Angry Fans
Some are disappointed more than angry about the one-sided game. Others having a ‘pop’ at either Brian Cody for his ‘go’ at Ger Loughnane or at Kilkenny, saying the current draw system in hurling just tees up the Cats for All Ireland finals.? Anger or begrudgery? Maybe a little of both. A referee just can’t win and Diarmuid Kirwan gets his share of brickbats and bouquets for his handling of the final. There’s the usual anger at RTE for poor quality programming, except this time it’s directed at Des and Mary rather than Pat, Michael, Pete and Anthony.
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I THOUGHT Sunday was an unfortunate end to a season that had several great matches. Overall, a great summer of hurling, from a completely neutral observer. As for the match, I thought it was over
before it really began. The clock didn't have to reach ten minutes, and you could see what was going to happen.
Neutrals probably feel Limerick underperformed on Sunday and didn’t do themselves justice.
No one will be sicker about that than the boys in Green themselves and their splendid backroom team. However, I’m sure Kilkenny would prefer to win as they did rather than lose in a ‘classic’.
To be honest, there hasn’t been a classic final for a good few years. Maybe ’98 was the last
one. Still, Henry’s speech and the presence of James and Daragh McGarry at the presentation said it all about the GAA and the hurling ‘family’ and ended the season appropriately.
I’M DISAPPOINTED that in his hour of victory Brian Cody had a ‘go’ at Ger Loughane. He said
Loughnane suffered from ‘inferiority’. Ger had pointed out the home truth that the Kilkenny backs push the rules to the limit and referees let them away with it.
Less microphone and megaphone would suit Ger Lough better. And put less pressure on a
potentially great Galway hurling panel. Brian Cody’s comments were out of character for the man.
However, he admitted he hadn’t hear Loughnane’s comments at first hand and he might have been wiser to ignore them. Maybe the Clare man has a point but you’d wonder about the timing and the way he made it. I suspect the two lads are already verbally shouldering each other in advance of next year’s championship.
KILKENNY ARE in the All-Ireland semi final for 2008 already. Don’t bother with Wexford, Offaly etc. Can any Munster county say they are in the All Ireland semi final for 2008 at this stage with such certainty? That’s the problem with this system. Not Kilkenny’s fault but I’m sure Nickey will be more than happy to hand out the Cup again next year. Realistically, they have two matches next year to win the Three-in-a-Row.
You’re far too gloomy about next year. I think it’ll be an even better, more competitive
championship than this year. The following counties are more than capable of stopping
Kilkenny: Waterford, Limerick, Cork,Tipperary, Galway and … yes. Dublin.
I WAS SITTING among Kilkenny supporters and they were all great except for the one drunken so-and-so who kept shouting that the last time Limerick won something it was in Black and White. He was duly told shut up by a steward and even his own people cheered.
The drunken fan was wrong. They usually are, of course. Limerick’s 1973 victory is in colour in the RTE archives although the picture quality and editing is so bad it looks like it was shot on one of those old handheld 8 millimetre Bolex ‘wind up’ cameras. Maybe if you’re drunk maybe you see
everything in black-and-white? Seriously, though,‘hats off’ to the Kilkenny people. They know their hurling and are always gracious in either victory or in (rare) defeat. Other counties could learn
from them.
I THOUGHT referee Diarmuid Kirwan did neither team any favours. He allowed a few very dangerous shoulder charges - on both sides - go unpunished early in the game and this set the tone for later skirmishes. It didn't affect the outcome unduly but it is not good enough at this level.
I THOUGHT the referee made errors but mainly in not taking sterner action on what appeared to be a targeting of Seamus Hickey particularly early in the game. On two or three occasions, he was hit hard and high. Funny enough, Michael Duignan pretty much ignored these also.
DIARMUID KIRWAN made a terrible decision in giving Brian Geary a yellow card and then giving the line ball to Kilkenny. In the early stages, he was letting a lot of Kilkenny pulling and dragging go. Later on, he missed a blatant trip by a Limerick defender.
The free count shows that Limerick got a lot more of them than Kilkenny. But that proves nothing
about the refereeing. Just that Kilkenny played it tough from the word ‘go’ and were determined to counter any potential Limerick ‘physicality’ and paid the price in frees. On RTE radio, Pundit Duignan seemed to think the ref was deliberately trying to even things up between the sides, to give Limerick a bit of a ‘dig out’. I doubt it. Young Séamus Hickey got a baptism of fire from the Cats’ forwards but it’ll be the making of him as a hurler.
WITH KILKENNY winning their fifth All Ireland of this decade, it’s fair to say we really are living in an era of almost unprecedented dominance. Maybe Kilkenny would prevail regardless of what system was in place and what obstacles were put in their way, but I've little doubt that the way the championship is set up is a major advantage to Kilkenny and a huge hindrance to their main rivals, particularly Cork and Waterford. I'd have been bitterly opposed to abolishing the Munster Championship but now I'm beginning to wonder. The Munster teams are cannibalising each other and it doesn't help them at the All Ireland proper stage when those goons in the GAA effectively set up a mini Munster Championship of Cork,Waterford, Limerick and Clare on one side of the draw.
There’s far too much tinkering goes on with the hurling draws from year to year. Personally, I’m totally opposed to ending the Munster championship. Galway should bite the bullet and get themselves into Leinster to beef that up. The hurling draw should have the same simple proviso as football – teams who met previously in the provincials should be kept apart. That would have given us Waterford v Galway and Kilkenny v Cork in the quarter finals.
I THOUGHT ‘Up for the Match’ was absolutely the worst programme ever televised. I didn’t know whether to cringe, cry or throw the telly out. Nothing what so ever to do with hurling for the most part, asinine humour, laboured, contrived and painful etc. I can just imagine the "applause" and "laugh" cue boards being raised every few minutes
THE ROSE OF MOONCOIN’ being sung in an American accent by a Billy Joel Tribute Artist! Fair play to ‘Up for the Match’ on RTE.
I thought year man really strangled the poor Rose. Still, Pat and the lads on ‘The Sunday Game’ will be relieved that the fans’ anger is directed at another programme, for a change. It looked like something made by East German television before the Wall came down. For some counties, one of the consolations of not being in an All Ireland is that they don’t get to be featured on ‘Up for the Match’
CONGRATS TO Kilkenny. They have a very strong panel of players. The Cats were eight points up after twenty minutes yet Cody replaced one of his forwards. Cody had his team very focused; he is also ruthless when it is time to replace players. Two of the Kilkenny forwards scored one goal and seven points between them in the opening half yet the Limerick management made no effort to rectify the problems. Is Cody the first manager to oversee five All Ireland successes in the one decade?
Cork’s achievement of five senior titles in the Forties was a great record and the fact that it includes a four-in-arow puts it in a special place. Kilkenny haven’t yet matched that, but the way they’re paying under Cody I’m afraid a few more Rebel-held records may go before the end of this decade.
SO THE KINGDOM no longer rules. Dublin will win by eight or nine points and Ó Sé is the only decent player to come out of Kerry in the last 30 years. All according to Mr Hayes of ‘Sunday Tribune’ fame.
Which O Sé? Maurice Fitzgerald? Seamus Moynihan? Kerry in their fourth All Ireland in a row!
I WAS SOMEWHAT surprised at the content of Liam Hayes' preview of the Dublin - Kerry semi final as carried in the ‘Sunday Tribune’. Is he an analyst of football? Alternatively, is he rather a subject for analysis? Maybe there’s a simple explanation: that of Mr. Hayes is still suffering from the aftershock of Meath's defeat to Cork. Mr. Hayes might be well advised to have a re-think about how he sees football in the province of Munster.
Liam is the man who predicted that a Dublin v Meath Leinster game would gain more TV viewers than the Waterford v Cork Munster hurling match the following day. He was wrong …. but only by 80,000 viewers! Since then, his other predictions and comments have been just about as accurate. As a journalist, he’s an outstanding footballer.
HAVING WITNESSED the All-Ireland football semis being bereft of a team from mighty Ulster for the second year in a row, and facing into an all Munster final clash, is it now time to put the myth of perpetual Ulster dominance to bed? I seem to recall a particularly ill conceived documentary from RTE entitled "The Men behind Maguire" (circa Jan 2004) which argued that the "under-age structures" and "conveyor belt of talent" in Ulster meant that the rest of the country hadn't a hope of catching up. Should the producers of that and similar rubbish now revisit their conclusions and investigate whether Ulster dominance in 2002-2003 and 2005 was simply a blip akin to Down's success in the 60s and Ulster success in the early 90s?
From your name, Brendan, I’ll hazard a guess that you’re a Kerryman exiled in London. If so, can you not relax and enjoy being in the final and leave the poor Ulster fry alone? Ulster success in the
Nineties – in League and Championship: some ‘blip’! Not such a great week for Comment of the Week. Maybe everyone is just played out after that damp squib of a hurling final?. We’ll give OUR
PRIZE of a coveted AFR shirt for Comment of the Week to D-Day for his fair summation of the game and the season.
CATCH UP with more conversation and craic on ‘An Fear Rua – The GAA Unplugged!’ at www.anfearrua.com
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