|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 18, 2009 7:26:42 GMT
By Martin Breheny
Friday September 18 2009
WHEN Tadhg Kennelly sat down in his house in Sydney with a sheet of paper, a biro and a dream, he knew what was coming next.
He drew a line down the middle of the page, wrote the 'pros' on the left and 'cons' on the right before carefully measuring them against each other. It required a very short assessment.
Financially, the smart thing to do was remain in his AFL career with the Sydney Swans but, emotionally, the only option was to follow his heart. After 10 years in Australia, he would pack his bags and return to Kerry to follow his dream of emulating his late father, Tim, and brother Noel by winning an All-Ireland medal.
On Saturday, July 19, this year, Kennelly sat in the dug-out in Austin Stack Park, Tralee, watching Sligo corner-forward David Kelly lining up a penalty a few minutes from the end of a third round qualifier tie. A goal would have given Sligo the lead -- and quite possibly -- victory in what would be one of the most sensational championship upsets for years.
"I'm sitting there unable to play, having had pins inserted in my hand after breaking a bone, and thinking to myself 'what have I done here? We could be out of the championship in a few minutes time. This isn't what I came back for'."
anticipate
He need not have worried. Diarmuid Murphy summoned on all his vast experience to anticipate the angle of Kelly's shot and made a match-winning save. Kerry and Kennelly were still on the All-Ireland trail.
Kennelly's decision to leave a lucrative AFL career to return to Kerry had been fermenting for a long time so that by the time he finally decided to make the break late last year he came under no pressure from the Swans.
"They knew that returning home and battling for a place on the Kerry team was something I always wanted to do. I have a great relationship with Paul Roos (Swans' coach) and other people in the club too and, while they found it hard to understand why I'd leave a professional game to return home and play for nothing, they knew it was something I had to do," said Kennelly.
An ambition to become a senior inter-county footballer at the age of 27 is one thing but achieving it is altogether different, especially in the competitive environment he walked into -- a Kerry camp occupied by players who had reached the previous five All-Ireland finals, winning three.
He had little doubt that despite being away from Gaelic football for a decade he would adapt quite quickly but had genuine concerns as to whether he would be able to force his way into the squad. He had played football with Listowel every time he returned home and also felt comfortable with the International Rules game but moving on to senior inter-county level was different.
So when the call came from Jack O'Connor, he was conscious of presenting himself as a newcomer rather than a seasoned campaigner from a professional sport.
"I would have known a lot of the lads from the minor days and I have to say I found it very easy to blend in. I just wanted to be one of the lads, keep my head below the radar and get on with it. I was very conscious of not being seen as a know-all who had come in from another game."
Right through his many successful years with Sydney, Kennelly often visualised what it would be like to be on a Kerry squad and run onto the pitch wearing the green and gold.
When the chance finally game it wasn't in Killarney, Tralee or Croke Park but in Bellaghy on a bitterly cold Sunday last March.
With a quarter of an hour remaining in a League clash with Derry, O'Connor turned to him.
"Are you right, Tadhg? Time to go."
Kennelly couldn't believe what happened next.
"As I ran onto the pitch, my eyes filled up. After all that happened in the last 10 years, being in Australia, losing Dad and everything, I was hugely emotional. I must have been the only player ever to have tears in his eyes as he ran onto the field to make his debut. I just couldn't help it."
He continued to work hard over the next few months, refining his skills and re-adapting to a game that had changed considerably since he left for Australia. He noticed a big increase in the speed of movement and also how it was less stop-start than it used to be.
"There's more movement, more demands on people. You can see it 10 or 15 minutes into the second half when most games really open up. There's more room to play because the marking isn't as tight anymore. It's very demanding from then on because that's when space has to be covered."
It's a game that suits Kennelly, who has a huge endurance base in place after years playing Australian Rules. Gaelic footballers don't need to be as physically strong as their Australian counterparts because the hits aren't as hard; nor do they need to be as bulked up.
Kennelly says that a different fitness level applies because the games aren't the same.
"In GAA, an intense session might last 90 minutes whereas it could go on for three hours in Australia. It has to because games last two hours and you have to be able to take and give the hits. That only comes if the endurance work is done."
Kennelly's vast experience in another code has added an interesting dimension to Kerry although he is conscious of contributing only when asked.
"As I say, I didn't want to come across as a know-all but once I settled in and came out of my shell a bit, I was happy to explain how we did things in Sydney. Jack (O'Connor) would ask how we reacted to certain situations or whatever and since the two sports have so much in common, it's always good to be able to tap into other experiences."
One area where he reckons there's a big difference of approach between Gaelic football and AFL relates to what he terms 'scenarios'.
"They're huge into that in Australia. How do you react to different scenarios? If you're two points down with a minute to go, what do you do? You can train the mind to work through the options. Normally, what happens in that situation in Gaelic football is that everyone gravitates towards the goal and makes it impossible to score a goal when it would be better to take the two corner-forwards way out and create space.
"In Australia, there's hardly any possible scenario that isn't discussed in advance. It gives players great peace of mind when they go out to play, knowing that every eventuality is covered."
So what would the Australian answer have been when Kerry were losing ground rapidly against Cork in the Munster semi-final replay last June?
A pause, followed by a laugh. "Some scenarios can't be legislated for!"
joust
Three months on, Kerry are heading for another joust with Cork, this time for the biggest prize of all. Cork have travelled the direct route while Kerry spluttered on take-off in the qualifiers before gradually gaining altitude.
The All-Ireland quarter-final demolition of Dublin dramatically changed the dynamic of their season on a day when Kennelly started on the bench but made a big impact when brought on after 31 minutes.
"The lads were very motivated for that game. Men who had achieved so much for so long were being written off. They were supposed to be too old and of lacking drive. That was some motivation for players who had achieved so much," he said.
Now, with just one fence between Kerry and their 36th All-Ireland title, Kennelly recognises that the challenge presented by Cork will be different to anything they encountered since... well the last time they played their great rivals in June.
"Cork's consistency has been very impressive all year. They're a team playing very much in the image of their manager (Conor Counihan) and we know how successful he was as a player.
"None of them have All-Ireland medals so they will see this as their day to make things happen. I know how they feel because I have no medal either."
The drawn Munster semi-final against Cork was the game which convinced Kennelly he could compete at the highest level back home. On Sunday, he gets the chance to become the first player to win the biggest prize in GAA and AFL.
He knows that it will be an emotional occasion but it's one he has dreamed of all his life, even when he was at the peak of his considerable powers in Australia.
"I played in Grand finals in front of 105,000 people in Australia but I know I'll be more nervous on Sunday. Playing for your own people is special."
So too is playing for the memory of his father who decorated a wonderful career with five All-Ireland medals.
- Martin Breheny
|
|
|
Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Sept 18, 2009 9:13:11 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.
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 18, 2009 12:34:04 GMT
Munster men reach for glory on Sunday Friday, 18 September 2009 12:35 Watch Cork v Kerry live on RTÉ Two and RTÉ.ie (IoI) from 12.45pm and listen live worldwide on RTÉ Radio 1. Highlights on The Sunday Game, RTÉ Two & RTÉ.ie at 9.30pm.
This age-old Munster rivalry will grab the nation's attention for the second time in three years at Croke Park on Sunday, writes Séamus Leonard.
Kerry ran out easy ten-point winners in 2007, but there will be no steamroller involved this time, unless Cork bring it with them.
If the Sam Maguire were awarded to the team who have shown the best consistency this year, then there is no doubt that Graham Canty would be the man walking up the steps of the Hogan Stand.
Cork started their campaign with a routine win over Waterford, before taking two days to see off the Kingdom. It really should have only taken the one game, as Kerry were outplayed on both occasions.
There was a lot made about how difficult Conor Counihan's men found it to overcome Limerick in the Munster final, but the Treatymen are a better side than some give them credit for.
There was the sense at that stage that we had seen Cork win provincial titles in recent years, without that success or form being transferred to the All-Ireland series afterwards.
The unmerciful hiding meted out to Donegal, and the clinical, if not comprehensive, victory over Tyrone have since shown that this Cork outfit is big and ugly enough to end a 19-year wait for All-Ireland success. It is just a simple case of going out and winning another game. Or at least it should be.
Commenting on soccer, novelist and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said: 'In football everything is complicated by the presence of the other team.'
The Frenchman's musing is particularly pertinent to Cork's situation. Having beaten defending All-Ireland champions Tyrone, the Rebels would be overwhelming favourites to go on and finish the job off, were it not of Kerry on the other side of that pre-match parade.
So Counihan and his backroom team should be working on relieving their side of all anxiety, a tough thing to do in the run-up to the biggest day of their lives.
With this being their sixth All-Ireland final appearance in a row, Kerry will almost certainly be the more relaxed of the two.
The manner of their progression to this stage has been markedly different to that of their opponents, but the apparent internal problems they have endured this summer have proven Frederick Nietzsche's assertion 'that which does not kill us makes us stronger.'
A dismal showing in Munster was followed by uninspiring wins over Longford and Sligo. Their form improved against Antrim, despite both Tomás Ó Sé and Colm Cooper being dropped for drinking in the aftermath of their win over Sligo.
Kerry selector Ger O'Keeffe said this week that he believes the decision to drop the pair, though controversial at the time, had a galvanizing effect on the Kingdom's squad.
They certainly looked the better for it against Dublin, with an early Cooper goal setting the tone for one of the most complete performances ever witnessed at Headquarters. Those heights were not reached against Meath in the semi-final, but such games are rarely ever more than a means to an end.
After much chopping and changing Kerry manager Jack O'Connor finally seems to have found his best XV, though Kieran Donaghy would be a cert to start were it not for his injury problems.
Tommy Walsh came off the bench to good effect against Meath, and the 1-02 he notched that day ensured he would get a starting place in the final. Tadhg Kennelly is just 70 minutes away from winning that All-Ireland medal he returned from Australia early to attain. It may have taken him a while to re-adjust to the game, but he has slowly become one of O'Connor's most important men.
But all the pre-match discussion about players may be futile unless referee Marty Duffy produces a performance worthy of such an important occasion. Diarmuid Kirwan sullied what could have been hurling's finest hour by awarding Kilkenny a penalty that never was against Tipperary.
Verdict: Draw
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Pitches on Sept 18, 2009 16:46:06 GMT
Jack can be key in springing a surprise on in-form Rebels
The Last Line with Benny Tierney
Kerry manager Jack O’Connor loves proving the critics wrong Ace jack: Kerry manager Jack O’Connor loves proving the critics wrong, and he will have to do it again if Kerry are to beat Cork in Sunday’s All-Ireland final.
During the course of my (totally deserved) summer holidays, I read Jack O’Connor’s book The Keys to the Kingdom, which I found quite enjoyable and a great distraction from ‘her indoors’ trying to get me to occupy myself by getting involved in so-called family things.
O’Connor struck me as slightly paranoid (like most county managers), honest, totally devoted to his team and a man who absolutely relished a challenge, no matter how difficult.
He seemed to derive nearly perverse pleasure by continuously proving those who doubted him wrong. It seems that, in his second term as manager, he will have to again prove many doubters and detractors wrong as the mighty Kingdom go into Sunday’s final as underdogs against a team that has handed them two footballing lessons already in this year’s Championship.
Apart from the Dublin encounter, Kerry have been decidedly average and, at times, fragmented and inconsistent, so much so that Sligo, Antrim and Longford have all had chances to provide the sporting headline of the year.
Cork, on the other hand, have been imperious and, apart from a ponderous display against Limerick, have been the model of consistency and will be many peoples favourites for Sunday’s all-Munster clash.
They are supreme athletes and work harder for each other than any Cork team I have ever witnessed.
They are extremely fit and, more importantly, strong and have sacrificed some of their more skilful players for certain players who fit into particular roles and responsibilities.
Take, for example, James Masters, who has to be one of the most skilful forwards in their panel yet, he has only had a few starts. I feel this is because he might just not work as hard as some of his fellow panel members who give that little bit more in perspiration and endeavour.
Everything looks set up for a Cork victory against an aging and unpredictable Kerry team that will undoubtedly be saying goodbye to some of their elder statesmen after this campaign.
However, I am going to go out on a limb and predict a Kerry victory.
I must add that I predicted Kerry to beat Tyrone in 2005 and 2008 but maybe that was a wee bit more out of hope than actual punditry (only joking my fellow Ulster brethren), so they have let me down before. But I just have a feeling that this dying wasp has one last big sting in the tail left.
Against Dublin, on their biggest day of the year, they put in a performance that was breathtaking at times and, if you add to the fact that they are not facing their bogey team from Ulster, then I hesitantly believe that the shackles will be released and they will once again break the hearts of their near neighbours. Then Jack O’Connor will return to his long walks around Dromid in south Kerry having again and proved the cynics and critics wrong.
Thank goodness for the Armagh minors
In 1992 I watched somewhat teary eyed from the old Cusack Stand as Armagh minors threw away an All-Ireland minor and Diarmaid Marsden, Paul McGrane, Bumpy [Barry] O’Hagan and many others collapsed to the ground in disbelief as our bleak history in Croke Park continued to disappoint and frustrate all involved.
Thankfully, there have been better days since then and, without courting complacency, I think Sunday will see that upward trend continue.
Since watching the current Armagh minor team overcome All-Ireland champions Tyrone in Clones in May, I have watched them develop in to a strong, unified and cohesive panel of men.
They have based their whole season on a tight marking and stingy defensive unit, allied with strength in the centre of the field coming mainly from Peter Carragher.
Their forward division is blessed with extreme talent and boasts a full-forward line that would worry many senior inter-county full-back lines.
My main concern the side and manager Paul McShane (left) men is that this is Mayo’s second All-Ireland final appearance in a row and they will be very keen to overturn their unlucky defeat in a replay last year to Tyrone.
That aside, I wish my fellow county men (in particular my own clubman Eugene McVerry), as Ulster’s only representatives this year, all the very best in achieving the ultimate dream at this level.
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 19, 2009 8:21:08 GMT
Saturday September 19 2009
There's no sleeping. I'm writing this on the second last day of the Listowel Races when the chip vans are closing down and the horse boxes are loading up.
It's the worry that keeps us awake. What if Cork beat us. Where will we live?
The Cork people are everywhere and the pre-match mind games are incessant.
"What do you call a Kerryman with an All-Ireland Senior hurling medal?"
"An antique dealer."
The counties are interwoven as tightly as the back of a sugan chair. God bless the mark, but my only sister is married to one of them.
The good news is that the children have been brought up in the one true faith, but not all mixed marriages are as happy.
This Kerry-Cork couple were fighting over the match. There was an escalation when the wife listened in to the husband's phone call. Here is a transcript.
"Hello," said the Kerryman, "is that Failte Ireland?"
And he got through about two hours later when he eventually figured out that the range of menu options was a recording.
The Kerryman finally spoke to a human being and told his story. "I'm the man what won a weekend for two in Dublin for the All-Ireland. Is there any chance you could change it for two weekends for one?"
Kerry, as we all know, weren't playing that well earlier in the summer. And the big question was who would we like to be beaten by. It's like asking a man on death row if he'd prefer a firing squad or an electric chair.
The choice was Tyrone or Cork. Tyrone had beaten us three-times-in-a-row and we have never been beaten by Cork in Croker. Most people went for Tyrone to apply the coup de grâce. The truth is Kerry and Cork are rivals only in football. We get on very well off the pitch, but friendships will be suspended for 70-odd minutes on the southern Twelfth.
This Kerry team has been written-off so often that NAMA were touted as shirt sponsors. Cork will put up a ferocious battle. I can never remember Kerry being the outsiders for two games in Croke Park in the one year. Cork wiped us out in the Munster Final replay, but we are a different team now.
Sometimes divine intervention is needed to win an All-Ireland. And when we drew Dublin, God confirmed His Kingdom was in Kerry for '09.
Dublin got our boys going and the rest is history.
My guess is I will be writing about a Kerry victory. I just feel this is our year and I have it from the best judge I know.
Nuala Kennelly, Tadhg's mother, keeps this column and her son reads it, but only after the match.
Tadhg, I think you will emulate your brother Noel and your dad Tim. With God's help there will be a Holy Trinity of All-Ireland medals in your house tomorrow night.
I so miss your dad. We had our rows, but we always made up and we often shared our troubles. I will call to the grave in the new cemetery today. As one Listowel football man remarked: "Now that Timmy is in the new graveyard everyone will want to be buried there." The tears are mixed up with the laughter now like a sun shower.
Now that you're a man I see more of him in you. You have some of his roguery in those twinkling, mischievous eyes. And you have his courage and humour. Your father gave you his football too. He trained you for this day since you were a small boy.
Did I ever tell you about the time when he was under serious pressure to provide a ticket for the man who was one of his best customers in the pub?
Your father organised one of his acolytes to look for an extra ticket at the pre-All-Ireland club meeting. Tim had already managed well above his quota.
Your dad's plant stood up and made his pitch. "I propose a ticket for Tim's mother Margaret for having Timmy." Carried unanimously. That's how much we thought of him.
There was always life when your Tim was around and you are the same young Tiger burning brightly. I know you are here for your dad. I think you feel you owe him this one.
You missed so many years with him when you went to Australia, but you did the right thing and he knew that, even though he missed you. How were you to know he would go so suddenly?
Our old teacher and friend Brian O'Brien called me in off the road on the day your father died. "I think Tim is dead Bill," he said. We ran into the house. I couldn't get a pulse, but I can feel his pulse beating through my heart now. The body dies, but the soul is always with us.
Tadhg, your dad will be in Croke Park tomorrow, watching over you and Kerry.
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 19, 2009 8:28:37 GMT
By martin breheny
Saturday September 19 2009
ONLY once in their celebrated history have Kerry lost two successive All-Ireland football finals, a stain which cannot be removed but one which they are resolutely determined will never secure a friend.
It's 44 years since Kerry lost consecutive finals in what they regarded as an ignominy for such an imperious football county.
Still, it was easier to take back in 1965 than it would be tomorrow because that defeat was inflicted by Galway, who apart from having one of the great championship teams of any era, were also from a different province to Kerry. Tomorrow, it's a whole lot closer and more personal as Cork attempt to increase the misery which Tyrone loaded onto Kerry last year.
ominously
Rather ominously, Cork beat Tyrone comprehensively last month, a task which proved beyond Kerry no fewer than three times over the previous six seasons.
Their failure to answer the Tyrone question has stung Kerry but it doesn't alter the fact that irrespective of what happens tomorrow, they will top the decade's All-Ireland honours list while, if they win, it will mark the most successful 10 years in the Kingdom's history alongside the 1930s and 1980s, when they also won five titles.
Cork's latest show of strength against Tyrone in an unbeaten championship campaign, which included an eight-point win over Kerry in the Munster semi-final replay, has hoisted them into the favourite's bay, a role they haven't occupied in any of their six previous All-Ireland jousts with Kerry in Croke Park since 2002.
However, the markets believe that Cork's time has finally come and that under Conor Counihan's intelligent stewardship, they are finally in a position to assert themselves in spectacular fashion.
Their performance graph since drawing with Kerry on June 7 has, with the exception of an indifferent performance against a stubborn Limerick in the Munster final, been on a steep upward incline, peaking with the convincing disposal of Tyrone.
In contrast, Kerry have encountered heavy turbulence, during which they came very close to crashing against Sligo in the qualifiers. However, once they emerged from the storm, they showed just how smooth they could be when delivering an ominously impressive effort which dismantled Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
They were back down several notches for the semi-final where they did enough to stay comfortably clear of Meath without ever managing to open up the fluency taps to full flow.
On the basis of what we have seen so far in the championship, Cork deserve to be favourites, but then the past is a different country when it comes to Kerry in All-Ireland finals. Granted, they found the Tyrone puzzle beyond them and also failed to crack Armagh prior to that, but Kerry haven't lost a final to non-Ulster opposition since Offaly beat them in 1982.
Significantly too, Kerry won five and drew one of six championship clashes with Cork in Croke Park since 2002, a strike rate that's informative in its own way. It suggests that once they leave Killarney and Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Kerry expand against Cork, adopting something of a proprietorial approach in Croke Park.
They feel they know how to beat Cork there, whereas Cork have still to solve the problem of why they keep losing to Kerry in Croke Park. Merge the two and it's a psychological edge for Kerry; not enough to be a match-winner but still a significant help in the brick-by-brick process involved in winning an All-Ireland final.
Cork's main platform this year has been built around a barbed-wire half-back line -- manned by Noel O'Leary (left), Graham Canty and John Miskella -- and a giant midfield pairing in Nicholas Murphy and Alan O'Connor, assisted by No 11, Pearse O'Neill.
That group has powered the generator which has enabled Daniel Goulding, Donncha O'Connor and Paul Kerrigan to score 7-46 between them, 5-29 from open play, in six games.
Miskella has scored nine points on his forward runs while Canty and O'Leary have also done damage, so Kerry will have targeted that trio in an effort to prevent them becoming the first wave of attack.
bitter
Kerry have bitter memories from last year of how much damage opposing half-backs can do if they're not marked as tenaciously as if they were lethal finishers.
Davy Harte, Philip Jordan and Ryan McMenamin galloped forward at every opportunity and since Kerry had sited Eoin Brosnan and Bryan Sheehan -- a talented pair going forward but not gritty markers -- at No 10 and No 12, it presented Tyrone with an unexpected bonus.
It will be different this time. Paul Galvin, the terrier's terrier, is back on site with a voracious appetite for breaking ball while Tadhg Kennelly's experience from Australian Rules could also prove crucial in imposing a level of pressure on the Cork half-backs which they haven't encountered so far.
If that happens and the supply lines to the Cork attack become contaminated, it's unlikely they will score enough to win. Mike McCarthy's return has solidified the Kerry defence, which will operate an extremely close man-for-man marking system.
Cork will do likewise but Colm Cooper, Tommy Walsh and Darran O'Sullivan still look capable of springing the trap often enough to rack up a decent score. An All-Ireland final is the Gooch's stage, just as it is for the three O Se brothers.
Having resurrected their season and survived all the ambushes on Qualifier Row, Kerry would have wanted Cork as their final opponents. History shows that in the 120-year history of the rivalry, Kerry have, on average, won seven of every 10 championship clashes.
It's a sequence that's likely to continue tomorrow, thus ensuring that Kerry celebrate the GAA's 125th anniversary as they did the 100th and the 75th; by winning the All-Ireland title.
- martin breheny
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 19, 2009 8:41:08 GMT
JOHN O'KEEFFE FOOTBALL ANALYSTCORK, APART from a slight slip against Limerick in the Munster final, have been the form team all year and unlike all their previous meetings with Kerry in Croke Park they arrive tomorrow with the necessary confidence to finally prevail.
The maturing of so many players has been crucial in the rapid progress made this season. These talented young men all possess an inner belief that they can beat Kerry. They certainly don’t fear the green and gold jersey and their record at under-21 level proves it.
Every question asked of them these past few months has resulted in emphatic answers, primarily in the Munster semi-final replay, against Donegal and then the defeat of Tyrone.
The tireless, swarming defensive approach adopted by Conor Counihan’s team is best exemplified by the work of Paddy Kelly and Alan O’Connor out the field. Kerry, in marked contrast, have stumbled through the championship since losing to Cork.
Not that this matters anymore because they are where they always desired to be; the need to atone for last September’s defeat to Tyrone provides a fresh impetus.
And, of course, they love playing Cork, even this excellent Cork outfit.
Also, they are a stronger unit 12 months on with three hugely significant players back in the fold. The impact of Paul Galvin, Tadhg Kennelly and especially Mike McCarthy at centre back cannot be overemphasised.
Mike Mac gels this Kerry defence together. Jack O’Connor convincing him to return must be seen as a masterstroke.
There is one slight difference that I see separating the teams in the final 10 minutes, presuming Kerry cope with Cork’s power game.
But before that point is made we must examine a number of match-ups as dominance in any of these areas could decide matters.
Both teams play to similar systems. It is based upon pace, movement and rapid distribution of possession through the hands out of defence. Control of the ball is a key element with both teams ultra-conscious of avoiding sloppy turnovers.
Cork came close to perfecting this approach against Tyrone, the pioneers of this style, in the semi-final. They enveloped the defending champions with their middle six bringing their physicality and athleticism to bear.
It allows half backs Graham Canty and John Miskella to explode from deep (Tomás Ó Sé and McCarthy operate in near identical roles for Kerry), with rapid hand-passing off the shoulder opening up the field and creating quality ball for Daniel Goulding and Colm O’Neill to profit in the inside forward line.
It is an obvious and repetitive statement but the key area will be around the middle third and whichever team mops up the most breaking ball. Tomás has improved in this regard recently and his indirect duel with Miskella will prove fascinating and crucial. Paul Galvin is a master of gathering loose ball.
The eldest Ó Sé brother, so long the wielder of fatal blows to Cork teams, must summon one last epic performance from the reservoir. Darragh may even be required for 70 minutes as I doubt Kieran Donaghy has enough football in him to make an impact at midfield. I have no doubt we shall see Donaghy in the full forward line at some stage.
I feel Mike Mac must take Pearse O’Neill up the field to neutralise his brutal and direct running.
Tadhg Kennelly, although named at wing forward, looks the ideal man to shadow Canty – Cork’s leader and most inspirational figure. Kennelly is used to covering patches of green three times the size of Croke Park and his professional background could see him take Canty out to the wings and keep him focused primarily on defensive duties.
Declan O’Sullivan is named on the 40 but his true strengths are always more obvious closer to goal, be it creating or taking scores. Colm Cooper and Anthony Lynch will renew acquaintances, with the Gooch owing the veteran Cork defender a few points after their last meeting.
A serious concern for Cork is their lack of height in the full back line and that is why Tommy Walsh has been rewarded for his performance off the bench against Meath. Michael Shields is a fine player but he struggled on a similar big man, Donegal’s Michael Murphy.
In contrast to last year, there will be a greater mix of short, low Kerry deliveries into the corners. A greater interchange of players has also developed with the high ball into Walsh and eventually Donaghy no longer the primary option. Last year’s final saw ball after ball dropped into the twin towers and it was easily defended by the McMahon brothers.
Walsh’s presence, however, remains crucial. Derek Kavanagh could be the ideal tonic to counter this threat or Donaghy’s introduction could see Counihan react by launching Kavanagh into the fray.
This brings us to the use of these two highly talented benches. Donaghy looks the ideal impact sub but that title currently belongs to Cork’s Fintan Goold. Michael Cussen is Cork’s version of Donaghy and is yet another option should Cork choose to change matters dramatically be it at full forward or midfield.
There are so many valid changes that movements on the line will require as much attention as on the field of play.
Cooper, Declan O’Sullivan and possibly Donaghy will get into positions to win it for Kerry. Just like Goulding and O’Neill will be provided big opportunities for Cork.
My gut instinct tells me the experience of these Kerrymen will tell at the critical junctures, namely in the home strait.
The fact that Kerry have been through so much this year, and survived, means they will keep working for each other in the face of immense pressure from this massive Cork side. It is an unprecedented sixth All-Ireland final appearance for some of them and I just feel they know how to win.
There is a concern about the lack of a natural long-range and left-hand side free-taker with Bryan Sheehan and Paul O’Connor held in reserve. Against that, Donnacha O’Connor’s free- taking can be indifferent for Cork.
This will be nothing like the Dublin match. Cork will not stand off and let them play. Instead, they will seek to overpower, outrun and then outplay Kerry.
This makes it critical for Kerry to stay with them. I feel they can hold pace and, if so, their quality can shine through.
But it will be ever so close.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 19, 2009 8:43:20 GMT
ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL: Tom Humphries reports on the thriving footballing heartland which has already garnered three All-Ireland titles for Kerry this season
WHEN KERRY take the field at Croke Park tomorrow, the sight of the green and gold bursting yet again from beneath the Hogan Stand will be so familiar we will have the impression of a monolithic dynasty going about its business of grinding out All-Ireland titles as a way of life.
The perennial position of Kerry as brand leaders in the football marketplace disguises the richness and diversity of football life in the county. The Ó Sés from An Gaeltacht for instance experience a different footballing universe entirely to their comrades from Austin Stacks of Tralee or Dr Crokes of Killarney, the archetypal townie teams.
And beyond the tapestry of club life exists the seams which mark the county out into a patchwork of divisional sides which give a chance to players from the more sparsely populated reaches of the county to play in the county championship.
Within these divisions there are distinctive styles and cultures, none more preciously cultivated than that of South Kerry. The division or region has a couple of men playing tomorrow. Killian Young in defence, Declan O’Sullivan leading the attack. And Jack O’Connor on the sideline.
There have been times in the past when South Kerry has been as well represented or better represented than now (the 1984 side who will come out and wave at the crowd tomorrow being an example) but this current era is by most lights special.
South Kerry football is enjoying a golden era and looking for perhaps the first time in its history to see if it can buck the trend of economic misery and keep the good times going.
Hard times are lingering at the door again and South Kerry is bracing itself for another belt of emigration which vanishes the best players. Meanwhile though, there is so much to enjoy and savour.
Last Saturday night in South Kerry, St Michael’s/Foilmore beat Dromid Pearses in the final of the local league. Nothing seismic for the rest of the GAA nation to worry over, but little more than a decade ago such a pairing would have been virtually unthinkable.
One club, Dromid, had been in and out of existence for much of the time since its founding. The other was an amalgamation of two clubs which had all but died having struggled on life-support for a long time.
Much has changed though in South Kerry football.
St Michael’s/Foilmore are the county champions for the past two years and current All-Ireland intermediate club champions and have been on the go virtually non- stop for three years.
Last Saturday their manager, James Mike O’Sullivan, had the luxury of putting out a first 15 which didn’t include any of the four players the club supplied to this year’s Kerry minor team. The same four had won an All-Ireland in the spring with Coláiste na Sceilge of Cahirciveen. On Saturday they could be kept on the sideline. An unprecedented luxury.
“They have been lucky in a way in that they have huge numbers at the moment and good structures,” says Jeremiah O’Shea, the divisional chairman and chair of Dromid Pearses since 1976.
“They have an under-21 side out on their own who reached the final last year against Valentia. It’s hard for a rural club to do that at an underage grade.”
Hard but these are changed times in a part of Kerry which for so long felt excluded form the great banquet of Kerry football.
Mick O’Dwyer often tells the story of breaking onto the Kerry minor squad of 1954. The first player from Waterville ever to wear a Kerry jersey in any grade.
He scored 1-6 in the Munster semi-final of that year against Waterford. The game was played in Kenmare and most of the population of Waterville made their way out to see the young fella play.
He was from South Kerry though, a place which lacked clout and influence and Micko was dropped for the Munster final. Kerry won the game. Micko wore the number 20. He never received a medal. For the All-Ireland semi- final, he was number 21 and for the All-Ireland final against Dublin he didn’t get a jersey at all and watched in the clothes he had travelled up in.
His experience wasn’t untypical. South Kerry produced many players of style and substance in the years which came afterwards but the feeling was always that you had to be twice as good if you were from South Kerry. Geographically isolated, the area had a reputation for football which was highly attractive but soft. If you wanted lads who would get their hands dirty you went to North Kerry where they would fight each other like dogs.
South Kerry representatives tended to be of the style of O’Dwyer, Mick O’Connell, John Egan, Jack O’Shea or Maurice Fitzgerald – extravagantly gifted players who simply couldn’t be denied a jersey.
These are changed times however and even Jack O’Connor, who came to the Kerry job six years ago as a self-described outsider, seems like part of the establishment now.
In the past, South Kerry football has known decent eras which have brought the gratification and nourishment of county championships but nothing on the scale of what is being enjoyed at the moment.
Partly it is the special flavour of the South Kerry championship which revived itself dramatically in the good times bestowed by the late Celtic Tiger to become a vibrant democratic competition, as likely to be claimed by a small rural club as it is to be annexed by St Mary’s of Caherciveen or by Waterville.
When Jack O’Connor came home from America for a few weeks in the 80s and ended up staying he was a harbinger both of the reverse flow of emigration and the revival of football in his own neck of the woods.
Dromid Pearses, in and out of existence for so long, suddenly had a passionate organiser. Famously they won a Gaeltacht tournament in Donegal and celebrated as if they had reached the promised land.
O’Connor kept pushing however and in 2004 Dromid won the South Kerry championship for the first time, captained by Declan O’Sullivan who in 2001 had captained the last of three South Kerry teams to win the Kerry minor championship in successive years.
The same group would go on to take three county under-21 titles on the trot, an achievement which overlapped with the annexing of three county senior titles on the trot by South Kerry.
Two years later, Portmagee, or Skellig Rangers as they are known, beat Waterville in the final to take the title for the first time since 1968. Three small rural clubs usurping the traditional powers of Caherciveen, Valentia and Waterville! As an index of the good times which the country was enjoying, the rude health of the South Kerry football championship served fine.
In bad times in an area with no great tradition or farming and not much industry the drain of players hit teams constantly. When the Western Union cable company closed its doors in 1966 for instance, Valentia, one of the great powerhouses of the region who had three South Kerry titles under their belt in that decade already, went into a nosedive and ceased to exist for a while causing the great Mick O’Connell to line out briefly with Waterville. The club was reformed in 1969 but took 10 years to recover and win their next county title.
Economists tell us there were good years sometime back, just as meteorologists insist that there were great summers.
How bad did things get? James Mike O’Sullivan played for St Michael’s Ballinskelligs in a novice semi-final many years ago. “That was in 1985 and the next year there were 11 of that team gone by the time the season had started up. Scattered.
“The problem now is there is nowhere for them to go. We were broke but we weren’t in debt. That’s the difference I suppose. Football in South Kerry was always strong but emigration killed it. There were good players from South Kerry playing in Dublin and London and New York.”
James Mike himself went away in the 80s, came back from London in November 1997 and by then his old club as he knew it had ceased to exist.
“Ballinskelligs and Foilmore were gone by 1990. They were closed. Seán Kelly was the county chairman at the time and he came down one night to officially dissolve both clubs. You can’t dissolve a senior club yourself the county chair has to officially dissolve it.
“He came down to do the two in one night and when he was here he suggested an amalgamation at senior level. To see how it goes. Otherwise it would have been open territory.”
Such amalgamations were a way of life for Kerry clubs who hovered on the brink of extinction when emigration scourged South Kerry. In previous times of peril for instance, Foilmore had joined forces with Derrynane and Portmagee got into bed with Ballinskelligs. Clubs endured these marriages of convenience until times got better and then tended to strike out on their own again.
This year on St Valentine’s night, St Michael’s/Foilmore won the All-Ireland intermediate championship in Croke Park.
The competition was the brainchild of the same Seán Kelly so it seemed natural, when it came to organising a function to present the medals, to call upon Kelly. He spoke that evening of a club which “had gone from the brink of extinction to the steps of the Hogan Stand”.
A symbol of the hardy flower which is South Kerry football. On the same night, Skellig Rangers won the All-Ireland junior title.
In the bad years South Kerry just bled good players.
“I suppose very obviously everybody would talk about Jerry O’Mahony of Renard and his late brother John who passed away a few months back,” says Christy O’Connell of St Mary’s Caherciveen and an historian of South Kerry football.
“They are two who were truly outstanding as minors and had greatness in them but had to leave. Others like Georgie Curran, a great Kerry minor from Valentia Island, or Willie O’Shea of Waterville. And a host of other players. The great Caherciveen CBS team of the 60s, a lot of them went, Kerry Looby, PJ Fitzpatrick, the Murphy twins.
“It was hard to keep things going. That remained the case through till the early ’90s.”
In the early ’90s the population ceased to haemorrhage and South Kerry caught another break in the middle of that decade.
“In the mid-90s,” says Jeremiah O’Shea, “there was a FAS course started in South Kerry for coaches. There was one or two coaches in each of the schools and each club benefited form coaching.
“There was a huge amount of work went into coaching skills etc and an awful lot of players who came in contact with those coaches went on to represent South Kerry.
“That and the schools of Caherciveen being amalgamated into Coláiste na Sceilge in 2000 made a huge difference.”
Jack O’Connor, whose fingerprints are all over modern South Kerry football, soon turned the success he had enjoyed at vocational schools level into something more prestigious.
Coláiste na Sceilge contested the All-Ireland colleges semi-finals of 2001 and 2002, losing by a point each time to the eventual winners.
Success has come in great waves for a decade now in South Kerry and the football landscape has been transformed. All-weather pitches are dotted around. Plentiful players and a tendency for the graduates of Coláiste na Sceilge to head to college, usually to Cork, to further their football education.
“I would say travel arrangements are better, the facilities and the pitches are on a par with anywhere in the country and with the school inside it is being bound together as a unit,” says James Mike O’Sullivan, who is a little sceptical about this era being any more special than any other but is happy to concede that some things are better.
“I don’t think we are producing better footballers than ever before. We always had good footballers in South Kerry. The clubs are just more into coaching. That is better.”
Better to the extent that South Kerry supplied seven players to this year’s county minor panel and Coláiste na Sceilge will be fielding a strong side again next year.
There are some worrying signs however. The South Kerry Board are in talks with the Kerry County Board about getting some help in for coaching in Coláiste na Sceilge. Jack O’Connor lost his co-mentor Michael Ó Sé for this season and can’t be expected to shoulder the full load of coaching duties in school while tending to the Kerry senior team.
This year Derrynane had to amalgamate with Sneem. And once again there is a trickle of players to foreign shores.
Dromid Pearses for instance regularly fly three players home from England and back to Blighty straight after the final whistle.
“Fishing is gone, farming is taking a hammering, construction is dead. No obvious areas of employment. In reality, the bad times hit everyone.
“Even St Mary’s, we have always lost lads. It is an isolated rural town and we would have been hit the same as the rural clubs. Lot of lads in Dublin and Cork. The safety valves have always been London, New York, Boston and San Francisco. They could become safety valves again,” says Christy O’Connell.
“Times are hard,” says James Mike. “The difference now is that we had no money but we weren’t in debt. Now there is no money and everybody is in debt, that adds an extra something to it. The only consolation right now is there is really nowhere for anybody to go that is much better than here.”
The good times are all gone but in South Kerry there is a residual good feeling and renewed confidence. The crop which Jack O’Connor delivered from Coláiste Sceilge this year is outstanding and will continue to nurture the area’s divisional strength.
Tomorrow, instead of catching the old ghost train from Caherciveen, the people of South Kerry will descend on Dublin in confident and boisterous mood. This year has seen three All- Ireland titles already coming to their area.
A fourth, brought home by Jack and Declan and co, would make it a year which would sustain and insulate a people through the bad times to come.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 19, 2009 8:46:09 GMT
ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL: They are physically huge and yet skilful footballers, writes Keith Duggan , but the real strength behind this impressive Cork side is their self-belief
IN THE matter of getting their act together, no one can accuse the football men of Cork of lacking chutzpah. From the long period of disharmony over the managerial replacement for the iconic Billy Morgan to the rumblings of the Cork players’ strike, the Rebel footballers have settled into a new order under Conor Counihan and have scarcely put a foot wrong.
Not only have they stood alone as the coming football force, steamrolling even All-Ireland champions Tyrone on route to this final, they have done so in a fashion that has left veteran football men somewhat slack-jawed at the sight of them.
It is not as if any of the Cork players who will start tomorrow were plucked from obscurity, but the line-up and configuration Counihan has gone with means this is the biggest – the tallest and strongest – football team ever to line out in the All-Ireland championship.
Prior to this season, everyone was vaguely aware there were plenty of big men knocking around the Cork squad. But this summer, there has been an element of the schoolyard unfairness about the way Cork have approached matches, where the kids with the height genes simply keep the ball.
So-so in Munster, they were imperious in their quarter-final dismissal of Donegal and exceptionally tough-minded and composed when playing with 14 men against the All-Ireland champions.
So after a decade defined by abject disappointment against Kerry at the knock-out stages of the championship, Cork go into this anniversary final as favourites against a Kingdom side making their sixth consecutive appearance.
In a year when Dublin once more evaporated in the real heat of a quarter-final, when few outside contenders made convincing cases for their credentials and when Tyrone failed in their bid to repeat the surge of muscular, avant-garde football that has yielded them three All-Irelands, it could be argued Cork have saved this championship from ordinariness.
For Cork fielded a team that was in direct defiance of the GAA cardinal rule that a big man should be limited to catching, kicking and tolerating endless bad quips about his stature. Cork have looked like a prototype for how Gaelic football teams might look in several decades.
“They are big men but they play like small men,” is the succinct summary of Prof Niall Moyna, senior lecturer in exercise physiology at DCU. In February, Moyna was on the sideline preparing for DCU’s Sigerson Cup match, and as the Cork IT team took the field he was so taken aback he found himself uttering a phrase last heard when Boney M rode high in the charts.
As Moyna remembered it, he turned to Mickey Whelan and said: “Holy Moses. Look at the size of these men.”
“They were just massive. It wasn’t just the obviously big men. Even the forwards they had – Daniel Goulding and Colm O’Neill, were seriously big men.
“But what makes them unique is that they are very accomplished footballers. They have great balance and a great football sense.
“I haven’t spoken to Conor Counihan about this, but I doubt very much that he went looking for men over 6ft 2in to win an All-Ireland for Cork. I think he is just lucky in that he happens to have a group of individuals who happen to be big but mobile and extremely comfortable on the ball. I think O’Neill scored eight points against us that day, and he was just so powerful, so difficult to cope with. I thought that day that whoever would beat Cork would win the All-Ireland.”
Now, only Kerry can have that opportunity. Across the country, managers and players had reactions similar to Moyna’s when confronted with the sheer physical power combined with skill that has come to define Cork.
The reaction has been a bit like Chief Brody of Amity Island when he leans over the stern and gets his first eye-popping looking at the shark: “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
About a week after Donegal were swiftly ejected from Croke Park by Cork, John Joe Doherty phoned each of his players to get their opinions on what had happened. The Glen man could not recall having seen a team as tall or physically strong as Cork.
He knew early on his boys were in trouble. After 18 minutes, the scoreboard was fine – it read 0-4 to 0-2 in the Munster men’s favour – but all kinds of sirens were going off in his head.
Afterwards, he had declined the excuse that fatigue had overwhelmed the Donegal men and his conversations with his players confirmed that. It wasn’t that they hit some kind of wall.
Maybe the abrupt change of scene, from a series of gunslinging knock-out encounters played in Ballybofey or just down the road in Sligo to a quarter-final in Croke Park happened a bit too quickly.
“It was very easy to show up at 4.30 for a match in Ballybofey. Playing in Dublin added a new dimension to the thing and the way that Cork started us against us left us struggling to keep pace with them. Then, once we fell behind, we discovered that Croke Park can be a very unforgiving place. There is no hiding there.
“And I think that Cork are made for Croke Park; the size of the field suits their natural advantage in height and strength. The pace was hectic and we couldn’t match it. And we were criticised for the way we lined out, bringing men back from the half-forward line.
“But that was how we set ourselves up when we had beaten Derry and Galway. We felt we had no other option with the way Cork ran through teams. It looked like they were going to destroy Tyrone the same way before they had a man sent off. They are just very hard to contain.”
Séamus McEnaney was among the many watching on as Cork swiftly removed the wheels from under the Donegal Cadillac and left it mounted on blocks. The Monaghan man holds the distinction of being the only manager to have enjoyed a victory over Cork in league or championship this year.
Even as his team enjoyed a 2-13 to 1-9 win against the Rebels in Scotstown, McEnaney noted how considerably they had changed and improved since their last All-Ireland visit.
Now, he points out that their old failing of under-performing in Croke Park has been replaced: Cork seem to thrive on playing in the big theatre. “They showed that against us in the league final,” he adds grimly. But impressed as he is by their physique and overall skill, he cannot believe they are invulnerable to a classic Kerry ambush tomorrow.
“They beat a Donegal team that never really showed up that day. But it has to be remembered that Donegal still scored 2-10 against them. That is a serious score to give away. I think that would be a concern for Cork. The big struggle against Limerick would be a concern.
“Even that day in Scotstown, Cork showed signs of vulnerability. And against Kerry, in an All-Ireland final, these small weaknesses can be exposed. I think a lot of people are forgetting what a serious football team Kerry are.”
The nagging doubts McEnaney has about Cork closing the deal tomorrow are central to the fascination of the game. They are worries Doherty shares.
“Everything points to Cork,” the Glen man says. “Form, confidence, their approach; they have done everything perfectly. But an All-Ireland final is a one-off game and I expect the opening 20 minutes or so to be absolutely fierce. A lot of people would probably like to see a fresh team winning it. But something is drawing me towards Kerry.”
If Kerry win, it will go down in posterity as their craftiest All-Ireland ever. All the disunion and rumours of rows, even the Pintsgate controversy and the dropping of two made guys, Colm Cooper and Tomás Ó Sé, will be repackaged and reissued as part of the master plan.
The ingenuity of Jack O’Connor’s management regime lies in his ability to make these Kerry players, who represent the heart of the football establishment, play with the defiance and desperation of absolute outsiders. That was never so much in evidence as in his first All-Ireland final against Mayo in 2004.
Back then, John Maughan may have overachieved in guiding a youngish team so far. He might have guessed a bear’s trap awaited them on that mellow afternoon, but there was nothing he could do about it anyway.
But Maughan knows more than most how naturally the knack of claiming All-Irelands comes to Kerry teams: he stood there in 1997 as well and watched Maurice Fitzgerald pick Mayo pockets for an All-Ireland which, many felt, Mayo almost had a moral right to win.
The peculiar September black magic that Kerry possess is they place the entire burden of expectation on the opposition team (Tyrone were one of the few counties immune to its power). It is an entirely mental thing and it works. Cork know this.
Just how therapeutic the Munster championship wins and the victory over Tyrone have been for Cork in terms of dealing with their recent failures against Kerry is the big unknown.
They have said all the right things and have proven already this year they have the talent to beat Kerry. But after the red carpet has been rolled and the President has been received and the anthem has concluded, then the mind games begin. Aren’t Cork, with the memories of a 10-point defeat in 2005, a six-point defeat in 2006, a 3-13 to 1-9 All-Ireland loss in 2007 and even last year’s strange semi-final saga, which Kerry again won, susceptible to the doubts of all those losses?
“I don’t believe so,” Maughan says. “They have been streets ahead of all other teams this summer and they know that. They will carry that into this final. Their size is astonishing and all teams struggle to cope with that.
“But apart from that, Conor Counihan has transformed them in terms of their attitude, and I just can’t see them being vulnerable in that way. In fact, all the question marks have to be directed at Kerry’s form.”
When Niall Moyna thinks back to the last All-Ireland final the counties played in 2007, he recalls a Cork team whose game plan revolved around the threat of James Masters.
Now, Cork have been reconfigured to the extent that the Nemo Rangers man is part of a loaded bench and they have scoring options throughout the field.
“There is a totally new dynamic there now, so I just don’t buy that they will be vulnerable in the old ways.”
It all depends on perspective. Kerry’s peculiar summer form – “filled with ordinariness” as John Maughan puts it – and their startling hit-job on Dublin leaves them hard to read. That obscurity could be to their advantage. Nobody quite knows what to expect.
What if Kieran Donaghy, torturer-in-chief of the Rebels two Septembers ago, lopes in from the wings?
What if Tadhg Kennelly produces something special?
What if Kerry find a way, as Kerry so often do?
These are the imponderables for Cork. Christy Ring’s famous comparison of Cork teams being like mushrooms – they come up overnight – pertained to the hurlers of his day.
But this Cork football team seem to have grown remarkably quickly too. They loom over the football landscape now, in every sense.
They have earned the right to believe this is their time. To do so, they will have to beat Kerry in an All-Ireland final. It could never have been any other way.
Illusion is everything . . .
One reason Cork present such a daunting physicality is the alignment of the diamond of centre back, midfield and centre half forward is so impressive.
Graham Canty actually plays bigger than he is, but his forward thrust from the pivotal number six position has been a central feature of Cork’s attacking game.
Pearse O’Neill’s style of play at centre half forward is a complete departure from the traditional role as evinced by languid, cerebral footballers such as Greg Blaney or Pádraig Joyce.
O’Neill has football skill, but it is with his power and pace he has assaulted opposition defences.
With a tall and athletic midfield partnership in Alan O’Connor and Nicholas Murphy, Cork have built their supersized team around these four columns.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 19, 2009 22:58:34 GMT
The final twist on September road By Dara O’Cinneide Saturday, September 19, 2009 IF WE have learnt anything from the last few All-Ireland finals we know that the eventual champion isn’t always the best team over the course of the summer but rather the best team over the course of an hour and a half in late September. It has been a legacy of both Kerry and Tyrone to provide us with definitive proof these last six seasons that the team who perform best under the klieg lights between 3.30pm and 5pm on the third Sunday always wins the All-Ireland title and anything that happens before or after that period of time is of no consequence. That is why the beguiling form lines coming into tomorrow’s season finale are in reality so meaningless as to render them redundant. This is a game where all the clichés will apply. This is Cork and Kerry. It really is all on the day and it probably will go down to the wire. Sometimes you realise that clichés are clichés because they’re true. Sometimes too though, the winning team will reveal enough of itself in the post match analysis to inform our opinions about their formation, their evolution and their motivations over the course of a season. Like after the 2006 final when Jack O’Connor suggested that Kerry’s hunger derived one year of anguish after losing to Tyrone could dwarf Mayo’s 55-year famine. Or after the 2007 final against tomorrow’s opponents when Paul Galvin revealed that the thought of losing to their nearest neighbour and greatest adversary was sufficient to raise the levels of motivation to a level beyond anything Cork could hope to reach back then. One wonders where Kerry’s Big Why is coming from this time out having seen their greatest motivational device evaporate before their eyes last month. Maybe Kerry really are competing against themselves, against their own history and against standards of excellence set by those that wore the jersey before them but there must be something even more than that, something more microscopic, more primal driving this extraordinary team. I have no doubt all will be revealed should they manage to get their hands on Sam again. It is unusual for a Kerry team facing into their sixth final in a row with a clean bill of health for the first time all season to still have huge question marks about them. The All-Ireland quarter final against Dublin — the one swallow in a strange and stumbling summer can’t dispel these doubts. We doubt Darragh Ó Sé’s ability to get up and down the field and to put heat on the Cork ball out of the backs. In what will most likely be the big fella’s swansong, the need for him to time his input to coincide with the hour of Kerry’s greatest need is stark. But what if Cork do as Tyrone did last year and play the game at such a tempo that the need for Darragh’s contributions becomes too great and too incessant for his input to make a difference? The battle between the sidelines will be crucial in this regard. I have no doubt that Fintan Goold will have patches of football when introduced that will rattle Ó Sé just like Kevin Hughes had upon his introduction last year. Ó Sé is no ordinary veteran, however, and he has never failed to perform on a big day. Doubts about his ability that seem to bother other mortals, merely serve to drive him on. He should be fine. There are doubts too, about Kerry’s ability to vary their game when there is a big man at the edge of the square. The variety of Kerry’s attacks is crucial but what if the pressure out the field is so great that the likes of Tomás Ó Sé, Mike McCarthy, Paul Galvin and Tadhg Kennelly — normally assured in their delivery, decide that the heat is such that it demands the ignorant, unsophisticated hoofers sent into the full forward line last year? If Kerry’s attacking ploy malfunctions to the extent that it did in last year’s final will the outfield players have the patience and the forbearance to toughen and think their way through the storm? The other nagging concern for Kerry is the incredible reality that they still have nobody to take the long range frees and 50’s. You might say that Cork’s defence is so disciplined that they won’t be giving up too many frees but after 12 minutes of last year’s final against an even more disciplined Tyrone unit, the score was 0-3 apiece with two points or 66% coming from frees on either side. Many people point to Pascal McConell’s save from Declan O’Sullivan on 67 minutes as the defining moment of the game but few recall the resultant 50 being missed — as well as another 50 a few minutes earlier. In games like this, the small things are critical. HERE’S SOME of what makes Cork uneasy: In the absence of genuine doubts about their defence after such a dogged display against Tyrone, the central question about this final is what can Cork do up front this time? We suspect that the likes of the two O’Neills, Patrick Kelly and Daniel Goulding have big matches in them but the reality is that only Limerick and Tyrone put it up to them this year. Only Donnacha O’Connor emerged with reputation intact after the final indignities of two years ago but it may be a bit unfair to burden those that had no real part in that. This is a different Cork team and 2009 is a different year but much like Tyrone’s emergence in 2003, we can only accept Cork’s credentials when we see Graham Canty on the podium and the truth is Cork are as fearful at this stage of the year as they appear fearsome up to now. For obvious reasons, mainly tribal and parochial, fear of losing is a characteristic common to both counties but only Kerry have in past meetings shown an ability to channel that fear into something un-inhibiting and liberating. Players and management often talk about turning points in a season when the collective realise that a year’s work is pointing to one end. In that regard Cork’s semi-final win over Tyrone could prove to be a seminal moment in their development as a team. When a team wins a game of that magnitude played at that intensity, the possibilities for growth are endless and if Cork win tomorrow we may well begin to view the overthrowing of Tyrone as the turning point not alone in Cork’s season but in their long term football fortunes. Ultimately the kings of September these last few seasons have been those who did the simple things well most often between half past three and five o’ clock. When all things are equal and the margins are so fine that could mean Kerry figuring out Alan Quirke’s kickouts as well as they did Stephen Cluxton’s in early August. It could also on the other hand mean Anthony Lynch beating Colm Cooper as comprehensively as he did in June. At this stage last year Kerry were on the cusp of a glorious three-in-a-row but in the end it was that small bit of magic, from Seán Cavanagh and Brian Dooher allied to the collective will that swung it away from them. It has always been thus in a battle between equals. That bit of genius, that X-factor from truly gifted forwards becomes the decisive factor. In 2004 it was Gooch’s goal, 2005 Canavan’s slide-rule precision, 2006 Donaghy’s catch and swivel, 2007 Gooch’s fist and 2008 the irrepressible Cavanagh’s five points from play. In Colm O’Neill and Daniel Goulding Cork have the capacity for special moments but in Declan O’Sullivan and Colm Cooper, Kerry have men who have done it more often before. That for me is the balancing theory and that’s why when genius arrives to announce itself once again on All-Ireland final Sunday, I expect it to have a Kerry accent. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, September 19, 2009 Read more: www.examiner.ie/sport/gaa/the-final-twist-on-september-road-101294.html#ixzz0Rb1IoIEn
|
|
|
Post by glengael on Sept 20, 2009 23:15:55 GMT
;D Leave a grand space on this thread for the upcoming article from Mr Heaney ...............
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 21, 2009 11:42:33 GMT
Kerry ruthlessly exploit Cork's lack of any 'Plan B'
Kingdom use their know-how to squeeze life out of Rebels
By Eugene McGee
Monday September 21 2009
A large Cork banner on Hill 16 before yesterday's game sported the words 'Plan B', which one assumes reflected their expectation that the Cork followers would swamp the Croke Park pitch as they awaited collection of the Sam Maguire Cup.
Alas, for Cork people it was their own team that needed that message, as their carefully-laid, pre-match plans to beat Kerry went completely haywire, with the Cork team being reduced almost to rubble over the course of the 70 minutes.
Kerry once again showed that they rarely miss a chance of grabbing another All-Ireland title, particularly when their opponents are favourites. And when those opponents start repeating the failures of past decades in major games against Kerry, then it really was no great surprise that Cork capitulated as they did.
The best example of this was the abject failure of the much-hyped Cork forward line, which was the principal reason why they flopped in this game. Bear in mind that all year people had been claiming that Kerry's backline was porous. Obviously Cork people believed that when their team scored 1-17 against that Kerry defence last June. However, Kerry in June and Kerry in late September are two different animals altogether, and that is what transpired.
Belief is everything in sport and long before the GAA was heavily populated with sports psychologists, Kerry footballers had acquired an innate belief that when they go to Croke Park for All-Ireland finals, they will win, unless an exceptional team stands in their way.
undermine
Tyrone were such a team in recent years and worked very hard to undermine that Kerry self-belief but Cork football teams normally fail dismally in that area.
For example, Cork got a dream start yesterday when a brilliant goal from Colm O'Neill left them leading by five points after 10 minutes. But instead of going for the jugular when they were on top all over the field, Cork let their intensity level drop and Kerry nipped in to completely take over, to such an extent that in the subsequent 20-minute period Kerry scored eight points against Cork's one.
In the process, all the old fears crept into many of the Cork players, similar to the final of two years ago. But worse was to come just after half-time.
By then, Kerry were only leading by two points and Cork, in fairness, did stage a spirited comeback in most areas of the field, aided by a few switches. But then Cork imploded as regards scoring and the game was decided as early as the 44th minute.
Not alone had Kerry sneaked into a four-point lead against the run of play at that time but the attempts at scoring by Cork were ghastly.
It went like this in the space of 10 minutes: bad wide from play, bad wide from a free from Donncha O'Connor, terrible wide from play, wide from a '45 by O'Connor, wide from Michael Shields, who had bravely gone up in attack, and another wide from Paul Kerrigan.
That was curtains for Cork. In fact, they only managed to score three points in the entire second half, two of them from frees. Strangely, I thought this was the only period in the game when Kerry were less than impressive.
There was a small element of showboating from some players as they watched their opponents self-destruct, which may have been understandable. But when danger threatened and Cork reduced the deficit to two points Kerry went into overdrive on and off the field. Darragh O Se and Tadhg Kennelly were replaced with super-subs Kieran Donaghy and Michael Quirke and Kerry went on a rampage, with three wonderful points in six minutes from Tommy Walsh and Tomas O Se.
After that it was merely a matter of concluding the formalities, which included noble gestures to two lightly-used panel members, David Moran and Aidan O'Mahony, brought in maybe with an eye to the future.
Several Cork players like Graham Canty, Shields, Noel O'Leary and John Miskella did fight on bravely, but it was obvious that further up the field there was nothing of substance to offer, with the Rebels failing to score from play for the closing 20 minutes, making it a sad day for Cork forwards.
Of course, Cork are a better team than they showed yesterday but some of their forwards had reputations that they never earned at senior level.
Conor Counihan has a lot to do. However, he will be a much wiser man today than he was on Saturday. Cork should remain in the top four, for next year at least.
This win represents a magnificent triumph for the ethos of Kerry football.
Some commentators had put the boot into Kerry football this year, right up to yesterday, with a vicious diatribe against some players, Jack O'Connor and the team as a whole.
This is something that has only developed in the past few years, possibly because it gave some people the chance to question and ridicule the whole ethos of Kerry football because they failed to beat Tyrone. However, Kerry have won five All-Irelands in this decade so it is time for this sort of hogwash to be put in the dustbin of GAA history.
Kerry, with 36 All-Irelands, are still the masters of football. This year showed that they can survive and triumph against all sorts of opponents, from Longford to Dublin and Cork and still win. Their management team this year did exceptionally well because there were many disruptions and it was a long and trying season. The old argument of the anti-Kerry brigade that they 'got many of their All-Irelands handy' certainly does not apply this year, but I am sure there will still be people downgrading this year's squad and management. Nobody in Kerry will lose sleep over that.
Walsh was the best player on the field, Seamus Scanlon is the most improved player of the year and Kennelly must go down as one of Ireland's greatest-ever sports people for winning an All-Ireland medal and an Australian Rules premiership in the space of four years.
His late dad, Tim, would be very proud of that.
- Eugene McGee
|
|
|
Post by Mickmack on Sept 21, 2009 21:20:38 GMT
Signs from above tell me tadhg will make it Kennelly holy trinity
Billy Keane
Saturday September 19 2009
There's no sleeping. I'm writing this on the second last day of the Listowel Races when the chip vans are closing down and the horse boxes are loading up.
It's the worry that keeps us awake. What if Cork beat us. Where will we live?
The Cork people are everywhere and the pre-match mind games are incessant.
"What do you call a Kerryman with an All-Ireland Senior hurling medal?"
"An antique dealer."
The counties are interwoven as tightly as the back of a sugan chair. God bless the mark, but my only sister is married to one of them.
The good news is that the children have been brought up in the one true faith, but not all mixed marriages are as happy.
This Kerry-Cork couple were fighting over the match. There was an escalation when the wife listened in to the husband's phone call. Here is a transcript.
"Hello," said the Kerryman, "is that Failte Ireland?"
And he got through about two hours later when he eventually figured out that the range of menu options was a recording.
The Kerryman finally spoke to a human being and told his story. "I'm the man what won a weekend for two in Dublin for the All-Ireland. Is there any chance you could change it for two weekends for one?"
Kerry, as we all know, weren't playing that well earlier in the summer. And the big question was who would we like to be beaten by. It's like asking a man on death row if he'd prefer a firing squad or an electric chair.
The choice was Tyrone or Cork. Tyrone had beaten us three-times-in-a-row and we have never been beaten by Cork in Croker. Most people went for Tyrone to apply the coup de grâce. The truth is Kerry and Cork are rivals only in football. We get on very well off the pitch, but friendships will be suspended for 70-odd minutes on the southern Twelfth.
This Kerry team has been written-off so often that NAMA were touted as shirt sponsors. Cork will put up a ferocious battle. I can never remember Kerry being the outsiders for two games in Croke Park in the one year. Cork wiped us out in the Munster Final replay, but we are a different team now.
Sometimes divine intervention is needed to win an All-Ireland. And when we drew Dublin, God confirmed His Kingdom was in Kerry for '09.
Dublin got our boys going and the rest is history.
My guess is I will be writing about a Kerry victory. I just feel this is our year and I have it from the best judge I know.
Nuala Kennelly, Tadhg's mother, keeps this column and her son reads it, but only after the match.
Tadhg, I think you will emulate your brother Noel and your dad Tim. With God's help there will be a Holy Trinity of All-Ireland medals in your house tomorrow night.
I so miss your dad. We had our rows, but we always made up and we often shared our troubles. I will call to the grave in the new cemetery today. As one Listowel football man remarked: "Now that Timmy is in the new graveyard everyone will want to be buried there." The tears are mixed up with the laughter now like a sun shower.
Now that you're a man I see more of him in you. You have some of his roguery in those twinkling, mischievous eyes. And you have his courage and humour. Your father gave you his football too. He trained you for this day since you were a small boy.
Did I ever tell you about the time when he was under serious pressure to provide a ticket for the man who was one of his best customers in the pub?
Your father organised one of his acolytes to look for an extra ticket at the pre-All-Ireland club meeting. Tim had already managed well above his quota.
Your dad's plant stood up and made his pitch. "I propose a ticket for Tim's mother Margaret for having Timmy." Carried unanimously. That's how much we thought of him.
There was always life when your Tim was around and you are the same young Tiger burning brightly. I know you are here for your dad. I think you feel you owe him this one.
You missed so many years with him when you went to Australia, but you did the right thing and he knew that, even though he missed you. How were you to know he would go so suddenly?
Our old teacher and friend Brian O'Brien called me in off the road on the day your father died. "I think Tim is dead Bill," he said. We ran into the house. I couldn't get a pulse, but I can feel his pulse beating through my heart now. The body dies, but the soul is always with us.
Tadhg, your dad will be in Croke Park tomorrow, watching over you and Kerry.
|
|
kaywhy
Senior Member
Posts: 333
|
Post by kaywhy on Sept 21, 2009 23:46:45 GMT
Brilliant diary by Eamon Fitz in the Examiner today. Second part next Saturday. Excellent reading. A great insight into the preparation and endless work the selectors put in. They live and breath and sleep Kerry football for the year.
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 22, 2009 8:07:02 GMT
It’s such a perfect day for unsung hero Scanlon By Tony Leen Tuesday, September 22, 2009 THE invaluable contribution of one the quiet and unsung heroes of Kerry’s All-Ireland winning squad has emerged as one of the key pointers from in-depth analysis of Sunday’s final from championship sponsors Vodafone. The individual statistics show that Seamus Scanlon had the perfect day in the possession stakes as he was on the ball all of 20 times during the course of the game and had an unblemished pass completion rate, finding a colleague on each and every occasion. Only his midfield colleague Darragh O Sé and Cork’s Nicholas Murphy won possession more than Scanlon (21 times each) but neither managed Scanlon’s 100% completion rate – O Sé failing with just three passes and Murphy with five. Scanlon’s showing is indicative of an incredibly high degree of consistency. He won possession 23 times against Meath in the semi-final when he failed to complete just one pass while in the drawn All-Ireland semi-final against Cork, he won possession 25 times and hit a 100% completion rate. The stats also reaffirmed the outstanding contribution made by RTÉ man of the match Tom O’Sullivan. Incredibly for a corner back, the Rathmore man was in possession 19 times and completed all bar one of his passes. For Cork, Graham Canty was the second most prominent player, winning possession 17 times and failing with just one pass. Cork’s Donncha O’Connor had the most shots at target but five of his eight efforts went wide. In contrast, Colm Cooper missed just one of seven attempts. While Cork were overrun at midfield in a critical period from the tenth minute to half-time, they recovered well in the second half and over the course of the 70 plus minutes won possession off 23 of a total of 42 kick-outs. They won 11 of their own 22 kick-outs (50%) and, despite that patchy first half period, won 12 of Kerry’s 20 kick-outs. Turnovers also revealed Cork more than held their own as they wrested possession from Kerry 34 times compared to Kerry’s turnover tally of 30. They also put in 54 defensive tackles compared to Kerry’s 44, indicative of the fact that Kerry, overall, had 51% of possession. Ultimately it would appear Kerry’s economy with the ball was crucial, reflected by the fact that they had 23 attempts at goal, 16 of which were pointed, six of which went wide and one of which dropped short. Conversely, Cork had 22 shots at goal and, most critically, kicked 14 of those wide. This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Read more: www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/its-such-a-perfect-day-for-unsung-hero-scanlon-101484.html#ixzz0RowZwXFt
|
|
|
Post by ardfertnarrie on Sept 22, 2009 9:30:16 GMT
Serious stats there for Seamus Scanlon. And if memory serves me right, many of those passes were foot passes. Delighted for him. He'll surely be vindicated with an All-Star this year.
|
|
seamus
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,741
|
Post by seamus on Sept 22, 2009 9:56:24 GMT
Serious stats there for Seamus Scanlon. And if memory serves me right, many of those passes were foot passes. Delighted for him. He'll surely be vindicated with an All-Star this year. Seamus was the missing cog in the wheel. He was superb in every game he played. If i had a vote for player of the year he would get it. But, he is not attractive to the media in the way that Galvin and the O'Sés are. He has improved beyond recognition.
|
|
|
Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Sept 22, 2009 13:58:13 GMT
even Declan Bogue wrote in his article for Gaeliclife that Seamus was the most underrated player in the country and that the pairing of him and Darragh make for the best midfield in the country. Guess he was right
|
|
sparky
Junior Member
Posts: 38
|
Post by sparky on Sept 22, 2009 18:32:12 GMT
Lads, Can anyone post Fitzie's diary from the examiner, I missed it and cant seem to get it online
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 22, 2009 19:07:10 GMT
Has Heaney thrown his head up yet,remember he said he would not eat humble pie as kerry would be beaten in Croker before the season was out.
|
|
lorr29
Senior Member
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative
Posts: 647
|
Post by lorr29 on Sept 22, 2009 19:09:39 GMT
Has Heaney thrown his head up yet,remember he said he would not eat humble pie as kerry would be beaten in Croker before the season was out. We are all waiting with bated breath
|
|
chrism
Senior Member
Posts: 460
|
Post by chrism on Sept 22, 2009 19:10:24 GMT
Can't post it but Eamonn Fitz said he going to Alan Quirkes wedding on Saturday. Seems Anthony Lynch and Alan Quirke are 2 of his best friends.
|
|
falveyb2k
Fanatical Member
"The way this man played today, if there was a flood he'd walk on water. Jack O Shea"
Posts: 1,920
|
Post by falveyb2k on Sept 22, 2009 19:42:24 GMT
|
|
lorr29
Senior Member
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative
Posts: 647
|
Post by lorr29 on Sept 22, 2009 20:59:17 GMT
Familiar hands on Sam should satisfy lovers of tradition Against the Breeze
“There is a nationwide inability to dismiss Kerry. Despite the evidence presented in recent games, there are many who insist that ‘You write Kerry off at your peril’. What cautious drivel!"
Against The Breeze, July 28 2009
WHAT drivel indeed! Regular readers might remember that the quotation above is taken from a column which explained why Kerry would not win this year’s All-Ireland title. Suffice to say it was a slightly inaccurate prediction and I’ll gladly accept that my assessment was somewhat wayward.
I’m not going to offer any defence other than to say that when reading the column again yesterday morning, I detected the sound of a sports reporter betrayed, a fan who had been jilted. The cruel irony of this unfortunate affair is that there is no greater admirer of this group of Kerry footballers than yours truly. There is written proof to back up this claim.
In 2005 and 2008, I dismayed many Tyrone fans when tipping Kerry to beat their team in the All-Ireland final. My rationale was always pretty basic. I simply believed Kerry had better footballers. Tomas O Se, Darragh O Se, Declan O’Sullivan, Colm Cooper, Tommy Walsh and Kieran Donaghy. I couldn’t look past them.
On each occasion, however, Tyrone underlined the importance of teamwork and tactics. Of course, the Red Hands had their own share of quality footballers, but their cohesion and collective craft was the key difference.
After last year’s All-Ireland final, I started to lose faith in Kerry. That faith was jolted again when Cork dismissed them in Munster. It lost further ground when I watched television coverage of the Qualifier games against Longford and Sligo. And it evaporated completely when I travelled to Tullamore and saw them struggle to beat an Antrim side that started the season in Division Four.
Hence the madness of July 28. I concluded that particular column by informing readers that Kerry would receive their last rites in Croke Park before the year was out.
This prophecy was one of the reasons why I was supporting Cork to the hilt on Sunday. By the same token, it would be false to suggest that I had any huge attachment to Conor Counihan’s side. Truth be told, it would be more accurate to state that I just wanted Kerry to lose. It was partly due to ego and pride. It was partly because they’d won the thing 35 times already and they didn’t need to win again.
I don’t think this is a particularly remarkable admission, yet like-minded individuals would be amazing to discover the attitude that exists among the general populace.
Irishmen and Irishwomen appear to love the status quo. It doesn’t annoy them to see Kerry back on top. In fact, if pushed, this conservative majority would probably admit that they like to see the Kingdom succeed. They find it quietly reassuring to see the green and gold in the Hogan Stand on the third Sunday in September. It must restore their belief that there is actually a natural order to the universe. There can be booms and recessions, taoisigh and tribunals, storms and sunny days, but if Kerry are winning All-Irelands then it proves there are some laws of the cosmos that cannot be violated.
This contentment in Kerry’s success extends to the Irish sports writing fraternity. Journalists, by nature and definition, are supposed to be anti-establishment.
Yet it’s amazing the satisfaction many hacks derive from a Kerry triumph. Make no mistake, many of them love to see a county make the breakthrough, and this was evident when Ulster teams like Armagh and Tyrone enjoyed maiden victories in 2002 and 2003. But this support for the little man quickly dries up when he threatens to seize the crown. (Note the bitterness and nit-picking following Tyrone’s victory last year). In this respect, sports reporters merely reflect the broad body of opinion in the country as a whole.
It’s quite unbelievable how many southerners... and northerners support Kerry in All-Ireland finals. And maybe it’s this love of the familiar, and reverence for the ancient powers which explains why tradition counts for so much in the GAA.
In no other sport, can the history of a parish and place hold such store. The very colour of a jersey is often worth six points. The importance we place on the past unquestionably affects the psychology of our footballers and, for this reason, overcoming the establishment is without doubt the greatest obstacle facing any club or county.
This is why the ‘team of the decade’ debate has become too boring. Kerry have won five titles. Big deal. Kerry win All-Irelands. That is what they do. It’s like praising Russia for producing chess champions.
Tyrone deserve a certain amount of credit. They finally stood up and fought the tide in 2003. But the longer I study Tyrone, the less impressive their record becomes.
It’s a huge county with the eighth highest population in the land. For many decades Tyrone has had a thriving GAA culture. And unlike many of its northern counterparts, its towns are alive with strong clubs. Equally significantly, the O’Neill men have little truck with hurling.
Given its population, its devotion to football, its culture, and its massive resources, Tyrone should be the Kerry of the north. Yet, they’ve just three All-Ireland senior titles. It’s a paltry return.
But study the past decade closely and one tribe of gaels emerges as true revolutionaries. This is a small county that dared to trample over tradition and trends. Its footballers have proved themselves in every competition where the blue bloods are accustomed to getting their own way.
So take a bow Armagh. All-Ireland senior champions in 2002, All-Ireland U21 champions in 2004, and All-Ireland minor champions in 2009. The triple crown. And let’s not forget the National League title in 2005 and those six Ulster senior titles.
Considering the nature of the GAA, an organisation where the rich get rich and the poor get knocked out in the opening seconds, that’s some haul of trophies for a county that was on the dole.
So please let’s forget all this talk about Kerry and Tyrone. Who cares? What do their exploits really matter to those of us from the blue-collar counties?
When it comes to truly inspirational champions, we should take our cue from Armagh, the county of the decade
|
|
falveyb2k
Fanatical Member
"The way this man played today, if there was a flood he'd walk on water. Jack O Shea"
Posts: 1,920
|
Post by falveyb2k on Sept 22, 2009 23:38:39 GMT
Wow that's even more impressive than I thought, even Brolly wouldn't try that!
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 23, 2009 7:04:26 GMT
Licking a piece of burnt humble pie off the ground on all fours spring to mind.
It has been easy to jump on the bandwagon in recent times Paddy. Thankfully the really good football writers never dropped their standards to that of lazy analysis.
|
|
|
Post by austinstacksabu on Sept 23, 2009 9:20:19 GMT
So you can't be the best team of a generation because you're from a county that wins??
Tres confused here Rodney.
Off to drop a note to Paddy to figure out his rationale.
|
|
|
Post by glengael on Sept 23, 2009 19:22:44 GMT
Tried to read Heaney's article from the paper this morning but kept getting distracted by the fine photo of Darren and Sam beside it on the page............................... so I forgot the article just looked at the picture instead. ;D ;D ;D
|
|
|
Post by Mickmack on Sept 23, 2009 19:30:32 GMT
Shur isnt he a relation of Seamus Heaney
Ever tried to read any of the sh... he writes
|
|
fritz
Full Member
Posts: 233
|
Post by fritz on Sept 23, 2009 21:13:53 GMT
Talking about Armagh and the triple crown is genuinely hilarious.
And it was nice of him to remind us of the National League in 2005. I had forgotten about that one.
|
|