Ulster Says Yes to quality Gaelic football

ANOTHER example yesterday of how Sunday is an All-Ireland football final with a difference.

Since taking up sponsorship, Bank of Ireland have brought the managers together the week before the event, usually somewhere around the capital. Yesterday, we gathered in Linden Hall Library in Belfast in a room that contained remnants of the North’s past, including an Ulster Says No poster.

Ironic, given the grip Sunday’s decider has on the province. If anyone was in any doubt, watching Joe Kernan and Mickey Harte field a question from the Belfast Newsletter is evidence enough that the final has transcended sporting, cultural and political boundaries.

The setting might have been surreal, but the formula remained the same. Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh compered and began by invoking that famous Tyrone man Barney Eastwood, who was playing on the first team he ever saw running out on Croke Park-Tyrone minors.

And with that, proceedings got underway. And immediately the quality of the impending final, which good football people from outside Ulster seem to be dreading, is discussed.

“Some people have complained or run us down,” says Kernan, a small smile almost escaping. “But in every game these two teams have played in recent years have been entertaining. And I expect this will be an great, entertaining All-Ireland final.”

Kernan’s words have substance. The two-game thriller the counties contested in Ulster early last year were among the best games of 2002, certainly the drawn encounter deserves to be bracketed among the games of last year.

Both received plaudits for the media access provided to the players, in stark contrast to most “southern counties” and in particular, for the All-Ireland hurling final.

“Well, you put what you believe are the best preparations in place and after that, you want to do your best to help the media within certain boundaries, because you have a job to do as well, and it is about promoting the game as best you can,” said Harte.

Of course, the media, especially the southern variety, hasn’t always been a friend to the teams. Francie Bellew and Brian Dooher are just two victims of over-the-top criticism from a Montrose studio, and reminded by one questioner, Kernan offered another riposte.

“You don’t want to go on about it, but you don’t mind it if someone comes up with constructive criticism, which is surely what their job is about anyway. But these old wives’ tales about their grannies, that is not going to help anyone out.”

The way some people have read into this final, it might be could be decided by psychology. Both managers accept that a player’s mind needs to be more right on the day of a game than their bodies. “People do freeze on the day, that is the nature of the thing, it is part and parcel of sport,” Kernan said.

“Some days, it works for some players. Other days, it doesn’t. What you do is try to cover every angle. But no matter how much work you do psychologically, the pressure is always going to be there,” Kernan continued.

“You can’t hide from it, it goes with All-Ireland final day and no psychologist is going to tell me it is going to be perfect.”

And on the press conference went. Harte remained hopeful about Peter Canavan, less so about Ciaran Gourley.

An All-Ireland final press conference and not a southern accent to be heard. Strange days, indeed, in Gaelic football.

And they may get stranger still. Keep your breath bated. Sunday might just provide the entertaining conclusion this football year needs.