Angry Fans
A STADIUM with capacity for over 80,000 spectators and the GAA couldn’t organise to get a mere 33,000 plus into it on Sunday without a hitch. We queued for nearly an hour for tickets and when we finally got in, we had missed the first twenty minutes of the Under 21 match.
THERE we were all along thinking that Dubs fans like to turn up late to big matches at Croker. Then, when the GAA accidentally arranges for that to happen, and even allow some people in for free, you’re still complaining! Of course, if you were twenty minutes late, you missed Galway’s opening three goals that effectively killed off the game. Maybe you’d have been better off staying in the pub?
THE REFEREE IN the camogie final almost ruined the result by playing nearly double the amount of added time. He played seven minutes when only three or four had been signalled. Wexford could have lost the game with the last puck of the match as happened earlier in the Junior final. Again, the ref in that game played seven extra minutes!
JOHN Morrissey reffed the Senior final very well so I can’t understand he played so much added time. The Camogie Association should simply copy their sisters in women’s football and use the ‘count down’ clock to avoid situations like this. It was sheer heartbreak for Clare to lose the Junior final to Derry in the way they did. But fair play to captain Mary Leacy and the other Girls of Wexford who – ref or no ref – have restored pride in the Purple-and-Gold.
I HEAR SOME of the top bods in the Camogie Association want to change the name to ‘women’s hurling’ or something like that. Camogie is the historic name of the game and it is doing well using that name. Sticking ‘women’ in front of ‘hurling’ would just demean it.
THE argument for change is that the game is now played at the same level and under virtually the same rules as hurling and should therefore bear that name. Whatever name it went under, the four teams in Croke Park on Sunday served up magnificent hurling, particularly in the Senior final. Maybe the Camogie Association should run a poll among their members to see what they prefer?
I HAVE TO SAY I'm disappointed Peadar Carton got to play for Dublin in the All Ireland Under 21 final. I’m not saying it happened in his case, but there exists a culture in the GAA that, regardless of the incident, phone calls can be made or strokes can be pulled behind the scenes to get suspensions lifted. This happens regularly at club level. Credit must got to Meath’s Brian Farrell for adopting a 'Do the crime, Do the time' policy. I'm not singling out Carton here because there are countless other cases, but it’s a pity that more GAA players and mentors aren’t men enough to accept punishments for their actions.
THE problem is that the GAA’s disciplinary procedures are far too complicated, leaving too many back doors and front doors for clubs, counties and players to escape through. Scrap the alphabet soup of DRA, CAC, CHC and so on. Just have a simple two-tier system – one hearing, and one final appeal – with both to take place within a week of the alleged offence. And Dublin? Well, Galway gave them their answer where it really counts. On the field of play.
DO YOU KNOW what? The lunatic from Clare was right! Kilkenny are a dirty team. Did you see the state of them? At their annual reception of the McCarthy Cup. My God the hairstyles. Their playing gear full of dirt, sweaty shorts and smelly socks. If he knows so much about dirty players why not give Ger O’Looney a box of washing powder and let him loose in the Kilkenny dressing room?
WASN’T there some soap powder company launched a GAA promotion earlier this year where clubs got free ‘GAA’ beach towels if they used the particular powder to wash their ‘ganseys’? With the wet summer we endured it was a safe bet they wouldn’t have to give away too many beach towels. Maybe they could sponsor Ger Lock’s clean up of the Cats’ hurling?
THE HURLING FINAL was a pretty poor spectacle. No fault of Kilkenny who were their usual professional self and made a mockery of the (before and after match) snipers with an easy victory, despite losing two of their most influential players by the halfway stage. But what did we really expect of what should have been the showpiece of the hurling year? The match was over after ten minutes simply because the champions were playing the third (or fourth) rated side in Munster. Limerick hurled with great spirit and took no prisoners as they scraped past Tipperary and, after a nine points defeat by Waterford in the Munster final, ambushed the Decies in the All Ireland semi-final. Waterford and Cork played all the best hurling of the year. Either side would have pushed Kilkenny all the way had they made the Croke Park final. Limerick have come on a ton under Richie Bennis but one must question the right of a side with just one Munster Championship victory in six years to a place in hurling's big day. Again, no fault of Limerick. It’s the guys who ordained the quarter- and semi-final pairings who have to take the blame. Anyway, I see the bookies, who rarely get it wrong, have already installed Kilkenny, Cork and Waterford as the big three for 2008. With the Cats unbackable at even money or odds-on, I'm putting my modest Grand on the Decies.
LOOK at it this way. Why weren’t Waterford in the final? Because they couldn’t beat Limerick a second time. Why did Kilkenny meet Wexford in the other semi final? Because Wexford had beaten Tipperary. And, earlier Tipp had beaten Cork. Kilkenny are in the same system as the rest and can only play the teams that end up in front of them. The simple solution is to follow football’s example and ensure you can’t meet a team you’ve played previously at provincial level.
KILKENNY WERE A joy to behold and this should be recognised by all. Like most neutrals I would have loved a Limerick victory. Richie Bennis was like a breath of fresh air all year but I was disappointed at his post match comments re Kilkenny physicality. I saw my first inter county hurling match in 1953 and the present Kilkenny team is as good as any other county has produced in that time. They are a credit to themselves, their families and Kilkenny hurling. Brian Cody is linked inextricably to these observations. Long may they continue to entertain us. Other counties should aim to emulate them and not find reasons why they win.
SO Richie Bennis woke up on Monday morning and immediately revised his "no excuses" comment from the previous day. The Cats are now "living on the edge" and "Kilkenny also seem to get the benefit of the doubt from the referee.” The statistic of 18 frees for Limerick to Kilkenny's 7 leave me in no doubt as to where any benefit from the referee was directed.
ALL this criticism of alleged Kilkenny ‘physicality’ has come out of nowhere. It’s as if as if some managers, unable to beat the Cats on the field of play, have to find some other way of licking them. Where have the critics been for the past five or six years when Kilkenny were bringing hurling to new heights?
IS THE GAA just one big conspiracy to deliver soft All Ireland hurling titles to Kilkenny on a plate? Kilkenny don’t even bother to put out a team in the football championship and have to be begged to turn up in the football League. Yet, in hurling, they regularly stroll through a few soft games in Leinster and the Qualifiers into yet another All Ireland final and laugh at the likes of Cork, Galway, Wexford, Tipperary, Waterford and Limerick, counties where both codes are played and respected.
BEFORE I get stung by a late Summer swarm of black-and-amber wasps, can we be clear that this is not just a ‘Kilkenny’ problem? In other counties GAA officialdom strongly favours one code to the detriment of the other in order to enhance their chances of All Ireland success. This carryon would stop if the Rule Book linked success in their ‘chosen’ code with them having to field senior and minor panels in the ‘orphan’ sport. In fairness to Kilkenny, they’ve committed to fixing this next year and local boy made good, Uachtarán Nickey, has them under observation.
THE TV3 RUGBY coverage is a warning of what is to come if Setanta / TV3 get the GAA coverage. I can’t watch UTV either as it is all about England (The greatest team in the world BS!). I was just watching the Under 21 on TG4 and it is better than anything that would ever be on TV3. Michael Corcoran on RTE Radio 1 is unbeatable for rugby on the radio. Ryle Nugent will never be Fred Cogley but at least he is better than the Toff on TV3.
THE imminent decision on broadcasting rights is the biggest facing the GAA since the opening up of Croke Park. I suspect some of the top brass would dearly love to shake up RTE by going for an alternative. But, it might be worth their while remembering some of Granny’s wise sayings like: ‘the devil you know …‘, the ‘bird in the hand …’ and ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…’
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
