Angry Fans
‘KICK OFF AT at 3.30 pm’ says RTE1 Radio News about today’s All-Ireland final!
And then they wonder why the GAA are toying with the idea of handing over big game coverage to Setanta Sport or TV3?
I WITNESSED a situation in Croker today that really angered me. With a couple of minutes to go, young Kerry fans on The Hill got ready to invade the pitch. A couple of stewards insisted they weren’t going to open the gates. Two Gardai and an official watched the situation unfold. Pressure mounted on the barrier as the crowd struggled to break through. Around the pitch, other places opened up. Eventually, a Garda stepped in and insisted the gate was opened in the interest of public safety. As all past evidence suggests that a cordon of stewards and plastic netting will not stem the tide of celebrating supports, why does Croker persist with these measures? Somebody will be seriously hurt. Either a proper fence that is not easily scaled is erected, or the powers that be accept that pitch invasions will happen and open the barriers safely at the end of the match.
The Gardaí and stewards have a tough job and they have my full sympathy. The GAA needs to fix this issue. And pronto. Are they going to allow pitch incursions or not? Appeals in the match programmes and over the PA system aren’t working. Maybe pitch invasions belong to another era when health and safety requirements were nonexistent? If so, it’ll take proper fencing, walls and barriers, so that neither the fans, Gardaí nor the Maoir have any choice in the matter.
SOFT GOALS WON it for Kerry. Mind you, I feel Kerry would have won it anyway. Their forwards and bench are just too good. Is it a coincidence that Kerry’s back-to-back All Irelands coincides with the drop of standards up North? I couldn’t see a Tyrone or Armagh in their prime doing what Cork did today...
THERE’S ALWAYS a lot of chat about how the hurling championship is flawed. But the football championship is equally flawed. There’s no way a team like Cork should be able to reach three All Ireland semi-finals and now a final. They meet no opposition in Munster, other than Kerry, to whom they lose nine times out of ten. Then, they come fresh to the All Ireland series when other teams have been playing intense championship matches for two months. Cork wouldn’t reach the provincial finals in Leinster or Ulster, and probably not even in Connacht. A shockingly poor team that showed the ‘best two teams in the country have reached the final’ myth up for the blatant lie that it was.
AFR’S SHOUT:
I don’t buy the ‘soft goals’ theory. Kerry won the midfield battle and supplied excellent ball into their forwards. The likes of Gooch, Donaghy and O’Sullivan were not going to mess up in that scenario. Great players – and great teams like this present Kerry outfit – only make their scores look ‘soft’. So long as the provincial championships remain in hurling and football the All Ireland series is always going to be lopsided. Given that – conveniently we have thirty-two counties on the island why not move to literally an ‘All Ireland’ knockout championship based on an open draw? By the way, J Hume, Cork’s demolition of a good Meath side in the semi final suggests they’d have no problem living with the game in Leinster.
KERRY ARE VERY worthy All-Ireland football champions but the question has to be asked. What the hell happened Cork on the day? Kerry obviously were not going to allow their keenest rivals beat them in such a game. Cork were as poor as Meath were against them in the first semi-final. While Kerry are undisputed number ones with Dublin at number two, who are in third place in the ratings? Is it Cork or Monaghan? Remember Monaghan lost to Tyrone in the Ulster final and Meath then beat Tyrone.
A BAD DAY AT the office for the Cork football team and the management. The team committed Hari Kari by making so many basic errors. Kerry punished these mistakes by scoring three of the softest goals seen in an All-Ireland final. My one big gripe is the possession game that Cork play. They play across the field at a pedestrian level. It is very easy to defend against. Cork got a serious reality check, if they are willing to accept that their tactics and attitude have to change.
I think Monaghan will be even more disappointed than Cork. They had Kerry beaten with a couple of minutes to go in the quarter final. However, a combination of their inexperience and Kerry guile saw the Kingdom survive. They’re my tip for serious honours next year.
THE REF TODAY was proficient and did well. OK, we would all like to have seen a more free flowing game but a foul is a foul and having watched the video again he was right in all the frees he gave, in my opinion. Anyway, he didn’t influence the result and fair play to the GAA for appointing this young referee who did well.
I THINK THE ref did a very good job. He showed his hand early on and control of the game never got away from him. His job is not to allow the game flow. That’s up to the players. He is an example to other referees at all levels of how to referee football, and to an increasing extent, hurling. Too many referees ‘let the game flow’ as opposed to refereeing the game according to the rules. The only way to stop the ‘pulling and dragging’ that football is now known for is to pull players up consistently for fouls.
I WAS at the game and honestly thought the ref was poor. He handed out Black Books left, right and centre and never allowed the game to flow. Some of the tickings didn’t even border on fouls.
LIKE Diarmuid Kirwan in the hurling final, David Coldrick seemed to do everything he could to keep Cork in it. Do they think it’s part of their job for the game to be close? If so, he should have offered to play in goals or in the Cork full back line!
AFR’S SHOUT:
I think David Coldrick decided or was told to keep a very tight rein on this game from the ‘get go’. In addition, with the known ‘form’ between the two teams that was wise. He walked a narrow path between controlling the game too much and ruining it by ‘red carding’ someone too early. On balance, he got it just about right and at least the game was decided on its footballing merits, and not on some controversial reffing decision. Red Card to yourself, Uachtaran, for that crack at the hapless Cork defenders!
THE ALL-IRELAND final is the most important day of the year in the camogie calendar but the casual observer would never have known by RTE’s SixOne news the evening before. There was no mention of camogie in the sports reports, not even a token line. This would have been understandable if there had been no GAA coverage on the bulletin; after all, there was the rugby World Cup, soccer qualifiers etc to get through. But, then, RTE devoted what must have been nearly ten minutes on the U-21 hurling final! They interviewed two players from Dublin and Galway, and while I’m not saying these lads shouldn’t get their due, they are not senior players. There was a senior AllIreland final the next day, but it wasn’t covered. RTE weren’t even broadcasting that match, but they were showing the camogie. The last time I saw that kind of sexism, I was watching Anchorman. Why should women (and men) devote their time training a new generation of camogie players, just as talented and skilled as their male counterparts, if this sort of 19th century attitude is the norm for our state broadcaster? Maybe they should teach girls embroidery instead.
Yes, look like the Ron Burgundys of the RTE Newsroom need a feisty Veronica Corningstone to sort them out, maybe even wielding a camán as she goes. Embroidery? I suppose Cork and Tipp would still dominate, with the occasional challenge from the crochet makers of Dublin and Wexford?
TODAY JUST compounded a bad year for Cork in regards to rolls of honours. Kilkenny this year have drawn level with us with thirty senior hurling titles. Kerry have drawn level on the senior combined Roll of Honour, with both teams having won thirty-six senior All Irelands. Cork have lost three finals over successive weekends in Croker. Has this ever happened before in the history of Gaelic games in Cork?
Hold on a minute, Cork’s senior B camogie team defeated Wexford at the weekend in their All Ireland semi-final. And the women’s football team face Mayo (and Cora Staunton) next Sunday in another final. It’s too early yet for Cyril Kavanagh and his dedicated Southern compadres to put away their sombreros on the banks of the Rio Lee. Hasta la vista, Cork!
A VERY WATCHABLE programme on Dingle GAA club on TV3, surprisingly so for that station. However, the bad news, in my opinion, is that the recent ten minutes per week hurling ‘Boot Camp’ programme and this latest one is all part of a campaign for a linked live coverage GAA bid with Setanta. Not a pleasant prospect based on their football coverage in recent times.
Good to see TV3 making some effort at last to improve their coverage of Gaelic sports and we should encourage them to do more. However, I think they’ll find that GAA fans are sophisticated in the quality of programming they’ll watch and they’ll need to ‘up’ their game. RTE have really pulled out the stops this season and it’s going to be a ‘ding dong battle’ ... ‘down to the wire’… between themselves and Setanta / TV3 for the major broadcasting rights currently on offer.
goes to Brooks 232 for again reminding us of how hazardous the situation can be for fans on Dinneen Hill Sixteen after big matches. This has to stop!
Give your views and comments to An Fear Rua himself at GAA Angry Fans in ‘ The Irish Examiner’ ? Just drop an email to gaafans@examiner.ie and get AFR’ s reaction to what you have to say.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
