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Post by Admin on Sept 17, 2006 0:02:40 GMT
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:38:46 GMT
Joy for Jack in Kerry romp Monday September 18th 2006 ADVERTISEMENT
WE BOUGHT it - hook line and sinker. Few could see it coming, least of all Mayo.
And when Kieran Donaghy spread himself like the tracks of a tank all over David Heaney and rifled a venomous shot past David Clarke only eight minutes in for an eight-point lead, we felt as embarrassed as they looked.
This was supposed to be a different Mayo. There was to be no early collapse like 2004. But it was worse than that, and when Eoin Brosnan chipped Kerry's fourth goal late on, memories of the humiliation of the 1993 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork came flooding back.
The same old failings came back to haunt them.
Kerry's 34th All-Ireland title will rank as one of their easiest. For Mayo the misery continues. And right now it looks like an everlasting curse.
The post mortem will last weeks, months and maybe even years. Mickey Moran and John Morrison may seek refuge as a coaching team elsewhere.
For Kerry there is unbridled joy, a second All-Ireland for Jack O'Connor, who used apparent criticism of his team and this week's selection of Declan O'Sullivan as prime motivating factors.
Asked to quantify the difference between now and 2004 O'Connor picked a 20 fold increase in pleasure and ran with it.
"I was seriously motivated myself because I've been an underdog all my life, getting written off by a lot of people. I was just delighted that the lads rallied around. We felt deep down that we were going to get it together, that the criticism was actually helping us. We managed to turn it around and use it."
O'Sullivan graciously invited Cooper to raise the cup in unison and praised the corner-forward for coming through difficult times this season.
"Colm's a great guy and a great friend of mine. He might have been disappointed not to have gone up there today so I thought it was only right that the two of us should go up and lift it. He showed great strength this year in difficult times."
Mayo's David Brady announced his retirement from inter-county football afterwards and Séamus Moynihan hinted that he may have played his last game.
Colm Keys
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:39:39 GMT
Kingdom power to glory as Mayo implode Monday September 18th 2006 ADVERTISEMENT
Kerry 4-15
Mayo 3-5
THE All-Ireland football title is headed to Kerry for the 34th time while the aching sense of desolation that burns deep into every Mayo soul is set to continue into its 56th year.
As for the rest of the football world, they had to make do with one of the least competitive finals for many years, one where the Mayo defence looked at times as if they had been bribed to concede goals while Kerry offered similar hints in the second quarter.
Goals make games but not when they're so cheaply earned and it must be said that most of yesterday's seven owed more to poor security than to creative excellence.
In fact, with the county final season about to open up, coaches of junior clubs will be confident that their defences won't be as easily out-witted as Mayo were for the entire game and as Kerry were in the second quarter. Not that it mattered to Kerry in the end as they inflicted far more damage on the points circuit.
Mayo's misery pool is much deeper today than it was after the 2004 All-Ireland final defeat which, for all its savage disappointment, wasn't as emphatic as yesterday's total demolition.
Debris
Quite frankly, Mayo could salvage nothing from the debris of a game which was way out of their range after just 13 minutes when they found themselves 2-4 to 0-0 in arrears.
Mayo would have planned down to the last minute detail how to guard against allowing Kerry to build up early momentum as it was absolutely vital not to find themselves chasing the game from too far back.
Granted, they survived that ordeal against Dublin but there's a huge difference between unproven Dublin and driven Kerry, who were contesting their sixth final - including one replay - since 2000.
Rumours of unrest in the Kerry camp were made to look the idiotic nonsense that they really were as the team bonded as if they had been together since birth to present Mayo with an overwhelming sense of unity.
What's more, it was accompanied by sufficient attacking efficiency to accumulate 4-15, the highest in an All-Ireland final since Dublin scored 5-12 against Armagh in 1977.
It was the highest winning margin in the final since Kerry (who else?) beat Dublin by 17 points in 1978 and frankly it could have been a whole lot more.
For long periods, Mayo were abject almost to the point of embarrassment and while three first half goals - which were a combination of sloppy defending and opportunist sniping by Kevin O'Neill and Pat Harte - raised slim hopes, the reality was that Mayo were still drowning in the Kerry torrent.
They trailed by 3-8 to 3-2 at half-time, a truly bizarre scoreline that showed just how vulnerable both sets of defences were.
Kerry had pounced for two goals in the opening nine minutes, the first by Declan O'Sullivan (seventh), followed two minutes later by a Kieran Donaghy power hit.
Donaghy had been involved in the piercing build-up to the first goal and had also earned a free which Mike Frank Russell had pointed.
It was enough to prompt the Mayo management into admitting that David Heaney wasn't the man to succeed where other full-backs had failed against Donaghy but then it wasn't the only problem facing the sideline strategists.
Declan O'Sullivan was more than justifying his recall to the Kerry attack, giving James Nallen such a torrid time that the Crossmolina veteran was replaced after just 11 minutes with Heaney moving to centre-back and David Brady coming in to mark Donaghy.
Having to re-structure the heart of the defence so early in an All-Ireland final suggested that it was going to be one of those awful days for Mayo. And so it proved.
They didn't score for 16 minutes when Kevin O'Neill goaled but found themselves 12 points adrift (3-6 to 1-0) when Colm Cooper scored Kerry's third goal in the 26th minute.
A Pat Harte goal in the 34th minute, followed a minute later by Kevin O'Neill's second goal, stunned Kerry but they still took a six-point advantage into the half-time break.
It was virtually certain that the goal deluge would ease off considerably in the second half so it was a question of whether Mayo had the resources and the resolve to grind their way back via the points route.
They hadn't. They failed to score at all for 19 minutes and landed a miserly 0-3 (all from frees) in a hopelessly one-sided second half which ended with Eoin Brosnan, a half-time sub for Tomas Ó Sé, scoring his fifth goal of the campaign in stoppage time.
By then, large swathes of green and red clad supporters were filling the local streets, wondering how a team that had beaten Galway, Laois and Dublin were so far off the required pace.
Perhaps the answer rests with the latter trio, more particularly their failure to exploit Mayo's shortcomings.
The Mayo defence were beaten, re-organised and beaten again after 25 minutes, midfield rarely imposed themselves while their two best attackers, Kevin O'Neill and Billy Joe Padden were inexplicably replaced by the three-quarter-stage.
O'Neill's instinct for goal, as evidenced by his two first-half strikes, entitled him to a longer run while Padden had taken the battle to Kerry with his probing runs.
Alan Dillon, Man of the Match on his two previous visits to Croke Park, never got into the game and was replaced after 47 minutes; Ger Brady didn't achieve very much; Conor Mortimer kicked three points from frees but did little else while Ciaran McDonald looked very much like a man who may have been bothered a whole lot more by last week's injury than Mayo were prepared to admit.
He got his hands on plenty of ball but was tightly cornered by the tenacious Aidan O'Mahony. McDonald wandered way back into his defence which was an invitation for O'Mahony to come forward, a pursuit that enabled him to kick two points from play which was a point more than Mayo's starting six (plus three subs) managed.
If O'Mahony's high work rate was crucial in restricting McDonald's influence, Seamus Moynihan's all-round solidity was even more important. He had a fine game, marking, covering and anticipating in a manner than was reminiscent of his very best days.
Paul Galvin's industry, Declan O'Sullivan's strong running, Kieran Donaghy's giant presence and Colm Cooper's constant nuisance value were all hugely significant too on a day when Kerry joined Galway (2001) and Tyrone (2005) as teams who entered the All-Ireland castle via the back door.
Nobody could deny Kerry's right to be there. They scored a total of 11-57 in their last four championship games and waited until the most important day of all to land their highest return.
All so typically Kerry. Sadly for Mayo, their big-day collapse was all very typical too.
Martin Breheny
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:40:35 GMT
Cold war as serial killers take no prisoners Monday September 18th 2006 ADVERTISEMENT
IN the end Mayo were left torn and inert, a discarded flower arrangement.
A clean, sad scent hung in the city air. Few things are more simple or profound than the sight of a Kerry team circling death like birds of prey. They bring you down by increment almost. First, they besiege the spirit. That way it stays uncomplicated.
Yesterday was simple as a door slamming in a breeze. Mayo lasted all of eight minutes in Croke Park. History routinely taunts them, but the cruelty of this day stretched to another dimension. They were taken apart like something on a coroner's slab.
The gallop for Sam Maguire is not a handicap race, yet Mayo - somehow - seem genetically compelled to play it that way. Short of wearing saddles with lead strips in the pockets, they couldn't have made life more difficult for themselves. Having come from seven down against Dublin, they took the quaint notion of trying to come from 12 down against Kerry. It left them looking like kids lost in a mall.
We should, probably, be celebrating Kerry's divinity, but there's a nagging sense of something almost fraudulent. You can only frame winners against the backdrop of what they've beaten. And, save a few flashing moments approaching half-time, Mayo just didn't show.
Kerry went through them as if they were just a bothersome wrinkle on the page. These days, inevitably, creak under the weight of history and Mayo looked a team bearing the brunt of it. Their life-long haul of All-Irelands amounts to what Kerry harvest in a decade.
A team can either be energised or devoured by that knowledge. What it cannot be is immune to it. It's like a film of dust on a watercolour. You might imagine it can be brushed away, but this dust is stubborn. It keeps catching the light, tugging at your attention. Mayo went through all the preliminaries like men determined not to let their eyes wander.
They dipped into a clenched fist of a huddle while Kerry were donning bibs for two high-speed games of possession football. They linked arms for the anthem, while Kerry jiggled limbs. One team looked anxious as jack-rabbits; the other calmer than anglers on a riverbank.
Hindsight will scold Mayo fearfully. David Heaney was struggling against the vast pylon that is Kieran Donaghy from throw-in and had been re-sited to centre-back after just 11 minutes. By then, Kerry led 2-3 to 0-0, Mayo calling James Nallen ashore. It was, already, another blighted dawn.
From the line, Mickey Moran and his lieutenant, John Morrison, watched on like two men discussing the price of furniture as their house swept by in a flood. To be fair, their job was already futile. Mayo needed candles lit, not game-plans calibrated.
Morrison tried to gather up the threads of the slaughter and weave it into something explainable and lucid.
"I'm sure lots of people in Mayo will feel heartbroken again," he sighed.
"We came second out of 32. It's not better and it's not nice to take. It was totally the opposite to what them boys have played all year. But I'm not into excuses. Kerry were magnificent.
"If you could portray the game as a book, the first chapter they were very, very hungry. In fact, they put the word 'hunger' into substance. They tore into our boys. We should have been able for that. It's fair to say 31 counties were up for us.
"Maybe our lads were a wee bit apprehensive. Defenders were marking a wee bit behind when they hadn't been all year. They were not going for catches they had gone for all year."
It was history. Against Kerry, it always is.
Jack O'Connor came up with an army rumoured to be, if not quite mutinous, at least peering at a signpost to take them there. Eoin Brosnan's demotion had stirred murmurs of a brewing civil war in the Kingdom.
Brosnan's place was taken by O'Connor's Dromid Pearses club-mate Declan O'Sullivan. And in taking that place, O'Sullivan was taking the captaincy back from Brosnan's Dr Crokes team-mate, 'Gooch' Cooper.
Effigy
Jack's effigy was about to be burned at a Killarney stake, if Kerry blew this.
Winning teams keep their privacy, though, so we will never know now if the threads binding them together were in any way frayed yesterday morning. What matters is they didn't snap. Truth to tell, they were never remotely tested.
O'Sullivan scored Kerry's first goal; 'Gooch' knifed their third and Brosnancame on to filch an ornamental fourth. Move along folks, nothing to see here.
Perhaps the kill-shot was Kerry's second. It arrived in the eighth minute, Donaghy out-fielding Heaney and wheeling away to fire emphatically past David Clarke. Eight minutes. History chuckles.
True, Mayo had three goals by half-time, two arriving in a 45-second storm just before the interval. But you sensed the taste of effluent on their tongues.
Morrison said: "They get three goals and, suddenly, you're behind by nine points. Yet we started to put our game together and, at times, we cut through Kerry like a knife through butter. Six points down at half-time, I still felt we could win it."
Was the failure a mental thing? Almost certainly.
"If someone has superb skill and it doesn't happen on the day, it's not the skill at fault," said Morrison. "It's his mind. In life people who say I can't watch them struggle backwards. People who are volunteers will go forward. We suffered from this with Derry, who had a magnificent team two years ago but they met the same Kerry.
"I'm not afraid of anybody. But if you don't understand somebody, you fear them. By half-time, I felt Kerry had 15 players playing. We had a few boys whose minds weren't pushing them. We will sit down one-to-one with the boys and find out what happened with their heads, see if we can resurrect it.
"It's very hard to win an All-Ireland. I'm still proud of Mayo. You'll get the knockers. Knockers to me are only people with a different opinion to me."
Misery
Mayo's day in microcosm? Two words, one man. Ciaran McDonald. Arguably the sweetest footballer in the Championship, McDonald had the kind of day that made you wonder if some smart-ass leaned a ladder above his bedroom door on Saturday night. Yesterday, he was out-scored by his marker, Aidan O'Mahony.
It was like Hillary being out-shone by Tensing.
McDonald had 15 minutes in the second-half when everything he touched turned to misery. He shanked two frees; he got corralled by a cussed trinity of Seamus Moynihan, O'Mahony and Mike Frank Russell, Brosnan scoring from the spillage. He kicked a terrible wide on the run; had a pass to Billy Joe Padden almost nonchalantly intercepted. It was meltdown.
At the other end, 'Gooch' - still, visually, about as menacing as Quentin Crisp - was going to town. It was ruthless and, ultimately, a little sad in its authority. It was also quintessentially Kerry.
As O'Connor said: "We started off like a house on fire and, maybe Mayo coming back was a good thing. It kept us on our toes. We wanted to put them on the back foot because they're a great team going forward.
"We were very determined. Our fellas were really focused going into this game. Relaxed, yet focused."
Serial killers, untouched by pity. An old story for the Kingdom. Older still for the bodies on the ground
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:41:37 GMT
Success sweeter the second time around for Jack Monday September 18th 2006 ADVERTISEMENT
HOW DO you measure the satisfaction of an All-Ireland title? How do you draw parallels and accurately quantify them?
Jack O'Connor leans against the wall of the warm room attached to a buoyant winning dressing-room and plucks a figure in an instant.
"Twenty times (more satisfying than 2004), 20 times," when pressed on the difference.
Two All-Irelands in three years as a manager, a third final visited with a county where scrutiny and analysis is the natural right of everyone born to the Kingdom.
Jack is entitled to feel a little smug now.
He's a stated admirer of Brian Cody's good grace in post match interviews. He's also now a follower of Cody's post match purge of 'the critics'. Where would they ever be without critics!
"We got a lot of criticism during the year, we were written off at different times, a lot of it I thought it was unfair, for some reason I seem to be the target of a lot of it but the days you live for are the days you answer your critics on the pitch.
"Even when we were getting a bit of criticism we were always doing our best, doing okay. Everybody didn't think that but sure sin a bhfuil, sin sceal eile as they say."
He's answered them alright. The undercurrent of dissent in the camp was still trickling yesterday morning as the focus on Declan O'Sullivan's midweek selection gathered more pace.
O'Sullivan is south Kerry, more than that he is Dromid Pearses, Jack's own club. It was a bold, brave move to select him, regardless of how well he was moving at training.
But it came off even more spectacularly than the inclusion of Johnny Crowley's inclusion in 2004. "We're looking at him a bit longer than most fellas. For him to come through the way he did with, all the heat that was on him - as late as this morning it was coming on him - that was very unfair on the morning of an All-Ireland final. It shows strength of character (to come through) but I know that guy has good breeding from a good family. I knew he was tough."
There was heat too for Kieran Donaghy, a different kind of heat."He's the single biggest reason why we turned around our season. For him to perform the way he did with all the heat on him was fantastic. Fellas said we should have protected him from the press - he was on every show from Kerry to Dublin. But he's a great lad."
O‘Connor explained how Kerry had analysed Mayo and decided to go to work on their kick-out because it was such a well worked source of possession for them.
"Our policy early was to put pressure on. We cracked them on the kick-outs and we put serious heat on their defenders coming out. Just from observing them all along they like keeping possession from the kick-outs. There's a Ballina goalkeeper kicking out to two Ballina midfielders and a Ballina centre-forward so they had a good understanding. The other thing was all our key men played well."
Far from being a worry O'Connor saw Mayo's two goals in as many minutes before half-time as a Godsend.
"It kept our fellas on their toes where as if we went in 12 up at half-time I think it would be very hard to motivate them for the second half."
There were words of praise too for Seamus Moynihan, an All-Ireland winner now for the fourth time along with Darragh O Se and Mike Frank Russell.
"He left this place last year and his heart was broken, what that man does for a team knows no limits.He has to go down as one of the all time greats of Kerry football.
"When I got the job first Moynihan backed me to the hilt and I was grateful to him for that."
Moynihan and Ó Sé's search for that fourth All-Ireland medal provided added motivation.
"We seriously wanted Darragh Ó Sé and Seamus Moynihan to win a fourth All-Ireland title. People don't realise that 'Gooch' has only one medal so we had loads of reasons to be motivated."
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:47:27 GMT
Kerry are champions again Declan O’Sullivan Kerry 17 September 2006
Kerry claimed their 34th All-Ireland SFC by virtue of a comprehensive 4-15 to 3-5 defeat of Mayo in a one-sided final at Croke Park.
The Kingdom delivered a typically ruthless display, with big performances all over the field, while Mayo must be desperately disappointed with a very poor collective effort.
The Connacht champions completely misfired in the biggest match of the year and were a pale shadow of the side that dispatched Dublin in such style last month. Indeed, the losers managed just three points – all from Conor Mortimer frees – in the second half as Jack O’Connor’s men tore them to pitiful shreds.
The match had an astounding start, with an unbelievable tally of six goals scored in the first half. It was all-out attack from both teams, with no defence in evidence at either end.
The aristocrats led by a whopping twelve points at one stage, with goals from Declan O’Sullivan, Kieran Donaghy and Colin Cooper, but somehow Mayo managed to get back into the game and gave themselves hope with three-pointers by Kevin O’Neill (2) and midfielder Pat Harte.
Kerry started best with points from Mike Frank Russell in the first and sixth minutes and captain Declan O’Sullivan added a goal in the seventh minute. O’Sullivan swapped passes with giant full forward Donaghy and fired the ball to an empty net.
Incredibly, Donaghy added a second Kingdom goal almost immediately. He rose above David Heaney in trademark fashion and plucked the ball from the heavens before sending an unstoppable rocket past the exposed David Clarke to the roof of the net.
Mayo could have had a goal of their own earlier when Mortimer cleverly worked a quick free to O’Neill but the Na Fianna man’s soccer-style shot struck Diarmuid Murphy’s leg.
O’Sullivan added a third Kerry point and the beaten Munster finalists led by 2-3 to no score after ten minutes. James Nallen – injured in the build-up to the second three-pointer – had to make way for David Brady and Aidan O’Mahony cut inside his man to stretch the Kerry advantage.
A dream opening sequence for Jack O’Connor’s men; a nightmare start for Mayo.
Mayo finally opened their account in the 16th minute – and what a score! Aidan Higgins worked his way forward into the attack and picked out O’Neill, who this time made no mistake, placing a majestic shot to the top corner of the net for a timely goal. But Kerry still led by seven points- 2-4 to 1-0.
Paul Galvin swivelled to extend the differential and, with the Mayo defence all over the place, Colin Cooper soon added a third goal: the Gooch found himself free in front of goal and Clarke diverted his initial shot onto a post. But the Kerry No.13 effortlessly latched onto the rebound and stepped past Keith Higgins before tipping a low shot to the bottom of the net.
Billy Joe Padden contributed Mayo’s second score and Donaghy added a point before Seamus Moynihan stole forward to get his name on the scoresheet. Ciaran McDonald got a point from a free and, sensationally, Mayo bagged two goals inside a minute just before the end of first-half normal time.
Pat Harte and O’Neill got the majors as Mickey Moran’s men closed the gap to five points. Harte demonstrated some sublime soccer skills to create the chance for himself after a neat one-two with O’Neill and the No.15 then grabbed his second goal when he took possession after McDonald’s high shot came back off a post at the Hill end.
Kerry closed the first-half scoring with a late point and the half-time whistle sounded with the Kingdom ahead by six points, 3-9 to 3-3.
There was an ominous air about the second half as Kerry coasted to the winning line.
Cooper resumed the scoring three minutes after the turnaround and McDonald missed a ’45’, much to the frustration of the massive Mayo support crammed into Headquarters.
Aidan Higgins floored Cooper with a very cynical frontal challenge in front of the Mayo goal but Kerry lost the free when Donaghy retaliated by clattering David Brady. It was a let-off for the Connacht champions but they still trailed by seven points with ten minutes played in the second period.
McDonald drove a 45-metre free wide from his hands and substitute Eoin Brosnan stretched the Kerry lead with a sumptuous strike from play before the out-of-sorts McDonald hit his third wide of the second half.
Gooch gave Higgins the slip twice in one graceful movement and then sent over his second point off his left boot.
Mortimer converted a free but his marker O’Mahony cancelled that score out immediately with his second point from open play.
Kerry substitute Brian Sheehan nonchalantly converted a free within seconds of entering the action and the Kingdom were in total command, 3-13 to 3-3, with seven minutes remaining.
The game was over as a contest long before Mortimer knocked over a late free and winning captain O’Sullivan nailed his second point three minutes from the end.
Donaghy kicked a huge point from play via an upright to put eleven points between the teams and Brosnan added a fourth Kerry goal in the second of four added minutes, chipping the ball skilfully over the prostrate Clarke at the second attempt.
There were 13 points between the teams when the final whistle sounded. It could have been a lot worse for Mayo, who endured an All-Ireland final nightmare at Croke Park.
As for Kerry, a year that started so tentatively has ended in a dream league and championship double.
Kerry: D Murphy; M O Se, M McCarthy, T O’Sullivan; T O Se, S Moynihan (0-1), A O’Mahony (0-2); D O Se, T Griffin; S O’Sullivan, Declan O’Sullivan (1-1), P Galvin (0-1); C Cooper (1-2), K Donaghy (1-1), MF Russell (0-2). Subs: E Brosnan (1-1), Darren O’Sullivan, B Sheehan (0-1), E Fitzmaurice, B Guiney
Mayo (SF v Kerry): D Clarke; D Geraghty, D Heaney, K Higgins; A Higgins, J Nallen, P Gardiner; R McGarrity, P Harte (1-0); BJ Padden (0-1), G Brady, A Dillon; K O’Neill (2-0), C Mortimer (0-3), C McDonald (0-1). Subs: D Brady, B Moran, T Mortimer, A Kilcoyne
from the hoganstand
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:51:37 GMT
Kerry overwhelm Westerners
Sunday, September 17
BANK OF IRELAND ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL
Kerry 4-15 Mayo 3-5
A dramatic All-Ireland final served up seven goals and contained a number of complex individual battles but essentially it was a simple affair. The best team in the country won the ultimate prize.
In many respects it was a complete footballing performance from Jack O'Connor's Kerry side as they collected the county's 34th senior crown in the 119th final. All six of the Kingdom's forwards contributed to end tally and their defence yielded a miserly eight scores all day.
Barely a quarter hour had elapsed and it seemed as though the game was over to Croke Park's visitors, that was everyone except the Mayo XV. Mike Frank Russell hit two points to open the Kingdom's account. Then a slick one-two between Declan O'Sullivan and Kieran Donaghy ended with the former walking the ball into the net, and putting any question marks over O'Connor's first team selection to bed early on.
In the ninth minute the unmistakable Donaghy again caused havoc when he caught a Tommy Griffin high ball cleanly over the head of David Heaney, turned, and blasted spectacularly to the net. The fatal blows had been struck.
Sean O'Sullivan and left half back Aidan O'Mahony then added their names to the scoresheet to make it 2-4 to 0-0. A 10-point deficit with only 13 minutes on the ticker and the grim reaper had in his grasp a green and red garment.
Mayo manager Mickey Moran had seen enough. Too much ball was being fed into Donaghy and he took immediate action. Centre back James Nallen was replaced by the towering David Brady with Heaney switching to the centre and Brady locating his sizeable bulk on the edge of the square.
It worked a treat, for a time. Brady immediately made his presence known with a forceful challenge on the 6' 5"Austin Stack's man. Out of the six tussles between the pair in the remainder of the half Donaghy only claimed possession once, scoring just one more point.
The focus changed and now Ciaran McDonald's pretty passes began to bear fruit. The Crossmolina puppeteer initiated a move that ended with Alan Dillon hand-passing to Kevin O'Neill, who raised a green flag.
Murmurs in the crowd but nothing to get too excited about, it was 2-4 to 1-0. Kerry quietly went down the other end and hit two points before Colm Cooper got in on the goal fest.
The Gooch found himself with space and only David Clarke to beat. The Dr Croke's man, who collected only his second Celtic Cross on Sunday, had his shot come back off the right upright under the Davin Stand. But he reacted quickly to the loose ball and as his marker slipped, Cooper squeezed a shot between goalkeeper and post. It appeared rumours of a comeback were premature.
The belief in this Mayo panel, which manager Mickey Moran and his sidekick John Morrison had been referencing all year, had spread to the stands by the interval. In the final regulation minute of the half O'Neill again found himself through on goal. The Na Fianna player drew in Michael McCarthy before perfectly offloading to the inrushing Pat Harte, who showed some class in sidestepping a challenge on the goal line and tapping home.
Western fans were on their feet and a surreal sense of expectation hung in the air. It only got stronger when McDonald attempted an impossible point only for his shot to clip the top of a post and fall to O'Neill in the square. Under little pressure, O'Neill made the game a real competition at 3-7 to 3-2.
Declan O'Sullivan managed to claim a point before the break, but the half-time pause killed Mayo's momentum.
Kerry stuck three more points on the scoreboard after the restart as McDonald's influence began to wane, a culmination of poor passing and a lack of support from his forward colleagues.
Indeed, any green and red vicissitude never found a footing in the second-half. Mayo gifted the scorekeeper an easy end to his shift, hitting only three Conor Mortimer frees.
The game descended into a series of mistakes for a period, but Kerry kept annexing the scoreline. In the 57th minute left wing back Aidan O'Mahony strolled through a stagnant Mayo defence to score a point. Mayo's tomb had been sealed by a familiar foe.
Kerry's fortunes turned on his switch to full forward against Longford in a fourth round qualifier, so it was fitting perhaps that Kieran Donaghy steered a booming shot over the bar in the final minute of regulation time.
Last year, Darragh and Marc O Se took a wrong turn and ended up in the media lift with a host of reporters following the All-Ireland final defeat to Tyrone. Not a word was uttered, and the pain on their faces derived that none was sought. Talk flowed freely this year. A first All-Ireland through the backdoor has perhaps now confirmed the greatness of a side that lay on the cusp of unfulfilled promise.
KERRY - D Murphy; M O Se, M McCarthy, T O'Sullivan; T O Se, S Moynihan (0-1), A O'Mahony (0-2); D O Se, T Griffin; S O'Sullivan (0-1), Declan O'Sullivan (capt) (1-2), P Galvin (0-1); C Cooper (1-2), K Donaghy (1-2), MF Russell 0-2, 1f). Subs: E Brosnan (1-1) for T O Se (36th min), Darren O'Sullivan for S O'Sullivan (52nd min), B Sheehan (0-1, 1f) for MF Russell (62nd min), E Fitzmaurice for T Griffin (67th min) and B Guiney for A O'Mahony (70th min).
MAYO - D Clarke; D Geraghty, D Heaney, K Higgins; A Higgins, J Nallen, P Gardiner; R McGarrity, P Harte (1-0); BJ Padden (0-1), G Brady, A Dillon; K O'Neill (2-0), Conor Mortimer (0-3, 3f), Ciaran MacDonald (0-1, 1f). Subs: D Brady for J Nallen (11th min), T Mortimer for A Dillon (47 th min), B Moran for K O'Neill (47th min), A Kilcoyne for BJ Padden (52nd min) and A Moran for P Gardiner (60th min).
Referee: Brian Crowe (Cavan).
Frees: Kerry 7, Mayo 14.
Wides: Kerry 5, Mayo 4.
45s: Kerry 0, Mayo 1.
Booked: T O'Sullivan, P Galvin, K Donaghy, E Fitzmaurice (Kerry), D Brady, A Kilcoyne, T Mortimer (Mayo).
Attendance: 82, 289.
Click here to view the archive »
from gaa.ie
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:53:09 GMT
Kerry 4-15 3-5 Mayo Tommy Griffin (right) gets the ball away despite Pat Harte's efforts Kerry's overwhelmed Mayo 4-15 to 3-5 in Sunday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Football Final at Croke Park. Declan O'Sullivan and Kieran Donaghy goals helped the Kingdom lead 2-4 to 0-0 after 12 minutes although Kevin O'Neill then replied with a Mayo goal.
Colm Cooper slotted a third Kerry goal only for Pat Harte and O'Neill strikes to give Mayo hope as they cut the margin to 3-8 to 3-2 at half-time.
Eoin Brosnan's injury-time goal followed a more subdued second half.
Kerry showed their intent from the start with Mike Frank Russell knocking over a towering point in the opening minute.
Then came perhaps the crucial moment of the match when Kevin O'Neill had a glorious goal chance for Mayo but Kerry goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy blocked the veteran's close-range effort.
Russell added a free for Kerry in the fifth minute and seconds later, the Mayo defence was ripped apart when recalled Kerry captain Declan O'Sullivan stroked the ball to the net after a one-two with Donaghy.
Two minutes later, a massacre looked on the cards when the Donaghy easily brushed aside David Heaney to win a high ball and hammered the ball to the net from 10 yards.
Further points from Sean O'Sullivan and Aidan O'Mahony left Kerry 2-4 to 0-0 ahead after only 12 minutes.
The Mayo management desperately attempted to stem the tide by bringing on substitute David Brady in an attempt to put the shackles on Donaghy with James Nallen departing.
Brady's game-plan was clear and a dubious challenge on Donaghy helped to set up a Mayo attack which was finished to the net by Kevin O'Neill after a great pass by Aidan Higgins.
David Brady (right) tries to hang on to Kieran Donaghy
But Kerry were unperturbed and further points from Galvin and Donaghy were then followed by the third goal from Colm Cooper who was able to finish to the net at the second attempt in the 26th minute with the action almost taking place in slow motion.
Kerry's lead was a massive 12 points after 30 minutes when Seamus Moynihan pointed to extend their lead to 3-7 to 1-1.
However within five frantic minutes, Mayo were back in the game when they hit 2-1 without reply.
After Ciaran McDonald's successful free, Pat Harte firstly slotted to the net from close-range after an unselfish pass by O'Neill.
Seconds later, O'Neill hammered to the net himself after McDonald's long-range effort had fallen into his arms off the woodwork.
Declan O'Sullivan notched the final score before half-time to extend Kerry's lead to 3-8 to 3-2 but Mayo seemed back in the game.
However, they needed a fast start to the second half and it didn't come with Kerry notching the first three scores of the relatively subdued third quarter.
Eoin Brosnan, controversially left out of the Kingdom's starting line-up, was introduced at half-time and he looked to proving a point as he made a lively contribution which included a fine point.
Mayo had three good chances in the 15 minutes after the break but they all were squandered by a woefully off-form Ciaran McDonald.
To rub salt into McDonald's wounds, his marker Aidan O'Mahony was able to storm up field in the 48th minute to hammer his second point of the day and extend Kerry's lead to nine at 3-12 to 3-3.
The game was already over and Kerry were able to introduce five subs as they eased to a 4-15 to 3-5 win with Brosnan slotting in the Kingdom's final goal in injury-time as they claimed their 34th All-Ireland title.
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Kerry: D Murphy, M O Se, M McCarthy, T O'Sullivan; T O Se, S Moynihan (0-1), A O'Mahony (0-2), D O Se, T Griffin; S O'Sullivan (0-1), Declan O'Sullivan capt (1-2), P Galvin (0-1), C Cooper (1-2), K Donaghy (1-2), MF Russell (0-2). Subs: E Brosnan (1-1)for T O Se h-t,. Darren O'Sullivan for Sean O'Sullivan 52, Brian Sheehan (0-1) for Russell 62, E Fitzmaurice for Griffin 67, B Guiney for O'Mahony 70.
Mayo: D Clarke, D Geraghty, D Heaney (capt), K Higgins, A Higgins, J Nallen, P Gardiner, R Garrity, P Harte (1-0), B J Padden (0-1), G Brady, A Dillon, K O'Neill (2-0), C Mortimer (0-3), C McDonald (0-1). Subs: D Brady for Nallen 12 mins, B Moran for O'Neill 48, T Mortimer for Dillon 48, A Kilcoyne for Padden 52, A Moran for Gardiner 60.
Referee: B Crowe (Cavan) from the bbc
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:54:47 GMT
O'Connor savours All-Ireland win Jack O'Connor's Kerry side romped to victory over Mayo Jack O'Connor lavished praise on his Kerry team after the landslide win over Mayo in the All-Ireland football final. "It is a great day, the sort you dream about," said manager O'Connor following the 4-15 to 3-5 win at Croke Park.
"We started like a house on fire but let Mayo back into it. The fact that they got a few scores before half-time kept us on our toes in the second half.
"I cannot speak highly enough of the players. They have given everything for three years. It has been a great time."
Interview: Kerry manager Jack O'Connor Interview: Mayo boss Mickey Moran
Dejected Mayo boss Mickey Moran admitted his side had fallen well short on the big occasion.
"We did not produce the football we are capable of although the lads gave everything," said Moran.
"Ten minutes gone, 10 points down. It is hard to come back from that.
"There seems to be a jinx on Mayo and I am sorry for the supporters.
"I thank them for all the support they have given us. This is the most enjoyable set-up I have ever been involved with.
"We worked hard all year and I am disappointed we did not show the football we can play, but that was down to Kerry.
"They were the better team although we have come a long way in the past year.
"Some decisions and wee breaks may have gone against us but Kerry worked hard for it and I congratulate them."
again from the bbc
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 9:58:06 GMT
Judge Jarlath says By Jarlath Burns BBC pundit
So Kerry win their 34th All Ireland title in a manner which would have done justice to the best of their four-in-a-row golden years. But this team is different.
Kerry boss Jack O'Connor has taken the team to three All-Ireland finals Back in the Seventies, Kerry had built up a formula necessary for success in September, while the other teams were simply spectators and weren't nearly up to the required level of attitude, skill and sheer ability.
Now there is supposed to be a more evenly-matched balance of power. At the beginning of this year, we were talking about Dublin, Armagh, Tyrone and yes, I suppose Kerry as well.
But we all got it wrong. Yes, I suppose I plumped for a Kerry win on the Championship programme, but only by a couple of points and I was sure we'd have as tight a match as we had seen in the championship.
And then it began. The landslide, the avalanche, the deluge. Kerry know how to win All-Ireland finals because they've been there so many times before.
Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy were being ushered on by the likes of Eoin Liston, Mikey Sheehy, Jack O Sé whispering in their ear.
They were great heroes of the past whose deeds have defined the history of the greatest of stadia, Croke Park and whose names echo in hushed tones around the country where the beauty of the gaelic game is mentioned.
No team, no individual, could have stood up to this onslaught on this day Kerry won nine out of the 12 opening kick-outs. But the Mayo midfield were supposed to be better than Kerry's, weren't they?
It's easy to blame the beleagured Mayo last line for not turning up when the only tragic option they were left with on countless occasions was 'should I go to the man charging towards me, or should I reverse and try to keep my own man out of the move?'
It didn't really matter. The Kerry storm troopers were being followed by the cavalry and then the foot soldiers as wave upon wave of attack rained down on the Mayo goal.
No team, no individual, could have stood up to this onslaught on this day.
All of us who espouse the cause of GAA have the game in our heart and in our soul. Kerry, however, are gaelic football and in an era when Ulster success pinched some of the glory of this millennium from them, it has only been temporary and sporadic.
Kerry have picked up four All Ireland titles in this decade and must allow themselves a wry smile at those of us who think we somehow should be let into the Pantheon of the Greats just because we have won one or two.
This match is not for dissecting. We can lament the impotency of the Mayo forward line where McDonald's man scored more than he did, or the paltry two points from play, or Mortimer and Dillon's no show.
But all this is only trying to put our logic on a phenomenen that has no explanation. Kerry win All-Irelands.
Kieran Donaghy was the refreshing ingredient in the Kerry ranks
Other teams might pop up every so often and snap one out of their grasp, but in reality, the Kerry psyche plays around with the other thirty one counties in the same manner that their team messed about with Mayo on Sunday.
And Brian Sheehan was on the line. Their top scorer with 24 points and he couldn't make the starting 15.
Eoin Brosnan's four goals weren't enough to get him into either the midfield or forward line.
There were others. Men who would walk onto any team in Ireland, but were not good enough to line up with these lads.
And then, they had Kieran Donaghy. A real refreshing player. Doesn't give a damn. Doesn't try to mentally out-rehearse opponents or refuse to do interviews.
This boy is no diva. He just catches, turns and shoots. A goal and a point and lots more besides. Who would begrudge him an All Ireland medal?
What about Seamus Moynihan. He was supposed to be there for the taking (again). How many times have we heard that before? Skipper Declan O'Sullivan, recalled in a supposed blaze of controversy!
Sure weren't Kerry supposed to be at each others throats; all not well in the camp? Little snippets of information sifting from the Kingdom towards the gaelic peasantry which suggested that the throne was vacant and the aristocrats were not united.
And we all got it wrong. Spectacularly. Kerry are back. In fact, they were never away.
Manager Jack O'Connor whose roll of honour will state - three years, three All-Ireland finals, and two leagues will go down as having been a 'moderately' successful manager.
Perhaps this explains why they are the best.
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Post by kerryman on Sept 18, 2006 10:09:26 GMT
Elegant eating of humble pie there by Burns in fairness. I didn't think he had it in him.
"This boy is no diva. He just catches, turns and shoots. "
Brilliant.
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 18, 2006 11:34:13 GMT
Elegant eating of humble pie there by Burns in fairness. I didn't think he had it in him. "This boy is no diva. He just catches, turns and shoots. " Brilliant. u lot might not like him but i find his assesments generally very fair
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Post by kerrygold on Sept 18, 2006 12:08:21 GMT
The last paragraph sums things up perfectly!
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Post by Die Hard Kerry Fan on Sept 18, 2006 13:02:13 GMT
"Kerry have picked up four All Ireland titles in this decade"
Isn't that just three Jarlath?
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Riocht
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Post by Riocht on Sept 18, 2006 14:48:36 GMT
You're right Die Hard Kerry Fan - I was confused myself! 2000, 2004, 2006 - Maybe he's counting next year as well!!!
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Post by inforthebreaks on Sept 18, 2006 15:40:45 GMT
or maybe he thinks we really should have won in 2002, and not Armagh!!!!!!
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Riocht
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Post by Riocht on Sept 18, 2006 15:50:14 GMT
Thats def prob what he means allright!
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boris
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Post by boris on Sept 18, 2006 16:20:14 GMT
the irish examiner is advertising a kerry team poster with their paper tomorrow. for those interested
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Post by passerby on Sept 18, 2006 18:30:41 GMT
"Kerry have picked up four All Ireland titles in this decade" Isn't that just three Jarlath? I suppose he meant to say "in the past decade", i.e. the past ten years, taking in 1997 as well.
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Post by austinstacksabu on Sept 18, 2006 18:51:37 GMT
In otherwards, pub statistic he overheard and thought would go well in the article.....without researching it properly.
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Post by homerj on Sept 18, 2006 22:38:04 GMT
i remember reading an article in the program for the replay in cork,some tool wrote that we were a finished team and had no more to offer, that was even before cork beat us, anybody else read it? wonder what he wrote in todays paper, who ever he writes for.
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 19, 2006 9:05:33 GMT
ah now lads ur gettin carried away and a little bit pedantic me thinks ;D
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 19, 2006 9:15:26 GMT
Kerry bond could force Jack to stay at champions' helm Tuesday September 19th 2006 ADVERTISEMENT
WHEN you've a good thing going it's hard to let go. And right now Jack O'Connor feels Kerry have built up such a nice little rapport with each other that his instinct to walk away will be suitably suppressed in the coming weeks.
The temptation to check out, just as Pat O'Neill did in Dublin after 1995 and Liam Griffin and Donal O'Grady did with the Wexford and Cork hurlers in subsequent years, will be strong, particularly as Seamus Moynihan and Darragh Ó Sé are not expected to return next year.
But why go, he asks himself in the next breath, when the going is so good. He makes a case for the youth of the current team and mentions a few of the prospective minors that face an All-Ireland final replay in Ennis next weekend.
Temptation
Then he states a simple fact of life that perhaps explains why this was their 34th All-Ireland title. "There'll always be footballers coming on in Kerry.
"Of course it is (the temptation to go). But another part of you is saying we've a good thing going here we don't want to leave this thing go. We have a good thing going. There's a great bond there in that Kerry team. That took a bit of work. It took a good bit of 'toing and froing' to get that right.
"I know Mickey Moran mentioned the whole family thing about Mayo. I wouldn't say we're as close as that but we are a fairly tight bunch. We'd be good mates off the pitch as well. You wouldn't like to walk away either."
So then, they're friends off the field, they actually communicate with each other! The Kerry football squad is not the tribal areas of Pakistan we've been led to believe it is with a warlord for each division. It's not all south v north v west with the Dr Crokes brigade thrown in for good measure.
Contrary to reports of unrest, Jack paints a simple picture of harmony, of a set up he finds it hard to break away from even at a most appropriate time as now.
"We got a lot of criticism during the year. There were fellas throwing salvos at us as late as yesterday morning. It's a bit sweeter when you can just answer them on the pitch, the only place to answer it. We were being portrayed as a team in crisis, Mayo were portrayed as a happy family. Jesus I don't know.
"We used it to our advantage (during the year). We said we'd shut up shop, circle the wagons and stick together. If there were any outward shows of dissention in the camp it would only add fuel to the fire. In many ways the criticism brought us closer together. There was some ferocious wildly unfounded stuff out there, players fighting, players picking the team. What can I say? If you deny it it's the worst thing in the world to do. So it's a case of telling them they're right, the place is in chaos!"
Jack likes his players to show a bit of fight though, no denying that. He takes it as a healthy sign of need in them.
Two weekends ago they travelled to Cork for a night and had a practice match in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Brian White was detailed to referee. At times he must have felt like Kofi Annan. "There was a bit of 'skelping' in that one as well, no harm in it though. It's great sign that we have fellas in the panel who want to play. They're not going to be standing around admiring what other fellas are doing. They get stuck into them. If there's a bit of bite in training it's always a great sign players are up for it and not going through the motions."
Issue
The issue of Declan O'Sullivan's timely return to the team was addressed again by O'Connor yesterday. "There was too much made of that. I felt that the press were honing in on it because it made a good story - the manager putting on his favourite son. "It was never like that because we made some awful ruthless decisions over the past three years.
"We made a fierce hard call in 2004 bringing on John Crowley and dropping Mike Frank Russell for an All-Ireland final. That was a very hard call.
"Now funny enough this wasn't a very hard call because Declan O'Sullivan justified his selection because of the way he was playing in training and the way he played when he came on against Armagh and Cork. A lot of people might have thought it was a strange decision. We're on record as saying we pick what we see on form in front of our eyes." Inevitably Kerry will reflect on what Kieran Donaghy had done for them at full-forward this season. In four games before his move Kerry didn't score a goal. In the four after they scored 11 with Donaghy directly involved in at least seven.
"A 'quare' few fellas have been put at him now. Donaghy has handled them all," recalls O'Connor. "There is more to him than people realise. He's agile and he's not slow for a big fella. He's actually quite quick. He just has phenomenal hands, he has lovely soft hands and is a great fielder of the ball."
Colm Keys
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BIGMAC
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Post by BIGMAC on Sept 19, 2006 9:16:34 GMT
Kingdom's physical superiority unhinged Mayo: O'Neill Tuesday September 19th 2006 ADVERTISEMENT
KERRY'S greater physical strength, not any huge superiority of skill, was the key difference between the sides, according to Mayo veteran corner-forward Kevin O'Neill.
His two-goal salvo before half-time threw Mayo their only real lifeline of the game but essentially he believes they did not have the physical heft to match the Kingdom.
"We probably need a different type of approach long-term," O'Neill revealed. "The game seems to be gone a bit more physical than we anticipated and it might take a couple of years before we're up to that physical shape. Football-wise there's no problem, but I think in the physical stakes we were beaten out of it. The manner of defeat was very hard to take, going two goals down so quickly was very demoralising," said the 1993 Allstar.
"I would have feared that if Kerry got the goal chances that Dublin got they'd probably have finished them and that's what happened," he admitted. "But we had looked at that defensively and prepared for it. The problem was that it happened in the first few couple of minutes and you just couldn't afford to give those chances away.
"Winning primary possession is the key thing in football. I'm not sure how many kick-outs we got early on and that was vital but there's no one blaming any individuals or anything, we accept that it was a team performance and that's how it is."
The oldest man on the Mayo team, O'Neill (32) firmly believed that they had got it right mentally and was at a loss to explain how they froze in the first quarter.
"I honestly don't know, I suppose you could write a thesis at this stage on the mental preparation of the Mayo football team."
Cliona Foley
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Post by kerryman on Sept 19, 2006 9:49:11 GMT
Howzabout this for intrigue. Real cloak and dagger stuff: www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=66607O’Keeffe hits out at ’mole’ Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe 19 September 2006 Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe has claimed there was a mole in the Kingdom camp who was spreading stories about the panel to the media. Details of a clear the air meeting was published in a Sunday newspaper following the Munster final replay defeat to Cork, while the build-up to last Sunday’s All-Ireland final was marred by reports of player unrest. “I just don’t understand who is the cause of these stories coming out of the camp. It is absolutely disgraceful. There is no place for those type of people in the modern game and if we find out who those people are they will never a Kerry dressing room again,” blasted O’Keeffe. Referring back to the All-Ireland final win over Mayo, O’Keeffe confirmed that Eoin Brosnan’s introduction at half-time in place of Tomas O Se was a tactical move and was not forced by injury. “We made a good decision at half-time to bring on Eoin and drop Tommy (Griffin) back because Tomas was struggling a bit of Billy Joe (Padden). He was struggling under the high ball but Tomas has played well throughout the year and you have everyone playing fantastic on the day.”
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Post by Timoleague on Sept 19, 2006 13:27:40 GMT
This is hilarious
Following Mayo beyond mere masochism Tom Humphries
Locker Room: The Emperor Nero fancied himself as something of an entertainer and periodically, despite public demand, he would tour with a large entourage, thousands of whom were claquers - or people whose responsibility it was to provide applause no matter how dire the entertainment.
During performances by the emperor nobody was allowed to leave the theatre and contemporary accounts speak of men being so bored that they "furtively dropped down from walls at the rear or shammed dead and were carried away for burial." Fortunately, fire and safety regulations allowed regular patrons to leave Croke Park early yesterday as even among the massed ranks of the Mayo claquers there must have been guilty thoughts of slipping out and beating the traffic when just 10 minutes of the calamity had passed.
As for myself, when the crushing news came that there was going to be four whole minutes of time added on, I vaulted forward to the front of the press box and passed like a show jumper over the railing and out into dreamy oblivion. My landing in the lower deck of the Hogan some seconds later made road kill of several Mayo supporters, but their relatives shook my hand and thanked me for ending the sufferings of the deceased.
What is there to say about Mayo this morning? Only the sourest and most damaged of curmudgeons would have begrudged them an All-Ireland title yesterday morning. Not many Kerry men considered the possibility of defeat in the run up to yesterday's game but the few who were placed at gunpoint and forced to think about such a calamity conceded there could be worse ways to lose than against a backdrop of Mayo celebration.
And yet when it was over, there were men and women in the red and green, the most loyal supporters in the country, I would argue, shaking their heads and rolling their eyes and deciding to take an interest in something else, anything else.
There must be other forms of masochism which wouldn't hurt as much as following Mayo does.
Neutrals, meanwhile, were positively annoyed at having called in favours to get tickets. And Kerry people, nature's diplomats in victory, were lost for the precise words with which to express their feelings for Mayo. Sympathy was part of what they wanted to express but English has no word for the simple desire to go into the losing dressingroom with a fistful of smelling salts and an inquiry as to what the hell just happened.
Yesterday, Mayo were pushovers. While Kerry ran in their winning margin in the opening few minutes we played little games with ourselves in the press box. Cliché Derby: Mayo were coming apart like a cheap suit, no wait, more like a two-bit grifter's alibi or a reality show marriage. Kerry were going through them like hot knives through butter, like liver salts through an incontinent duck, like Twink through public embarrassments.
There's nothing to say to Mayo except words of condolence. Mickey Moran and John Morrison are a smart managerial team. Just last month they cajoled a side from a county whose history is pockmarked by footballing catastrophe to come back and beat Dublin. We hailed Mayo football as cured forever of its crippling self doubts.
Now this. There may never be enough clues lifted from the wreckage of this final for them to figure out what went wrong and why. Best to start again. Change the county name and colours. Have a Stalinist purge on history and the faces of failure.
Lordee! Those opening 10 minutes yesterday were stunning and gruesome all at once. You imagined how many times Mayo had told themselves to stay tight for the opening quarter, they must have those pacts, don't let Kerry settle, stop them playing first and then impose your game on them.
For a team whose mantra has been the phrase , "you only lose if you quit" they would have been forgiven if they had disappeared under an avalanche of their own resignation letters during the first quarter.
There have been times down through the years (the much overrated 1989 final for instance) when Mayo's tendency to go all loosey goosey on big match days has been misinterpreted as a charming contribution to exciting games. Yesterday so excessively generous was their loosey goosiness that they appeared to be merely dressing the stage for an exhibition of Kerry set dancing.
It's funny but during last week we were attempting to think of reasons why Mayo might win. In logic , as you know, Mayo came equipped with a team of fine footballers who should have had a great chance yesterday. Yet something in the back of the mind kept heckling at us. Get real. wake up and smell the coffee (when you are a sports hack even your subconsciousness heckles in cliches). Look Bozo, said the voices, Mayo don't beat Kerry on days in September. Full stop. The analysis can come later.
Hmmm. The differences between yesterday's sides in terms of football skill and achievement this summer is negligible. It's just that the evolutionary outcome of Mayo's wretched last 55 years of football failure is permanent flakiness.
In Kerry, meanwhile, things are different, winning is bred into the bone. You could see it in the drawn minor game yesterday. Roscommon were fantastically brave and lovely footballers. Kerry were wonderfully self-assured, though. When Roscommon went a point up late on through a Devaney free, Kerry merely swept downfield and scored two extraordinarily confident points from play in the space of seconds.
Kerry got caught by a fine equaliser in injury-time but you could see the confidence oozing out of them even as they swapped jerseys and headed for a replay. They'd had a job to do. The job was unfinished. They'd tie it up the next day.
That self-assurance comes from a culture of consistent winning and excellence. It comes from the habit of doing the hard things again and again. And that self-assurance is a product of more that, though. It's not doing things either.
If walking slowly and theatrically towards Hill 16 can't do it for you neither can an endless series of huddles or a reliance on gimmicks.
An eminent Kerry football man of our acquaintance watched the Dubs do all those things this summer and hoped that for the Dubs sake "they weren't believing their own bull*."
When the pressure comes on in front of 82,000 in Croke Park you either know how to make the right decisions on and off the pitch or you don't.
Kerry know how. They don't submit bad All-Ireland final appearances. Occasionally they lose in September and sometimes they just don't have the players to get over the final hurdle but damn it, they know what they are doing.
This summer has been quintessential Kerry. Everyone else talking about them and their sufferings and strife while Kerry quietly keep their eye on the prize. There was indeed trouble between two Kerry players last weekend, club rivals in north Kerry, they had to be torn apart. It was in the course of a full-scale practice match in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, though, and everyone walked away grinning. The hunger was just at the right pitch. Meanwhile, outside, the rumour factory was still issuing grey smoke from its tall chimneys.
Kerry were superb yesterday. When a team flatlines like Mayo did it can be easy for the opposition to subconsciously bring the level of their own play down a notch or two. Kerry kept looking for the higher gears of intensity, though.
When they were 10 points up they wanted to be 11 points up. The only hint of charity came when Séamus Moynihan fisted a point over the Mayo bar instead of taking what would have been his first ever championship goal.
For Jack O'Connor this season has been quite a feat of management. He gambled hugely on several occasions but never more so than this week when he stuck Declan O'Sullivan back into the number 11 jersey. If Eoin Brosnan's supporters had a gripe it was that Eoin wasn't shoving Tommy Griffin out of midfield but O'Sullivan is seen as O'Connor's clubmate and acolyte and there would have been Dromid men's blood on the streets if it had all backfired yesterday.
Everything worked perfectly. O'Sullivan showed the footballer he is. Griffin too. And Brosnan got a goal and a points' worth of the action.
An odd and slightly surreal way to end the season. A finale which only a claquer could clap. Yet so many things to savour and admire on the video. Kerry are back at the pinnacle doing what they do best. We, their subjects, salute them.
© The Irish Times
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Post by FatTom on Sept 19, 2006 14:36:00 GMT
loosey goosiness classic!
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