I MESSAGED a fella from Tralee yesterday: “Well, are you all set for Sunday? Are you confident?”
“Very, very confident,” he replied.
That’s all he wrote, but that was enough.
On social media this week, a young lad from the Kingdom, around nine years of age, summed up what most of the country outside Galway is feeling as we look forward to tomorrow’s All-Ireland final.
“Well, it’s going to be a tough game because Galway haven’t won it in 21 years,” he said with a delightful dollop of that innate Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh-esque Kerry charm.
“So each team are hungry but I think Kerry have that better class. I do think that.”
I do think that too.
Kerry have plenty of class and also have an encouraging historical trend on their side. After the first three of Tyrone’s All-Irelands they’ve come the following year and won the National League and the Sam Maguire under Jack O’Connor.
Tyrone won their fourth All-Ireland last year of course and O’Connor put the National League title in the bag in April. Since then Kerry have added the Munster Championship at an absolute canter and of course they beat Dublin – their bogey team for so many years – at the semi-final stage thanks to a first half masterclass from David Clifford and a terrific supporting role from Seanie O’Shea who scored the ice-cool winner at the death.
Their traditional kicking style has changed too much for some hard-core purists but the return of the Sam Maguire after eight years will change even their tune.
Kerry are, quite rightly, favourites but I wouldn’t have announced the after-party venue (D Two at Harcourt Street, doors open 9pm with special guests the Kerry team) until Sam was in the back of the bus because Galway aren’t going to Dublin to make up the numbers. Not at E90 a ticket and with the price of diesel this weather, they’re not.
Their charismatic manager Padraic Joyce exudes an infectious, joyous enthusiasm and Galway have developed since he took the helm. This year they beat Mayo and Roscommon on the way to claiming the Connacht title and then squeezed past Armagh in what Gary Sice described as “three games in one”.
Galway won it, then lost it and finally won it on penalties and they kicked on impressively since by snuffing out Derry in the semi-final.
I also messaged a fella from Caherlistrane, in the north of the county, to find out what the vibe was out in the west: “Well, are you all set for Sunday? Are you confident?”
“We’re staying under the radar,” he says.
“We’re quietly confident. I’m hoping Shane Walsh, Conroy and Comer really stand up and if they do we might get over the line.”
If Galway’s big players perform, John Daly gets a handle on O’Shea and Sean Kelly somehow manages to tame the off-the-cuff genius of G.O.A.T. Clifford then maybe the Tribesmen can cause an upset.
That’s a big ‘IF’…
