fg
Senior Member
Posts: 292
|
Post by fg on Sept 5, 2019 14:16:17 GMT
Go figure what If you want your little piques soothed may I suggest you go some where else to go figure it out Listen it's fine by me if Kerry supporters like you want to basically pretend the sending off never happened, in order to add weight to what nearly everyone agrees was a fine Kerry performance. Me included. And as a result the levels of expectation in Kerry will go up for next week. Good on you. It's also fine for me to think it hugely impacted the game and even though Dublin missed a few down the stretch I was very happy to leave the stadium thinking we'll win the next day. And handy enough too. But like you, I'm just a supporter. Darragh on the other hand is writing for The Irish Times, aka the Paper of Record. But it seems Darragh forgot to record the sending off. Fans would have been interested in what he had to say, and would have expected a balanced view at that. Instead he stuck his head up his arse and said Kerry will be even better the next day. Oh and Cluxton is a genius. Anyway we all knew that. And the only pique I know of is Gerard Pique. So there! Gerard pique Why does that not surprise me and as mickmack stated Darragh was focussing more on the timing of the replay Regarding your riposte "so there " what age are you, seriously, pathetic
|
|
|
Post by glengael on Sept 5, 2019 15:47:30 GMT
I haven't seen Kerrys Eye so not aware what KCB Chairman said about trying to have the time changed. Thanks for letting me know. Whatever was said got no hearing anyway, as my grandmother used to say.
|
|
|
Post by ballybunion on Sept 5, 2019 17:16:33 GMT
Another meaning for pique: A feeling of enmity; ill-feeling, animosity; a transient feeling of wounded pride. A feeling of irritation or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little thought or consideration.
|
|
|
Post by onlykerry on Sept 5, 2019 17:25:13 GMT
The replay should be scheduled for 3.30 pm on a Sunday afternoon . If the Ladies final is on the 8th what’s the problem with the15th ? The All Ireland finals , bar nothing else , are the biggest sporting occasions of the year , and downgrading it to 6 pm on a Saturday night to facilitate RTE in showing the Greyhound Derby is a disgrace. Where is the consideration to the travelling support from Kerry ? If it doesn’t mean on overnight stay in Dublin it means a return trek of 400 plus miles depending on your home location . Amazed that Kerry County Board are silent on the time , location and travelling issues . What’s wrong with Thurles as a fair mid point location if Pairc Ui Caoimh is not playable ? And that location would facilitate a Sunday replay . Croke Park is fine but not at 6 pm for a Kerry crowd. Camogie Finals on 8th, Ladies on 15th. There was uproar a few years ago when the Ladies Finals were pushed back a week to accommodate a replay. Why oh why do the GAA allow fixtures pile up as they do - why can't the camogie and ladies football finish in October or July or some other month. What is the logic of mimicking the mens schedule and causing a backlog. Heck the GAA can find time for 3+ rock concerts in other months but then we get a pile up at this time of the year and particularly when a draw goes to a replay. Saturday evening at 6pm is a joke - play to a conclusion on the day rather than squeezing it in like this (and that is before you think about the extra €6-7 million fans will spend on the replay)
|
|
|
Post by skybluezone on Sept 6, 2019 15:49:25 GMT
Listen it's fine by me if Kerry supporters like you want to basically pretend the sending off never happened, in order to add weight to what nearly everyone agrees was a fine Kerry performance. Me included. And as a result the levels of expectation in Kerry will go up for next week. Good on you. It's also fine for me to think it hugely impacted the game and even though Dublin missed a few down the stretch I was very happy to leave the stadium thinking we'll win the next day. And handy enough too. But like you, I'm just a supporter. Darragh on the other hand is writing for The Irish Times, aka the Paper of Record. But it seems Darragh forgot to record the sending off. Fans would have been interested in what he had to say, and would have expected a balanced view at that. Instead he stuck his head up his arse and said Kerry will be even better the next day. Oh and Cluxton is a genius. Anyway we all knew that. And the only pique I know of is Gerard Pique. So there! Gerard pique Why does that not surprise me and as mickmack stated Darragh was focussing more on the timing of the replay Regarding your riposte "so there " what age are you, seriously, patheticIt was a wee joke mate, that's why an exclamation mark followed it. Calm down.
|
|
|
Post by Mickmack on Sept 11, 2019 7:34:40 GMT
Irish Times Logo User Menu NEWS SPORT LATEST
GAELIC GAMES MY SPORTS Darragh Ó Sé: Late throw-in could make big difference for Dublin and Kerry First thing Kerry need to do is get up high and challenge Stephen Cluxton's kick outs
Darragh Ó Sé about 3 hours ago 1 Kerry’s Seán O’Shea and Dublin’s Brian Fenton at the All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park on September 1st. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Kerry’s Seán O’Shea and Dublin’s Brian Fenton at the All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park on September 1st. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho For the Kerry and Dublin players, Saturday is going to be one of the longest days. Handling the morning of an All-Ireland final is a skill in itself. You don’t want to wake up too early, but it’s always a rough night’s sleep however cool you think you are. And your brain has a mind of its own, so you generally have no say in what time you wake up. You’d pay good money to be able to sleep on until after nine, but there’s nothing surer than that you’ll be staring at the ceiling at seven.
With a six o’clock throw-in on Saturday, that’s 11 hours to kill. Eleven hours is no picnic when you’re trying to do nothing. Especially when you’re talking about young lads in their 20s. You can only go off for so many walks. You can only sit through so many movies or play so many games of Fifa. At least Liverpool are playing the lunchtime game in the Premier League on Saturday – that might do the job for a couple of hours.
You can’t do anything physical. You’re buzzing with nervous energy but you know you can’t be wasting it. I remember being on a warm-weather camp one time with Kerry in Lanzarote, and training was set for seven o’clock one evening. A heap of the younger lads killed the afternoon playing a fairly hectic game of five-a-side among themselves, and could barely raise a gallop by the time training came around. It was brainless, obviously enough. But understandable too.
This will have to be handled by the two management teams. The Dublin players will all wake up in their own beds, so it’s slightly easier for them. Unless Kerry decide to fly up on Saturday, they’ll all be waking up in a hotel together. Donie Buckley was involved with Mayo in 2016 when they had the same thing to deal with, so his experience will be important. But there’s no handy answer.
Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton at the All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park on September 1st. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton at the All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park on September 1st. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho Stephen Cluxton showed again in the drawn game that he can laser the ball like nobody else Hotels are a grand place to fall asleep at the end of a day. Waking up in one with nothing to be doing until teatime is a different story. We used to kick O’Neills balls up and down the corridors to see could any of us keep it between the walls. We weren’t just as accurate as we liked to think we were. It cost the county board the price of a few lightbulbs down the years and probably the odd picture frame. Cheap at twice the price.
Nervous energy Throw it all into the mix and I would expect the first 10 minutes on Saturday to be nervy. I’d be amazed if every shot went over the bar in the opening few attacks. Everybody needs to shake the nervous energy out of themselves and find their own rhythm. No matter what you tell yourself, you’re not in the zone until you’re in the game.
Think back to the 2016 replay. I remember watching Tom Parsons in the warm-up that day and he was kicking points away without a second thought. But then, 30 seconds into it, he had the first chance of the day and you could see as he stuttered into it that he wasn’t quite in the zone yet. A minute later, James McCarthy got into the Mayo half but rushed his shot and kicked it so wide he was lucky to catch the netting behind the goal with it.
Look who you’re talking about there: Tom Parsons and James McCarthy. These weren’t excitable kids. You couldn’t ask for two more solid men to be taking the first shot in an All-Ireland final replay. And they came up with efforts that they’d be given out to for in an under-14 game. Purely mental mistakes, the sort you come up with when you’re bursting to make a mark after sitting around doing nothing all day.
When the game settles down, the first job for Kerry is the same as for the last day. Stephen Cluxton showed again in the drawn game that he can laser the ball like nobody else. Three or four of his kick-outs were arrowed 30 or 40 yards with no deviation on them. If he was in those hotel corridors with us years ago, every light fixture in the place would have been safe as houses.
Related Kevin McStay: Dublin should make history with two or three points to spare US comedian Josh Pray backs Kerry in replay after epic All-Ireland final Kevin McStay: Gaelic football followers need to learn rules of the game I presume you have to go back a long way to find the last time Brian Fenton didn’t take a shot at goal in a game The ball went like a shot out of a gun for him, no curl, no fade. Playing against that is a high-wire job but you have to go for it. Kerry got done a couple of times with their high press but I don’t think that will stop them trying it again on Saturday. They just need to pick and choose when to do it.
You could see David Clifford at times waving at the rest of the Kerry players to get up the field loads of times in the first half. He stopped it in the second half – I presume someone said it to him at the break. In fairness to the rest of them, they’re right not to go kamikaze-style at it every time. Cluxton would love nothing more than to be facing the same set-up every time he puts the ball down. He might not get you the first time, he might not get you the second – by the fifth or sixth, he’ll be licking his lips.
Major questions Dublin’s major questions lie around the players who didn’t have their best game the last day. I presume you have to go back a long way to find the last time Brian Fenton didn’t take a shot at goal in a game. Ciarán Kilkenny didn’t have one either. That’s some day’s work from Kerry to manage it once. Now they need to do it again.
Fenton is one of those midfielders who likes to be scoring. Ciarán Whelan was like that too. He fed off the crowd’s reaction when he got forward and nailed a point or scored a big goal. It filled him with confidence and made him a better player and a tougher opponent. The flipside was that you could sense it in him the longer he went without a score. He could start forcing things, maybe trying too hard to get on the scoreboard. That’s where you wanted him if you were playing against him.
Kerry’s David Clifford reacts to a missed chance at the All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park on September 1st. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho When it comes down to it, a replay is about upping the ante from the last day. Both teams have shown their hand David Moran and Jack Barry would love to see the same out of Fenton the next day. He’s a prince of a midfielder with a lovely balance about him and a huge engine. But if he isn’t scoring – if he isn’t even getting in position to shoot – then Dublin are missing out. Not just on the scores he gets but on the crowd reaction.
When Dublin are humming, Fenton is generally a big part of it. Whether it’s Moran or Barry on him – they switched over and back a fair bit in the drawn game – that’s got to be a big part of the plan. Keep Fenton scoreless. Shotless if possible. Take it from there.
When it comes down to it, a replay is about upping the ante from the last day. Both teams have shown their hand. Cormac Costello was the rabbit from the hat for Dublin in 2016 but I wouldn’t be too sure there’s a surprise parachuting in anywhere along the way this time around. Kerry were flat to the mat in the drawn game and had about a dozen players playing well. Dublin only had about eight or nine. Those aren’t good numbers for Kerry going into a replay.
The Dubs will improve. Paul Mannion misjudged a ball and let it bounce over his head at one stage the last day. I’d say he was in China the last time that happened to him. You could see him in the second half, trying too hard. Someone of Mannion’s class won’t let that happen two days in a row. Con O’Callaghan actually had a fine game and Kerry only kept his personal score down by giving away frees. Dean Rock got all the points Con didn’t score. There was probably a goal or two in there as well.
Blockdown But there are still things Kerry players can do to lift it again. I’d love to see Clifford pulling off a blockdown or a turnover of a Dublin defender. We know what he can do with the ball, that’s not in question even though his radar was a bit off the last day. But the lift he would give the rest of the team by doing the kind of thing Paul Mannion does, chasing back and stripping the opposition, would be massive.
It’s like seeing a fella going over the top in the trenches and following him without even thinking about it. I fully expect Clifford to score more than he did the last day. But it’s the over-and-above stuff that could push Kerry even further.
You’re not going to beat Dublin out the gate. If you beat them at all, it’ll realistically be by a single score All in all, I’m more optimistic for Kerry than I was heading into the drawn game. Two weeks ago, I was hoping Kerry had it in them. Now, I know they have. Kerry people don’t have to talk themselves into it any more. All the evidence is there in front of us.
The Dubs are still favourites and rightly so. Everyone is allowed an off day and when you sit down and really go through it, Dublin not only survived their off day, they were the ones pushing and forcing the issue at the end. It brings it back to the biggest issue of all for Kerry: how do they actually find themselves ahead at full-time?
You’re not going to beat Dublin out the gate. If you beat them at all, it’ll realistically be by a single score. That’s the hardest thing. When it comes down to it in injury-time, Kerry have to be able to be like a basketball team, controlling possession and making sure that they’re the ones who take the last shot of the game.
That’s the hardest part. I think the experience of the last day will stand to them in that regard – remember, it was Peter Keane’s first time in that situation too, as well as the players’. So I think they will be better equipped if they get it to that five, six, seven minutes of injury-time again.
But ultimately, that’s what the Dubs live for. I give Kerry a more of a squeak than I did before, but I still expect Dublin to do it.
|
|
|
Post by Mickmack on Sept 18, 2019 6:53:36 GMT
Darragh Ó Sé: Kerry face a long, harsh winter after loss to Dublin
The best team won the All-Ireland. This All-Ireland, last year’s All-Ireland, the last five-in-a-row, and seven since I started writing this column. Anybody who has read these articles knows what I think of the Dubs and how highly I regard them. There’s not a lot left to be said about them.
The one thing I would love to see now is for Stephen Cluxton to win Footballer of the Year when the awards are being given out in a few weeks. I would have Con O’Callaghan and Jack McCaffrey alongside him in the shake-up but for me, it’s a no-brainer.
Cluxton made a huge save from Stephen O’Brien at a crucial time in the replay, he saved a penalty from Paul Geaney in the drawn game, he was perfect under the high ball and nearly perfect with his kick-outs all the way through. I know I go on about him and it isn’t as if his influence on the Dubs is a secret to anyone. But still, I think he’s overdue a major award at this stage.
For Kerry, the winter is there waiting, getting colder and darker by the day. I know there’s all this talk about how it will do those young players a world of good to have this sort of experience in the bank. And it’s probably true to some extent. But it’s not one bit of use to them today.
Nothing else in your football career ever feels as bad as losing an All-Ireland final. Nothing turns you as sour towards the game itself or to the people you come into contact with. The only good that comes with it is the day you come back and win your next one because you find you appreciate it a bit more. But the road back to even get to play in another one is very long and very bumpy.
An All-Ireland final is like the 98th square on a snakes-and-ladders board. The winning team rolls a two and moves on to 100 and wins the game. The losing team rolls a one and lands on a snake’s head, sliding all the way back to the start. You don’t get to start 2020 from halfway up the board. You set out from square one again.
Over-riding feeling This week in Kerry, wherever the players are hanging out together, that’s the over-riding feeling they will have. You were right there in the thick of it and now you’re nowhere. One minute you’re shaking hands with Michael D, the next you’re in the corner of a pub in the middle of the day, no closer to an All-Ireland than every other player in the country. Getting your head around all that is no picnic.
Talking is grand but it only does you so much good. You go through stages. In bigger groups, you keep it general. In tighter ones, you get into specifics. This was wrong, that was stupid, why didn’t we think of the other? There’s nothing worse than the lad who tells you you played well but cuts the back off one of the others in the same breath. Whether he’s right or wrong, you presume he’s going to move on to laying into you when you’re out of earshot.
It gets pointless after a while. Soon enough, you’re back at work, back at the club, back at real life. At some stage over the winter, you’ll make yourself sit down to watch the game back. If the Kerry lads are real masochists about it, they’ll watch the drawn game back as well. I was always dubious enough as to what good it did me but I always made myself do it anyway.
I found myself doing it in bits and pieces. Usually, 20 minutes would be about as much as I could take before turning it off and coming back to it maybe a fortnight later. It took me until well into November I’d say to watch the 2002 final all the way through.
Oisín McConville’s goal that day turned the game and I was there in the middle of it, the ball going over my head as Paul McGrane tapped it down to him. I nearly had to tie myself to the chair to watch it, knowing I was at fault. What was I thinking? How did I get moved around like that? Why didn’t I take him down?
I think it did me some good in the long run, even if it didn’t feel like it at the time. It made me harder in a way, a bit more cynical maybe. When you watch something like that happen, you keep a picture of it in your head and you can nearly see it flash before your eyes at times in other games in the years that follow. You’ll do anything for it not to happen again.
A bit sluggish So that’s what the Kerry players are facing into. The Kerry management too, for that matter. In all honesty, I thought Kerry were a bit sluggish on the sideline on Saturday night. They have plenty of food for thought anyway.
Once Eoin Murchan’s goal went in and O’Callaghan followed it up with a point, the reaction on the pitch was generally good from the players. They inched their way back and when Seán O’Shea scored that huge one into the Hill to bring the score back to a point, I felt that was the time to start getting the subs who’d done so well in the drawn game on to the pitch. The first day had shown what Tommy Walsh and Killian Spillane could do.
Kerry’s big problem as the second half went on was that Dublin were so efficient and ruthless. They put Kerry into a situation where everything had to go right. They had to get the right man in the right position and the right shot had to be taken every single time. And they all had to hit their mark.
Some of the misses in the second half, you wouldn’t blame the players for taking them on. David Moran is around long enough and has been a leader for long enough to know when and where to take responsibility. Both times he lined up to shoot, you were thinking, “Go for it.”
Even with Jack Barry and Tom O’Sullivan, the shots were on. Okay, you’d rather David Clifford or Paul Geaney had the ball instead, but they were in good positions and were entitled to shoot. The problem was, by that stage it was non-negotiable. You’re entitled to take a shot but it can’t be a pot-shot. You can’t be chancing your arm. But because Kerry were chasing the game, they were forcing it.
Diarmuid O’Connor’s wide early in the second half was the perfect example of a young player in his first All-Ireland final just making the wrong choice. Dublin had got in for 1-1 but Shane Ryan was still doing well with his kick-outs and Kerry worked the ball up the pitch safely enough. Geaney played a lovely crossfield ball to O’Connor out at the Cusack Stand sideline and in fairness he wasn’t one bit put off by James McCarthy coming over to shadow him.
A whole world of options He got a big break then when McCarthy stumbled as he turned inside. Suddenly, with McCarthy on his backside, a whole world of options had opened up for O’Connor. Option A was to kick for a point straight away. Option B was to keep going and move closer in to make the shot easier. Option C was to play a pass inside to David Clifford, who was out in front of Jonny Cooper and Mick Fitzsimons and would have either thrown over a point himself or put O’Connor through on goal with a one-two.
Everything except the first option made life easier. But instead, he chose to cut in on his left to shoot from more or less the same spot on the pitch that Paul Mannion scored two points in the first half. But Mannion is the best left-foot shooter in the game. Diarmuid O’Connor was taking his first ever shot in an All-Ireland final. It went wide on the far side.
That’s youth. That’s inexperience. That’s forcing yourself through the first door because the pressure is on to get a score and not waiting to see if another one opens. Dublin never go through the first door – unless it’s Con O’Callaghan and he’s making a first door for himself and going for goal.
All in all, it’s been a good year for Kerry. They’ve made huge strides, considering they didn’t get out of the Super 8s last year. They’ve sorted out the goalkeeping position, which hasn’t really looked secure for years. They’ve proved to themselves that it’s possible to live with Dublin for long stretches. They’ve beaten Mayo and Tyrone and drawn with Donegal so they know they’re at least as good as the best of the rest. This is all good material to be working with.
To make the next step, they need to find stronger defenders. O’Callaghan and Mannion aren’t going anywhere so Kerry have to sit down and work out how best to play them and find the personnel to do it. There’s nothing easy about that task but at least it’s there in front of them. It’s defined. That’s something to work on.
But that’s all for the coming months. For now, all you can do is tip your hat – again – to Dublin and congratulate them warmly on what they’ve achieved. They’re outstanding, plain and simple.
Everyone else has a world of work to do to get up to them.
|
|
dano
Senior Member
Posts: 530
|
Post by dano on Sept 18, 2019 16:19:38 GMT
I liked that piece by Darragh. Says it all really.
|
|
|
Post by kerrygold on Sept 18, 2019 19:54:30 GMT
Always enjoy reading Darragh's insight into the game and about the players.
|
|
|
Post by glengael on Sept 20, 2019 15:06:17 GMT
I had to laugh at the Snakes and Ladders analogy because it's one I used myself when talking to my brother on the train home on Saturday night! Very accurate though.
|
|