Still a market for shooting boots
Before I got to The Most of Nora Ephron, however, I had a good look at the papers.
Something between the “reasonable” £300 Chelsea boots in the Times and the aubergine trifle recipe in the Guardian caught my eye — Oliver Kay, the Times soccer writer, was discussing Manchester United’s travails, and he made the point about their transfer policy that they had perhaps mistakenly focused on forwards, but added: “There is a shortage of high calibre central defenders in world football,” having suggested earlier in the piece that “tactical discipline is not what it was”.
Given that I was rolling to the sequel to one of the highest-scoring All-Ireland finals of all time, it suggested to me that perhaps forward play is advancing across all platforms, irrespective of the size of the ball. The scorefest of three weeks ago would surely indicate that.
Don’t all shout at once. The standard of defending on Saturday night was appreciably higher than in the drawn All-Ireland final.
Yet consider the score in the replay, 2-17 to 2-14. That’s still pretty good going and would have won you more than one All-Ireland title back in the Nineties.
Speaking to a former intercounty defender a few months ago, he made the surprising observation that in the modern game if you give a forward space he’ll score. End of. They’re all that accurate, he said.
Kay’s theory comes something of a cropper, when you consider the All-Ireland football final eight days ago, since viewed generally as the least entertaining couple of hours since the Big Bang.
But does the huge emphasis on defending in Gaelic football suggest a fear of forward accuracy within the 45 metres? Again, hands down everyone: the question is rhetorical.
The number of wides hit by Kerry in particular against Donegal suggests that for all the progress in many areas of GAA preparation, the ability to kick accurately from 40 metres remains difficult to acquire.
In fact, training players to hit the target from that distance with an O’Neills is enough to make you consider, yes, actually £300 for a pair of Chelsea boots is quite reasonable after all.
Spending some time in the capital means having to use the facilities, of course.
In the course of my visit, I took a couple of taxis, and here I present an account of their views in alternating sentences.
The GAA is a desperate bunch of vampires sucking money out of poor people who just want to see Donegal win a hurling game.
The GAA is a the greatest organisation in the world, where else would you get the entertainment we saw there today and do you know who the new Dublin hurling manager is going to be, because I do and I’ll tell you if you like.
Having these games on a Saturday is a desperate curse because sure the crowd up for the game does get swallowed up by the crowd who are in town doing their shopping anyway.
Having these replays on a Saturday is a great idea because all the country people who land into the city can spend their money up here, know what I mean?
I suppose ye’re all delighted in Kerry with winning the All-Ireland last weekend, but Dublin will sort ye out next year, no bother.
I suppose ye’re all delighted in Cork to see Kerry and Kilkenny win the two All-Irelands this year.
Did you get any score from the Ryder Cup at all, I think Europe are doing very well.
Did you ever hear so much rubbish about anything in your life as the Ryder Cup, bloody hell a load of Yanks and Spaniards in funny jumpers.
I had that (Irish rugby player unnamed for legal reasons) in the cab there the other weekend drunk out of his mind, he told me O’Driscoll will make a comeback for the Six Nations.
I had that (Irish soccer player’s father unnamed for legal reasons) in the cab there the other weekend drunk out of his mind, he told me Roy Keane dyes his beard but not to tell anyone, O’Neill threw the Grecian 2000 at him.
Brian Cody is some operator all the same.
Brian Cody is some operator all the same.
Was Brian Gavin wise to make those comments last week? If you missed it, the All-Ireland replay ref was quoted on local radio in the midlands criticising the focus on referee Barry Kelly after the drawn All-Ireland final.
This was an odd move ahead of handling such a high-profile game and raises some tricky questions for the GAA. While reporters often bump into referees in the bowels of various stadia after games, the communication is usually pretty limited.
Like most sports organisations there isn’t a mechanism for ~officials to address contentious issues in a post-game setting, something which might help all parties after matches if all parties – referees included – were agreeable. But, coming out before a game is even played, as Gavin did, may lead to refs getting a tinkle from reporters before a ball is thrown in. The precedent is in place now.
Earlier this year you will recall quite the controversy about penalty-taking, or more accurately, the controversy about Anthony Nash’s penalty taking technique.
Recall if you will the strong arguments made on health and safety grounds that a player hitting a ball from, say 14 metres away at three players with a clear sight of same ball, was putting them in danger of injury.
Now consider what happened in the second half of the All-Ireland final replay on Saturday evening, when Richie Power of Kilkenny wound up and shot for goal, only for Tipperary’s James Barry to throw himself in front of the effort and take the sliotar on the helmet.
The game was halted – kudos to ref Brian Gavin for picking up immediately on the injury — and Barry got medical treatment. His helmet later had to be replaced, presumably because of the impact. The obvious point here is this: it’s too dangerous for players to hit a penalty from inside the 20 metre line, but perfectly legitimate for someone who can hit the ball as hard as Richie Power to let fly when an opponent is so close to him?
The paltry return from penalties since the rules were changed mid season – we’ll return to the issue of having two different sets of rules for the one championship another time – has been a topic of conversation for a while.
The contradiction between allowing a shot from five metres and ruling out shots from 14 metres has yet to be addressed.
