AFTER Antrim’s wonderful shock victory over Laois a fortnight ago, one question went through my mind amid the scenes of jubilation: who are the real Antrim?
The game was shrouded in controversy over a club fixture that should never have taken place, but the perfect tonic was an unthinkable comeback at O’Moore Park. Just a few days later, it emerged that three players, all involved in the starting team at some point in Antrim’s first two games, were heading to America. I was gobsmacked.
To put it in context, the deadline for going to North America is July 20, but the three lads hedged their bets that Antrim would more than likely lose in the first round of the Qualifiers, so it was safe to book flights before the end of June.
I enjoyed a few summers in America, but always worked on the principle of never talking leaving dates with the Stateside team in question until Antrim were out of the Championship. That doesn’t make me better than anyone else, it was just that I believed in winning the next game and concentrating on delivering upon all the hard work and time invested with a group on fellas I respected and really enjoyed playing with.
Luckily, I was able to get the best of both worlds and, at the same time, never miss a Championship game for my club. What perturbed me even more than the actions of Patrick McBride, Conor Burke and Paddy McAleer, was the reaction from within the camp which echoed sentiments of ‘no hard feelings’ and the ‘who could blame them’ attitude.
The players in question are decent lads with good futures ahead of them, so this is by no means a witchhunt against them. But what does it say about our culture when too many players don’t want to commit, others walk away so flippantly, and deep down not enough give a damn?
It got me thinking about a book called Legacy: 15 Lessons in Leadership – a superb insight into the success of the New Zealand rugby team. The over-riding theme in the book is about how, in 2004, after a dreadful World Cup the previous year, a drunken, spoilt, leaderless and failing superpower of world rugby stripped back everything that was wrong and set the wheels in motion at creating a brand new ‘culture’ more befitting of the All Blacks and the Maori people.
They banked on the principle that, if they created the right culture on and off the pitch it would drive the behaviours needed to be successful. In Gaelic football, just think of Donegal and match that with words such as respect, discipline, honesty, trust, organisation and hard work. Humility also became a big thing in their DNA so after every game, their two most famous players Dan Carter and Richie McCaw would engage in a ritual known as “sweep the sheds”.
Basically, they cleaned the changing rooms but this act symbolised much more. It said: “There’s no-one bigger than the team” and “We don’t need anyone else to sort out our mess.”
In the 10 years after the 2003 World Cup, the All Blacks delivered almost a 90 per cent win ratio.
Antrim have many peripheral issues holding them back, from support at board level, the training centre of excellence, Casement Park, investment in development squads and the the old chesnut of colleges' football. But these won’t be tackled anytime soon. In the meantime, the Gaelic games culture in the county as a whole needs to take steps in a different direction.
Otherwise, what is the point?
I HOPE my good Fermanagh brethren will forgive me for delaying my praise following their convincing victory.
It is never easy when you are paired against a team you have already beaten, and often the motivation and momentum falls the way of the opposition. But the execution of a top-class clinical performance just echoed the belief and ability that lies within Pete McGrath’s camp.
Seán Quigley once again highlighted his ability as a top-class forward kicking an 14 points with half of them coming from play. I would say with a degree of confidence that it was the best scoring performance from any Fermanagh man since a certain Donegal manager kicked 3-9 against Monaghan in 2002.
Their Ulster SFC semi-final against Monaghan ended in a disappointing manner and, as I said at the time, the scoreline didn’t reflect how well Fermanagh played for most of the game.
It is evident there is a belief and a resolve within this group of Fermanagh players that will see them perform consistently and, in the words of their manager, “be the best that they can be”.
For any supporter, you can’t ask for more than that.
DOWN in Killarney, we were treated to a ding-dong Munster final which tunred on a controversial refereeing decision.
I fancy Kerry in the replay due to the fact they have more attacking strings to their bow. Just four players registered on the scoresheet for the Rebels compared to an impressive 10 for Kerry.
During the week, Jim McGuinness said he believes Dublin are going to be virtually unbeatable this year. It seems they have made a couple of tweaks to their defensive system which involves keeping their centre closed at all times and leaving spare men back on the counterattack.
Ultimately, this will make them less vulnerable to conceding goals. But from Jim Gavin’s perspective he will be weary that, while nemesis McGuinness has moved on, he may meet another equally difficult opponent in Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice.
Realistically, I think it is between these two for Sam. Kerry’s substitute bench yesterday boasted Anthony Maher, Paul Murphy, Darran O’Sullivan, Paul Geaney and some wee red haired fella by the name of Cooper.
The wiley Fitzmaurice is playing the long game and knows they can win Munster without showing his full hand. I don’t think any of us will complain should these two come head-to-head later in the year.
