Fitzmaurice will aim higher when next final arrives
It was founded in Hayes Hotel ‘to protect Irish culture’ with the idea that every Irish citizen would be able to freely participate and enjoy the sport. Nowadays thousands of men, women and children gain benefit from those who facilitate our games.
At a higher level there is competition. Participation is for the primary schools, it’s all about taking part. Competition is what drives people to excel and achieve. It’s what teaches discipline, forces people to accept defeat and win with humility. Competition is the cornerstone of all sport, business and life.
There is a higher ideal in sport and this is winning. At some point everything must be geared towards winning. No longer is participation or competition enough. Winning brings many dangers.
Minds are focused, senses sharpened, feelings blunted. Somewhere in there you get extremely selfish and do not consider the effect your actions have on others. It is an ideal which takes away from the very basics of sporting participation and makes a mockery of competition.
You may argue that all great teams or individual sporting heroes are selfish and that ultimately winning is what sport is about. I disagree.
Jimmy McGuinness in a pre-match interview spoke about how he only wanted a performance from his players and that he would accept the result given. An attitude that suggests ‘play well and we can hold our heads high, no matter what happens’. This is Jimmy’s second year in an All-Ireland final and he has the luxury of making comments with an All-Ireland medal in a display cabinet at home.
In 2012 Jimmy would have accepted a win whatever way it came but experience has broadened his vision and now he wants to play with style and give something back to those who travelled with him.
In the RTÉ post-match interview, Kerry’s Eamonn Fitzmaurice spoke about his offensive strategy. He said they were happy to shoot from distance and if it went wide then so be it, try again next time and keep trying.
Kerry notched up 13 wides — nearly a costly strategy. Fitzmaurice also mentioned that he didn’t care what way they won. This is true and it’s a clear symptom of the winning ideal.
The record books don’t comment on the quality of match nor do they praise losing managers for a gallant effort but it must be noted that this match provided spectators with a very poor spectacle.
The expectation that Donegal and Kerry would be a tactical masterpiece was so far removed from what we witnessed. This game was fraught with errors in handling, footwork, shooting, decision-making, technical skills and player application. Rarely have so many big name players failed to perform on the same day. Michael Murphy (Donegal) and James O’Donoghue (Kerry) were anonymous, a testament to their opponents, Aidan O’Mahony and Neil McGee respectively. David Moran (Kerry) and Ryan McHugh (Donegal), mentioned as potential All Stars following their semi-final displays, were both substituted after poor performances.
Kieran Donaghy ineffective until gifted a goal from Paul Durcan and Donegal’s Odhran Mac Niallais substituted after a promising year and potentially the young player of the year.
Winning got to the players. Or was it the fear of losing? Tactically Donegal tried to keep the field big.
Their players attacked wide on each side and tried to draw out the Kerry defence to create space.
Kerry kept it narrow and the shooting from distance policy did a disservice to the watching public, who paid in to watch the best forward in Ireland live off scraps.
‘If Donegal don’t score goals Kerry will win the match’ is a very negative starting position for your team to adopt. This is the approach Pat Gilroy’s Dublin adopted in 2011 which led to that most horriblesemi-final against Donegal.
Yes, winning is all that people who play can comprehend, but winning with a performance that matches the occasion is what players should aspire to. This is not a foolish ideal and is something I believe our hurling friends aspire to.
For Fitzmaurice this has been a remarkable year. He has always believed in this group despite all the setbacks, and in turn the players have repaid him.
He may not have care about yesterday’s performance last night but, as McGuinness expressed, if he gets back to another All-Ireland final he will aspire to better.
