John Fogarty: Paudie Clifford’s Golden Cleric speech viewed dimly
SPEECH: Fossa’s Paudie Clifford lifts the cup after the final watched by GAA president Larry McCarthy. Pic: INPHO/Bryan Keane
With one hand, Paudie Clifford gave – “To the referee and his officials, obviously a tough game to referee especially at the end. A good job...” Only with the other, to take it away - “other than the end when I was wrongly sent off. Unbelievable how I was sent off.”
Reading the room and the guffaws and gasps of disbelief at his comment, Clifford added that Thomas Murphy had done “a great job all round”. Video footage would indicate the Galway referee was correct to show the two-time All-Star the line and the early indication is he may face a sanction for his remarks in accepting the All-Ireland junior club football cup on top of the straight red card.
But for Down’s motion at Congress in 2018, Clifford would not have been permitted to be present for the post-match celebrations never mind accept the silverware. The final motion that day in Croke Park, the proposal to do away with the rule preventing a player sent off from participating in the presentation.
“This rule doesn’t do us any favours at all,” says Down chairman Jack Devaney, who proposed the motion. “It’s inevitable that players who have been sent off have been involved in after-match presentations.
“In the rush of celebration afterwards, the player or the club are not thinking about this particular rule. The committee in charge are not going to intervene at that particular point to stop it from happening.
“And no CCC wants to be the committee to deal with this matter afterwards because it’s inevitable that they will be seen as being petty in relation to adding another penalty onto what the player has already received.”
How ironic it would be were Clifford collared as the first prominent captain to benefit from the rule. At the same time, Devaney was correct that there were red-carded players who were taking a full part in the post-match revelry. In the 2017 All-Ireland final, John Small walked up the steps to lift the Sam Maguire Cup despite a second-half dismissal following a second yellow card.
Others haven’t been so lucky. In 2016, in David Clifford’s first game in Croke Park, he had seen his St Brendan’s College captain Dan O’Brien unable to receive the Hogan Cup having been sent off with five minutes of normal time remaining in the final win over St Patrick’s, Maghera. Instead, Evan Cronin was given the honour of lifting it.
In 2009, Donegal captain Rory Kavanagh was stopped by an Ulster official from receiving the McKenna Cup, the county’s first in 18 years, having picked up a yellow card in the win over Queen’s University. At the time, the booking was a 'dismiss and replace' offence as part of the experimental rules suite.
As Barry Monaghan had to step into the breach, admitting he felt like “a fraud”, Kavanagh blasted: “I am very annoyed about what happened. If I had received a straight red card then fair enough, I would have accepted it, but I only got a yellow.”
In 2018, former Kildare midfielder Darryl Flynn and David Whyte were banned for a game having the previous year accepted the Dermot Bourke Cup, the county SFC silverware, as Moorefield captain and vice-captain after both being sent off in the win over Celbridge.
Informed he would be banned were he to lift the cup, it was a hit Flynn was happy to take. “Look, if I could make the decision again, I’d lift the cup again. You mightn’t get that chance again in your life. Going up, someone said it, but I said, ‘look, I might never get this chance again. I never heard of it (the rule) until just as I was about to go up the steps. It is a bizarre rule, I’d never heard of it being implemented before.”
In the context of GAA leaders’ calls for more respect for referees and imminent rule changes to that effect, Clifford’s words are unlikely to be ignored, particularly when they were uttered yards away from GAA president Larry McCarthy.
Especially in light of the audience he had, the criticism of Murphy may be considered a disrepute charge, which could have ramifications for Clifford’s 2023 season with Kerry as sanction for such an offence is time-based and the minimum suspension is eight weeks. That being said, private apologies to referee have been known to excuse players in the past, Anthony Masterson’s letter to Derek Fahy in 2011 being one example.
Having been on the receiving end of a vicious high elbow minutes before being sent off which required medical assistance and a brief blood substitution, Clifford may have felt more victim than transgressor. Nevertheless, the Hogan Stand rostrum wasn’t the place to go full Golden Cleric, at least not against a man of the (black) cloth.
Without mentioning names, Leinster GAA last week laid the blame for their lamentable staging of the O’Byrne Cup at the feet of the counties who chose not to fulfil games.
“On the back of three similar walkovers, and despite counties having been informed of the proposed structure as far back as November, the integrity of the competition has now been diminished,” their statement on Friday read. “In future, counties will have to give serious consideration to their fixture schedule before committing to participating.”
The province’s disappointment with the counties rings hollow when it isn’t followed up with action. The bottom line is Carlow, Kildare, Louth and Offaly will suffer no repercussions from their failure to fulfil the games, although Offaly should be afforded some sympathy. They had a strong point to make about the advantage Louth would have had over them having first given a walkover and they at least suggested their semi-final against them be rescheduled.
Mickey Harte’s record as Tyrone manager in the McKenna Cup was mightily impressive yet he wasn’t afraid to upset people as he has done now with Louth. Fielding college players in 2007, he risked the wrath of the Ulster Council and they were duly punished for using ineligible players but were still allowed to hold onto the cup.
Certainly, it was felt by Offaly and it would seem Louth that three games in the space of eight days was excessive. Yet in Ulster Derry manager Rory Gallagher was saying quite the opposite. Discussing the new McKenna Cup format, he said: "Now you have nine teams, three groups of three, so you have only two games, but it's our third game in eight days, so we're not complaining.”
Held up against the northern province, this latest farce only underlines Leinster’s fall.
For the second time in three years both Cork teams have reached their respective Munster pre-season finals. There wasn’t much to read into the last double achievement in 2020 due to the pandemic. Kerry also fielded a shadow team due to their team holiday.
The previous occasion was 2007 when in identical matches to this year Cork faced Tipperary in the hurling decider, losing to them by three points, and the footballers saw off Limerick in their showdown by four.
The season has not yet dawned so the pursuits of both Pat Ryan and John Cleary’s sides will be cautiously welcomed in the county. Nevertheless, the soundings from both camps seem to be extremely encouraging, especially in the football set-up where Kevin Walsh’s introduction is said to be making a difference.
Neither manager would be so silly as to claim their teams are doing anything other than putting in performances, Cleary describing the group as “a work in progress” after seeing off Clare in Quilty and Ryan stressing Limerick were only back from a team holiday.
At the same time, Cleary spoke of the confidence the wins bring and Ryan said the final appearance should stand to his players ahead of their league campaign, certainly more than the challenge game they had provisionally arranged before qualifying for it.
In Conor Counihan’s time, he looked for steel in early year performances. Across 2004 and ‘05, the hurlers of Donal O’Grady and John Allen won nine of their 10 Division 1B games. To succeed, Cork will have to be men for all seasons.
