This will be brilliant, this will be war
It’s a mite much to expect Jim McGuinness and James Horan to join in a rendition of the John Lennon song but they’re singing it if not in harmony.
From the Mayo camp on Sunday evening came the line that Donegal will “try anything that gives them an advantage”.
Horan is well versed in pre-game psychological warfare having raised referee Joe McQuillan’s familiarity with Dublin before the counties’ All-Ireland semi-final last year.
On Saturday evening, and prior to discovering they were facing Mayo, Jim McGuinness claimed his players were being targeted for rough play.
The Donegal manager had the stats at hand (four concussions across the summer) and delivered his assessment with conviction, stating he had a duty of care to his players.
However, he also spoke about third man tackles on his men such as Michael Murphy: “This is a common theme at the moment.”
It was a message to referees to protect his players but when Donegal have been accused of similar dark arts it rings a little hollow.
How Mayo are perceived exercises them greatly too. Why else would Horan have spoken out in January, almost four months after the final, about how RTÉ (specifically Joe Brolly) portrayed them in the week leading up to the game? As Brolly, who has been complimentary of Mayo in the main this year, tweeted on Sunday night, Mayo have moved to DEFCON1. Their county board is part of the offensive too, their official Twitter account on Sunday retweeting messages condemning McGuinness’ statement as a PR stunt and an attempt to influence referees. It’s got that unsavoury.
At the same time, Donegal’s official account made their own declaration early yesterday morning: “So @MayoGAA think they can do 3 in a row in knocking out all Ireland champs, we’ll send them back to the west next Sun. #Jimmyswinningmatches”
Horan’s remarks in January turned up the heat on the rivalry but it was a month earlier when things began to spark publicly. Midfielder Aidan O’Shea suggested the end result, a four-point defeat for Mayo, may have been altered had the Football Review Committee proposal to bring play forward by 30 metres instead of the current 13m for dissent or the free being prevented from being taken quickly.
O’Shea was asked if Donegal purposely prevented Mayo from taking quick frees. “It’s pretty obvious if you actually look back over the tape. You can see the referee brought the ball up on numerous occasions but it’s only 15 yards (13 metres). It made no difference to Donegal because they got players behind the ball.”
McGuinness was incredulous when O’Shea’s words were put to him later that day: “He felt we were cynical?!”
O’Shea actually backed up McGuinness’ point to an extent: “If we’re five points up and a fella is going for goal in the last few minutes, we’re going to pull him down. If that means getting a yellow card and going off, under the new rules, or whatever, you’re still going to do it. At the end of the day, we’ll just bring somebody else on instead. Cynicism is part of the game.”
Bitterness, anger, avenging thoughts... TV3 should be branding this showdown with a parental warning. RTE may have opted for the populist vote in Dublin and Cork and it may be prettier on the eye but this will be this clash everyone will be talking about after next weekend.
Given Horan accused the national broadcasters of anti-Mayo bias, he might be glad it’s being televised on another station. But on the basis of his comments in January he is even happier that the opposition is Donegal. “We had to cool guys down in the weeks after the All-Ireland final because they wanted to get back to it again.”
Cool heads will be few and far between in Croke Park this Sunday afternoon. Too much is at stake.
* Email: john.fogarty@examiner.ie Twitter: @johnfogartyirl
Nobody, not even the most informed of Kilkenny supporters, are privy to the inner workings of Brian Cody and Henry Shefflin’s minds.
Come to think of it, few know just what these great men are capable of.
When Tipperary were heavily fancied to win the 2011 All-Ireland final, a majority of the Kilkenny following travelled to Croke Park with the fear they would be beaten for a second year running.
Those closest to Cody appreciate just how much the game means to him.
Those who think his heart surgery earlier this year might persuade him to step away don’t realise that it’s hurling which sustains him.
The same goes for Shefflin. Injury has cursed him umpteen times in recent years and he is due a concern-free winter.
It’s not for the fun of it that he routinely builds up the strength in his legs running through the rushes in the field behind his house. Everything is done with a purpose.
Cody may be 60 next year, his great leader 35 in 2014, but they don’t think like the rest of us. Where we might see an end they regard as a beginning.
To go out in the manner of Sunday in Semple won’t sit well with either.
They will be back.
John Bannon and Ciarán Whelan’s warnings about the shortcomings of the black card in the final minutes of games should be heeded.
At the weekend, both the Tyrone footballers and Cork hurlers resorted to some unsightly behaviour to protect their leads in the closing stages of matches. They are not on their own, of course, and cynicism is not an ill exclusive to football but there is little chance of the black card being introduced to hurling any time soon with so many people up in arms about the consistency of referees in issuing yellows and reds.
Cynicism is bad enough on its own but using it as a vehicle to waste time and the momentum of the trailing team is a worse offence. It might take a year or two in football but, as Whelan suggests, it should be upgraded with the punishment being a close-range free. On top of the black card being issued, the public clock, which comes in next season, should also be stopped.
