Classic lifted my spirits

IT’S not often that gaelic football makes it into this column, and even then, as happened last week, it’s rarely complimentary. So, a change.

It being a rare summer Sunday afternoon off (covering the North Cork Premier junior hurling championship in Mallow, but that didn’t start until 6pm), the sun making a very welcome appearance, I could have headed for Doneraile and a fourball. I would have too, if it had been any other football match that was on – I like my sport, but prefer to play than to watch.

So I tuned into RTÉ instead for the Cork/Kerry All-Ireland senior football semi-final replay, and did so with some trepidation. It wasn’t just that (mea culpa) I feared annihilation by what I was sure would be a fired-up Kerry team bent on finally exorcising this annoying Cork demon. It was more that I feared mayhem, bedlam and a continuation of some of the ugliness of last week. Well, I should have counted on the true character of these superb representatives of two great sporting counties, because I was wrong, on both counts.

We had a bit of fun before a ball was kicked at all when Joe Brolly took on fellow panellist Colm O’Rourke on the issue of Cork’s Donncha O’Connor having his red card rescinded during the week, freeing him to play in this game, while Kerry’s Darragh Ó Sé had no such reprieve for his red card. Colm reckoned the decision had thrown the GAA disciplinary system into disarray, that Donncha’s action in giving Kerry’s Aidan O’Mahony a gentle open-handed tap across the face in response to O’Mahony’s bellowing in-your-face tirade, merited the red card.

Utter nonsense, reckoned Joe, who then proceeded to give Colm what he felt was a repeat of that gentle tap on the cheek.

Colm in his heyday was not the kind of guy I would give a tap in the face to, gentle or otherwise.

Joe was absolutely right, of course. Far from throwing the GAA disciplinary system into disarray, this confirms that it works sometimes; the referee made his decision in all good conscience, but it was obvious to everyone who saw the TV replays that what O’Connor did, absolutely did NOT merit a red card. In the end, justice was done.

While I’m talking justice, a word on the same Mr Brolly. Last week I criticised the RTÉ commentators in general for not isolating those who are now bringing both gaelic football and hurling into disrepute with all their diving actions, the hands clutching faces as though shot when there is only the merest contact, the repeated attempts to get opponents yellow or red carded. Turns out that Joe Brolly has been on that campaign for some time now, and apart from having highlighted a number of instances on RTÉ, has penned a superb article in his Mail on Sunday column on the subject. Hats off to the man, and apologies.

ANYWAY, to the game. I know we could be critical of Cork for once again allowing Kerry take a big lead before launching what looked like it was going to be the comeback of all comebacks, but should we, perhaps, be looking instead at the brilliance of this Kerry side, the potency of that attack? Like Kilkenny in the hurling, I think we all have to accept that these guys are masters of their sport. And yes, I know the finals have yet to be played, and I know also that both Waterford and Tyrone have every chance of winning these All-Ireland finals.

But it doesn’t change anything. Kerry are superb, absolutely superb, and in full flow they are an awesome sight. So what do you say then about Cork? Nine points behind, well into the second half, it was gone from them again, and yet they kept battling, kept fighting, kept punching. And as they clawed their way back into this game, I swear it, my skin began to tingle, my spirit lifted – I never felt as proud of being a Cork man, never. The goal that brought the match back to a single point was sheer brilliance, and what a finish from Pearse O’Neill. The point to level it? From nearly 45m and fittingly, it was kicked by the aforementioned O’Connor.

Five minutes left and the champions were reeling.

And then, from their own depths, they pulled something special. Cork didn’t lose this epic, Kerry won it fair and square, not one questionable act from start to finish.

I hope that the incident of the previous Sunday, and the subsequent outcry, proves to be a watershed for gaelic football, and for hurling. I read that Tyrone captain Brian Dooher, no slouch himself when it comes to the amateur dramatics, reckons that this is a problem for the officials – it’s not, Brian, it’s a problem for us all, but a problem in the first instance for the players. Enough of that, more of what we got on Sunday. Roll on these All-Ireland finals!

[e-mail]