Can I get some love for the Cork footballers?
“Yes, of course,” he said. “It’s well known that the knife is always out in Dublin for a Corkman.”
Gerald, thou shouldst be living at this hour.
The Cork victory last Sunday week over Dublin in the All-Ireland senior football semi-final may not have been greeted with gnashing of teeth, but there was no shortage of weeping, metaphorically speaking.
Dublin threw it away. Cork are clueless. They’re lacking a plan, missing a strategy and offending everyone’s sensitivities. All things considered, the men in red are just a breath of stale air in this year’s championship.
Pin up the charge sheet and let’s have a look at the array of offences.
Cork play an unattractive brand of football. Conor Counihan, the Cork boss, skewered this argument rather elegantly after the Dublin game, pointing out that his side had stormed through last year’s championship with stunning style – but ended up without the big cup come September.
He didn’t need to add that his side had been criticised roundly in 2009 for not having a killer instinct when it came to closing games out; the football pundits moonlighting as ice-skating judges, awarding marks for artistic merit, were more than happy to do that for him.
Oh, wait a minute...
On a related note, prospective All-Ireland champions should play better football.
We’ve been interested in some of the comments along these lines that have been circulating recently.
Even Paddy Heaney, a man we have respected ever since inadvertently misdirecting him past the English Market, opined here during the week that Cork’s failure to produce champagne football during the championship has failed to make them as beloved by the public as, say, the Armagh football team.
Yes, Armagh. Francie Bellew. Kieran McGeeney. Paddy says they caught the nation’s imagination. We have our suspicions as to where exactly they caught the imagination of the nation and a nagging thought that they may have squeezed and twisted each sphere as they did so.
Lookit, Dublin threw the game away; Cork didn’t win it. You’re ahead in a game with time almost up, but the opposition reel you in with a late, late scoring burst. They’re hailed for their nous and craft and you’re pilloried for your mental weakness with the finishing line in sight.
At least if you reverse those roles you’ll avoid the fuzzy end of the lollipop, right?
Not if you’re the Cork football team.
In the Munster semi-final replay Kerry got the plaudits, and deservedly so, for dogging out a win when Marc O Se secured extra time with a late, late point. In the All-Ireland semi-final Cork didn’t get the plaudits, and undeservedly so, for dogging out a win when Donncha O’Connor secured victory with a late, late point.
If anyone was praised on Sunday evening and Monday morning it was Dublin for losing a game in oddly similar circumstances to Cork’s loss against Kerry.
There are many reasons why a team which had their nipples rubbing up against the tape were praised even though they couldn’t break the plastic, but time, space, and the nervousness of this newspaper’s lawyers prevent me from listing them here.
Tactically Cork are clueless.
A team which was known for swashbuckling attacks rebrands itself in 2010 as a more defensive outfit and enjoys some success as a result. If you’re the Waterford hurling team you can look forward to plaudits for getting the most out of yourselves and for careful tactics.
If you’re the Cork football team... what’s interesting here is that the same pundits who insist that Counihan doesn’t have a Colm Cooper or a Stephen O’Neill at his disposal are criticising the manager for not playing a system that would suit one of those players.
Dublin withdrew players and hit Bernard Brogan in space to good effect last Sunday week; they were entitled to be satisfied with their approach when they were five points up.
Yet they were also the team which ended up with a hot-headed midfielder minding the square when Colm O’Neill bore down on goal on fifty minutes. And we all know how that worked out.
Well, you would say all of that, you’re from Cork, after all.
True enough, you’re entitled to sling that one. Everyone’s got to be from somewhere. But if you allow that particular punch to be thrown, be prepared for the obvious response.
If you can be indicted on the grounds of nationality for offering a few defences on the grounds, can others be counter-sued on the same grounds?
Isn’t validating opinion based on point of origin a pretty sticky wicket if you apply it to both accuser and accused?
Face facts. If that approach were taken, you’d have to accept that Gerald Goldberg might have had a point, all those years ago.
* michael.moynihan@examiner.ie Twitter: MikeMoynihanEx
