Mike Quirke: Of course Tipperary footballers can do an Iceland, but...

I received a text last week. “Shots fired… Liam Kearns had a right pop at you”. Basically, the Tipperary manager felt my assessment of the challenge his team will pose to Kerry in Sunday’s Munster final was, in his words, very ‘blasé’. Of course Eamon Fitz wasn’t overly happy either… everyone’s a critic.

Talk about political correctness gone mad.

I’m all about respecting your opponent, because the day you don’t, is the day you invariable get caught out. But sometimes it would be nice to be able to say what you actually think without having to put a caveat on top. I suppose it would have been more palatable to use the standard ‘no disrespect to Tipperary but…’, but what does that even mean? Of course nobody is trying to disrespect Tipp. I know better than most the type of monumental effort they’ve put into reinvigorating their underage football development structures and their success they’ve enjoyed at minor and U21 level in recent years has been well merited.

But that’s neither here nor there. All I did was draw a reasonable conclusion a top Division One team with real ambition of competing for an All-Ireland title should comfortably defeat a Division Three team who only barely avoided relegation to Division Four, finishing third from bottom. During that campaign, they registered draws against fellow minnows Limerick and Sligo and got stuffed by the likes of Longford and Kildare. Furthermore, they’re now down at least 8-10 potential starters to their team for a myriad of different reasons from hurling, to a summer in the US and a career in the AFL.

Being blasé? Try logical.

Tipperary’s 2016 is hardly a body of work that should strike fear into the hearts of many players in green and gold next Sunday. Yes, they defeated Cork in their Munster semi-final match-up, but again, that probably told us more about the depths Cork have fallen to rather than the heights Tipperary have risen. And of course, what makes sport so special is the unlikely possibility of a tiny Iceland knocking mighty England off their pedestal and out of the Euros. Upsets are an occupational hazard of playing the game. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have expected England to win.

Every manager must use whatever angle he can find to try to generate that highly motivated state for his players, bulletin board material if you will, but realistically, it shouldn’t be construed as disrespectful to suggest Kerry should be winning this game with something to spare, it’s just being realistic.

In the same way it shouldn’t be blasé to suggest Dublin will be ruthless enough to run out comfortable winners against their Division 4 opponents Westmeath in the Leinster final in a couple of weeks’ time. Jim Gavin or Eamonn Fitzmaurice will obviously accentuate the positives of their opponents and try to keep their player’s heads focused on taking each individual game on its own merits. No doubt, Fitzmaurice’s meticulous approach will have his players cocooned inside a bubble that won’t see them taking the challenge of Tipperary for granted and they will approach the game in the right way.

His squad is long enough on the circuit to be able to block out what’s said in the papers or on TV. They’ll analyse video of what Tipp did well against Cork and look at ways of exploiting their weaknesses. Kerry will look to bring a professional, ruthless attitude to this provincial decider where medals are on offer. When you finish up, it doesn’t say on the back of the medal who you played. All that matters is how many you have, and the likes of Mahony, Marc Ó Sé, Donaghy and Gooch will want to keep adding to their treasure chest.

The greatest respect the likes of Kerry and Dublin can show their lower division provincial opponents is to really put them to the sword and run up a big score. That tells you that they prepared diligently for the game, that they didn’t cut any corners and brought a champions mind-set of wanting to do whatever it takes to win the game and perform as close to their peak as possible. You can go home knowing they gave you what they give everybody else… their A game.

Speaking of A games, it would be remiss of me not to mention the brilliant weekend of Feilé U-14 football hosted by the south west region all last weekend. On Sunday, while most of the country were taking in the Ireland-France game at Euro 2016, I was sat in Austin Stack Park in Tralee watching the Division One Cup and Shield finals of a competition that truly needs to be seen to be believed. Two sets of 10 divisions, boys and girls, playing over 640 games over three days in what is the single greatest festival of GAA activity in the worldwide.

@sportsdes Castleknock u14 all Ireland and world champions pic.twitter.com/CaTN8uG6ne

— Bernard O'keeffe (@Bokeeffe66) June 26, 2016

The boys cup final was won by an excellent Castleknock side who had too much class and guile up front for a spirited Termon team from Donegal who tried with every ounce they had to close the gap in a game that got away from them in the first half.

The football played by these two was far more entertaining that what we witnessed later that evening from Croke Park. This was uninhibited, mistake ridden, adventurous have-a-go football. There were no mass defence, GPS or cynicism. The final whistle brought tears of disappointment and joy in equal measure from parents and players alike. But it also brought the curtain down on what was an incredible logistical achievement for all those who planned and organised the event.

Feilé 2016 saw teams travel from the US, France, and South Wales to name a few of the more exotic, as well as from every corner of our own island. Maybe not all have gone home with medals and silverware, but they’ve packed a lot of memories and enjoyment into their unforgettable three days in the south west For Liam Kearns and his Tipp side, they will want to keep making their own unforgettable championship memories. And who knows, maybe they will be Iceland. But we shouldn’t be so submerged in politically correctness to suggest Kerry won’t win this one, and do it with plenty to spare.