John Fogarty: Kerry to save the day again?
Manager Jack O’Connor understands the importance of the Cork game for Kerry, wherever it is played.
“Put me down for what I said last year” was the famous refrain uttered by Kerry legend Ger Power to the late Gaelic games correspondent Peadar O’Brien ahead of an All-Ireland press night during their golden years.
We can’t shake the feeling the Munster Council are looking for Kerry to do the same now as the stand-off regarding the venue for their provincial SFC semi-final clash with Cork intensifies.
Most people know an intervention from Kerry would likely help resolve the issue as it did this week seven months ago when they indicated they were willing to face Tyrone in their All-Ireland semi-final two weeks later than scheduled.
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We find ourselves in a very difficult situation not of our making,” wrote then Kerry chairman and current Munster vice-chair Tim Murphy in a statement.
He continued: “The confusion and uncertainty surrounding our semi-final meeting with Tyrone has undoubtedly hindered our planning and preparation...
“Notwithstanding this and having considered every possible aspect of the situation, our over-arching wish is to ensure that the All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone is played at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Swap the when for the where and it may as well be August 2021 all over again as Kerry mull over the prospect of a walkover. Cork may not be Tyrone and the stakes aren’t as high as an All-Ireland semi-final yet the prospect of going eight weeks without a competitive game, the time between Division 1 and Munster finals, would hardly be ideal.
Combined with a Kerry blessing, if the remedial work currently being done in Páirc Uí Rinn was enough to increase the capacity over the 11,000 figure Cork are aiming for to a number the Munster Council could on reflection find acceptable, the game could be refixed for the Ballintemple venue.
Failing that, Plan B is Kerry to give up Fitzgerald Stadium for a neutral venue and hope the Cork management and players can be persuaded to be agreeable. Munster would take a financial hit were it to be staged in Limerick or Thurles but having the game for outside the two counties had been a suggestion put forward by the Cork set-up before they withdrew it when Munster announced Fitzgerald Stadium would host the game.
The Cork group had also proposed the rescheduling of the game to the following weekend in the hope Páirc Uí Chaoimh might be ready. It won’t — the senior hurlers’ game against Clare, due to take there on Saturday, May 15, has been moved to Thurles as a result and has also been brought forward 14 days. Sky Sports, who are due to live broadcast the Cork-Kerry game, are also scheduled to show the Dublin-Kilkenny Leinster SHC round game that Saturday.
Eighteen days out, it’s safe to say that there is no chance of the game being held in Killarney, as much as it is stated on the Munster and GAA websites. The counties’ home-away arrangement mentions only Páírc Uí Chaoimh and Fitzgerald Stadium as venues but up to last month and the capacity difficulties coming to light Páirc Uí Rinn had been acceptable.
“None of my business” was how Jack O’Connor described the stand-off after the Division 1 final. Unfortunately for the Kerry manager, the matter is jumping up the items on his agenda.
There is a natural scepticism in the county about being accommodating as they were last year when their act of kindness bit them in the backside. For upholding the integrity of the championship, they got the proverbial for thanks save for Kerry getting byes in the Munster club football championships. Now, for all the criticism of them that they get it too easy in the province-based All-Ireland SFC, there may be an onus on them to again do the honorable thing for the sake of the competition.
Yet giving Tyrone the extra week was the pragmatic thing to do. To face into an All-Ireland final against a Mayo team steeled by a first SFC win over Dublin in 10 seasons when they themselves wouldn’t have played for almost five weeks would have been perilous.
O’Connor understands the importance of this game for Kerry wherever it is played. Kerry have often been undercooked heading into an All-Ireland series but one Munster game would leave them raw. As he said after his team dismissed Mayo 16 days ago, he might not believe in piseógs and the need to preface All-Ireland crowns with Division 1 titles as he did in 2004, ’06 and ’09, but facing Cork, losing to them twice, was a prominent element in all of those three seasons. What’s more, 1997 was the first time since 1941 that Kerry claimed the Sam Maguire Cup without beating Cork.
“There’s no point us going public with what we think because we know it won’t matter in the end anyway,” O’Connor remarked earlier this month. But once more Kerry's view could be the difference between a game and none at all.
Family ties between pundits and players were notable this past weekend as Peter Canavan and Pat Spillane called games in Enniskillen and New York involving their sons Darragh and Pat junior respectively.
Nothing new there, Martin McHugh would have worked on games for RTÉ and BBC involving his sons Mark and Ryan. Ken Hogan has often analysed for Tipp FM when Brian has minded the Tipperary nets.
All four men provide great insights into the game but it was noticeable on opening championship weekend how county allegiances could be claimed to colour opinion of pundits.
Exhibit A, Canavan’s take on Conor McKenna’s sending off: “
Did he do more than the other Fermanagh players that were on top of Conn Kilpatrick? For me, I don't think so. I find it hard to believe again. There was a melee up in Armagh, and that melee had four red cards to Tyrone, one to Armagh. Another minor scuffle here, and you have one red card for Tyrone.”
Exhibits B and C, Derek McGrath’s take on Mikey Kiely’s pull that injured Seamus Kennedy and a suspected throw-ball by Patrick Curran in the build-up to Kiely's goal. “Being completely unbiased, for me Seamus Kennedy appears out of nowhere to block him. Mikey Kiely is making a completely valiant and sincere attempt to pull on the ball. 100% for me, there was separation (between Curran’s hand and ball) albeit a small separation and that’s been my consistent point on this.”
Exhibit D, Liam Sheedy on the aforementioned Curran incident: “Is it separation, isn’t it separation? I didn’t see it (separation). Certainly, my first instinct is it was a throw.”
The gulf between Cork and Limerick on Sunday meant there weren’t similar bones of contention for Dónal Óg Cusack and Shane Dowling, although Ollie Canning on Saturday was within his rights to take issue with the overturning of Conor Cooney’s late free for time-wasting.
When there’s skin in the game, partisanship must be expected.
Well, remorse and revisionism about the split season certainly makes a change from the annual early championship bellyaches about mismatches and the drudgery of the provincial football ties.
They will come no doubt but for now there is concern that the inter-county championship window has become little more than a pane now that it will be over and done in 100 days for the Sam Maguire Cup and 93 for the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
Yes, the championship is condensed. The gravity of Conor Whelan’s hamstring injury for Galway illustrates just how tight the schedule is for the hurling championship. However, when there are four weeks between the provincial finals and All-Ireland semi-finals, there is clearly room for improvement and an extra break weekend in the provincial stages would be welcome.
On the Irish Examiner hurling roadshow last week, Liam Sheedy made the valid point that Tipperary could go up to 13 weeks without championship hurling of any form this summer should they be knocked out of Munster on May 22.
In 2018, there were nine weeks between the county bowing out to Clare in June and the senior club championship in August, only two rounds of it had already been played in April.
The split season isn’t going anywhere but that’s not to say the fixtures planners’ golden rule to keep as many teams involved in the championship for as long as possible shouldn’t be heeded.
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