News
Proliferation of matches on all fronts
IT never rains but it pours. No, we’re not referring to the weather, which, thankfully, has been good of late, but of the proliferation of matches on all fronts at present. Between live games and television, the games, intercounty and club, are coming at us from all sides and choices have to be made every weekend.
During the week we attended a Board meeting at which most of the time was spent trying to fix a handful of championship games. The biggest problem, of course, is that one single player involved with a county team can hold up two club championships, football and hurling, leaving four teams idle at the best time of the year. This clash between county and club has never been settled and never will.
In fact with county teams now involved in qualifiers almost every weekend, it is getting harder and harder to fit in club championships. Full credit to divisional officers who need the patience of Job to deal with all the problems and have the County Board breathing down their necks with unreal deadlines for championships.
The success of both Cork teams last weekend means that the footballers will be involved against Roscommon this Sunday in Croke Park and the hurlers will be playing the following Sunday, 8th, against Kilkenny in the semi-final. Little wonder attendances are down at all games this season. It’s great to see Cork still involved in both codes but pity the family supporters who are expected to dip into their pockets every weekend. While Cork hurlers won’t be given a chance against Kilkenny, a huge Cork crowd will travel to that game but that weekend also sees the continuation of the county senior football championship with a large number of important clashes down for decision on Friday and Saturday. Does anybody really expect Cork fans to attend the club games on Friday and Saturday and then head off to Croke Park on Sunday? Many will opt to watch the Cork v Kilkenny game on television. With money not as plentiful as in the days of the Celtic Tiger many fans are now becoming armchair supporters, watching the big games on television. Will the GAA eventually cut back on the televising of so many games and just cover semi-finals and finals as used to be the case, will they cut admission prices or will they just continue to milk the cow which grows leaner every day?
In truth we’re lucky to still have a football team to support after their clash with Limerick last weekend. Why do Cork footballers find it so hard to beat the Shannon-siders? Maybe it’s something to do with hard graft and work rate. There’s no doubt that football-wise Cork are a superior side to Limerick, as they proved for much of the second half, but their inability to close out games, as witnessed against Kerry twice, is down to a failure to graft hard right to the final whistle. Cork thought this game was over, we all did, when they went five points in front, but they almost paid the ultimate price for not driving hard to the finish line. Had Cork lost, which they almost did, O’Connor and Quirke would be having nightmares for the rest of the season.
Having escaped this time, the gods decided to reward Cork with a tie against the weakest of the divisional winners, Roscommon. Every football expert we have heard or read since Sunday can’t see Cork losing this one but this Cork team definitely has its shortcomings, not least their failure to score goals, and some day some team other than Kerry will knock them out of the championship. I would have preferred to see them meeting Kerry in the next round on two accounts, firstly, they would be much more geared up for a clash with Kerry than with Roscommon and secondly, Kerry without Paul Galvin, and Tomás Ó Sé, would hardly have survived against Cork in their meetings in the Munster championship. But then, what satisfaction would we get out of beating Kerry without Galvin and Ó Sé?
Like Cork against Roscommon, the experts can’t see Down beating Kerry but the Mourne men have a good record against the Kingdom and may just create the biggest upset of the year. That would really open up the road to Sam for Cork, otherwise it may be another case of the Rebels against the Kingdom on final day.
First there’s a slight matter of getting over Roscommon on Sunday in Croke Park. A repeat by Cork of their first-half lethargic display against Limerick certainly won’t suffice against the Connacht men and in Donie Shine they have a player who could cause a lot of damage. This is a young Roscommon side and Cork’s objective should be to get on top of them from the very start before they get a chance to get a foothold in the game. It will be interesting to see if Cork can use the open spaces of Croke Park to create, and take, goal chances and to use their athleticism and football ability. The selectors are still not sure of their best fifteen, which could cost the team dearly in tough games and the fact that there is a sameness about all the subs and the players on the pitch isn’t a good thing. When a game is tight and you need to bring on a game-breaker, it should be a player who is totally different from the player being replaced. That’s why it’s a pity that Cussen isn’t playing football as he would surely still be a great replacement with his size and strength, totally different from all the ball-players we have in the forward line right now.
We would also hope to see Ciarán Sheehan back to his best position at full forward as his strength is needed as a target man. Cork are bound to be tired mentally after the exertions against Limerick, when they certainly didn’t need extra time and that bad kickout by Quirke could come back to haunt us yet. Roscommon are bound to be fresher but maybe they overdid the celebrating after their unexpected Connacht win. If Cork play to top form, which they haven’t for a full game yet this season, then they will advance to a plum tie against Tyrone or Dublin in the semi-final. That will be the real test.
Closer to home, the junior championships are scraping along with an odd game fitted in here and there. It certainly isn’t helping to build up any kind of championship atmosphere and what a change it would make if we could fit in a whole round of games in one weekend and build up the interest that way. It isn’t going to happen because of the intercounty games.
Bantry’s good run in the junior A football came to an end when they were beaten by a Gabriels’ team that is going quietly about its business but getting there. Their hero was again Mark Cronin who kicked an impressive 1-8 and at this stage nobody would begrudge a great campaigner like Pat Nolan a SW junior A medal. Like Kilmacabea, Gabriels have yet to win their first junior A title and a Kilmacabea v Gabriels final would indeed be unique. Gabriels now meet Dohenys in the quarter final and, if they win that, they will play the winners of St. Oliver Plunkett’s v Tadhg MacCárthaigh in the semi-final.
Plunkett’s and Caheragh will have to meet again to decide who goes forward as they played a draw last weekend. This was a game that could have gone either way with Caheragh dominating early and late and Plunkett’s doing best in between. Again we had some fine scoring exploits with Colm O’Driscoll kicking 0-5 and Kevin Coffey kicking 1-4. This bodes well for Carbery footballers who are scheduled to play Douglas in the championship shortly.
In the junior A hurling championship last year’s finalists, Clonakilty, bit the dust when well-beaten by Dohenys. The Dunmanway men have the makings of a fine side and are improving with every outing. In the McCarthy brothers and Cork minor Darren Sweetnam they have three of the finest junior hurlers in the division and they have brought in Gabriel O’Sullivan to work with them this season. While football will always be their top priority, they will definitely be hoping for their first junior A hurling title since distant 1963 with this team in the near future. Clonakilty were bitterly disappointing on the night and have clearly not recovered from the unexpected final defeat by Bandon last season. Again football is the main game there but this display, where they only scored a single point from play, was poor in the extreme.
Of course pride of place last weekend must go to Castlehaven’s U.21 footballers who won their second county title in four years and their fifth in all. Their marvellous record in this grade means they have never lost a final. While the final score of 2-13 to 1-3 against Ballincollig last Sunday suggests an easy victory, it was anything but against the reigning champions who were missing a number of players. Ballincollig actually missed two penalties in the opening ten minutes as they failed to score in the first half and there was only three points between the sides with ten minutes left. The Haven finished in a blaze with two clinching goals and have struck a psychological blow for the senior encounter between the two clubs.
While the weekend of 6th/7th August will see the senior football championship in full flow, the four intermediate hurling teams, Bandon, Barryroe, Argideen and Newcestown will all be in action in the championship over the coming weeks, while Bantry intermediate footballers will play Nemo Rangers this coming Wednesday. Randals will play Inchigeelah in the junior B hurling county this Saturday. Wouldn’t it be great if we had local television to bring us all these games but as it is we will again have to pick and choose. Here’s to good weather and some great action.