NOTHING quite like dragging Kerry’s name into a good old row about Tyrone. Makes it feel authentic.
In his most recent weekly newspaper column, Kerry legend Darragh Ó Sé said last week that he is “no one of those people who blames Tyrone for everything” before proceeding to blame Tyrone for almost everything.
‘Tyrone fan’ takes umbrage with the Gaeltacht man and “the Mayo lad”, whom we assume is Lee Keegan.
“I always enjoy Darragh Ó Sé’s column, but feel he is being a wee bit selective with the facts when he says that, in the case of a well-known Tyrone player, 'what goes around comes around' [there’s that old phrase again].
“There are two key difference between that player's 2013 'rugby tackle' and the hour of WWF antics endured by that same Tyrone player last weekend:
- The Tyrone player's 2013 once-off foul somehow made national headlines and he was subjected to a series of hysterical personal attacks in the media. As expected, the Mayo lad's tactics (just as with the relative media omerta around the other Mayo diving incident recently) have incurred neither similar publicity nor similar opprobrium.
- In 2013, as it should be, only the offending party was booked. Last weekend, both the offender AND the victim were booked - and it's that blatant refereeing disparity that is the real issue, not just for any one team or individual, but for GAA refereeing generally.
“Cavanagh's un-merited yellow card is far from unusual. I've lost count of the times I've seen forwards on lots of teams illegally hassled and mauled by backs throughout a game without any intervention whatsoever from the referee or the sideline zombies. Yet as soon as the forward tries to defend himself or even tries forcibly to escape the attentions of the persistently-fouling / goading back, the previously unconcerned referee will be over in a flash, issuing cards to both parties.
“In all the hand-wringing and crying about blanket defences and possession football (as opposed to that Golden Years specialism, 'give the ball away' football) slowing down the game, it'd benefit our games much more if referees moved on from their 'forwards have to suck-it-up' moralising, opened their eyes once in a while and allowed forwards to play the game without having to drag cynical dead-weight backs around with them for half the game.
CO’K: It was obvious on several occasions last weekend that Cavanagh was being hauled and dragged. But allow me to be devil’s advocate for a moment and suggest that forwards aren’t all made of sugar and spice, while defenders reek of snails and stuff. There’s many a forward out there cute enough to know that a man marking him doesn’t want to be on a yellow card from the start of the game. If the forward starts a wrestling match, who is the more likely to pick up a second booking?
Their 2016 campaign had no sooner ended than Mickey Harte was looking towards next year. One ‘Anonymous’ caller believes their goal-setting should be taken literally.
“Mickey Harte said during the week that it’s time to set goals for 2017. Never mind setting goals, they’d need to be scoring goals.
“They don’t need a goalkeeper coming out to take free kicks. Anybody can take free kicks and miss. They need a forward. And there’s too many backs in the team.
“In 2010, they had no Plan B against Cork. Earlier that year, I said the only place for Sean Cavanagh was full-forward. I know he might be lining out with 14 on his back but he should be in there.
“Peter Harte and Mattie Donnelly should be nearer the goals because they can score. There’s no Plan B. They have the team but there’s too many defenders on it.”
CO’K: Barring Darren McCurry, the Tyrone bench wasn’t exactly laced with natural forwards this year. Harte created a viable gameplan with what he had, and it brought them to an Ulster title.
And ‘Tyrone caller’ was asking questions of Kevin Madden’s memory.
“Kevin Madden can recall that Tyrone created five goal chances against Kerry last year, yet he can’t recall Tyrone creating any goal chances against Mayo. What about Mattie Donnelly setting up Connor McAliskey? Even Kevin himself would have scored it.”
CO’K: And still would.
‘Dermot from Portadown’, meanwhile, is a bit like Aaron Kernan and just fed up with the constant whinging over defensive football and most things modern.
“I wish people would bloody get off their high horse, especially ex-players and commentators. They say the Donegal-style defensive game and the way Ulster teams play with 13 men behind the ball is boring. Absolute nonsense, it’s intriguing to see a solid defence as well as a good attack.
“There has to be a right time to defend and a right time to attack in all sports. These so called experts are all big soccer fans and how many times do we see defenders playing a ball sideways or back ways from the centre circle and building very slowly. But do they criticise Premier League or the Euros on their Twitter accounts? No, only the highest praise.”
And last, but far from least this week, Michael Conlan. The stricken Belfast boxer had plenty of choice words for the authorities after he was beaten (I use the term as loosely as is possible) in his Olympic bantamweight quarter-final on Tuesday.
‘Orla from Stewartstown’ was on to offer her support to stricken Conlan, who says he will never take part in an AIBA fight again.
“I hope that Michael Conlan makes it as a professional boxer after that unbelievable decision the judges must been watching another fight. Who would want to box for the AIBA after that? I think that it is time that we boycotted the AIBA events until a fair system is put in place.
“Michael, you are a credit and we all know that you were the best boxer by a mile I will continue to support you when you turn professional and wish you the best of luck.”
CO’K: I know nothing about boxing but even I could see Conlan had won the fight. His frustration was totally understandable.
