Fogarty Forum: Good old umbrage fuelled Kerry and Tipp

A montage over music was compiled with Richie Hogan’s “Ronan Maher would probably make the Cork team but I couldn’t name another Tipperary player…” remark among the clips before Macklemore’s “Glorious” is played. The lyrics of the song are pertinent: “I feel glorious, glorious/Got a chance to start again/I was born for this, born for this/It's who I am, how could I forget?”

In the Kerry dressing room on Sunday, Daft Punk’s “One More Time” followed by the omnipresent “Freed From Desire” by Gala were the chants of choices. Maybe the first song was a thinly-veiled attempt by the players to convince Jack O’Connor to stick with them for another season.

Less unlikely, it referenced how Kerry were taking the proverbial game by game approach this year. Following Sunday’s All-Ireland final, David Clifford said the team weren’t even considering an All-Ireland final and looking no further than what was in front of their noses.

On the subject of noses, Clifford smelt a rat reading and hearing some of the fawning done about him in the build-up to the game. “To be honest about it, I nearly take it as a hit because I think there’s people who say it and they mightn’t be coming from the right place when they say it,” he told BBC. “I think they’re trying to build you up hoping that you’ll fail, so that was a massive motivation for me today.”

Ah, the softening-up exercise that John Kiely spoke about after they scraped past Waterford in the opening round of the 2023 Munster Championship. The same thing Pat Ryan mentioned Cork had experienced prior to Limerick thrashing them in May. “I think, sometimes, fellas would be building you up, hoping that you'd get a kick in the ass. I thought there was a lot of twisted stuff around it, to be honest with you.”

One person who certainly heaped praise on Clifford in the build-up to Sunday was Jim McGuinness. “Myself and Mark Anthony (McGuinness’s son) were chatting about it and we were talking about the fact that he could be the best player that has ever played the game.”

There was nothing outlandish in what McGuinness was saying but in the context of when he was saying those words, it could easily have been interpreted as a softening-up attempt.

For Clifford and Seán O’Shea, it might also have been filed alongside the Donegal manager’s post semi-final assertion that “winning All-Irelands” was “a rite of passage” in Kerry. Before this past weekend, that wasn’t a plural for those two men.

For certain, the cult around McGuinness was a motivational factor for Clifford in comparison to how Jack O’Connor was viewed. “I don’t think Jack was happy with the commentary around the Donegal manager and everything he could do,” proffered the Fossa man. “I think there was a lot of disrespect in that for Jack, and I think a lot of that (performance) was for him today.” Jason Foley added on Monday morning that the victory was for their manager.

O’Connor hasn’t commented on what was said and written about McGuinness but it sounds similar to the build-up to the 2011 Ulster final when Derry manager John Brennan took exception to how McGuinness and Rory Gallagher were considered a “slick” partnership.

To be fair to McGuinness, he has this year tried to deflect the plaudits towards his players, recently taking exception with a “Jimmy’s Winnin’ Matches” song reference being mentioned in a question.

But the reverence paid to him will have only confirmed to Kerry that their best is never good enough even when it is obviously better than everyone else’s. "We think we have a lot of good footballers but I think sometimes we're being judged on different criteria to other teams,” O’Connor said last month. That theory obviously applies to him too.

A lot of genuine appreciation will be shown to Kerry now but by virtue of championship structures that have become league in nature, champions these days are more than likely going to be beaten. In the six seasons of provincial hurling round-robin championships, no All-Ireland winners have been unscathed. Only Dublin, admittedly on three occasions, have claimed the group format Sam Maguire Cup without losing a game.

To not be dismissed, disrespected as Paudie Clifford said Kerry were, blown up or made “a sitting duck” as Cork said Ryan were in May is unavoidable. Everybody is and takes their angle accordingly but like a boisterous punter, you only hear about their bet when they’re winning.

john.fogarty@examiner.ie

Football on right road but not yet at destination

“And I want to also thank our Football Review Committee led by the incredible chair Jim Gavin for what they have done to make this game the best field sport in the world.”

Gavin’s intention was to make it the most exciting field sport in the world but GAA president Jarlath Burns was declaring it in his presentation of the Sam Maguire Cup on Sunday.

At one stage in June, it certainly appeared football was over-generous in providing us with thrillers. Leads were won and lost like never before and the crowds were loving it and continued to do so for the remainder of the championship.

There is no question the game has improved thanks to the additions and amendments by the FRC but outside of an outstanding Galway-Down All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final the knockout stages didn’t throw up much quality. From a flush to a drip, excitement decreased.

Sunday’s All-Ireland final result meant the average winning margin grew to eight points. Perhaps there is a margin of inflation that has to be considered on account of two-pointers but that statistic is a fly in the ointment that the FRC have applied to the game.

"Projected victory but too early to call" is probably the most accurate verdict of the rule changes. “I think we're still all learning how to manage the new rules,” said Jack O’Connor yesterday. “I think it'll be maybe two or three seasons before the thing beds in properly. I just saw a headline today where they're talking about maybe a couple more rule changes.”

O’Connor was referencing the Irish Examiner’s coverage of what Gavin said on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game Live and that he and his group were keeping their options open. “Nothing is agreed until it's agreed – they're temporary rules.”

The idea of a four-point goal could yet resurface and without it the two-pointer still looks naked. There is much done but a bit more to do.

Cork hurlers shouldn't be fair game to their own

Cork hurlers would have expected plenty of heat this past week but being namechecked by both All-Ireland football final managers probably wasn’t on their bingo ticket.

“Our mantra at half-time was we weren't going to collapse like you saw probably with the Cork hurlers maybe last week,” said Jack O’Connor. Later, Jim McGuinness added: “I suppose no more than the Cork hurlers, it'll be a fairly heavy post-mortem after this one.”

Following last Sunday week’s result, in the lists of do’s and don’t's Cork’s second-half performance clearly falls into the latter column but some of the fall-out has been excessive (for those who were in contact demanding we write about the rumours surrounding in-house bust-ups, if they could be stood up, we would).

The inaccuracy of such conjecture was raised by the Instagram account of O’Connor Hurleys, owned by Cork’s three-time All-Ireland winner Ben. Accompanying a photograph of captain Rob Downey at Grenagh’s Cúl Camp, a caption read: “To anybody ignorant or stupid enough that helped spread a rumour this week, what have you done to promote the game this week?

“This is what Rob Downey did this week, after the heartache of losing an All-Ireland final. Shame on anyone that promoted these horrible stories about our young men all week. You’re not supporters, nor are you good opponent (sic), you are lower than low.”

Cork may be fair game for others but for their own they shouldn’t be.