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Post by kerry07 on Sept 28, 2007 23:43:18 GMT
Totally blown out of proportion..We are gone too PC lads. God if a Rathmore man cannot jest on an occasion like this we may as well pack it in. D Kavanagh is to be excused too FFS. He had a bad day at the office as had Billy and well I suppose it just proves that after a trauma one should stay away from the mike for a while. Spot on Watchdehop Cork's real supporters came to their home coming..like ours did in 2005. Last word Cork got to the final on MERIT and the others saying that they would have done better on the day are just whistling past the grave yaurd simple as that
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Pablo
Full Member
The older I get, the better the footballer I was.
Posts: 117
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Post by Pablo on Oct 1, 2007 13:15:51 GMT
Faking injury is not the Kerry way
Go Wednesday September 26 2007
ON Wednesday of last week, three days after winning the All Ireland final by ten points, Kerry were accused of ?faking injury left, right and centre? in order to protect their second half lead. This charge came from the Cork captain, Derek Kavanagh, who was speaking to the
Irish Independent sportswriter Colm Keys.
No such charge against the integrity of the Kerry players can be substantiated. A rerun of the video of the game will show that only three Kerry players went down injured during the second half and all appeared to have been genuinely hurt. Darragh Ó Sé received attention for no more than 35 seconds after getting a kick in the hand when attempting to collect a low ball in the 41st minute. Kieran Donaghy took an accidental elbow to the face five minutes later and resumed after 30 seconds of treatment. Aidan O?Mahony appeared badly shaken when he fell on to his back as the game entered its closing minutes and the play was stopped for exactly 55 seconds while he was receiving medical assistance. At that stage (69th minute) the game was as good as over.
This is the hard evidence that shows beyond all doubt that nobody on the winning team was going down ?faking injury left, right and centre?. If that was the case the Kerry supporters wouldn?t stand for it. Certainly, an older generation who always put great store on the ability of their footballers to stand up to whatever was thrown at them would be outraged at this despicable form of gamesmanship which, admittedly, has gained some currency in recent years.
Like many other things in the GAA nowadays (red and yellow cards to quote just one example) feigning injury is a direct import from soccer and a minority of teams specialise in it. The most blatant example of getting an opponent into trouble happened in the 2003 All Ireland final when the Armagh forward, Diarmuid Marsden, was sent off wrongfully with about ten minutes remaining in the match. Later, Marsden was exonerated by the higher powers, but that was too late to redress the damage that had been done. At full strength for the full game it is quite conceivable that Armagh might have won.
Nobody in the Armagh camp made anything of the sending off when management could easily and justifiably have highlighted what happened. Had they done so and called for the suspension of the guilty party it would have blown the lid on a genuine grievance that must have been simmering beneath the surface. But such is the rivalry between Tyrone and Armagh that it was probably considered best policy to accept what happened and say nothing.
Watching outrageously priced soccer professionals, people whose weekly salaries run into telephone numbers, rolling around on the pitch as they try to win the favours of the referee, whether through the awarding of a penalty or otherwise, is one of the most obnoxious features of that code. It happens on a regular basis and some players have brought it to a fine art. Quite understandably, GAA players who watch soccer regularly on television are being influenced by what they see on the small screen.
Down the years since the foundation of the GAA in 1884, reputations ? both good and bad ? have followed certain counties. Thus you will expect Mayo and Kildare to produce flashy teams that usually come up well short on the big stage. Dublin footballers are broadly unpopular among neutrals and always were. Ulster teams are dour and uncompromising. And so on. Up to now the popular stereotype would sugest that, by and large, Kerry teams have learned to conduct themselves in a reasonable manner. A few years ago in the Mayobridge club rooms in County Down the former Down star, Sean O?Neill (named on the Team Of the Millennium and the Team Of the Century), said to me: ?When you played against Kerry you expected to get it tough, but it was always fair?. Most opponents would probably concur. Kerry players of the past were no angels and a minority had a reputation for rough, even dangerous play, but ?lying down? is something that is completely foreign to the whole ethos of Kerry football.
Derek Kavanagh should not be allowed besmirch that reputation. The charge he made in the Irish Independent is completely without foundation. It is a smear that cannot be allowed pass unchallenged because it simply isn?t true. No evidence can be produced to make it stick.
Far better if the Cork captain addressed the real issues relative to his team?s collapse, i.e. the capitulation of so many top-ranking players all over the pitch, not least at centrefield where himself and Nicholas Murphy operated for most of the match; the slow, ponderous buildup; the absence of any semblance of a coherent gameplan; the playing of James Masters when he was clearly unfit. Similarly, the introduction of Anthony Lynch after breaking his hand only eight days previously. All of this would suggest that Cork had lost the plot even before the match started.
In the same newspaper, the former Dublin player, Keith Barr, praised Kerry for their alleged ?cynicism?. This is a back-handed compliment that is taking a leaf out of Billy Morgan?s book of unfavourable quotes vis-à-vis Kerry. Where is the evidence to sustain such a charge?
The present Kerry side are not perfect, but they are capable of playing stylish, entertaining and attractive football. That is what happens most of the time with possibly two or three players (at most) who are capable of adopting a hard, physical, aggressive approach. That kind of approach is often necessary to win games and one has only to look back and observe the manner in which the great Kerry side of the 1970s were being bludgeoned into submission before the arrival of Eoin Liston to give it credibility.
But cynicism? That?s a different subject entirely.
Keith Barr wrote about the ?delicious cynicism? in Kerry?s approach and added: ?We can be as romantic as we like about them, but they certainly know how to stop teams from playing?.
Stopping opposing teams from playing smacks of a wholly negative approach that is broadly counter-productive and would never win All Irelands or Munster championships. To go down that road would be to stifle the natural flair and inventiveness of so many singularly gifted footballers. Talented players like Colm Cooper, Declan O?Sullivan, Marc Ó Sé, Eoin Brosnan, Bryan Sheehan and others would never thrive in that kind of environment.
OK, there is a time and a place for everything and when the going gets tough Kerry supporters inevitably look to a few ?hard?men to dig them out of trouble. So long as the rules of the game are not infringed there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, every successful team needs men of that calibre who thrive in what Robert Service called ?the red rage of battle?.
But to brand the whole panel as being ?cynical? ? even in the patronising way that Keith Barr choses his words ? is totally wrong and unfair. ?Stopping teams from playing? is the poorest compliment that could be paid to any Kerry footballer, because it runs completely counter to what Kerry football stands for.
The foul-fest that was the 2007 All Ireland final projected a poor image of the modern game but, remarkably, not one columnist in the national media addressed this most contentious of issues. Perhaps we shouldn?t be surprised at that because fouling is so deeply ingrained into the culture of the game that it is gaining ever increasing respectability.
But fair is fair. Kerry happen to be one of the few teams that, for the most part, play to an attractive pattern at the present time. They have the players who can perform consistently at this level and deserve credit for what has been achieved. After winning three All Irelands in four years they must be doing something right.
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seamus
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,741
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Post by seamus on Oct 1, 2007 13:55:57 GMT
Is this not Owen McCrohen' article in last weeks kerryman?
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Post by Mickmack on Oct 1, 2007 19:20:01 GMT
yes........... its definately Owen McCrohans article!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by kerrygold on Oct 1, 2007 19:53:36 GMT
mcCrohans articles are always fairly accurate in fairnes,himself and mickey sheehys articles are the ones i trust mostly when trying to form an opinion on a game.Eamonn Fitzmaurice has been a big addition to the kerryman this year also,his articles are superb.
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madmac999
Senior Member
Who Put the ball in the Tarbert Net????
Posts: 724
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Post by madmac999 on Oct 4, 2007 17:52:09 GMT
I mentioned Kerry's victory in the office in Cork today when two Cork WAGS (the literal interpretation here i.e fools instead of some classy footballers wife)... To say that it put the Cork people in there place is an understatement. For once in there life they don't have any come back!!
It was like I threatened them with a gun.. they immediately became silent... they don't want any attention to be drawn to the cockiness that they were giving before the final..ha ha its great!!
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Post by Owenabue on Oct 4, 2007 18:19:02 GMT
madmac, be nice! The poor girls are probably drying tears with the last few weeks!
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madmac999
Senior Member
Who Put the ball in the Tarbert Net????
Posts: 724
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Post by madmac999 on Oct 4, 2007 18:41:38 GMT
madmac, be nice! The poor girls are probably drying tears with the last few weeks! Ah there not too bad at all so can't complain!! Bit of banter is always good!! Suffering withdrawal syntoms from lack of football..waiting around for the North Kerry Championship!! Had to venture down to "The Park" to see Nemo and Na Piarsaigh on Sunday!! Good game of ball.
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