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Post by kerrygold on Jul 18, 2014 14:55:19 GMT
Maybe if the lads had listened to the shrink and forgot about the jellies they might have won the ones that got away! Anyway, great read, enjoyed the insight from Tomas.
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peig
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Post by peig on Jul 23, 2014 0:27:37 GMT
Maybe if the lads had listened to the shrink and forgot about the jellies they might have won the ones that got away! Anyway, great read, enjoyed the insight from Tomas. I couldn't agree with you more, KG. Would they have worn gear from the 70s when their team mates wore nothing but the latest high-tech stuff? Would they have horsed into a feed of bacon and cabbage a couple of hours before a game when their team mates stuck to a rigid diet? It's a team sport and teams, collectively, need to believe in an ethos fostered by their psychologist irrespective of an individual's open thoughts on the matter. Then again, if the wrong psychologist is brought in, that's a different matter.
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peig
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Post by peig on Jul 31, 2014 13:37:05 GMT
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Post by delorean on Aug 2, 2014 8:52:17 GMT
My God that was awful. Dara O Cinneide wrote an excellent piece in today's Examiner. Tomas and Darragh must cringe at their lazy attempts when they read the likes of Cinneide and Conor McCarthy. The coppers hitting their bank accounts soften the blow no doubt. To be fair, Tomas had a couple of reasonable attempts early on but the last few contained zero substance and were embarrassingly written. The debate as to whether or not there's a ghost writer involved has been emphatically put to bed, either that or he's on his summer holidays.
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fitz
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Red sky at night get off my land
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Post by fitz on Aug 2, 2014 12:59:19 GMT
I hear what you're writing Delorean, I think there's still good insight in the article but like some of Darragh's, too much reminiscences of times past, and much of that is somewhat irrelevant to at least some sections of the paper's audience and the upcoming game in focus. At the same time, with such recently retired stalwarts of the game, some folk want more personal introspection and some stories. The paper must give such license and maybe even demand. Tomas on his form to date on TV is a more than capable analyst. So maybe some rock and hard place here.
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Post by Ballyfireside on Aug 2, 2014 13:11:39 GMT
While this article underlies Dara O Cinneide as a class act GAA journalist, I think Tomás had a different focus. And Darragh's recent insight of the blanket technique was probably his best ever article.
O'Sés may haunt but of ghost writers I wouldn't be sure, but delorean certainly got us all reading a very worthy article in De Papa.
Is it that Gooch's clinical playing style will prevail in his next life in the media? I think I speak for all when I hope you are keeping well; these days can't be easy for Colm. We look forward to the buachaillin rua in his dancing shoes arís whist waltzing his opponent around the ballroom of romance, rock and rolling on the ball, with the ball, at the ball! "Triskaidekaphobia", the Ballythefireside poem, fear of No 13!
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fitz
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Red sky at night get off my land
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Post by fitz on Aug 2, 2014 22:53:57 GMT
K-man, genuinely no offence meant, but endearingly meant, but you iz one craaazy aasss m......(accent borrowed from Ice Cube in Boyz in the Hood)
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Post by Mickmack on Aug 2, 2014 23:08:21 GMT
Yerra viva la differance as they say in the south westh of france
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lorr29
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Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative
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Post by lorr29 on Aug 8, 2014 13:21:00 GMT
Love Tomás' column. Great player and great analyst. Just catching on the forum from my travels got to agree Tomas' articles are superb this year. Particularly loved his perspective on sports psychology...
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Post by Ballyfireside on Aug 8, 2014 14:33:14 GMT
K-man, genuinely no offence meant, but endearingly meant, but you iz one craaazy aasss m......(accent borrowed from Ice Cube in Boyz in the Hood) Now that's what I call a compliment, probably the nicest thing anyone said about me in a long time. Amazing that I always talk nonsense and people take me serious, then I have my single moment of common sense and I'm an ass, and a crazy one at that. Now what's that Babs said about donkeys and derbies?
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Post by givehimaball on Aug 15, 2014 5:33:29 GMT
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Post by MrRasherstoyou on Aug 16, 2014 18:10:35 GMT
Regarding the attitude of the Cork 'fans'... or rather the Cork sporting public. I know this one Corkman and I despise the fact he has so little respect for his county footballers. Oh plenty of respect for the hurlers --- even though the footballers have been more successful in the last decade. This is the series of emails I got from him last Sunday and I just don't get it: "I know that you thought it was Counihan and there is only 20 mins gone but these Cork lads are and always have been a bunch of losers." "Why, these are the nancy boys who used be able to beat ye in munster and then go on to lose to ye in croke park by embarrassing scorelines cause they are a bunch of losers. The are letting ye get on top all over the field. They have gone back to the go nowhere sideways handpassing crap we had for years. I was hoping I was wrong but I remember saying to you before that these lads are a bunch of losers. If Kerry had the ability in terms of football that cork had for the last ten years ye would have returned a lot more than one all ireland. Thank God it is only football as if this happened in hurling Cork would be a depressing place." "2004 and 2005 but in between we played like men for example last year we played as well as we could in an all ireland final twice. We werent good enough to win but that is grand. Fair play to Clare they were better. These lads have no bottle and are missing the winners mentality." "Seriously - a bunch of losers. You cant really argue with that." I can but assume this creature has some redeeming qualities that persuade you to continue discourse with him. :-) The condescension with the 'if Kerry had the footballers Cork had...' baked in with the abuse of the footballers and flagrant bias towards the hurlers grates. Be interesting to know his opinion on Aidan,Eoin and Damien? To be honest 'scaul I picture this man carrying timber, a paunch only a seasoned bullshi*ter could harbour, someone who will never utter words, ' I didn't know that...' and possibly has multiple nasal polyps thus preventing him from smelling the same bullls*it he's been continuously shovelling,forever. Maybe a smoker too, would help with with pub bulls*it training. Am i way off the mark? Needs a lower shinbone to the spuds for such treason. Brilliant! That gentleman, Raconteur, and Scholar, Mr. tierney Esquire, greatly approves of these comments and more especially the tone and dignity with which they are infused! (: (:
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Post by glengael on Sept 2, 2014 10:25:19 GMT
Fair play to Tomas for putting Des in his box on the Sunday Game on Sunday night.
It almost made up for his first fashion faux pas of the summer. That suit made him look like an apprentice undertaker.
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Post by Die Hard Kerry Fan on Sept 2, 2014 11:18:59 GMT
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Post by ardfertnarrie on Sept 2, 2014 11:23:05 GMT
"It's called football."
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Post by Ballyfireside on Sept 5, 2014 15:36:41 GMT
Another brilliant article that we will all review for ourselves. The comments in The Indo are farcical as usual, at least our standards are higher on here. Not a single positive comment outside of Kerry and which underlines what I have always said about the maturity of the colossus of The Kerry GAA body politic. With respect I think it is clearer to those of us based outside the county; while we can all be forgiven for taking things for granted, I think it is harder for locals to fully appreciate just how different Kerry Football is. As I ask my Donegal 'frenemies', will it be 3 or 37?
Football's smartest minds now go into battle for Sam I thought this punditry lark would be easy, but now I'm coming to the conclusion that it's harder than trying to explain Pythagoras through Latin.
Honestly, who could have predicted last weekend? If there's been two better days of Gaelic football back-to-back, I haven't lived through them. Saturday in Limerick was extraordinary. Looking back now, I would say the Gaelic Grounds turned out to be the right replay venue for the wrong reasons.
I still think the GAA got it wrong in essentially denying one All-Ireland semi-final the same status as the other. But that's water under the bridge now. You couldn't move ten yards on the Ennis Road without seeing great players of the past. It was wonderful.
I saw so many ex-county men, all of them giddy and upbeat, like kids thinking ahead to Christmas. I've been to a Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United in London; I've been to big basketball games in America, but the atmosphere in Limerick was like nothing I've ever experienced.
I played in that Thurles game against the Dubs in '01 and I still hear people talk about the famous Cork-Dublin replay at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in '83. This was of the same calibre with the sheer electricity of the gathering.
Intense
The one place it differed was in the game, because this was one of the most intense I've ever seen played. For two teams - after just a six-day turnaround - to produce what they produced brought it home to me how the whole thing is gone to another level again.
Like the individual tussles were epic. Donaghy against Cafferkey. O'Donoghue against Higgins. My God, all these extraordinary little battles blazing away inside a bigger war. Not to mention Fitzmaurice against Horan on the line of course.
Fitz was brave in his team selection. I knew my brother Marc was upset at not starting but, in fairness, it drew the right reaction. This year Marc possibly hadn't been reaching the high standards he's always set for himself. But he reacted brilliantly, which is what a manager wants.
It was hard on Marc for a fella who's been there for so long, but I suspect it was equally hard on Fitz. We'd all be pretty close. But it's a tough job he's doing and the decision paid off.
Mayo had something special under James Horan and I've nothing but immense respect for how they behaved throughout the two games. I didn't really want to meet Mayo supporters after because I didn't know what to be saying. The last thing I wanted was to sound patronising.
Let's be honest, there was nothing between these teams. Maybe the key decision was starting Donaghy, who was excellent. Mick O'Dwyer was sitting in front of me, turning around at one stage to say t'was just like old days, when you could fire any kind of ball in on top of 'The Bomber'.
Eamonn is cute out. He hammered the hammer as we say, targeting Mayo's strengths around the middle third. He deserves great credit too because, at the start of the year, the outlook for Kerry wasn't positive. So many big players were gone and, of course, arguably the greatest forward any of us has ever seen was going to be missing for the year. So he's turned everything around and put an incredible work ethic into the team.
They brought a manic aggression to Saturday that surprised Mayo.
And what can you say about David Moran? For a fella who has come back from two cruciates, who has carried the burden on his shoulders of always being compared to Ogie, his father, the man was incredible - 47 touches? When the next one down was in the 20s?
Since Darragh left, the Kerry midfield has been much maligned, but Moran and Anthony Maher were outstanding.
Some people seemed to think Kerry would not be able to live with Mayo's physicality on a tighter field than Croke Park. I was surprised by that view as I could never see the physical stuff being a problem for Kerry. So it turned out to be the other way around. I mean Paul Geaney had the highest tackle-count on the field. And did you see Mark Griffin upturning Aidan O'Shea? Mother of God, that stuff lifts a whole team.
But they'll have their hands full on the 21st. If anything, they're going to have to be even more physical now against a Donegal team that shocked Croke Park to the core on Sunday. Because if Kerry lose, believe me the Mayo win will be forgotten so quickly. All-Ireland final appearances aren't remembered with any fondness in Kerry if the Sam Maguire isn't brought home at the end of it.
Donegal were a 7/1 shot before the Dublin game and I couldn't see them winning. We all bought into the idea that Dublin were far more street-smart than they proved. They were going for their third title in four years and we reckoned they knew what it would take to put back-to-back titles together. I think everybody was hoodwinked too by the size of their panel.
The key thing about Donegal was that, unlike any other team that played Dublin this year, they didn't fear them. I made a judgment on the flatness of Jim McGuinness' men in the Division 2 final and certainly got that one wrong. But I don't buy into this thing that they were just gearing for an All-Ireland. It doesn't work like that.
Look hindsight makes us all clever. I couldn't believe how naïve Dublin looked on Sunday, but Donegal exposed that naivety brilliantly. They landed ball after ball on top of big Neil Gallagher, then got three or four fellas exploding past together to try to break the defensive line.
McGuinness deserves huge credit for a really clever game-plan. For me, himself and Eamonn Fitz are the two smartest managers around.
Ryan McHugh was tremendous. Physically he looks like someone still in secondary school, but the boy has some engine.
And Donegal will now take serious confidence from the win. I remember them saying after the All-Ireland in 2012 that it was beating Kerry in the quarter-final that convinced them they could do it.
Now they're after beating a team that some said could win five in a row, an unstoppable machine, we thought. Imagine what that will give them.
Irish Independent
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seamo
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Post by seamo on Sept 6, 2014 17:49:52 GMT
A great read from Tomas, called it fairly. Nice to see a journalist who's not attention seeking.
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Post by patinkerry on Sept 6, 2014 20:06:48 GMT
This championship has had a lovely edge and started well with Tomas O Se's article on Friday morning. It's only getting better. Two more articles or four if you count Darraghs before the day of all days. Lovely to read their insight!
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Post by patinkerry on Sept 6, 2014 20:07:00 GMT
This championship has had a lovely edge and started well with Tomas O Se's article on Friday morning. It's only getting better. Two more articles or four if you count Darraghs before the day of all days. Lovely to read their insight!
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kot
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Post by kot on Sept 12, 2014 9:31:08 GMT
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animal
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Post by animal on Sept 12, 2014 10:20:00 GMT
Thoroughly enjoyed Tomás' article today. A great read. Includes the dangers lurking within a pre-match Spagbol.
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keane
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Post by keane on Sept 12, 2014 11:03:17 GMT
Another great article
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Post by kerrygold on Sept 12, 2014 11:42:26 GMT
Great piece and insight from Tomas, one of the great gifts from Tomas and Darragh is that they are happy to share so much about what it is like to be part of the Kerry team heading up to Croker to try and win one.
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Post by kerrygold on Mar 6, 2016 8:49:40 GMT
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Post by Mickmack on Mar 6, 2016 10:15:31 GMT
But it's an absolute disgrace how club players continue to be treated. I'll hold my hand up here and acknowledge that the full extent of that disgrace wasn't apparent to me until I stopped playing inter-county. For 17 years with Kerry, that never entered my head.
An inter-county player doesn't see the training his club colleagues do. You're maybe parachuted back in for a championship game, but you've no real grasp of the effort your team-mates have invested to be there alongside you. Now I know. Now I understand the incredible frustration of training for an aspirational schedule.
Tomas joins Brolly and several other ex county men in seeing the perspective of club players ONLY after he leaves the county scene. Very honest of Tomas to admit this but also a little disconserting that so many county players have so little empathy for the club players till they themselves return to being just club players.
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