A well known former inter-county footballer, whose name escapes me at the time of writing, coined the phrase “puke football”! He was referring to the ugly defensive style of play that became de rigueur in Ulster counties in the early noughties. Regrettably that phrase was very much in my mind as I watched some appalling fare in Croke Park last weekend. Teams are just so reluctant to kick the ball these days for fear of giving it back to the opposition. We are consequently presented with a game of handball with practically no creativity and most teams packing their defences for fear of getting caught out by a long kick into a porous defence. Perhaps it is time to look at the “off side” rule in Gaelic football?!
I went to Dublin with so much expectation of a good display of football over two days. Sadly, with the exception of the second half of the Kerry v Monaghan game on Sunday it was poor fare. Saturday’s first game, involving Down and Wexford, was extremely poor. When both teams took to the field shortly after a downpour of heavy rain, I was slightly concerned that we might see a lot of slipping and sliding on what can become a treacherous surface in such conditions. I noticed Wexford’s best player, Mattie Ford, undergoing a late fitness test with the team physio as his colleagues carried on with a tidy warm up routine on the other side of the field. Mattie had his hamstring heavily bandaged. Things weren’t looking too good for the Wexford outfit. This prompted me to have a wager on Down minus two points at even money. I honestly thought Down would swagger through a team that got such a hiding from Dublin in the Leinster final. I couldn’t, therefore, believe how poor Down were in this, the first of four games over the weekend at HQ. Mattie, with his heavily bandaged hamstring, kicked a total of seven points over the 70 minutes, reinforcing just how good he really is. Losing my money so early wasn’t a good start for me either!
I was astonished at the very paltry turnout of Mayo supporters in Croke Park for the game against Tyrone. It is generally accepted that Mayo’s supporters come second only to Dublin for attendance in HQ on big match days. Recessionary times and the current squad’s lack of real conviction in themselves in challenging for Sam are, I suppose, the primary reasons for the poor turnout. I was asked by several of those loyal supporters who did make it to Croke Park if I had any news on the team selection prior to the game. No one was quite sure as to how the team would line out. Surely that is one of the big questions with regard to Mayo and the match last weekend. We just don’t have consistency of team selection. There were several changes right through the spine of the team from the one that played in the Connacht final. Ok, you might suggest that some of these were forced due to injuries to key players. But I would argue that, if there was a doubt about Ronan McGarrity’s fitness and that of Trevor Mortimer’s, it is better to have them on from the start rather than bringing them in to try and rescue a game when it is slipping away. Ronan could have done a job for us on the edge of the square for 20/25 minutes as a target man for many of those high balls that were kicked into our small forwards in that first half. In the earlier game Mattie Forde proved that quality shines through no matter what. Obviously Ronan wasn’t too badly injured if he was considered fit enough to play very late in the game. He should, in hindsight, have started.
A game we should have won
Nevertheless, this was a game we should have won. We will look back at the total dominance of play that we enjoyed in a 20 minute spell of the second half and yet we could only register the paltry return of three points, with only one of those coming from open play. We just had too many players under-performing in our attack to pull this one off. However, it would be remiss of me not to mention the vintage performance of James Nallen last weekend. He wasn’t considered good enough to play in his best position, centre back, last year. Last Saturday he proved he should have been played there and I get the feeling if we had played him at centre-back in this year’s Connacht championship we would at least have the Nestor Cup sitting on the sideboard. Peadar Gardiner was another player who proved he should never be considered for any position other than wing back. Defensively he was excellent last weekend and, as in 2004, he completely smothered Brian Dooher
So where do we go from here? Rumour has circulated in the county that John O’Mahony is waiting to sit down with County Board officials to establish if they want him to stay on as manager. I cannot see any reason why the County Board would have him removed at this juncture. He was appointed for a three year spell and I know Johnno will not walk away from the challenge. He advocated, in his post match interview, the importance of the county “holding its collective nerve”. I expect he will remain in charge and see out his term of office. Perhaps now is the time to seek his appointment for another couple of years as I believe we have to commence a re-building of our senior team programme.
I think that we should look at several new players for next year’s League campaign. We must build for the future now. I expected many more of our underage players to have been involved over the last two years in order to have benefited from the experience of involvement in a senior set-up. We have wasted valuable time throughout this year’s National League campaign in giving game-time to players who just don’t produce it in summer football. I would much rather see us bring in several young players for next year’s National League and give the best of them lots of opportunities to develop into a TEAM. Consistent team selection will assist in developing a pattern of play that could be utilised in the championship. This strategy may result in us dropping down a division or two, but so what? If it takes a couple of years to get a good competitive team together it will be worth the wait.
The greatest bore of a game ever in senior football
I was working (if that’s what you call it ) at the first match on Sunday, that between Fermanagh and Kildare. I have to admit that the first half of this game was arguably the greatest bore of a game I have ever seen at this level. The first score was registered in the 25th minute. I honestly thought I was about to witness the first inter county game go scoreless in 35 minutes of play. Much to my relief they managed five points between then and half time. The second half was a little better but the less said about this one the better!
The best game of the weekend was that of Kerry and Monaghan. There was a certain amount of “baggage” carried into this game from their encounter last year that ensured a real competitive edge to it from the throw in. The second half in particular was excellent with play ebbing and flowing up and down the field at a huge intensity. Just when you felt that Kerry were getting the upper hand early in the second half, Monaghan again proved what a capable side they are by levelling the game ten points apiece with almost 20 minutes left to play. In the 53rd minute of the match Monaghan missed a glorious opportunity to score a goal. Had they scored at this juncture I feel they would have built up enough momentum to go on and win the game. Instead Kerry went down the field and, in a blink, the man-mountain that is Kieran Donaghy blasted the ball to the back of the net and ended Monaghan’s dreams of advancing to the quarter final. Monaghan have a lot of talented footballers and I expect they will have one almighty last effort to come again in 2009. They should as they have a team that is so capable of playing good creative football.
So Kerry are on a roll again. The Paul Galvin saga has been resolved in their favour. They now know that if they progress to the All Ireland final he will be available for selection. I get the feeling that Croke Park officials were just glad to put this issue to rest last week. They didn’t have the stomach for another protracted fight and rolled out a new committee to rubber stamp a three month suspension that had been decided well in advance of their arrival in Croke Park to discuss the issue.
