KIERAN McGEENEY believes media personalities have created a “mass hysteria” surrounding the current inter-county landscape and argues the alleged death of Gaelic football has been greatly exaggerated.
Since Pat Spillane coined the phrase ‘puke football’ in 2003, Ulster teams in particular have come in for heavy criticism for their defensive approaches and the Armagh manager argues there are good and bad games in every season.
Speaking about Dublin’s 27-point win over Longford on Sunday, he said:
“There is a greater divide coming between some teams and you're starting to see it at club level too,” said McGeeney.
“Micko [O’Dwyer] was great. After a game he'd come out and say, 'Wasn't it great?' whereas now we come out and say 'Jaysus, I'd have been better at home watching Eastenders'.
“Next thing everybody joins in and it's like a mass hysteria. Now don't get me wrong, there are bad games but there are bad games every year, in all sports. There are some clinkers too.
“Surely Kerry were thrashing teams years ago - as were Dublin - it’s just that now it has a bigger profile. When Dublin thrashed teams in the 70s or early 80s, we didn’t hear about it.”
“There's people doing it for headlines and it's not their career.
“Even the way they are advertised, 'I call it as it is' when the opposite is true. They never call it as it is.
“I think if you're looking to see the game, most columnists sensationalise the game and it's always past players. The worst critics of our game are ourselves.”
The former Kildare manager also believes a line has to be drawn when criticism is being dished out in the media.
“My opinion is that you try to be as professional as possible on both sides of it,” he said.
”There is a private side to it. There's a balance there somewhere that we're trying to get but some people are easier to stab at than others.
“If I done something really bad, it would be the Armagh manager who would be in the headlines.
“You know if you poke, I’ll bark. There are certain personalities like that and there’s other people you know and you can portray them differently. Isn’t it a game within a game?”
