Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.
All the provincial championships are now over so the back door is finally closed. Thank God for that, writes Emmet Moloney...
The artificial feeling that we get from watching teams keep a little something up their sleeves is finally dispensed with. The real stuff starts now. The big guns start falling. By Sunday night we’ll have lost Tipp or Galway’s hurlers, Dublin or Louth’s footballers. This weekend we will see it all out on the pitch. That’s where it has to be left. That’s where Waterford left it last Saturday night in Thurles. On the field.
That’s what it means to counties like Waterford, Roscommon and Antrim. The Déise aren’t supposed to win replays against giants like Cork. But win they did with heart, guts and all the clichés that add up to character.
Roscommon did the same. This was no surprise and one the bookies got badly wrong. Sligo don’t like being favourites. Neither do the Dublin hurlers. The Rossies wouldn’t have been afraid of Sligo; the Antrim hurlers would not have feared the Dubs. That means something. For a traditional underdog, the mantle of shoo-in sits very uneasily. When your own supporters, so starved of success, start taking games for granted, you’re in trouble. Only the likes of Kerry and Kilkenny can live and thrive on expectation.
On the hurling side, the jury is in on Davy Fitz. A Munster championship to add to an All-Ireland final appearance, not to mention putting it up to the Cats last year, Davy Fitz has been a roaring success in Déise land. His style and pronouncements can put one or two off, but he delivers and in a manager, that’s really all that counts. Let’s give the fella his due. (A little aside here. Now and again, when I drive into my home club in Clarecastle I spot Davy’s jeep up at the top field. There he can be found two or three times a week training our senior club camogie team. We don’t/can’t pay coaches from inside or outside our club! He’s there the day before Munster finals and throughout the year. That tells you something about Davy.)
The hurling draw has fallen kindly for Kilkenny, as if they needed it. A weak looking Cork have only Antrim to ready them for the onslaught of the Cats. The Aisake bubble has been well and truly burst and maybe just as well because Noel Hickey would have eaten him with salt.
From Tipp/Galway/Waterford will emerge one team to face them in the final. That’s a soft enough run to a final for the champions. A disjointed Dublin, a tired Galway and a toothless Rebel outfit. Just what the doctor ordered. Of course, playing against Tommy Walsh and co turns you into a disjointed, tired and toothless looking squad. It’s the way of the hurling world right now and I’m not sure it’s good for us. Our potential rescuers are Tipp – the only team in my mind that have the quality to put it up Kilkenny.
Something will have to be done. Last Saturday night, only 22,000 people watched a Munster senior hurling final. If that isn’t a wake-up call I don’t know what is. Lower prices are needed for a start. And you can forget Saturday night for hurling while you’re at it. This year’s All-Ireland hurling final might not sell out, while the semi-finals won’t even bring 40,000 to Croke Park.
On Sunday, I’d be surprised if there was 30,00 to see four senior sides in action. Christy Cooney could do something towards a legacy were he to appoint a high-powered committee to review TV coverage, admission prices and the lack of momentum in the hurling championship year. We need changes.
To football. To Louth. To justice? Hopefully they’ve all calmed down in the Wee County and have got back to concentrating on football. Their draw was perfect. Dublin look like they are stirring again but don’t read too much into their last game. They beat a limited Armagh and Louth can certainly put it up to them. Whether the Meath hangover has left them is the question. The Dubs are a high-profile side and that’s what Louth needed. They’re back in the limelight and the centre of attention for the right reasons. This will bring a sizeable crowd to Croker. The Dubs should have too much for them though.
Spare a thought for the referee. It’s bad enough to be reffing Dublin in front of the Hill when everything you do is wrong anyway, but now you have to ref Louth as well after all they have been through. Hands up who remembers John Maloney, the Tipp réiteoir of days gone by? If you do, you’ll know what I mean when I say this is a job made for John. He was a good man to make up his mind!
If we could have a good news story from these four games it would be Limerick catching the Cork footballers. If ever a football county needed a break, it is these lads. They’re capable and hopefully they’ll perform. It’s in the Gaelic Grounds and that’s a real advantage. This team put it up to Kerry on their own pitch and owe the Rebels one since Cork stole their last two championship meetings (stole in the Cork sense of the word, ie, a late legitimate goal). The summer thrives on a good old shock now and again. We could see one here.
Sligo will struggle greatly to get over the loss of a Connacht final just six days previously. The same is true for Monaghan. Six days is grand if you have won and the adrenaline is flowing, but a defeat takes a long time to leave the system. The qualifiers rarely suit the team that loses a provincial final.
By Sunday night we will be down to four hurling counties: Kilkenny, Cork, Waterford and, I suspect, Tipperary. Eight football sides will remain. Only one county, Cork, can have both their senior squads still involved. Another unfortunate sign of the times. The dual player, never mind the dual county, is a thing of the past.
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