John Fogarty: What GAA managers said this weekend, and what they really meant to say

While Kieran Kingston publicly insisted his players are better than they showed at Thurles, he must privately be furious over Cork’s lack of aggression against Waterford

Tue, 03 Nov, 2020 - 07:00

John Fogarty

Kieran Kingston: “We are better than we showed today, no question about that… we can lament and drown our sorrows but we have got to turn this around as quick as we can and see what the draw brings us.”

What Kieran meant to say: “A day after Christy Ring’s 100th birthday and this is all we can muster? It ain’t just him who must be turning in his grave. And all those people telling us we’re only a summer team, we’ve only confirmed their theories with that performance. Where’s our pride?”

Liam Sheedy: “The only good news is we’ve been the back roads before, so we do know the back roads. It’s a road we have travelled before.”

What Liam meant to say: “Sure, haven’t I won my two All-Irelands going down them? Only thing is these byways weren’t so dark those summers of 2010 and last year. Mental note: Don’t ask Limerick for directions.”

Davy Fitzgerald: “I’m not really worried what the result is the next day; what I’m worried about is will we come out and will we fucking fight. That’s the fucking name of the game. I’m involved in hurling to compete; I’m not involved in fucking hurling to go out there and put up the white flag and hand Galway a game like we did tonight. It’s absolutely horrendous and I’m not happy with it.”

What Davy meant to say: “I’m not really worried what the result is the next day; what I’m worried about is will we come out and will we fucking fight. That’s the fucking name of the game. I’m involved in hurling to compete; I’m not involved in fucking hurling to go out there and put up the white flag and hand Galway a game like we did tonight. It’s absolutely horrendous and I’m not happy with it.”

Mickey Harte: “I haven’t considered anything about that (his future) just right now.”

What Mickey meant to say: “You know I’m codding you. Of course, I’ve been thinking about it. Sure, haven’t I long been seeking and getting extensions seasons in advance. They’ll have to give me one more season for old time’s sake, right? Give me a full year with McShane up front with McKenna and Canavan. The sooner Croke Park release a calendar for 2021 the better my chances.”

Brian Cody: “We have questions to answer.”

What Brian meant to say: “And I have many fish to fry. Now let me get back to the dressing room to deliver some cold, hard facts. Fifteen points ahead! Fifteen points and to be brought level. Makes me sick how far we done fell.”

Seamus McEnaney: “It is a painful defeat that will linger for the winter and a big, big setback because we played good enough football to win the game.”

What Seamus meant to say: Just as well the pubs are closed. I won’t be heading Shercock way until the clocks go forward. They’ll cut the back off me.”

James Horan: “It took us a while to get going but overall we got through the game, no injuries, six debutants and two more came on. It is great to get them on the field.”

What James meant to say: “You think I’d be given youth its head if it were Roscommon we were facing? Different story in Dr Hyde Park. More old dogs needed for the hard road.”

Pádraic Davis: “We were not going to beat Cork because we were focused on this game today. Let’s face it, Louth were not going to beat a full Down team. Down put out six or seven debutants so you can talk about permutations and say that what Longford did deprived Derry (of promotion). No, it didn’t.”

What Pádraic meant to say: “As soon as Leitrim chose not to go to Down, the die was cast and Division 3 was done for us. We might be unpopular and Cork might have wanted a game — we actually thought we were doing them a favour — but we don’t care. We’ve won through to a Leinster quarter-final and our stance has been justified.”

Davy Burke: “We are a team on the up. That’s what we want to believe. Are we Division 1 or 2 standard? No. We’ll get our eyes opened next Sunday. But at least we can see where we are.”

What Davy meant to say: “Bring it on, Meath. Fortress Aughrim has been refortified and it’s not the kind of place a Meath team without a win to their name this season is going to find hospitable.”

John Kiely: “Obviously, that’s their first game so they will benefit from that big time.”

What John meant to say: “Worrying about Tipp is like wondering if the sun is going to come up. We’ll probably have to kill them a second time.”

Ulster teams envious of hurling’s tiers

Tyrone's Kieran McGeary following their Ulster SFC quarter-final defeat to Donegal. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

“Thankfully, there isn’t a trapdoor here,” Liam Sheedy bargained in his interview following Tipperary’s defeat to Limerick at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday evening. “We could be in a football championship.”

How envious must Monaghan and Tyrone be of their hurling counterparts. The lopsidedness of the Leinster and Munster championships is a sickener for them too, but that’s nothing new. However, had the football competition been tiered like hurling, there very well would have been at least a second chance for them as Division 1 teams.

The Tailteann Cup, the new B competition, was postponed until 2021 largely on the basis of scheduling and the fact the 16 teams eligible for the qualifiers (eight in Division 1 and eight in Division 2) and those who weren’t would not have been identified until the weekend before last.

That Cavan, now a Division 3 team, edged out their Division 1 neighbours will be held up as a flaw in the plan to tier the competition. But as their manager Mickey Graham said, Cavan got what they deserved in being demoted. Anyway, if this season had gone ahead as planned, they would avoid the Tailteann Cup reaching the Ulster final.

But is a knockout football championship all that competitive? Comparing football and hurling scores is far from a perfect science, and it should be weighted, given scores in hurling come easier, but the lack of a safety net thus far hasn’t exactly tightened games: in the Liam MacCarthy Cup, the winning difference is 8.5 points and in the Sam Maguire Cup, it’s 4.2.

Monaghan and Tyrone may be interested to know a more tiered championship is not that remote a possibility, especially with regional leagues given strong consideration next year. But nothing will give them much comfort these next couple of months.

Peter Keane not giving Cork a sniff of it

Kerry football manager Peter Keane. Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile

There have been some pretty surreal experiences this year but Kerry’s pre-Munster semi-final press conference over Zoom last Thursday evening comes close to topping them.

If it wasn’t Peter Keane admittedly coming up with a tall tale of eating a Banoffie pie in his shop in Killorglin on May 24, the original date Kerry were due to face Cork, or him telling one journalist to let him worry about the “bits of leg injuries” Paul Geaney and James O’Donoghue were suffering, it truly was the stuff of make believe.

Keane also took exception to the idea that many of his players don’t know what it is to lose to Cork in competitive fare (more details shall be forthcoming later this week). Come to think of it, Keane himself has a 100% record against them as manager.

There was last year’s Munster final when Kerry prevailed by three points and his three years in charge of the minors — the 2018 Munster semi-final Kerry 1-11 Cork 1-10, the 2017 semi-final Kerry 2-17 Cork 1-10 and the 2016 final Kerry 3-14 Cork 3-8. There have also been the seven Championship meetings, six Kerry wins and one draw, that have passed since Cork last beat them in 2012.

But for Peter Crowley, David Moran, and James O’Donoghue, there wouldn’t be a player in the Kerry panel who has suffered a senior championship loss to Cork.

It’s all well and good avoiding complacency and dominance must be protected but it’s a hard sell dressing it up as anything else.

Email: john.fogarty@examiner.ie