Angry fans
I WANT to express my disgust at Mark Vaughan’s behaviour after scoring his goal as well as Bryan Cullen, Kevin Bonnar and Alan Brogan near the end of Sunday’s Leinster final.That sort of goading has no place in the game. No team wins an All Ireland without an element of luck and teams who carry on like that don’t deserve any. Remember Eamon Cregan’s response to Ger Loughnane's outburst on the night of the 1997 All Ireland hurling final ‘Gracious in Victory, Humble in Defeat’.
DUBLIN ARE some bunch of showboaters. Worse than any Premiership team. Flicking the two fingers into Laois players’ faces after scoring, roaring into opposition players’ faces, gesturing to the crowd.That's leaving out all the badge kissing and jersey tugging. A thoroughly unlikable bunch.
IF A SOCCER player behaved like some of the Dubs he'd get booked. Someone should have a word in their ear and tell them to cop on! No class.Then they complain that ‘neutrals’ from thirty-one counties cheer against them.
THE LAOIS lads had lost and wanted to start a row. Instead of getting involved in a fight the Dublin players refused. Considering all the condemnation of violence in the GAA recently surely they should be applauded for that. They just pointed to the scoreboard to show they did it in on the pitch and not in a brawl.
I WINCED when I saw Brogan gesturing to the crowd at the end. While the ‘day out’ merchants may love that kind of stuff, it can come back on a team and will fiercely wind up whichever opposition we face next. Not clever Alan.
A lot of the ‘colourful’ behaviour of Dublin fans – especially on the Dineen Hill Sixteen – would rightly be called ‘loutishness’ and ‘bad manners’ if fans of other counties indulged in it. Tick in the Book to Miller 1910 for equating Waterford’s harmless crest kissing with giving opponents a ‘two fingers’.
WE WERE seated in one of the stands and for the first time I began to get concerned about bringing a young child to Croke Park. The language from one set of supporters was shocking. Each time a score was achieved the so called fans stood up and gave to two fingers to their counterparts, calls for players to be crippled etc... Really nasty, and in the middle of a main stand with a lot of children around. This was the Laois support. A small minority of the sum total no doubt but, all the same, it's not good to see male and female supporters behave like that. Kudos to the Dublin supporters who simply ignored the taunting.
The day we can’t bring young kids to Croker will be a sad one for the GAA. I’m not sure how this kind of carry on can be stamped out. It also underlines that Dubs’ fans haven’t a monopoly on bad behaviour.
WE ALL LIKE an auld wind up every now and again (well, I do anyway) but to hear Ger Lock’s comments about the hurling draw took the biscuit. Something like:‘Ah sure we'll be up against Kilkenny next weekend. Sure, what hope have we? Our full forward line will be up against the modern day Hell’s Kitchen.’ Good man Ger, get the tongue out of the cheek will ya!! Tony C was worse.When asked about the game against Limerick in the quarters he was quick in with the comment that Clare would be five or six levels behind Limerick.
At this stage you’d have to ask if Ger LoughTaliban ever actually talks to his Galway panel or is all his communication with them done through a media megaphone? As for Tony …. He is con-founding the Banner Begrudgers and getting on with the job.
IT WOULD appear the games against Dublin and Offaly sent out the wrong message to the Cork squad. Once again, Cork dominated for twenty minutes against Tipperary. When the Premier team goaled they grew in confidence.The Rebels lacked leaders on the field.There was an over emphasis on the short game.To beat Waterford the management team need to have a serious look at their starting fifteen, also mix the long and short game.
Now that the adrenalin rush induced by ‘Semple Gate’ is waning, I think the season’s shenanigans are starting to take their toll on the Cork players and management. They seemed a bit tired against Tipp. Cork may be on a down ward slide, withWaterford are firmly on the way up. In that scenario, there can be only one result.
WHAT A SHOWER of no-hopers are the Tipp supporters? I heard they were filing into Thurles in their thousands at half time on Saturday night when they heard their team were showing some fight after letting them down after losing to Limerick. T’wouldn’t happen in Limerick.
This used to be a regular occurrence in the past in Walsh Park below in Waterford when word would be sent out at half time on howWaterford were faring before the punters would decide to part with their hard-earned cash. Maybe the Tipp supporters had other things on their mind? Like finishing off their ‘tay’ or helping their partners with the weekend shopping.
THE HURLING semi-finals draw proves how completely worthless it is. If Waterford go the whole way they could easily do so via the following route: Cork, Limerick, Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny. Only three different teams. What a joke and what a boring prospect for neutrals. Basically Munster will cannibalise itself, while Kilkenny eat Galway alive and overcome Tipp who will be only half the team next time out. The Cats probably won't have to break a sweat until the final!
Let’s not count chickens… I’ve a feeling things will work out differently to your expectation. One way or the other, it’ll be the hardest won Liam McCarthy in many years.
LISTENING TO Michael Duignan last Saturday night during the Cork v Tipp game confirmed to me that this bloke has a total dislike of Cork. He got great pleasure when Tipp scored but was silent most of the time when Cork scored. Best example was about five minutes after Willie Ryan got Tipp’s second goal Cork went up the field a scored a fine point. Duignan’s response was to tell us about the build up to the Tipp goal. Then, at the very end, when Cork had the line ball that was to be the last puck of the game Ben O’Connor looked to the Cork bench for a dry ball. Mick’s comment was ‘Oh typical Cork’. Fair play to Ger Canning to remind him howTipp won a Munster Final down in Killarney in 1971 doing the very same thing again in the last minute against Limerick. Michael should take note of the way Anthony Daly,Tomás Mulcahy, Pete Finnerty, D.J Carey, Donal O’Grady analyse a game. They call it as they see it and give praise where praise is due.
Waterford fans are convinced Michael doesn’t like them too much either. Maybe if he annoys several counties in equal measure it just confirms his neutrality?
ONE AREA of RTE’s coverage I don’t like is the pre and post match interviews. It isn’t being sexist when I say that the new reporters are a bit out of their depth. Darragh Moloney is a star that shines. He is accurate, informative, gives a good feel for how the game is going and is an addition to the coverage. He must be due an All-Ireland Final soon. Michael Duignan sounds like he has come in bearing some terrible news of a catastrophe that has just occurred – behind the bluster there isn’t much to grab hold of. Anthony Daly and Cyril Farrell are probably two of the best, with O’Grady also up there. It’s a pity that Jamesie O’Connor isn’t used on TV, he seems to provide a level of insight that most of the other analysts don’t.
It’s good to see RTE’s presenters and analysts praised – for a change. Idisagree about the post-match interviews. The reporters are fine but the idea of trying to do coherent interviews in the middle of several thousand baying fans is not. In the tunnel or the dressing room is the place.
I CAN’T for the life of me understand RTE scheduling Des Cahill’s ‘Road to Croker’ programme for eight o’clock on a Thursday night. I’d reckon at least 75% of GAA teams train on Thursday nights with the exception of some rural clubs who will wait till Friday night for players to come home from Dublin or Cork etc.
They’re also missing out on all those GAH players who wash their hair and put in highlights on a Thursday night. And I don’t mean camogie players and lady footballers.
I WAS STUNNED to see the ‘Limerick Leader’ articles predicting that ‘WaterfordWill Wilt’. They were absolute drivel and the headlines were disrespectful to Waterford. Whether they were trying to show a confidence I don't know but it was a poor effort all round.Why provide ammunition to the opposition?
HOW TO WIN a Munster final! Stick an article from the opposition team’s local newspaper on the dressing room wall. I've heard it all now. God help Waterford if the ‘Evening Echo’ don't publish some kind of article in the week before the quarter final.
Who knows? Maybe the wily Justin McCarthy will use his old ‘Examiner’ contacts to deliver a suitably provocative article on the eve of battle against the Rebels?
