John Fogarty: Imagining a Dublin-Kerry war of words
RESPECT: Jack O'Connor and Dessie Farrell. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Along with Galway, Dublin and Kerry managements’ decisions not to organise media events brings to five of the eight All-Ireland senior semi-finalists who prefer silence over soundbites ahead of their respective games.
Unlike Marshawn Lynch, there is no obligation on them to speak to the press and it’s not as if Croke Park are going to put any pressure on Dublin and Kerry to do so when the game sells itself. Although, you will do well to avoid the trite elements of the build-up this pairing often spawns.
Maybe Jack O’Connor felt he gave enough away after beating Mayo. He clearly still harbours regrets from the 2011 All-Ireland final defeat to them when earlier this year he referenced what he felt was a season-defining injury to David Moran in an '11 league game against Monaghan.
A year after that game, he was bemoaning Joe McQuillan’s appointment as referee because of his familiarity with Dublin.
Pre-match, Dessie Farrell has long believed he says it best when he says nothing at all. But fear not, folks, in our vain attempt to counter the humdrum days of Sunday we have parsed through all that the two men have said about each other and their teams and come to our own conclusions about what they meant:
“ I think they’ll probably have to improve a bit if they’re going to go the distance but who’s to say that improvement isn’t in them? They might be just timing their run and there’s only one day you need to peak, I suppose, and you know when that is.” – Talking about Dublin as Kildare manager after last year’s Leinster final defeat.
You’re in bother, Dessie. You’re in bother. I can’t say too much seeing as ye have just beaten us and it’s not as if I would tell you where you were going wrong anyway. I suppose you might get to an All-Ireland final but then I also suppose you mightn’t.
“ The way Kildare were set up, they were difficult to penetrate, so we had just had to be patient, probing, probing, wait for the right opportunity” – Following the same game.
Very, very defensive, Jack. Talk about a damage limitation exercise. Wasn’t it you who was supposed to have restored Gaelic football’s pride back in 2004? My, how people change.
“Look, everyone has an opinion. There will be those who want to twist the knife, of course. And that is just part and parcel of Dublin’s legacy. It is just about the internal focus. Those players need plenty of love and care and nurturing and people who really understand where Dublin are at understands that too. You just have to give young players time.” – In the wake of February’s 1-15 o 0-11 Division 1, Round 2 win over Dublin in Austin Stack Park.
Bless your little cotton socks but I'm not going to kick ye when you’re down, Dessie. Not when ye could rear up against us later in the year. This league means more to us and we’ll never turn down a win over the Dubs but it’s obvious you’re squad-building.
“A lot of debutants in there tonight, a lot of young, new players so it was always going to be a difficult night. The game probably turned on a couple of key decisions. Perhaps we could have been more competitive later in the game if some of them had gone with us” – Speaking to DubsTV post-match in Tralee.
Stick a big asterisk alongside this one, Jack. Look at the team you put out compared to what I put out. And don’t talk to me about Dean Rock’s disallowed goal or that ridiculous black card for Niall Scully. See you around.
“ The bottom line here is these Kerry players have been yearning to get a cut at the Dubs from as far back as three years ago. They lost an All-Ireland out there that they would feel they could have won. We certainly won’t be lacking motivation but neither will Dublin. Dublin will want to show that they’re back as good as ever, the team that won the six-in-a-row. They had a blip last year and they look to have rediscovered the hunger and the drive that got them to that six in a row.” – Chatting after the All-Ireland semi-final.
My men want yours bad, Dessie. Only Moran of them knows what it is to beat ye but I know. I know the pain too. McMenamin’s double hop, McQuillan, they’ve haunted me for years. And I know you want it too. Our scalp was not on your resume as a player, was it? And it doesn’t yet feature for you as manager. I intend to keep it that way.
In diplomatic terms, former Cork chairperson Tracey Kennedy let it be down in 2019 that no outsiders need apply or express interest to the executive about succeeding John Meyler as the county’s senior hurling manager.
While she insisted nobody “was in or off the table at this moment in time” and said those from beyond Cork would not be prejudiced against, her telling line was there was “plenty of talent within the county”.
It was the subtlest way of declaring only a Corkman was going to lead the team in 2020 and so Kieran Kingston returned to the helm, reaching the All-Ireland final last year as he did as a selector with Jimmy Barry-Murphy in 2013, but ultimate glory eluding him.
As Kingston steps down, the question about Cork contemplating foreign aid was being asked again only louder and urgent with the wait for a 31st Liam MacCarthy Cup turning from great to grave.
There were plenty of viable candidates in the county, though. Pat Ryan is an obvious and most suitable choice. We may never know if Kingston was attempting to be a version of Logan Roy introducing Noel Furlong and Pat Mulcahy to his management team this year.
Ben O’Connor’s name had also be mentioned a lot as had Kieran “Fraggie” Murphy and Jamie Wall had credit banked but Ryan was the man Cork’s traditional sensibilities were going to rail against going beyond the borders too.
To be the first of “The Big Three” to literally break the seal for a manager might be perceived as much an admission of defeat as a departure. Besides, the statistics don’t favour a non-Cork appointment when just four men, all managing Offaly, have guided teams to All-Irelands.
And yet the yearning grows as does an opinion that lateral thinking is required. Ryan is more than capable of exhibiting that.
As Thomas Walsh’s umpire waved his white flag following Ronan Glennon’s 17th minute effort on Sunday, the press box and the TV stations noted it as his second and Galway’s fifth point. Only the scoreboards in Croke Park didn’t.
Three minutes and 39 seconds later, HawkEye eventually confirmed that the shot was off target. Whether there was a miscommunication between the HawkEye official and referee Thomas Walsh or something else, it is the second time in Croke Park this summer that there has been an issue with the score detection technology or relay of it.
The previous occasion also involved Galway against Kilkenny in the Leinster SHC final when James Owens’ umpire called for HawkEye to decide if TJ Reid’s early free was good only for big screen to read “Hawk-Eye Data Unavailable".
What happened on Sunday will remind people of the Tipperary-Wexford All-Ireland semi-final in 2019 when Wexford were eventually awarded a point after HawkEye advised referee Seán Cleere to call the play back as the ball had crossed Brian Hogan’s crossbar from Lee Chin’s before the goalkeeper brought it down. The trouble was Tipperary had found the net in the intervening period and the goal had to be cancelled.
Like three years ago, HawkEye did its job on Sunday but unless the communication is prompt in a game as fast as hurling, which the company regards as its true barometer of its system, there are going to be problems.
