GAA talking points: Tipperary and Cavan symmetry; Decisions to make in Cork

Our writers pick out the major talking points from a huge weekend of All-Ireland Football Championship action

Tipperary players celebrate at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

A season of symmetry.

This past week, it was highlighted that there was still a possibility of the 1920 All-Ireland semi-final pairings repeating themselves. The chances? Maybe one of Cavan and Tipperary winning their provincial finals in 23 and 85 years respectively? Come off it. 

Yet this preposterous year has delivered once again and so as they did in 1920 Dublin and Cavan will face off in one semi-final. Mayo and Tipperary will again clash in the other although their 1920 game didn’t take place until 1922 due to a combination of games being suspended in Munster because of Terence McSwiney’s death and the subsequent War of Independence. 

When they eventually did, Tipperary won through to face Dublin in a rematch of “The Great Challenge Match” on Bloody Sunday where a late goal from Tommy Powell, who played in the 1920 November 21 game, won it for the Premier County. 

Current Dublin manager Dessie Farrell needs no reminder of late Tipperary goals ruining All-Ireland finals after current senior footballers Colman Kennedy’s strike in the 2011 minor decider when was over the young Blues. Will history repeat itself? It already is.

- John Fogarty

Cork with wounds to lick and decisions to make.

Cork manager Ronan McCarthy. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

The only trouble with giving youth its head is, well, giving youth its head. 

Ronan McCarthy will counter his own robust post-mortem into Sunday’s Munster final defeat with the knowledge that his management and group of fresh-faced players are on the right track. But for every giant leap forward there is always a reverse stumble when the group hasn’t reached the level of consistency that goes hand in hand with experience at the top level. 

His frustration will be exacerbated by missing out on a crucial All-Ireland semi-final experience against a top table side at Croke Park - empty or not. You can’t buy the value of that. So will the burning frustration of Sunday’s sub-par display drive him to agree a fourth year in charge of the county’s footballers or not? 

McCarthy’s three-season term is up but it would be unfortunate if he was lost to the cause when it has momentum and the promise of more. Losing McCarthy might also mean losing Cian O’Neill, and by extension S&C coach Kevin Smith. 

The Douglas man said he will consult with the Board executive and the players to help inform the decision whether to walk or not. 

No doubt, Sunday’s loss will give pause for thought across the football community but is there the prospect of a better management ticket in 2021 and beyond? Unlikely.

- Tony Leen

Dublin’s class extends outside the white lines.

Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton and team-mates place a wreath following the Leinster final to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The manner in which Dublin swept past Meath on Saturday struck the latest discordant note in a province where competition has been eradicated but the All-Ireland champions found the perfect tone with their commemoration of Bloody Sunday’s 100th anniversary.

Their jerseys bore the number 14 on one sleeve, the names of those who perished in 1920 included within the lines of both numerals. A commemorative logo adorned the other arm. That understated, respectful touch was echoed afterwards. Stephen Cluxton laid a wreath on behalf of the squad after their defeat of Meath and manager Dessie Farrell spoke eloquently of the events a century ago and how they resonate through to modern times.

“In some ways, what happened here 100 years ago today is very much part and parcel of our identity as an organisation,” he said. “We touched on it during the week, about the importance of the night and the commemoration. We just felt in our own small way that it was important to recognise the people who perished on that night and (who were) struck down in very sad circumstances, and to just take the opportunity to be grateful for all we have and the opportunity that we’ve been provided by all those who have gone before us, our forefathers and people like those who were killed here 100 years ago.”

- Brendan O’Brien.

O’Riordan rewarded for persistence.

Tipperary’s Colin O’Riordan and Steven O'Brien celebrate. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

To say Colin O’Riordan wanted to play for Tipperary this year would be an understatement. Injury had upset his season with the Sydney Swans but by the time he returned home to Ireland he was fully fit and was keeping up his fitness having been permitted to train with the senior footballers. 

Early last month, the Irish Examiner reported there was hope the 25-year-old would be able to line out for the county, that he had been seeking permission from the Swans. He dismissed the claim but there was veracity in what we wrote, as David Power confirmed last week - “Colin did try to make himself available for all the league matches as well but at that moment in time Sydney Swans wouldn’t release him.” 

But O’Riordan wouldn’t take no for an answer. Explaining the importance of this Munster final, he received the green light to pull on the Tipperary jersey in the colours of Grangemockler and boy did he deliver in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, justifying Power’s decision to start him. 

“To me, it just means so much to be able to put on the Tipp jersey,” he said after Sunday’s famous victory. “That is something I will never ever take for granted and something I will respect until the day I die.”

- John Fogarty.

Food for thought.

Cavan’s Conor Smith celebrates. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Not so long ago, we were all getting ourselves fairly worked up about the prospect of a Tier Two Championship in football. I must admit it was a seam I mined shamelessly, teasing hot take soundbites out of managers and players who teeter at the bottom of Division Two to get their molten opinions.

And boy, did they deliver. Fermanagh manager Ryan McMenamin had some choice expletives as to what the GAA top brass didn’t give about the smaller counties, and that was on the tamer side of the scale.

But here we are now at the fag-end of a Championship and we are left with four teams in the All-Ireland football Championship. Mayo, Dublin, Cavan and Tipperary. And the last two would have been taking part in a Tier Two Championship if things hadn’t have been so rudely interrupted by the global pandemic.

And while we are at it, here’s another poser that popped into our heads but as of yet it is far from fully-formed. Perhaps we might come back to it later in the week. But would Cork have beaten Kerry, Tipp have beaten Cork, Cavan have beaten Monaghan or Donegal, if a large crowd had been present, with all the expectation and pressure that brings? I’ll leave it with you for now.

- Declan Bogue