In this space over the years, reference has been made on numerous occasions to my sporadic reading habits. For the sake of clarity, that’s generally meant in terms of books. Newspapers and/or online are part of the staples which keep these wheels turning on daily basis.
The National papers on a Monday being a must. It’s one of the oddities of the media world that, depending on what sector thereof you are in, everyone else’s weekend can be the melting pot of your working week. From a reading perspective, that makes Monday a sort of catch up day.
Best value is to be obtained from same when the National Leagues in GAA are in full swing. Undoubtedly it was thence that many years ago it was discovered I could handily name a hurler and/or footballer from every team in the country – and London.
Hurlers like Gareth Ghee of Longford, David Dunne from Louth, Ollie McShea (Fermanagh), Mickey Conniffe (Roscommon) and Armagh’s Mattie Lennon. Likewise with footballers such as Gary Hurney of Waterford, Billy Dodds and the late Scott Doran from Wexford, Collie Curran (Fermanagh) and Antrim’s Kevin Madden.
Two hurlers who would also deserve commendation in any such ensemble are Johnny Nevin and Paul Coady of Carlow. One couldn’t help thinking of both men on Saturday as the Barrowsiders produce an absolutely brilliant display of hurling in capturing the Joe McDonagh Cup once again on Saturday.
That said, it is of course the case that it takes two good sides to make a brilliant game, and the devastation Offaly will no doubt have been feeling will have been very easy to relate to. We’ve all been there at some stage. For followers of the Faithful though, it must have been like 1994 in reverse. With Johnny Murray’s men having got away to a blistering start with a goal from the prodigious Charlie Mitchell right off the throw in.
Carlow eventually settled to their task as the vastly experienced Marty Kavanagh, along with Chris Nolan and Paddy Boland edged them into a 1-09 to 1-07 lead before what turned out to be the pivotal play in the game ensued. Albeit a very long way out from the winning post as it happened.
Now, I don’t believe anybody would have any qualms about Thomas Walsh’s decision to award Boland a penalty after he was impeded by Dara Maher, but the Waterford whistler’s decision to dismiss the young corner back seemed ridiculously harsh. If, as the man in the middle asserted, Maher did pull the Carlow forward’s faceguard – and I’m in no way convinced – he must be the first referee since God was a gasun to put someone off for it. Yet another of these fad rules that’s only implemented when it suits.
You’d have thought that would’ve destroyed the match as a contest. A gap of five and with one side down to 14 with a whole second half and the sweltering heat which began on Saturday to contend with. But then, if that was the conclusion arrived at, that wouldn’t have taken the fact that it was Offaly in the other dressing room into account.
There’s definitely something in a name. Those in the tricolour jerseys are not known as the Faithful County for nothing. You know, I often think there are very strong similarities in their makeup and that of our own here in Meath. Whether Seamus Darby or Billy Dooley or Shane Lowry, it’s woven into their DNA not to give up.
Here, even though Carlow did hold sway, understandably, for large sections of the second half as Nolan, Kavanagh and Boland must have given the umpires at the Railway End of Croke Park lumbago, slowly but surely the men from the midlands began to chip away at the 2-21 to 1-18 buffer the men in the traffic light jerseys had built for themselves. Led by the Sampson brothers at half back, scores also flowed from Cillian Kiely, Adrian Cleary, David Nally, the introduced Paddy Clancy and Eimhin Kelly, and marksman supreme Eoghan Cahill as the redoubtable race of people hauled themselves back from the brink of oblivion to within inches of salvation.
Cahill’s essaying over of a sensational equaliser in the 75th minute was greeted with a roar commensurate to that which would greet the election of a member of the great Cowen dynasty to Dail Eireann. The corner forward then actually had a chance to complete the smash and grab raid but his goal attempt was smothered smartly by Brian Treacy in the Carlow goal.
Anything other than Tom Mullally’s team getting at least extra time would’ve been a terrible injustice. Yet when the overtime did commence those who had remained Faithful were in the ascendency for the majority of it.
Still, Kelly’s crew at no stage looked capable of shaking Carlow off and when the latter’s inspirational centre back Diarmuid Byrne drove forward and constructed a magnificent equaliser, penalties seemed a certainty.
Nothing, however, could be said to be certain about this one. So when Chris Nolan did flash over a cacophonous winner for the underdogs, nobody could say it wasn’t deserved.
Ultimately, as much as Maher’s soft sending off undoubtedly had an impact on matters, deep down the vanquished will know they were, to a large extent, authors of their own downfall. You won’t win any match sending 26 shots the wrong side of the posts. Let alone what was, after all, their All Ireland final.
The greatest pity of all though, was that there had to be a winner on the day at all. This lunacy of shoehorning matches into corners and shoving them down peoples throats is as counterproductive as it is unnesscessary.
Again, keeping in mind that this was the All Ireland final for those two teams – just as the Ring, Rackard and Meagher Cup competitions are for sides therein. If the Mac Carthy Cup decider finishes level it is replayed so why treat the others any differently? Hurling snobbery per chance?
In ordinary circumstances, that would be enough of an abomination for one week. But sure the GAA’s Brains Trust is the calamity that keeps on giving. Just think about this – Cork won one game, drew one and lost one by a point, yet they are out of the Championship.
Place that against the reality that Offaly have been beaten twice (at least) and are still involved in this summer’s hurling yet Pat Ryan’s Rebels won’t reconvene until we’re into a new year. That’s surely the most glaring factor of unfairness at play in the GAA at present.
By the way, that is not a dig at Offaly. It is my belief that both finalists in all tiers should be promoted as conversely the bottom two in each should be demoted. It would appear that the Munster SHC is probably going to remain as is unless Kerry were to compete again. Then whoever finishes bottom could be relegated.
There’s no reason why – as looks likely to be the way going forward in football – that the provincial championships couldn’t be run separately to the Cup competitions at the different levels. Allowing, say, Kerry compete in Munster, the Leinster counties in the ‘other’ tiers have a go for the Bob O’Keeffe Cup whislt also allowing for a revival of the Ulster SHC.
While on the subject of competition structure, it surely can’t be right to have only one All Ireland semi final at U-20 level. Again, the possibility of allowing a team from Ulster or, even better, whoever wins the U-20 B HC, contest a second semi final.
To their credit, the GAA have done a lot with competition structure most recently, but there’s always more to do.
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