|
Post by An Tarbh Rua on Mar 17, 2013 18:13:46 GMT
Well done to St.Brigids and St. Thomas's on their All Ireland Club wins today. 2 good matches and very worthy winners. For all of them it must be special but I'd imagine for the likes of Frankie Dolan, Shane Curran and others, it must be really special. Great football game played with the right attitude. Experience won it for Bridget's - did not panic when 8 points down. For the older players - Mannion, Frankie, Curran and a few in the subs it is great to see them win an AI at the end of their careers. Ronan Stack had a great game - think his father is from Listowel.
|
|
|
Post by MrRasherstoyou on Mar 17, 2013 19:55:22 GMT
Guru Geeser needed his to complete the image. Do bearded Gurus have a huge record of success in the GAA Rashers ? Hard to imagine Heffo or Micko eschewing the Gillette in the lead up to a big match back in the day! In much the same way as its hard to imagine them patrolling the sideline with an earphone gadget in their ears. No. The whole thing about the "guru" reputation ( emphasis also on 'reputation') to me is a certain lack of substance to an extent, and alot of "method". Still, Daniel Day Lewis manages both to great success!
|
|
|
Post by MrRasherstoyou on Mar 17, 2013 19:58:34 GMT
Well done to St.Brigids and St. Thomas's on their All Ireland Club wins today. 2 good matches and very worthy winners. For all of them it must be special but I'd imagine for the likes of Frankie Dolan, Shane Curran and others, it must be really special. Great football game played with the right attitude. Experience won it for Bridget's - did not panic when 8 points down. For the older players - Mannion, Frankie, Curran and a few in the subs it is great to see them win an AI at the end of their careers. Ronan Stack had a great game - think his father is from Listowel. For me first of all, a cruel way for da Mun to lose, they will feel they threw it away, too many cultured shots drifted wide in he 2nd half when direct, strong shooting would have got the couple of points to have won it. Still a heroic effort by them. I'd love to say they will defo be back to win it but the Dublin championship is very hard won. Great fightback by Brigid's and congrats to them, reward for legendary GAA men like Frankie D & Shane Curran.
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Mar 17, 2013 22:39:50 GMT
Hard luck in Croker today rashers, never easy to lose these games.
|
|
|
Post by southward on Mar 18, 2013 0:19:34 GMT
Terrific entertainment today. Ballymun didn't deserve such a cruel ending, they were superb, but those second-half wides cost them dearly. Hard to begrudge St Brigids either.
|
|
|
Post by southward on Mar 18, 2013 0:31:20 GMT
Any word on Colm O'Neill's injury? Looked bad. If it's the cruciate, it will be the third time for him. Poor guy, just scored a couple lovely points too. Best of luck to him.
Crucial incident at the end of that game - Cork up by 3 when Michael Murphy was clean through on goal, only for being rugby tackled by Cadogan. In soccer that's a straight red, no question. If it was Rugby, it's possibly a penalty try (well, not for a rugby tackle obviously, but you know what I mean). In this case however the sanction is only a 13 metre free which, with time up, is no real use to Donegal, and a meaningless yellow for the culprit. Crime certainly pays here.
|
|
|
Post by misteallaigh abú on Mar 18, 2013 13:36:49 GMT
Any word on Colm O'Neill's injury? Looked bad. If it's the cruciate, it will be the third time for him. Poor guy, just scored a couple lovely points too. Best of luck to him. Crucial incident at the end of that game - Cork up by 3 when Michael Murphy was clean through on goal, only for being rugby tackled by Cadogan. In soccer that's a straight red, no question. If it was Rugby, it's possibly a penalty try (well, not for a rugby tackle obviously, but you know what I mean). In this case however the sanction is only a 13 metre free which, with time up, is no real use to Donegal, and a meaningless yellow for the culprit. Crime certainly pays here. Tyrone did the exact same as Cadogan, on several occasions during the last 10 minutes of the game. Plenty of players are prepared to take one for the team when the only punishment is a yellow card. 10minutes in the bin would rid the game of this blight.
|
|
|
Post by southward on Mar 18, 2013 14:20:50 GMT
Any word on Colm O'Neill's injury? Looked bad. If it's the cruciate, it will be the third time for him. Poor guy, just scored a couple lovely points too. Best of luck to him. Crucial incident at the end of that game - Cork up by 3 when Michael Murphy was clean through on goal, only for being rugby tackled by Cadogan. In soccer that's a straight red, no question. If it was Rugby, it's possibly a penalty try (well, not for a rugby tackle obviously, but you know what I mean). In this case however the sanction is only a 13 metre free which, with time up, is no real use to Donegal, and a meaningless yellow for the culprit. Crime certainly pays here. Tyrone did the exact same as Carolan, on several occasions during the last 10 minutes of the game. Plenty of players are prepared to take one for the team when the only punishment is a yellow card. 10minutes in the bin would rid the game of this blight. Wouldn't disagree with that, except on this occasion the sin bin would have been equally meaningless, as time was up. The ref should have had the option of a straight red here. No use to Donegal of course, but some consequences for the sinner nonetheless.
|
|
|
Post by delorean on Mar 18, 2013 15:55:31 GMT
Any word on Colm O'Neill's injury? Looked bad. If it's the cruciate, it will be the third time for him. Poor guy, just scored a couple lovely points too. Best of luck to him. He's having a scan tomorrow. It isn't the same knee as previously as far as I know but he looked like a guy who knew the damage he had done. Very cruel on him and an absolute disaster for our chances if it's a bad as feared.
|
|
|
Post by MrRasherstoyou on Mar 20, 2013 17:38:43 GMT
Hard luck in Croker today rashers, never easy to lose these games. Fair play Kerrygold. *I blame Ger Brennan
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Apr 11, 2013 9:11:20 GMT
Word suggests Joe McQuillan has been assigned to the Dublin game again, second time in 11 months it seems. Joe hasn't been let near a Kerry game since the '11 final. Strange world that the corridors of Croker committee rooms!
|
|
|
Post by MrRasherstoyou on Apr 11, 2013 19:30:18 GMT
That's mad Ted! Has he had you questioned about stalking yet?
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Apr 11, 2013 20:43:48 GMT
Yerra I suppose an all Leinster League Final would be good for the game and help turn the economy. Go on go on go on.
|
|
|
Post by MrRasherstoyou on Apr 12, 2013 21:52:37 GMT
Joe was also the ref for last year's Mayo-Dublin semi. Say no more, pulling, dragging, diving, gamesmanship will abound to great avail - as long as it's poor little Mayo, sure ye have to give them a bit of a hand, yerra
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Apr 27, 2013 21:52:55 GMT
Kerry coach looks east to inspire players Friday, April 26, 2013 IN this period just before the annual exams, the atmosphere on the University of Limerick campus is one of focused revision for the many students embarking on life-changing final exams.
Interview: John Daly Cian O’Neill teaches on a number of degree programmes in the university, including Physical Education, Sport & Exercise Sciences, the MSc. Sports Performance, and the BSc. Physiotherapy.
“It is certainly fair to say there has been an increased interest in the area of sports education over the last decade, almost an explosion of courses related to health and physical activity,” he says. His research interests are focused on human performance evaluation, sports performance analysis and coaching science. Currently investigating the relationship between key performance indicators of athletes across different sports, he is a member of the UL Body Composition Research Group which aims to provide a reference point for adult human body composition early in the 21st century. “When I started with UL in 2000, we were the only third-level provider of physical education and sport sciences in the country, whereas today there are three institutions catering for it. This is clearly driven by the demand for career courses by students coming out of schools, as well as mature students returning to education,” he adds.
Back in 2000, there were 34 physical education graduates in the country — a figure that has now grown to 140 annually. “With that increase in numbers, there is certainly a greater challenge on graduates finding work immediately,” he says. “But UL does have the added prestige as being the original centre for physical education and our graduates have been very fortunate in finding a reasonably quick route to gainful employment. At present, these jobs may well begin as short-term contracts or maternity leave and students will often need to work through challenging early years to an eventual full-time position.” Many graduates opt to travel to the UK and the Middle East for positions after completing their degrees.
O’Neill’s sporting lineage charts a line back to his father, who played on the Kildare team, and an uncle who won an All-Ireland junior football medal with Kilkenny. He himself played inter-county football, captaining the Under 16s to a championship title, as well as playing minor level. He also won two All-Ireland basketball titles at Under 18 and Under 19 levels. “When I was a student in the 1990s in Newbridge, my passion for sport was always there,” he says. “But it was more the coaching side of things that fired my imagination — I coached my first team at age 13. I loved the involvement and trying to get the best out of teams, and opting for a career in physical education seemed a natural progression for me.”
While the growing interest in walking, jogging and cycling is evident on Ireland’s roads, he does underline the physical dangers inherent in our increasingly sedentary lifestyles: “The statistics relating to broad fitness levels, particularly amongst the child and youth population, show worrying trends. Participation rates in sporting activities are dropping, and our convenient lifestyles have seen much less manual activities that previous generations benefited from,” he says. “Childhood obesity, lack of provision of physical education in schools, particularly in primary, and falling participation rates amongst the adolescent population — these are the worrying trends that would greatly concern me.”
In tandem with his professional career at UL, Cian O’Neill’s prowess as an inter-county GAA coach has seen his profile now associated with some of the most famous sporting moments of recent times. His involvement with the Tipperary senior hurling team encompassed three All-Ireland finals, and particularly their ruthless derailing of the Kilkenny bid for five-in-a-row in 2010. Having been instrumental in helping Mayo senior footballers to the All-Ireland final, he is currently involved with manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice in helping guide the Kerry footballers to greater heights. “Much and all as I enjoyed my time with Mayo last year, it eventually became too much of a burden both personally and professionally,” he explained.
“It was three hours getting there and two and a half hours home, three times a week — there was no realistic way that could go on indefinitely.” Meeting with the incoming Kerry manager two weeks after the 2012 All Ireland sealed the deal for his latest venture at inter-county level.
“Eamonn and I would share a very similar humanistic view of coaching, we are both teachers and that was a very important aspect for me, we clicked right from the start in how we plan to help people improve their abilities.” O’Neill has also been given a selector’s brief — the first ever chosen from outside the Kingdom — which he fills along with former Kerry players, Mikey Sheehy and Diarmuid Murphy. “To say it’s an honour would be an understatement,” he says. “But it does make sense for the coach to be part of the selectors, it is important to live everything you do, that there is no detachment between what happens on the training grounds and a big match day — they should intertwine.”
Cian O’Neill subscribes to the philosophy of ‘kaizen’, both in his teaching at UL and his GAA coaching activities. Japanese for ‘continuous improvement’, it refers to the process of developing further added value within already established levels of excellence. “It was something I first came across at a Coaching Ireland conference many years ago that really stayed with me. It encapsulated everything that I try to instil in athletes,” he adds. Coming into the framework of a Kerry team that has reached the majority of All Ireland Finals over the last decade, discovering untapped levels of performance amongst proven exponents of the code presented a complex and intriguing proposition. “Kaizen means looking for areas both at individual and team level, and nowhere more appropriate than with this Kerry team that has had so much success. How do you find a way to improve someone like The Gooch, or tell Tomas Ó Sé that there is another All Ireland there, or take a Paul Galvin beyond the unfair hardships he has experienced as a player? All of this relates back to the philosophy of kaizen, continuously striving to be better at what you do.”
With the kick-off to the Championship just around the corner, the blending of Kerry’s powerful traditions with a layering of Eastern perspective may well make for an interesting prospect on the hallowed sward of Croke Park toward the end of the summer. “It’s not so much about setting out to simply improve performance, it about understanding why you need to improve it,” he says. “That’s where the difference is made.”
Name: Cian O’Neill
Occupation: Course director, BSc physical education, University of Limerick
Background: Joined the University of Limerick in 2000; appointed course director for the BSc in physical education in 2010; external examiner for the BSc health and leisure programme at IT Tralee; Helped guide the Tipperary hurlers to three consecutive All Ireland finals; coached the Mayo footballers to the All Ireland final last year.
|
|
|
Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Feb 10, 2015 14:45:40 GMT
Paul Geaney says Tommy Walsh finding his feet and will again be a force for Kerry
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
By Brendan O’Brien Paul Geaney has no doubt Tommy Walsh will be a force for Kerry again, yet the 2014 All Star nominee believes the former AFL player may take longer to re-acclimatise to Gaelic games than Tadhg Kennelly did five years ago.
Kennelly was an AFL player for eight years – three longer than Walsh — when he returned home to win an All-Ireland title with the Kingdom in 2009, but he had routinely spent his off-seasons making the odd appearance for Listowel Emmets. Walsh has not topped up his Gaelic skills in the same manner with Kerins O’Rahillys and so has returned to his native code cold in recent months with little in the bank after five years attempting to perfect the art of playing with an oval ball.
That said, Walsh made his full debut for Kerry in Derry two days ago and Geaney spotted what he believed to be clear signs of improvement in his 43 minutes from the man who made a cameo off the bench against Mayo.
“He is kicking well,” said Geaney. “It is a difficult skill to start kicking with the oval ball and it must be similar when you come back. He hasn’t really played football here, unlike Tadhg Kennelly who used to come back for local championships. Tommy didn’t do that, so it must have been strange coming back, getting up to the speed of things in Division One of the Allianz League. But he’s progressing well.”
Walsh appeared for Ireland in the International Rules series during his sojourn Down Under and he has lined out for Kerry a good six weeks earlier than Kennelly did when he made his bow back in March of 2009. The Kerins O’Rahilly man looked rusty at times in Celtic Park, but one long and accurate kick pass to clubmate Barry John Keane stood out. Even so, it may well be the summer when pitches are harder that we see the best of him.
“Well, none of us are used to the softer pitches after the winter we had,” said Geaney with a laugh. “But the best is absolutely still to come for Tommy and for the whole group. The fitness and the sharpness is going to come. It’s a bit early in the year to be expecting that off every fella. As the pitches get harder and the training progresses every fella is going to get into good nick and Tommy is going to be sharp when championship comes.”
Geaney is already there on Sunday’s evidence. The Dingle full-forward was electric in Derry, scoring 1-5 and setting up half-a-dozen other points despite the attention of three different markers over the course of the day.
“Ah, it’s nice to get a bit of a tally,” he said. “I’m feeling sharp again for the first time in a while so happy days. It’s the first time in a while I’ve kicked a big score, hopefully it continues.”
Perhaps the most impressive aspect to Kerry’s overall display was the fact that it came despite the absence of so many faces.
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Feb 19, 2015 8:51:45 GMT
Injuries have left Dermot Earley in daily pain Thursday, February 19, 2015
By Paul Keane Kildare legend Dermot Earley admits a catalogue of old football injuries leaves him in pain on a daily basis.
The 36-year old was plagued by serious knee and back problems in the latter part of his county career before retiring in mid-2013.
He twice underwent operations to repair cruciate knee ligament damage before a back injury that also required surgery convinced him to retire.
Two-time All Star Earley admitted he blames himself for putting off knee surgery initially and then injuring his back while weight training to build up support for his knee. He said the end result is he feels pain in his knee every time he pushes off it to walk and doesn’t run ‘unless I have to’.
“The knee is solid, it’s secure but I do have pain in there, on a daily basis,” said Earley. “The pain comes from just walking, it’s there where I push off. There were other complications but it all stemmed from a cruciate injury.
“It was no-one’s fault but my own. You want to be there, involved. I was 31 when I hurt it first, in training. I tore it but it was still attached and they told me I’d probably need an operation but I kept playing. It culminated then, a minute into the All-Ireland quarter-final against Meath (2010), that’s when I really did the damage.
“It was okay at the start, I have some pain for 10 or 15 seconds, then it would go away. But in 2011 and 2012 when I got back, that was really painful. There was a lot of managing it, a lot of painkillers.
“Which is one of the reasons I’m not playing now. At 36, you’d like to think you could contribute to the club but it’s not worth the pain any more.”
Earley predicted inter-county careers are ultimately going to shorten because of the demands being placed on modern players. He suggested the recent retirement of Dublin’s Bryan Cullen at 30 is going to become the norm and that the average county career could shrink to as ‘seven or eight years’ in the near future.
“I would suggest the county lifespan is going to seriously reduce,” he said. “That’s inevitable. When I started out, I wasn’t in that particular training regime. It was still two or three nights a week and you still had time to socialise and live your life, go to college and enjoy it. Just think the way it’s gone, it’s now 24/7, especially when you get into the season. I can’t see players doing it for more than seven, eight years. That would be the max.
“I think we’ll see more of retirements like Bryan Cullen at 30. Aaron Kernan was the same, at 30. We’re going to see a lot more of it.”
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Feb 19, 2015 8:56:21 GMT
Interesting comment from Dermot regarding where the game is now and when he started out in terms of preparation and the commitment involved. Micko produced exceptionally fit teams, Dermot would have spent his first 6-7 seasons during Micko's era with Kildare, had the time to get exceptionally fit, enjoy college and enjoy life without the demands of 24-7 commitment to the game.
|
|
|
Post by donegalman on Feb 19, 2015 12:26:39 GMT
Its sad all right. I doubt that the GAA will look after lads like him. A mandatory life or health insurance plan to the players should now be in situ seeing as the GAA are taking on big players like sky. You cant have it both ways, and then have players limping around the streets.
I also think that physio and training methodologies may have let some of these players down, on top of their tough schedules. Last year, several Meath players were out injured before a ball was even kicked in the championship. There must be a lack of education or understanding of sports physio if this is happening.
|
|
|
Post by Annascaultilidie on Feb 19, 2015 13:02:47 GMT
If you have a business you can flog/rip off customers for a couple years but then they will leave you. Your profit in those two years might well be very high but over the course of the business --- 5, 10, 15 years --- your profit will not be as high.
Hopefully some teams might see that they might get more rewards in time if they don't flog players.
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Feb 22, 2015 11:29:16 GMT
James O'Donoghue: In Kerry you are either brilliant or useless Donnchadh Boyle
Footballer of the Year James O'Donoghue admits he's unlikely to see action until the Kingdom open their championship campaign later this year.
But it's not a setback, he's keen to point out.
The Kerry star insists that, with a check-up next Monday, his rehab from shoulder surgery is coming along nicely.
He has, however, all but ruled out playing any league football meaning he'll be heading into the Kingdom's championship opener against either Waterford or Tipperary on June 14 cold.
Still, he's quietly confident everything will work out for him.
"Hannan Mullet is my surgeon and he is going to tell me and I think he is saying about eight or ten weeks and I can go back into contact. So depending on what Eamonn (Fitzmaurice) thinks, its probably 12 weeks before I am playing again," O'Donoghue said at the launch of AIB's three-year football championship sponsorship agreement with the GAA.
"So it is not too bad. It will come around fairly lively so I am happy enough.
minutes
"The league is out for me I'd say unless we get to a final or a semi-final and my rehab is going very well; they might give me a few minutes maybe.
"I am not even sure to be honest. But in my head I am ruling out the league and hopefully getting ready for the championship."
For now, O'Donoghue (pictured) spends his time watching on from the gym as he goes through his painstaking rehab while overlooking the Fitzgerald Stadium pitch.
Below him, the Kerry squad endure the early-season toil. Others will step into his jersey in the meantime and he knows he'll be playing catch-up on his return to full fitness.
"That's always the case," he said.
"But you have to completely forget about it and trust yourself that when you do come back that you are going to be in good enough nick to get a spot in the team.
"You have got to back yourself I suppose and if you have any doubts about that you are in trouble
"You have got to tell yourself in your head that you are going to get back on the team so that is what I am going to try and do."
In his absence, the Kingdom have made a mixed start to the league, losing to Mayo in Killarney before seeing off Derry.
It's not perfect but still a better opening than the last two seasons, when they lost the opening three games of the year only to recover and avoid relegation from the top flight.
"It was tough," O'Donoghue said of their early-season struggles in 2014. "We were training very hard and seemed to be training brilliantly and next thing we'd go out on the field on a Sunday and be absolutely horrific so you are trying to get your head around that.
"But that is the nature of the beast with the training. When you are training that hard you have to have almost two weeks of reining it back in which you never get in the league because we are training so hard.
"That's probably why we were so poor in the league last year. It could be the same again this year I don't know. We are training hard and at the end of the day it is about winning an All-Ireland so I'm sure the boys are trying to peak for that."
The Legion man never worried that they could be in for another poor start to the league when they were beaten at home by Mayo.
"I think we have started off okay. We were just basically off the plane from South Africa and the lads had to tackle a good Mayo team in Killarney and that was always going to be tough.
"We got a good bit of training under our belts for Derry and had a good win and you know we are thinking if you win three more games you have a great chance of getting to a semi-final so I am sure that is the goal for the boys."
Their season turned last year when Tyrone came to town. A win for the Red Hand would probably have seen Kerry relegated but instead they produced an astonishing display.
O'Donoghue hit a hat-trick of brilliant goals that day as Kerry gradually found their feet. Fitzmaurice's side hardly looked back after that.
"I don't know how to describe it, it was a lucky one," he said. "We got a couple of goals at good times and won it. There was a good feeling around the place.
"Then we won two more games and we were safe from relegation and were done with the league and then we could concentrate on championship.
"We went to Portugal had a good camp so I think we are probably going to go for the same mould this year I presume.
"Hopefully we've had our watershed moment already in beating Derry."
This time around, Kerry are different.
Reigning All-Ireland champions don't have seasons change with one big performance.
The confidence that having won Sam Maguire brings tells them that there's no need for panic, even if things don't go well in the spring.
"Maybe we kind of have the confidence … we definitely think that we can do it again; that's what we are going for.
"It does take a little bit of pressure off but at the same time not much because the expectation now is completely on us.
"In the league last year we were a bunch of wallies who weren't going to win anything and this year people think we are going to do alright and we have a strong panel.
"The expectation is on ourselves - you put the pressure on yourself at the end of the day. In Kerry, you are either brilliant or useless but I'm sure we'll be fine this year we'll have a good chance."
Last year is gone. O'Donoghue dreamt of winning an All-Ireland and now that he has it, he knows he wants more.
"We're looking forward to the summer, hopefully go back-to-back. That would be fantastic. Then you're a very good team so that's our goal. We've forgotten about last year already."
Indo Sport
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Pitches on Feb 26, 2015 13:49:18 GMT
PADDY HEANEY: Kingdom’s unique structure keeps them well ahead of all pretenders When outfoxed by superior coaching methods or tactics, Kerry have been swift to absorb lessons and make the necessary changes, writes Paddy Heaney. This is a bold claim, but I am going to make it anyway. In today’s column, I am going to reveal the secret of Kerry football. With 37 All-Ireland titles, Kerry is the most successful county in the land. Take Dublin (24 titles) out of the equation, and no other county else even comes near them. Why are Kerry so good? Unlike some other counties, they don’t have ultra-successful senior club teams. Kerry’s record in the All-Ireland Club senior competition certainly doesn’t compare with their achievements at county level. The same is true of their county U21 and minor teams. And yet Kerry senior football teams continue to succeed. How do they do it? Apart from an all-consuming football culture which has been developed over the past century, Kerry’s domination is based on two key factors. 1) They play more football than anyone else 2) They develop more county footballers from intermediate and junior teams. Yes, it’s not rocket science. But before leaping to any conclusions, consider some of the evidence. Following all the debate that has been stoked up about the amount of weight training being conducted by Gaelic footballers, it’s worth highlighting the thoughts of Dan John. As one of the most revered strength and conditioning trainers in America, it’s no surprise John believes almost all sportsmen and athletes will reap huge rewards from resistance based training. However, in his book Intervention, John makes an interesting observation. He writes: “People often comment on the way I train athletes – my throwers throw. For the record, my jumpers jump and my sprinters sprint.” John adheres to what he calls his ‘80:20 Rule’. If he’s coaching a thrower, 80% of their training will involve throwing. Only 20% of their time will be allocated to strength training. The logic is simple. To perfect a particular skill, a person needs to practise that particular skill. So, the more often someone plays competitive football, the better they will become at playing competitive football. And in Kerry, they play a serious amount of competitive football. In Ulster, most counties operate a county championship and a county league. A senior club player could typically expect about 14 to 16 League games per year, and a minimum of one championship game. In Kerry, they have a county championship (which involves divisional teams) and a county league. They have also have a club championship (exclusively for clubs), a district league and a district championship. At the bare minimum, the average club footballer in Kerry will play 21 games per year. And that’s an absolute minimum. It’s worth noting all the aforementioned competitions are replicated at U21 level. An U21 player, who is also on his club’s senior team will play at least 30 matches. And, let’s not forget the player who is on a strong team. If a player was on a club team that reached the club and county championship finals, he would also be playing more than 30 matches per year. Not only does the Kerryman play more often, the structure of the county’s championship allows players from weaker clubs to compete on an equal footing. As the only county in Ireland that operates a divisional system, is it any coincidence Kerry enjoys such incredible success at developing players from their intermediate, junior and novice clubs? Cast your eyes over this veritable Hall of Fame: Mick O’Connell (Valentia), Jack O’Shea (St Mary’s Cahirciveen), Maurice Fitzgerald (St Mary’s Cahirciveen), Declan O’Sullivan (Dromid Pearses), Mick O’Dwyer (Waterville), and John Egan (Sneem). Everyone of those legends came from the lower divisions of Kerry football. However, the divisional system enabled all those men to play for South Kerry, a consortium of St Mary’s Cahirciveen, Renard, St Michael’s/Foilmore, Skellig Rangers, Valentia, Derrynane, Dromid Pearses, Waterville and Sneem. Before entering a county squad, the experience of playing for South Kerry informs talented players from junior clubs that they have no reason to feel inferior. Contrast that scenario with the experience faced by the junior footballer from an Ulster club who is called for a trial game with the county squad. The Kerry team which won last year’s All-Ireland title provides further proof the structure of the county championship promotes the development of players from unheralded clubs. Six players from the starting team came from Rathmore, Renard, Duagh, Kenmare and Cromane. Kenmare (Stephen O’Brien) and Cromane (Donnchadh Walsh) are novice clubs which play below junior level. All but two of Donegal’s starting line-up came from Division One clubs. The exceptions were Frank McGlynn (Glenfin) and Darach O’Connor (Buncrana). Dr Crokes, Laune Rangers, Austin Stacks, and Kerins O’Rahilly’s might grab all the headlines, but it’s the intermediate and junior clubs which provide the bedrock of Kerry’s success. Again, the evidence is staring us in the face. On the weekend when Austin Stacks failed to reach the St Patrick’s Day showpiece in Croke Park, Ardfert and Brosna secured the All-Ireland Intermediate and Junior titles. Since the Intermediate and Junior All-Ireland competitions were started in 2004, Kerry clubs have enjoyed the most success. Ardfert (2007 and 2015), Milltown-Castlemaine and St Michael’s Foilmore have all won the All-Ireland Intermediate competition. Kerry clubs have won eight of the last 10 Munster Intermediate club championships. The success of Kerry’s clubs is even more pronounced in the junior grade. Finuge (2005), Ardfert (2006), Skellig Rangers (2009), Castlegregory (2010) and Brosna (2015) have all won All-Ireland titles. And Kerry’s junior clubs have won nine of the last 10 Munster Championships. With a total of 73 clubs, Kerry has less resources than Cork and Dublin. With regard to Ulster, it’s best to let the figures speak for themselves. (see panel) And yet, Kerry are often accused of being arrogant. But nothing could be further from the truth. When outfoxed by superior coaching methods or tactics, Kerry have been swift to absorb lessons and make the necessary changes. In contrast, no-one copies Kerry. With 37 All-Ireland titles, they have a policy of playing more games than anyone else. And to accommodate their packed fixtures list they have a totally unique structure. Kerry insist on learning from others. Meanwhile, everyone else refuses to learn from Kerry. Who is being arrogant? www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/paddy-heaney/kingdoms-unique-structure-keeps-them-well-ahead-of-all-pretenders-314760.html
|
|
|
Post by Ballyfireside on Feb 27, 2015 3:56:45 GMT
The above article by Paddy Heaney is consistent with Brian O'Driscoll's view that we already flagged in a thread. It also reminds of John O'Keeffe insisting that it is FOOTBALL and that the most basic skill was, well kicking the ball and which he pointed out would defeat the hunting in packs/blanket; that he said all this the day after the 'puke' scenario is the mark of the man. These basics were fundamentals of O'Dwyer and the results support the theory, although they were different times. I think Heaney shares some interesting observations but I wouldn't agree that he nails it; I think our success is a combination of a very large number of factors. What is also interesting is that most of our national rugby players also came from Junior GAA clubs, well one 'club' really, Currow. Darach O'Cnnor would also play soccer and most Junior club fellas would be picked up from secondary school anyway. It is remarkable though that 6 of the starting 15 in the AI final are from Junior clubs. That hurling is such a minority is also a factor and I wonder if we progressed in that code would it take from the big ball? Kilkenny and ourselves both failed one year to field a team in football and hurling respectively and a footballing Cat is so rare.
That Kerry has a good sponsor all these years is also a major factor. We engage more about the game and this all adds up -walk into any pub in Kerry and you will find at least one who knows his football; this is not the case in other counties.
|
|
|
Post by Annascaultilidie on Feb 27, 2015 7:06:12 GMT
"Hurling in Kerry" and "football in Kilkenny" don't really belong in the same sentence.
|
|
|
Post by kerrybhoy06 on Feb 27, 2015 9:10:59 GMT
"Hurling in Kerry" and "football in Kilkenny" don't really belong in the same sentence. This is always something that gets me too- we are close to the top half of hurling counties but people view our hurlers with disdain due to the success of our footballers. Outside of the Munster teams, Dublin, Kilkenny, Galway and Wexford- we would hold our own with if not beat all the others. While football in Kilkenny more or less doesnt exist
|
|
|
Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Feb 27, 2015 10:58:57 GMT
"Hurling in Kerry" and "football in Kilkenny" don't really belong in the same sentence. This is always something that gets me too- we are close to the top half of hurling counties but people view our hurlers with disdain due to the success of our footballers. Outside of the Munster teams, Dublin, Kilkenny, Galway and Wexford- we would hold our own with if not beat all the others. While football in Kilkenny more or less doesnt exist With all due respect to the Antrim Hurlers and the Offaly hurlers, but we are currently quite close to their level. Antrim were allowed to play in the Leinster championship as their opposition in Ulster are all at a lower level. Offaly are allowed in Leinster as they're a Leinster province. Galway were allowed to play in the Leinster championship as their opposition in Connacht is at a lower level. Kerry are in the strongest province by far hurling wise and though Dublin, Kilkenny, Galway and Wexford would absolutely trounce Kerry each year I think we would be able to hold ourselves against most other counties currently playing in Leinster. If Kerry win the league and the Christy Ring would joining Leinster rather than Munster, where they'd be whipping boys, be an option?
|
|
|
Post by Mickmack on Feb 27, 2015 18:46:46 GMT
Who is he in the famed green and gold
|
|
|
Post by kerrybhoy06 on Feb 27, 2015 19:04:12 GMT
Who is he in the famed green and gold Zebo playing for Blackrock
|
|
|
Post by Seoirse Ui Duic on Feb 27, 2015 19:28:28 GMT
Who is he in the famed green and gold Zebo playing for Blackrock Was apparently a big loss to Cork hurling and football. By his own admission hurling was his first love, but rugby suited him better. With his French roots (Martinique) it is no surprise he went the ruggers way.
|
|
fitz
Fanatical Member
Red sky at night get off my land
Posts: 1,719
|
Post by fitz on Feb 27, 2015 21:18:56 GMT
"Hurling in Kerry" and "football in Kilkenny" don't really belong in the same sentence. Provokes me to offer analogy with the remote goal, audience amusement. The target in each case is to summit the mountain, Everest, which equates to Sam/Liam. Kerry have a good team, experienced climbers, getting more acclimatized with altitude, base camp guaranteed, heading for camp 1 above base. Kilkenny, arrive in Nepal with shorts, runners and sun cream. Bullheaded they intend to walk to the summit, in one trip. Is that comparison gap wide enough?
|
|