mind talking, but they do mind repeating themselves, and once they said their bit in Killarney on Saturday they quickly disappeared back into hiding. Only O’Connor was left for a more thorough discourse on Kerry football during this turbulent summer.
Like how confident he was of beating Dublin: “I was fairly confident we were going to lose.”
On bringing back Mike McCarthy: “I felt for the last three years that Mike Mac should be playing with Kerry.”
And the chances of beating Cork on Sunday? “I think we’re a better team than we were in June. I think we’re a fitter team. There’s a better shape to the team as well.”
O’Connor knows Kerry have crossed a few creaky bridges to get to their sixth All-Ireland final in a row: “Sure we’re not worried about whether it was straightforward or not. We’re there anyway.
“It was a fairly scenic route alright, but in many ways maybe that has stood to us, because it helped us to change the team around a bit, streamline the team a bit. We’d three very tough games in the qualifiers . . but once we got through, and got a smell of Croke Park, I think we found our feet again.”
Some people believe the turning point in Kerry’s season wasn’t so much the first 10 minutes against Dublin, but the last 10 minutes against Antrim. O’Connor recalls: “Against Antrim, remember, we went in at half-time a point down, having played with the wind. And then Antrim kicked the first point of the second half.
“We were facing into the wind, and it was hard to see where we were going to get the scores from. I think that was a fierce test of us there. Different players have done it on different days for us, and Mike McCarthy took us back into the game that day, drove us on.
“I saw something in the team the last quarter of an hour. There looked like they were expressing themselves again, enjoying playing, and the enthusiasm was back. Whereas before that it was a bit of a struggle. I felt we would bring some of that into the Dublin game. But how confident was I of winning?
“I was fairly confident we were going to lose. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d cut loose like we did. But I did feel the three games we’d played before that were going to stand to us in Croke Park.”
McCarthy was just one of the Kerry players to cut loose in Croke Park against Dublin, and O’Connor doesn’t play down the significance of his return: “I made a tentative enquiry at the start of the year, and he didn’t think about it seriously. He didn’t think he’d the appetite for it.
“Then I got on to him a couple of days after the Cork game, and he came on board. I think he felt the same hurt as the rest of us did after being beaten so comprehensively by Cork, and felt that if he could help us out at all, he would.
“I’d watched him play club football, and enquired about him. I knew he’d kept himself in good shape. So it wasn’t a risk really, to bring him back. I know he’s defied the odds. A bit like Brian Corcoran. But class is permanent. And Mike Mac is a natural athlete, and didn’t take that much time at all to get back into the groove.
“The other factor is him playing at centre back. He was a bit marooned in the full back line before, a bit like Séamus Moynihan was for years. There was a great footballer inside him somewhere that wasn’t being expressed.
The fact Kerry are playing Cork on Sunday, not Tyrone, has not diminished Kerry’s hunger. Chances are most Kerry players will tell you it’s harder to lose to Cork than it is to Tyrone.
“Yee fellas were saying I was only coming back to play Tyrone. I was coming back because I wanted to try to train the team to win another All-Ireland. It was the media who were saying we needed to get back and beat Tyrone in a final to justify ourselves.
“That’s not the reality. There’s no more rivalry between Kerry and Tyrone than there is between Kerry and Cork. So we’ll be short no motivation going into this final.
“I think to be fair to Cork they knew we just weren’t going to disappear after they beat us in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But remember they beat us by eight points, so that’s a good bit of ground to make up.
“Certainly, Cork have taken a few things on board this year, tackling ferociously, and getting a lot of bodies back. The key for us is to move the ball very quickly.
“If you dwell on the ball, well these boys have brought tackling to a new level, and physically they’re very strong. That’s the challenge for us. Not taking the ball into the tackle. We’d be sitting ducks with that kind of tactics.
“But against Cork in the replay we feel ourselves we only played for 15 minutes in the second half. We’ve a new full back, a new centre back, a new midfielder in Séamus Scanlon, and a new centre forward in Tadhg Kennelly.
“If you look back at the last 10 minutes of the replay we were almost looking in at the game, mentally making notes of what adjustments we would need to try to strengthen the team, and we set about doing that in the qualifiers. This game is now the opportunity to try it all out . . .”
“You just want the opportunity to get back into the final again. . . once they got back to Croke Park they got their motivation back.”
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
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Post by Control3 on Sept 17, 2009 6:37:29 GMT
Will the psychological scars of the past unsettle Cork on Sunday?By Fintan O'Toole THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009AS post-match reactions go, it was more illuminating than most. When the final whistle sounded in Páirc Uí Rinn on March 12, 2005, Cork had squeezed past Kerry by two points in a Munster U21FC quarter- final that had bristled with quality and energy. For the Rebels, who had suffered provincial minor final losses to their neighbours in the preceding two years, the result generated an outpouring of joy. The win brought about the end of their hoodoo, erased any psychological hang-ups lingering from the minor grade and enabled them to strive forward to adult level with greater confidence. The relevance to now? It’s a similar type of predicament facing Cork football on Sunday, albeit on an altogether greater scale and stage. The statistics make for stark reading amongst the Cork football fraternity – five defeats in the last seven years at the hands of Kerry sides in Croke Park. The anguish at that series of losses is exacerbated by the fact that twice Cork have toppled their ancient rivals in Munster, before losing out the same year when the action is shifted to Dublin. After last July’s Munster final triumph in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, that’s a trend Cork now have the opportunity to reverse. That U21 win in 2005 is salient as it offers instructive recent evidence that Cork are capable of overcoming wretched runs of form against Kerry teams. The teamsheet for Cork that day was populated by surnames like Shields, O’Connor, Kerrigan, Kelly and Goulding, all of whom will be pitched in from the start Sunday. Amongst the substitutes there’s plenty figures who have claimed Kerry U21 scalps, and even though full-forward Colm O’Neill was part of a Cork side edged out in last year’s Munster U21 semi-final, he exacted revenge last March when spearheading a dismantling of a Kingdom outfit. Some observers may point out that those U21 wins are meaningless come Sunday. And that the most glaring issue is Cork’s ability to tackle a Kerry senior side head on in a Croke Park showdown, thus eliminating the accusations of brittle temperament which are thrown at them. Certainly Cork have capitulated in the past, most pertinently in the All-Ireland decider two years ago when they were defeated emphatically and pockmarked their display with basic errors. Cork defender John Miskella has spoken earlier this summer of his belief that the team were too emotional and nervous that day. But the signs since are that the 2007 loss represented the low water mark for Cork in their fortunes against Kerry. Certainly in last August’s two-game semi-final saga there was evidence of improvements. Both matches were remarkable for their see-saw nature and how Cork clawed back eight-point advantages on both days to draw level. David Moran’s catch, Darran O’Sullivan’s run and Colm Cooper’s finish ultimately proved to be Cork’s undoing after a frenetic replay. But it’s worth proposing that if Cork are as fragile as some quarters suggest, why did they keep fighting on when falling substantially behind against Kerry last August as opposed to folding like deckchairs a là Dublin in recent All-Ireland quarter-finals? Their not the first intercounty side either to have repeated troubles in surmounting one opponent. When Joe Kernan reigned supreme as Armagh manager, Donegal could never quite get the knack of ousting the Orchard. 2002, 2004 and 2006 brought defeats in Ulster finals, while in 2003 they lost out in the All-Ireland semi-final. That barren run is still ongoing, but sometimes those records are broken. In the 2000 Munster hurling semi-final, Tipperary produced a flawless display to clip the wings of Clare in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and brought the Loughnane era screeching to a halt. Throughout Clare’s hurling renaissance since 1994 Tipperary were cast into the unfamiliar role of the vanquished and their players reaction that June Sunday in 2000 when they finally triumphed, illustrated the significance they stored in the victory. It’s been remarked that if Sunday’s game is tight entering the finale, that Cork could be haunted by the memories of past losses. But considering how their maturity, physique, athleticism and football are all in better shape now than any stage in the past when they have faced Kerry, here’s a converse scenario to ponder. Heading down the stretch on Sunday if the match is finely balanced, what a golden chance it will be for Cork to burst for the tape and banish all those past demons. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, September 17, 2009
Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/will-the-psychological-scars-of-the-past-unsettle-cork-on-sunday-101103.html#ixzz0RLLNqfKP
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Post by Control3 on Sept 17, 2009 6:40:32 GMT
Goulding gearing up to finally make his markBy Brendan O’Brien THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009IF there’s a feeling out there that this is Cork’s time then the same could be said for Daniel Goulding. The man from Ovens might not be a ‘marquee player’ yet but he will be. Goulding first popped up on the nation’s radar back in 2003 when he was already an attacker of note on a minor side which reached an All-Ireland semi-final. It was with the U21s that his star really began to rise. When Cork lost the 2006 decider to Mayo he was his side’s top scorer. Within 12 months, Cork had made amends, beating Laois in an epic final in Thurles that was decided virtually on the buzzer by a free from none other than Goulding. By the by, he was top scorer on the day and in the competition overall, a contribution that was noted when he was named as the sponsors’ star of the future for that year. So far, so good. "It’s always good to be winning," he says of his and Cork’s recent underage pedigree. "A lot of fellas have won major titles over the past couple of years so that can’t be a bad thing." If there has been one wobble, one speed bump, on his path thus far it was his progression from underage star to senior starter. It took a while. Longer than expected. James Masters saw to that. Both citeogs, the word was, rightly or wrongly, that Goulding was too similar a corner-forward to Masters who was topping the scoring charts. But Goulding’s break came when the Nemo marksman fractured a jaw in a 2007 quarter-final against Sligo. In stepped Goulding to score three points and, though he reverted to the bench for that ill-fated final against Kerry, he scored 1-1 on his introduction. "I thought it was a low-key final two years ago. We were in that game at half-time, down two or three points. Neither team had played well and we just didn’t get the breaks in the second half. There’s a lot of new players since then and a lot of players gone, retired, but we’ve still the nucleus of that side. The fellas that have come in have pushed everyone else. There’s great competition for places." His own career has gathered pace since. Goulding started every championship game last summer and claimed 3-18. The highlight was arguably a scintillating goal scored against Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final replay. This year has been much the same. He won a Sigerson Cup medal with CIT back in the spring and stands now as Cork’s top scorer from play this term with 2-14. That is significant for a man who used to score a large chunk of his points from frees and his ability to sniff out goals has been just as welcome this last two years. "It’s going all right but it’s going to be a massive battle and the other three or four games are going to be an irrelevance. "It’s whatever situation presents itself, you try and take it – whether it’s a point or a goal – as all forwards do." Goulding is, in fact, pretty typical of the entire Cork forward unit. Talented though they all are, none is yet a household name. One that could carry an advertising billboard nationwide. Compare that with Kerry, who could have Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh sitting on the bench, and it is clear that Goulding and Co. have yet to leave an indelible mark on the game. Right now, that looks like it may be just a matter of time. * Man of the match betting: 16/1 This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, September 17, 2009
Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/goulding-gearing-up-to-finally-make-his-mark-101102.html#ixzz0RLM9MkHl
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Post by Control3 on Sept 17, 2009 6:41:39 GMT
O’Sullivan: we’ll have to play ‘above our best’By Colm O’Connor Thursday, September 17, 2009IT is easy to pick out Tom O’Sullivan at a sunny Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. Wearing the colours of your All-Ireland final opponents a week before the decider may appear to be tempting fate. But this is a man who doesn’t do piseógs. "I got it on E-Bay," he says of his retro red and white adidas track-suit top. "It was too good a deal to pass up." But O’Sullivan has spent much of his career bucking convention. Residents of intercounty full back lines aren’t supposed to be easy going, devil-may-care kind of characters. We expect them to be serious sorts, given the tightrope they walk every time they take to the field of play. Yet sometimes that laid back approach has come back to bite him. Three years ago Jack O’Connor dropped him for a Munster final with the manager questioning the defender’s attitude. A furious O’Connor texted: "Tom, you will regret not returning my call. I want no casual footballers in my squad. If you don’t think it worth your while to return my call you can f**k off. J." Some others would have folded up tent and headed for the wilderness but instead O’Sullivan shrugged it off, bounced back into the fold and played a starring role in Kerry’s collection of Sam Maguire against Mayo. On the train home, O’Sullivan rattled off a reply three months in the making: "Remember that text, Jack. From the man who held Conor Mortimer scoreless and saved your job." Three years on and again O’Sullivan and O’Connor find themselves back in the All-Ireland final cockpit together. The latter is in his second coming as Kerry boss, the former in something of a second life as an intercounty defender. His 31st birthday is approaching quickly yet his form this season is one which has him in All Star territory. "The forwards certainly have not got slower," he laughs when asked to explain his performances. "I would say that the boys out the field now are putting a lot more pressure on the ball coming in and they are making our lives a lot easier inside. Bad ball coming in is a back’s ball every time. "We are winning breaks out around the middle of the field which means we are not under as much pressure. "In that sense we are probably fresher but with the Cork boys it will be a different story." A different story? Hardly. Sunday will be the 19th meeting between Cork and Kerry since 2000. They have met in one All-Ireland final, five semi-finals (one replay), six Munster finals (one replay) and six semi-finals (two replays) with the results going as follows: Kerry 10; Cork 4; Draws 4. Welcome to Cliche Central. "Well I hope the result will be the same as the last time," is O’Sullivan in match prediction mode. "Cork have thundered through the championship and have not played any bad game. The last time we played them in the All-Ireland final they were definitely unlucky because we got two or three lucky goals and if they had not gone in it could certainly have been a different story. Luck has not been with them. I don’t think that they have been making any slips this year. They are on a mission, they are hungry, they are big, physical men as well. They beat Tyrone, a team that we could not beat last year. They seem to kick in good ball as well and they have three young fellows in Paul Kerrigan, Paddy Kelly and Colm O’Neill who are very fast. I am sure one of them will get Young Player of the Year and they will have All Stars in their back pocket even if they don’t perform on Sunday. "They are three new guys and it will take three of our fellows to mark them and we will have to be playing above our best if we are to do it." One wonders will Kerry even travel. But O’Sullivan seems genuinely at a loss to explain away Kerry’s mid season dip. The omens were good with the NFL Division One final win over Derry. But the loss of Kieran Donaghy, the haphazard approach to the Munster semi-finals with Cork followed by the heart stopping route that was the qualifiers had Kingdom fans watching from behind their sofas at the horror show unfolding. Then came the Dublin performance and Kerry were suddenly the most feared team in the land again. "We have only one good championship game played this year though I don’t think that Dublin brought their boots to Croke Park that day and they are better than that. It is hard to know what is wrong. We found the qualifier games tough. But the likes of Longford, Sligo and Antrim lads were better than they were rated by the media. "It is hard to be good in every game and hopefully we have the bad games out of the way now. A lot of guys seem to think that we hit our peak against Dublin and that we are on our way down again. I hope not. There’s no problem with hunger with me and sometimes the older you get the more you want to win because you know you might only have one or two years left." This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, September 17, 2009
Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/osullivan-well-have-to-play-above-our-best-101093.html#ixzz0RLMVhKrY
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Post by patinkerry on Sept 17, 2009 7:38:03 GMT
Prolific Cork have an eye for goals
Thursday September 17 2009
Who was the last team to prevent Cork scoring a goal in a championship game? Somewhat surprisingly, it was Louth in the 2007 All-Ireland qualifiers.
Since then Cork have scored at least one goal in each of their 14 championship games which is a most consistent strike rate. What's more, they have scored a total of eight goals in five championship games against Kerry over the past two seasons.
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Post by patinkerry on Sept 17, 2009 7:44:26 GMT
Thursday, September 17, 2009 O'Sullivan ready to lead Kerry from the front Reports
IAN O'RIORDAN
ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL: THERE’S A history of the Kerry football captaincy being more a curse than a blessing and at the start of the summer it seemed Darran O’Sullivan could do without the added responsibility.
Ever since coming into the senior set-up four years ago, O’Sullivan has been mostly a self-confessed “super sub”, rarely sure of his place on the starting 15. In some ways that suited his style of short, intense bursts of football.
Then he helped Mid Kerry claim the county title last December, and with that was presented with the captaincy. Suddenly there was external pressure on him to make the team. As if there wasn’t enough internal pressure already.
Yet it’s a sign of his maturity and class that O’Sullivan has gradually nailed down one of the corner forward positions after a couple of big performances – and all the while with the minimum of fuss.
“Well obviously I’ve enjoyed starting the last couple of games,” says O’Sullivan, “but I’ve always said it’s more important to be part of a successful Kerry team than it is to start. I’m happy to make an impact in any way I can, as long as Kerry win.
“Even with the captaincy it’s been the same as any other year, wanting to get on the team. I’ve done nothing different this year to be honest. Obviously I’ve had to say a bit more, and maybe look out for the younger lads coming through, as I suppose I’d be regarded now as one of the older fellas this year.”
At 23 he’s hardly one of the older members of the Kerry team, although in ways O’Sullivan is mature beyond his years.
He actually started his football trade with the Tir Chonaill Gaels club in London, where he lived until he was 12, and – God forbid! – could have ended up at Queens Park Rangers, having spent two years with their youth academy. Sense prevailed and once he returned to his roots in Glenbeigh it was pure football all the way.
At the start of this championship, O’Sullivan spoke about the challenges ahead and without hesitation declared Cork as the team to beat. And of course so it has proved.
Playing Cork again in Sunday’s All-Ireland final may be a case of both loving and loathing and yet O’Connor makes a valid point about their baseline motivation; it’s an All-Ireland final, and you want to win no matter who is lining out against you.
“Well I think as a Kerry fan you’d love to see us playing Cork in the final. I think it’s good for both counties. But of course it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing. It’s an All-Ireland final. You’re going to go out with the same attitude to win no matter who else is in it.
“Of course the rivalry is as strong as ever. We’d know each other well. We know the challenge they’ll present and we just hope we can get the big performance. We were lucky enough to get the draw with them here in Killarney back in June, and then they beat us handy enough in Cork. That was disappointing of course, but I think it stood to us in the end, because we knew we weren’t up to scratch.
“In fairness Cork have been astute all year, beat a Tyrone team that we struggled to beat over the years. A very strong Tyrone team. But this is the All-Ireland final. We’ve been there before. We’ll be hoping we have another big performance in us.”
O’Sullivan articulates a view about Sunday’s final that the majority of the Kerry team appear to reflect; sure, Cork beat them well back in June, but Kerry have come on a lot since then – and this is the time of year they like to play their best football.
They haven’t made six All-Ireland finals in succession by accident. “Obviously we were pushed all the way in all three of our qualifier games. I think Diarmuid Murphy saving a penalty against Sligo was a key moment for us. We could very easily have gone out that day. Again I think we learnt an awful lot about ourselves along the way. Those qualifier matches aren’t about performances.
“No one remembers a good performance if you lose. The qualifiers are about getting through and we did that. We were under pressure, and getting a fair bit of stick from a few different angles.
“When things are going badly, things aren’t clicking, obviously players will get frustrated. At the same time we knew we didn’t become a bad team overnight. We just had to keep working, and eventually we’d find form. We found it against Dublin, but to be honest that was such a big game for us. There’s always an extra buzz in Croke Park as well and I think that suits us.
“I suppose the way things were going at one stage we never expected to be in an All-Ireland final. We’re lucky to be here now, so we just have to make the most of it. It wasn’t a great performance against Meath in the semi-final but I don’t know if there’s an ideal way to win an All-Ireland semi-final.
“They were tough conditions, and we showed a bit of character. The surface didn’t help, but sure what can you expect if they dig it up for a concert four or five weeks beforehand. It was never going to be perfect. I think they did the best they could.”
There’s a myriad of reasons why Sunday should develop into a fascinating showdown. The bottom line is Cork still have to prove themselves capable of beating Kerry in Croke Park, whereas Kerry, as the Dublin performance proved, rarely have such problems.
“I still think against Dublin it was a bit of a freak game,” adds O’Sullivan. “Everything went well for us and nothing was happening for Dublin. The Meath game was a little tougher with the conditions but semi-finals are all about getting through it, and I think we showed a bit of heart.
“For Cork though playing us in Croke Park shouldn’t be an issue, They’re a big physical team and have the hunger now for All-Ireland medals.”
Kerry, it goes without saying, never lose that hunger.
Darran O'Sullivan
Club: Glenbeigh/Glencar.
Position: Corner forward.
Age: 23.
Occupation: Bank Official.
Height: 5ft 10in.
Weight: 12st.
Championship debut: versus Tyrone, 2005.
Honours: Two All-Ireland senior; Two Munster senior; Two National League; One Munster minor.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
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Post by patinkerry on Sept 17, 2009 8:22:59 GMT
Its Now Or Never for the Cork Footballers by Graham Whelton
Its “ Now Or Never “ for the Cork Footballers to end the County’s famine of going 19 years without an All Ireland Title. The fact that its our fiercest neighbours Kerry that lie in wait to be beaten adds to the spice of the occasion. When Larry Tompkins climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift Sam Maquire in 1990, that Cork Team put to bed a side in Meath that a bit of hoodoo both on the field and in the head of Cork’s Footballers, the same now can be said of the opposition that lie in wait for us on Sept 20th.
As a child growing up in the late seventies there was a time that we would thought we would never see a Cork Football side in Croke Park. We got a taste of that in 1983 against the Dubs but had to wait another four years until it really came to life in the shape of an All Ireland Final against Meath in 1987. It seemed an eternity to go from Billy Morgan captaining Cork to success in 1973 to Dinny Allen in 1989. For those of us leaving Croke Park when the second half of a glorious double was won in 1990 in the shape of the Footballers, we would never then have felt that it would be at least 19 more years until we saw a Cork man lift Sam Maquire.
As I said earlier the fact that its Kerry we now face adds to the occasion but you would feel that Jack O’Connor is more happier to face Cork than Conor Counihan is to face Kerry. Victories for Cork against Kerry historically are always hard to come by and are always celebrated with enormous passion. A win against them on Sunday 20th will surpass anything ever seen before or even witnessed in Croke Park. This Cork side is probably the best Cork side since the team of the late eighties/early nineties. That side that Billy Morgan managed had steel in the shape of Cahalane, Counihan, Tompkins and Fahy but also had a great substitute bench in Culloty, McCarthy and O’Driscoll.
The 2009 side bears many similarities with the 89/90 side, it too has steel in Canty, Shields,O’Leary and O’Neill but it has a decent substitute bench in the shape of Goold, Masters, Cussen but the one major flaw is that they cant seem to repeat Munster victories over Kerry in Croke Park in the All Ireland series. Defeats in 02 under Larry Tompkins followed by three more under Billy Morgans reign in 2005 2006 and in 2007. Cork have tasted many good and bad days in Croke Park in the history of the GAA but I don’t think anything was as disappointing and frustrating as 2007. The performance that day was brutal and one felt totally embarrassed by it and the fact that it ended Billy Morgans involvement with Cork Football was even more sad. You would have felt that players would have died to defeat Kerry in Croke Park in an All Ireland Final for that man and what he gave to Cork Football but instead we witnessed a lifeless and shambolic performance. I think only now after the victory over Tyrone some fans are beginning to forget about 2007 and feel we will won’t see that type of performance against Kerry in this years Final.
Conor Counihan too has tasted defeat to Kerry in Croke Park like his predecessors that came last year in glorious fashion in a Semi Final Replay. The comeback against Kerry the first day from being eight points down with four minutes to go and the next day in the replay may have indeed proved a watershed for this side. Defeats against Kerry in Croke Park until last year seemed to follow a usual pattern. Cork would be around three or four points down at half time and then after the interval, Kerry would step up a gear and pull away . In five defeats to Kerry since 02 the average loss is over 9 pts. Confidence is high for a Cork victory amongst the younger members of the Cork supporters but those of us who have witnessed the bad days in the seventies and eighties are very wary of the Kingdom, no matter how weak they are being perceived in some quarters of the media.
You would expect Cork to line out as they started against Tyrone. The Kerry fifteen will be waited with baited breath. Will Jack o Connor recall a fit again Kieran Donaghy or will he hold him in reserve and go with Tommy Walsh instead. I expect one of these guys will start and my money would be on Tommy Walsh getting the nod at Full Forward with Donnacha Walsh dropping to the bench. This would enable Declan O’Sullivan to move to Centre Forward to possibly lock horns with Noel O’Leary and to run at him or else Graham Canty. You would expect Anthony Lynch to pick up Colin Cooper. You would be concerned about Ray Carey against Darren O’Sullivan in the other corner. It is possible the Kingdom will licence their Captain to a roaming commission though. At the other end of the field you would feel Cork have the better of the individual match ups. Jack O’Connors enticement out of retirement of Mick McCarthy has been proven a wise move but the Kerry defender’s deal breaker on a return was that he would play further out the field ,that may now prove a hindrance seeing he is up against Pierce O’Neill. McCarthy has a had a comfortable ride so far thanks to the poor quality of Centre Forwards Dublin and Meath had. But when the Aghada man is flying he almost unmarkable. This battle could be key to Corks success. On the wings Kerrigan and Kelly will be key too. You would expect Kerry to be looking very carefully on how Kerryman Mickey Ned O’Sullivan’s Limerick nullified their threat in the Munster Final. In the Full Forward line Daniel Goulding hasn’t put a foot wrong in previous performances against Kerry and you would expect that to continue. Colm O’Neill was outstanding against Tyrone and even if he could prove a handful and chip in with a point, it would be enough for the youngster. Donnacha O’Connor in the other corner has had an inconsistent season so far but he too like Goulding seems to rise to the occasion when the green and gold is put in front of him. The Ballydesmond man’s free-taking is a worry. He has a nasty habit of missing the first free he is awarded, hopefully Conor Counihan has a back up free taker if he has an off day.
If Cork are to prevail on Sunday you would feel a carbon copy of the performance against Tyrone is required. That day a good start with a goal in the first half with a lead going into half time and then forcing the opposition to come on to them in the second half but with a resolute defence putting their bodies on the line and the ability to withstand that and also hit the opposition for a score or two to keep the lead intact. If Kerry are to get the good start and be ahead at half time you would worry that the fear of losing against Kerry again would come in to play and the Kingdom as with other games against Cork would pull away in the second half with their ability to kick points and close out the game. We don’t want to end up like Mayo and be the side Kerry most like to play against in Croke Park on All Ireland Final Day.
Letting my heart rule my head or is it the other way around ,in any case it come out with the same conclusion, I cant see Cork leaving it behind them this time. A Cork victory too should put to bed all this rubbish about Kerry being team of the decade. They may have won four All Irelands in the last ten years but a defeat to the Rebels will also mean they will have lost four All Irelands in the same last ten years.
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Post by sullyschoice on Sept 17, 2009 9:12:39 GMT
Kieran Donaghy has lashed out at the media for their treatment of his Kerry team-mate Colm Cooper over the course of the All-Ireland SFC campaign.
Donaghy believes that the press unfairly lambasted Cooper after it emerged that both he and Tomas O Se had been dropped from the Kingdom side for the fourth-round qualifier against Antrim for going drinking after their third-round win over Sligo.
"You think of the England footballers playing Croatia last week. They all had a game for their clubs on Saturday, but no-one would say 'boo' if they had a few beers after the international," Donaghy told the Irish Independent.
"But there's pandemonium when Gooch (Coooper) does it. And the thing that kills you is he's the nicest fella'. He's just a class act and a class person who doesn't owe Kerry anything. You just feel like telling people to get a grip."
Donaghy also attacked the media for being too quick to write Cooper off after some uncharacteristically subdued performances in the early stages of the Championship.
"People were saying before the Dublin game (in the quarter-finals) that he couldn't play without me. Complete rubbish" fumed Donaghy, who has missed most of the year through injury.
"What was happening was we were still playing to the methods that suited me, even though I wasn't playing. But people would be getting onto you about Gooch and I'd jump down their throats.
"It was a disgrace what some people were saying and some people were writing awful rubbish about him too. I'd fight on my back for that fella'. You saw in the Dublin game how dangerous Gooch is. He answered them all in a matter of minutes,” he said, alluding to Cooper’s early goal.
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Post by northkerrygeezer on Sept 17, 2009 12:54:08 GMT
What's the best local All Ireland supplement?
With the Kerry's Eye out today and The Kerryman and Kingdom out already what ones the best?
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Post by spider on Sept 17, 2009 15:23:50 GMT
Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.
Cork hammered Kerry in the Munster semi-final but this Sunday’s match is a different kettle of fish altogether. This is Croker, the Kingdom’s patch, and the Rebels know it. Emmet Moloney writes...
There is no point giving out about this year’s All-Ireland football final pairing. We just have to get on with it. So do Cork and Kerry, both of whom would have preferred different opponents.
Oh okay then, this column is going to do a small bit of giving out. Will the match be a sell-out? Doubtful. Neutrals, while hoping against hope that the Rebels are the real deal, have little stomach for another match involving these two. Cork are a football powerhouse, despite not having won the Sam Maguire since 1990 and Kerry, well, what would All-Ireland Sunday be like without Kerry? You’d actually have to go back to 2003 to find out because the Kingdom have been there every year since.
You have to feel a bit sorry for Cork. They beat Kerry in the Munster championships of 2002, 2006 and 2008 only to bump into them again in Croke Park, where they lost every time – heavily in 2002 and 2006. Last year, they managed a draw in the All-Ireland semi-final before losing the replay. In 2007, Cork reached the All-Ireland final and were rolled over by the Kingdom. They have serious scores to settle.
Plenty of people are giving the Rebels a real chance this time. And rightly so on the basis of their form, but for me Kerry are still the favourites. A team that knows how to win, they will be at full strength on Sunday, something they haven’t really been all year. There is so much history between the sides that you don’t know which to disregard and which bits to pay real attention to. Having suspected that the hurling final might end in a stalemate, it is worth reminding ourselves that no two teams draw games between them as often as Cork and Kerry. They drew the Munster final of 2006, their All-Ireland semi-final of 2008 and their Munster semi-final clash back on 7 June of this year. That’s three draws in four years. Don’t say you weren’t warned!
The fact that Cork have never beaten Kerry in Croker will be rammed down the throats of Rebel supporters by their friendly neighbours. The subtext is clear: when it matters, Kerry can always beat Cork. Why is that?
The main reason is Kerry’s big game temperament. They’ve all done it before. They are bred to win All-Irelands. For God’s sake, the newcomer to the team this year is Tadhg Kennelly, a heretofore professional athlete who has played in the Australian version of the All-Ireland final in front of a mere 110,000 spectators. A man whose availability or otherwise for team selection was what Sydney Swans fans tended to base their side’s chances on. Nice rookie to bring on the team, isn’t he?
Tadhg’s father was the gentleman that was Tim Kennelly, centre-back on Micko’s famous four-in-a-row team. His brother Noel played in All-Ireland finals and collected his medal as recently as 2000. Breeding. Pedigree breeding at that.
Does it matter? Of course it does. Kerry looked beatable all year until their manhood was questioned and they reached Croke Park. The team that wiped Dublin will be the one we see on Sunday. It will be business from the word go.
Cork are stronger than they have been in years, but can they cope with their nemesis at full pelt? The answer lies in Anthony Lynch. A man-of-the-match performance from the Naomh Aban defender and they can win. Lynch is the only man who has consistently tamed The Gooch. He plays him tough and he plays him from the front.
Lynch is a classy footballer who links defence and attack as well as any of the Ó Sés. He is also the man the Rebels look to. He is the type of inspirational defender that lifts a team. A stalwart for many years, they need him at his best on Sunday. Of course Kerry have other forwards who can win games. Kiaran Donaghy and Declan O’Sullivan jump to mind, but Cooper is the man. The main man. Hold him and you shut down Kerry’s Plan A.
Colm Cooper has been around for a while now and is beginning to play like it. His attitude, once upon a time fresh and innocent, is now that of a veteran. He knows when and how to win the free/penalty and when to stay down or get right back up. It’s a pity he has taken to complaining on the pitch so much because he who doth protest too much doesn’t always get the call from referees. His battle with Lynch will be fascinating. On and off the ball.
Speaking of action off the ball, there could be a lot of it. Much of the talk before the match will centre on Cork’s size. They have big men all over the field. Graham Canty, Nicholas Murphy and the like will all be mentioned, and rightly so. Kerry’s big men (and Paul Galvin) will meet that head on.
You hate to anticipate sendings off but there is huge potential for trouble on Sunday. Cork simply cannot lose again to Kerry and the Kingdom simply cannot lose to the Rebels in a final. Darragh and the rest of the Ó Sés have previous with Cork – as does Nicholas Murphy with Darragh.
Then there is John Miskella. History tells us that getting away with a punch in one match usually means you get ridden in the next, deserved or undeserved. Watch how the ref treats him.
When all is analysed to death, we can’t look past Kerry. Star is fit, Tommy Walsh is raring to go, Tadhg is living the family dream, Darragh, Tomás and Marc would rather die than lose an All-Ireland to Cork and the Gooch always scores an early goal. This is their stage.
I hope I am wrong, but the day that Cork trounced Kerry in the Munster semi-final replay was the worst thing that could happen to this championship. Any time the Kingdom have a chance to regroup and have one of their famous clear-the-air sessions, everyone else has to look out.
Kerry’s 36th All-Ireland title just has an air of inevitability about it.
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Post by bilythewalsh on Sept 17, 2009 18:33:30 GMT
Kerry hold advantage in the key battle zones
By Coman Goggins
Thursday September 17 2009 (herald.ie)
ON May 10 in Gaelic Park in New York, minus the razzmatazz usually associated with championship football, Mayo and New York kicked off the championship for 2009 and lit the flame of hope for counties in all four provinces, as they began their respective quests for Sam Maguire.
Eighteen weeks on, 58 games later, and three provinces have folded up their tents and parked the dream for another year. Still standing, though, are Munster's big two, preparing to meet head on for the third time this summer in what promises to be an intriguing battle.
For Kerry, it's the chance to emulate the historical feat of Mick O'Dwyer's team of the 1980s, as they bid to land a fifth All-Ireland crown this decade. For Cork, it's the opportunity to end a famine that hasn't seen Mr Maguire reside by the banks since 1990.
LACKLUSTRE
Based purely on form, all fingers would point towards Conor Counihan's Cork. Without doubt, they have been the best team thus far this summer, as aside from a lacklustre display against Limerick in the Munster final, the Rebels have been in flying form in their other five championship outings.
Among these performances were two games against Sunday's opponents, where they dominated for long periods, despite requiring two bites to seal the win.
But perhaps more eye-catching was their All-Ireland semi-final victory over last year's champions Tyrone, when they showed a new level of maturity over the 70 minutes.
Contrast that to Kerry. A team that looked jaded and at the end of the road following that Munster semi-final defeat, they did little to address that opinion in a far from convincing qualifier run that included a narrow one-point victory of Sligo.
In fact, it wasn't until the blue rag of Dublin was waved in front of them that Jack O'Connor's charges showed their championship teeth in a scintillating performance.
However, despite been comfortable throughout against Meath three weeks ago, it was far from a polished team performance.
So, it's advantage Cork? Well, maybe not. Unfortunately for the Rebels, All-Ireland final day has a life of its own, and all that has gone before carries little weight, particularly in light of the fact that in their six previous meetings at headquarters Kerry have beaten them on five occasions (one draw).
If anything, what this statistic brings into focus is the whole psychological argument and -- while history is just that, history -- it will be interesting to see what way Cork react if they get off to a bad start, something that can't be judged until Marty Duffy lobs in the ball.
What has impressed me most about Cork this year is their pure, raw pace. From all corners of the field, they unleash their attacks with a new-found speed and intensity, none more so than from their half-back line of John Miskella, Graham Canty, the driving force of this Cork team, and Noel O'Leary.
Against Tyrone, this trio's constant forward momentum meant Brian Dooher and co spent more time trying to check their runs than actually forcing them to defend.
Aligned to this they have a solid midfield pairing in Nicholas Murphy and Alan O'Connor, who have secured a constant and consistent source of primary possession in their run to this All-Ireland final.
Up front too, Cork have delivered. Paul Kerrigan has revelled in the open spaces of Croke Park, Pearse O'Neill's athleticism is at times quite staggering, and inside him U21 star Colm O'Neill has led the line well in his rookie season.
Certainly, Cork tick many of the boxes for All-Ireland champions, and should they win on Sunday -- and put an end to the Tyrone/Kerry dominance of titles in the Noughties -- the likes of Galway, Dublin, Mayo, Derry and the rest of the chasing pack could take great hope into 2010 on the basis that Cork, under Counihan, have shown how to recover and learn from the disappointments of previous years.
But while the Rebels carry with them a real and potent test of Kerry's claim of being the Team of the Decade, the closer the game gets the more my head is leaning towards the Kingdom.
It's not the past performance record that concerns, or indeed the invaluable experience Kerry have garnered as they enter their sixth consecutive All-Ireland SFC final, although it certainly helps -- but rather my overriding feeling is that in the key battle areas the Kingdom might just hold the advantage.
In what may well prove to be his final competitive game for Kerry, I anticipate Darragh ó Sé having a big say in proceedings around the middle of the field. While clean possession will be at a premium, Kerry's hunger around the breaking ball may well create a supply line to their inside forwards that will provide enough possession for Colm Cooper to undo the knots Anthony Lynch tied him up in earlier in the summer.
BATTLE ZONES
Outside him in another of the key battle zones, Paul Galvin will be asked to marshall a line charged with halting Cork's gallop. With Tadhg Kennelly as an able deputy and the option of playing Declan O'Sullivan alongside him on the forty, they may well pose more questions than Cork experienced back in June when the sides last met.
If Kerry succeed in halting Cork's attacks coming from deep, and Mike McCarthy can carry his fine form into the game, then his defensive colleagues' abilities in shackling their direct opponents in one-on-one contests may well diminish the scoring threat of Cork's forwards.
I suppose with so much at stake -- Cork's best chance to capture Sam in 19 years and Kerry's iron will not to lose two finals on the spin -- what all this points to is a tight and physical affair.
While Cork certainly haven't been found wanting in this department, Kerry's cuteness, experience and the potential impact of Kieran Donaghy may just shade it in the favour of the Green and Gold.
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