The above might look like the most blatant case of stating the obvious mankind or womankind has ever encountered, but that doesn’t reduce its credence. Think about it – Micko’s Kerry were the first to patent football by handpass. Then, Jim McGuinness morphed that into death by handpass but then, in fairness, the man from Glenties was only cloning the poison inflicted on the game in 2003 by Mickey Harte.
There always has to be an antithesis to trends, mind you. A bucking of them, if you like. By the grace of God and to the salvation of Gaelic football, two different incarnations of Armagh have done exactly that.
Firstly when big Joe Kernan pioneered the long, diagonal ball into the brilliant but cursed Ronan Clarke. From there, if the man from Pearse Og didn’t score himself, Stevie McDonnell, Oisin McConville and Diarmuid Marsden gobbled up the shrapnel and finished the job. The upshot of which was Sam Maguire going to the resting place of St Patrick for the first time.
Jump forward 22 years and Kieran McGeeney has replaced big Joe on the sideline, Rian O’Neill plays the Clarke role and Ruairi Grugan, Oisin Conaty, ‘Soupy’ Campbell and Conor Turbett dealt with the second ball.
It’s not just a football thing either. For example, Cork of the Donal Og Cusack era specialised in short puc outs and working the ball through the lines with hand passes.
Whereas Kilkenny at their zenith could play it every which way but loose. Similarly, Limerick of the past decade or so have a selection box of gameplans on which to dine in pursuance of the golden harvest.
Which brings me nicely to Clare. Yes the following is leaning slightly on the realm of the sporting romantic, but, if I were in any way of a Banner County persuasion, there’s something reassuring yet equally exciting about a Lohan with a red helmet being stationed in or around their full back line.
From the one seeing eye of this observer, there has never been a better exponent of their square as their fiefdom than the original red lidded Lohan. Now the country’s most prolific patroller of sidelines. I’d say the step counter on his watch blew up years ago.
However, for all Brian Lohan’s frenetic antics on the sideline, the original red marauder was obviously of a calm enough disposition to see the value in putting his nephew Daire into the bear pit that was once his by exclusivity.
On such bedrocks are foundations of success built. Of course Lohan has already overseen the completion of one such project only two seasons ago. But, in inculcating fresh talent like his nephew and Niall O’Farrell and Sean Rynne and the mercurial, irrepressable Diarmuid Stritch, he of the red helmet that couldn’t be moved has basically built his own Clare 2.0.
Albeit with battle hardened drill sergeants like Cathal Malone, Shane O’Donnell, Peter Duggan, Tony Kelly and, increasingly, Ian Galvin dovetailing with the new breed exceptionally. If you take it that their victory over Tipperary puts them a maximum of four matches (barring something called a replay, remember them?) away from lifting Liam Mac Carthy again, would you bet against them?
Were it not for the presence of Limerick – doing a damn good job at catching up on Kilkenny of the early 2000s in terms of brilliance – the Galway Races stash would nearly be wagered on The Banner having Liam Mac in tow in time for the Lisdoonvarna festival this year.
‘If’ is a very big two letter word however. Whilst it would be foolhardy in the extreme to discount the prospects of Kilkenny or Galway straight off the bat, it’s surely beyond debate that the former are in transition while the latter’s stomach for a right scrap has yet to be determined.
As for Cork, it quite literally depends on which version of them turns up on a given day. Or half a day as last year’s All Ireland final proved. Though in fairness to those who are now under the guidance of Ben O’Connor when they are in their groove they’re not an easy entity to hold off.
The problem from their own perspective is that they can sometimes be a bit like the Curate’s egg – good in spots!
Kilkenny may well be in a period of transition, but, don’t doubt that if Mikey Butler, Mikey Carey, Paddy Deegan, Richie Reid, Cian Kenny and TJ – or even some thereof – click at the same time that could be fatal to any other teams ambitions.
Then, there’s the fact that the outliers in the whole equation could be Dublin. Most likely due to the prevalence of football in the capital but also because whatever hype there is about Leinster hurling usually centres on Kilkenny and/or Galway. Meaning that, somewhat unbelievably, Niall O’Ceallachain’s charges tend to float somewhat underneath the radar.
And, just as it was mentioned in the formative stages of this offering, every team have their own prototype of how they like like to do things and often there’s more than one element to same. For example, for all that the likes of Barry Nash, Diarmuid Byrnes, Kyle Hayes and Cian Lynch are more than happy to move the ball quickly through the hands, neither are they averse to launching route one bombs in on top of The Bull (Shane O’Brien). And sure young Gillane isn’t a bad auld option for mopping second phase ball!
Switch over to Cork and, as referred to earlier, under the tutelage of both Donal O’Grady and John Allen, the gameplan was very much based on quick, short puc outs and short stick passes.
Whereas if you go back to the tenure of Canon Michael O’Brien, they had the option of putting long ball into giants of the game, in every sense, like Tomas Mulcahy, Kevin Hennessy and John Fitzgibbon.
For O’Ceallachain’s Dublin, there are different strands to their attacking threat. In that, as well as the deadly accuracy of Donal Burke and Cian O’Sullivan, they have the scorching running ability of Ronan and Brian Hayes or the option of lashing long ball into the Vinny Murphy-esque John Hetherton.
You know, in one way, it is the similarities between the main players in the race for Liam Mac Carthy which makes it so difficult to call a winner.
My gut says Liam will end up on the Ennis Road in Limerick either way. Whether parking or passing through – to be confirmed.
Leave a Reply