Tribesmen didn’t always earn ‘nice’ tag. Nor Kerry

Whoever maintains cynicism is a relatively new development in Gaelic football should look at the RTÉ highlights reel of the Galway-Kerry 1965 All-Ireland final.

Listed among their online archives, Micheál Ó Hehir vividly details that last championship win for Galway over their fellow aristocrats of the game. At the same time, the unseemly incidents in it can’t go unnoticed.

By the end, referee and future GAA president Dr Mick Loftus had sent off three players.

Kerry could argue one of their two dismissals was provoked. With Kerry trailing by five points, Derry O’Shea was making a beeline for the Galway goal when he was cynically dragged down by John Donnellan.

O’Shea threw the ball in disgust at Donnellan before the pair came to blows and they were both sent off by Loftus. “For that incident in which there was almost torn trousers and a fleeting dash of lost temper,” is how Ó Hehir put it.

“Oh no, you cannot put your arms around a man in such an endearing way,” was how he described Kerry centre-back Paud O’Donoghue’s early foul on Paddy McDonagh. After Kerry’s Seamus Murphy fouled Cyril Dunne, his fellow defender Mick Morris bounced the ball against Dunne’s head and had his name taken by Loftus. In the second half, a late, unpunished hit by Vincent Lucey on Pat Donnellan after the Galway midfielder had kicked the ball drew the ire of the Tribe supporters.

After Donnellan and O’Shea, Kerry substitute John ‘Thorny’ O’Shea was later put off for a high hand on Noel Tierney although the Galway full-back appeared to exaggerate the effects of it. In the next play, Pat Donnellan dragged his arm around the neck of Denis O’Sullivan as the Kerry midfielder attempted to advance. O’Sullivan, in frustration, threw the ball and then a running thump at Donnellan, but by this stage Loftus might have felt he had sent off enough players. As Kerry took the resultant free, a Galway player attempted to block it.

Current Galway captain Damien Comer this week mentioned the nice guy tag hasn’t helped the team’s cause over the years but then they weren’t so hospitable 58 years ago. Neither were Kerry but the street smarts of the Galway side were abundantly clear as they ensured by hook or by crook they were going to stay in front.

Left corner-back in that second of three consecutive All-Irelands for Galway, John ‘Bosco’ McDermott admits his memory of the game isn’t great. From what he recalls though, it wasn’t a dirty game but there was obviously more ball kicked than now.

There weren’t as many players getting behind the ball either, a source of discontent about how Galway now go about their business.

“My age group do not like that kind of football,” says the Dunmore legend. “We don’t like the blanket defence. We don’t like the zonal type of defending. We were used to man-to-man and I think it will return to man-to-man. If you have a responsibility for a man in an area, it puts the responsibility on you whereas if you’re all zonal in a sense you can say it’s not your fault and somebody else’s.

“It’s not exciting when you see people retreating and getting the ball and passing it around without any contest. We don’t find that exciting and thank God the hurlers are different because it’s more man-to-man and it’s robust.

“I go to a lot of football matches and I find them dull. Even now the kick-out, I would love to see it being made out to the 50 as a rule because at least you would then have to contest the ball and the ball is in the middle of the field.

“The players love it because they get a lot more touches. We might be playing and one time you might only get three or four touches if you were a corner forward or a corner-back. The ball mightn’t come near you. You could be perished.”

The means mightn’t be to McDermott’s pleasing but he has admiration for Kevin Walsh in bringing Galway to a point where they are competing and primed for a first All-Ireland semi-final spot in 17 years.

“I’m a big fan of Kevin Walsh and what he’s trying to do. By that I mean he’s been trying to put together a team and it’s not easy doing that when you’re trying to get fit and working the same way. He himself was a great player and understands what it takes to win and he’s trying to pass it on to these young lads. He’s succeeded pretty good so far.

“He hasn’t it solved completely and we had a very poor game against Roscommon. If we could play like the hurlers did last Sunday with that enthusiasm and abandon, if that could rub off on us, we’ll have a great chance on Sunday.”

Nevertheless, there is some trepidation when playing Kerry among older Galway folk. After six defeats and a draw in championship since the turn of the century, that’s understandable.

“He (Walsh) has a young team, performed well in the league and won two Connacht titles,” says McDermott.

“They’ve worked their way up. I’m speaking personally but we’re going up to Croke Park on Sunday hoping for a great contest. I wouldn’t mind if Kerry beat us. Naturally, I want us to win but I want to see a contest. If we get that, we as supporters will be happy.”