Humble pie over Munster final

Endured dog's abuse yesterday over the Cork Kerry game.
I take my hat off to the Rebels they were brilliant in the second half and it was a great contest, much better than I thought possible in Munster.
I don't particularly think Cork are a great side, they are workmanlike and they possess some good players but the ease with which Kerry took their defence apart in the first half should give Conor Counihan food for thought.
Kerry's second half collapse was their worst since Armagh bullied and played them off the park in 2002.
The fact that this latest reverse comes hot on the heels of their collapse to Derry in the National League final will be causing manager Pat O'Shea nightmares.
Paul Galvin is a huge loss as his competitiveness and combativeness in the middle of the field was sorely missed.
The sending off of Marc Ó Sé was another huge blow and I thought he was very unlucky.
However, Kerry were over run in the middle of the field and they find themselves with what could be a tricky qualifier given the quality of some of the sides in the draw.
The Kerry full back line was also over run in the second half with Michael Cussen giving them all sorts of problems.
But what does all this mean in the greater scheme of things?
Cork have had false dawns before in recent seasons collapsing at Croke Park, especially at the sight of the Kerry jersey, after a good Munster.
Some of the younger players have made progress but Canty's injury will be a loss as he is a great man marker.
Cork are also a bit like Donegal in that they can overdo the hand pass and it was only when they got the ball in early to the full forward line in the second half that their fortunes changed.
The win can do their confidence no end of good but Kerry basically humiliated almost the same bunch of players who came back into yesterday's game in last year's All-Ireland final.
I have no doubt too that the Kingdom's training is geared towards the latter part of the season.
However, Kerry's midfield looked tired in the second half and I don't think that the pairing of Ó Sé and Scanlon will cut it later in the season.
I think that Darragh Ó Sé's physical powers are in decline and while I think that Kerry will be a different beast in a few weeks time they need to improve dramatically.

Poor fare on offer for a championship weekend

Early July and you would expect the championship season to move up a notch with the first provincial finals but instead we have one of the least anticipated weekends of the championship calendar.
In hurling the Leinster final is a foregone conclusion, Kilkenny to win with the only interest in the Cats' performance as we all hope to get some sort of a gauge on where their three in a row ambitions are sitting.
The Leinster final is now an non event, I'd rather watch a Tommy Murphy Cup game, no that's a lie but the Leinster hurling championship is right down there at the moment.
This week's qualifiers promise nothing better.
Antrim and Laois will feel like it is raining on them if the Galway and Waterford forward lines go out to prove to their respective managers Clare men Ger Loughnane and Davy Fitzgerald that they want to be in the side for the tougher tests which lie ahead.
It will be real men against boys stuff and wouldn't be allowed in boxing.
Unfortunately for everyone involved other than walking off the field in protest at the brutality of the beating (wonder has anyone consulted the Cork players on that one as they are the experts in these matters?) the players will just have to grin and bear it, ok if you're a sado masochist but just torture for the average GAA player, fan and referee.
I wonder do referees get counselling after a match like these as it must be traumatic to watch?
The only interest in these games will be if the Waterford players give any indication that they mean business after their dressing room coup which saw the end of Justin McCarthy.
The football doesn't get much better with the Munster Football final, yes they still have a Munster championship in football which all six counties enter but which is still only contested by two.
Those two Cork and Kerry play for this year's honours, yet again.
Kerry will win at a canter even though the Kingdom don't usually break sweat in Munster and have even been known to let a few provincial titles slip to the Rebels as they warm up the engine in preparation for the annual bad beating of the Cork men at Croke Park when it matters later in the season.
However, the only thing rebellious about the current Cork side is when they are on strike and they are poor enough to endure a bad beating earlier in the season than usual even though Kerry too will have a few players out to injury.
All in all not a lot to get excited over and I look forward to next week's fare which might just bring us a couple of real games!

GAA stands firm on Galvin, so far

The GAA has stood firm in the face of Kerry captain Paul Galvin's first appeal.
Galvin still has two more appeals to come and I will be surprised if at some point down the road the GAA don't reduce his six-month ban to three months.
I think the GAA should stand firm and then remain consistent on this matter if any similar case arises as the captain of a county side if anything has more of a responsibility to behave properly with referees than their colleagues.
Paul Galvin was bang out of order and hard as it is should serve his punishment.

Six months for Galvin the right message

Have to say I was surprised about Paul Galvin getting six months today from the Central Competitions Control Committee.
I think it sends out the right message even though I think the punishment might be diluted on appeal to three months.
However, it was clear yesterday that the Kerry captain had embarked on a charm offensive before the hearing issuing a public apology and some were even suggesting that the referee might not report him for knocking his note book out of his hands.
The decision however, will make it clear to all and sundry that you can't mess about with the referee.
We have enough problems with referees being abused at club games without having that type of nonsense going in at inter-county level.
The issue won't go away for a while yet as I believe the Kerry man will exhaust all his possible appeals in a bid to play some further part in the action with his team trying for a three in a row.
Every one still left in the championship should be taking this decision as a clear indication from the CCCC that they will brook no messing around this season.

Kerry on the sunbeds in Munster

Suppose Kerry can't complain too much about the sending off of their captain Paul Galvin yesterday, after all they had to beat the might of Clare to reach the Munster final again, talk about having to do it the hard way!
The Munster championship is a joke and much as I have admired some great sides from the Kingdom in the past they have a huge advantage in their handy run in to the quarter finals.
Maybe some of the Ulster sides should ask to play in the other provinces, even Antrim might get a run, instead of slaughtering each other in the North while Kerry's finest can indulge themselves on the sunbeds.

Galvin will be a big loss

No matter what way Pat O'Shea dresses up Paul Galvin's sending off yesterday the Kerry manager has to be privately very disappointed.
A captain is supposed to lead by example not knock the ref's notebook out of his hands and get involved with a team mate on the way off the pitch.
Galvin is a very fired-up personality at the best of times.
This year he has struggled to get back on the team after injury and the honour of leading his team will have brought its own problems as he is never anything if not serious about the game.
If he gets the three months he should, and I wouldn't bet on that happening, he will be a huge loss to his team.
Physically he was one of the first Kerry players in 2004 to match the Ulster sides toe to toe, fighting fire with fire.
The Kingdom are a better side than they were four years ago when Kerry's current run of success was reborn after three particularly bad years but Galvin will still be missed if he gets the punishment his actions deserve.

Scrap the Munster football championship

The latest offerings from the Munster football championship only hardens the case to scrap it.
Yesterday the footballers of the four hurling counties Limerick, Tipp, Waterford and Clare served up two very poor games and showed once again that outside of Kerry and Cork there is no football championship worth talking about in our most southern province.
This gives the Rebels and the Kingdom a huge advantage in the All-Ireland championship.
No one else in the country has the luxury of preparing for one game in their provincial championship while happily getting on with the task of training for the All Ireland.
In Leinster, despite the poor standard of football on offer the championship remains competitive, and even in Connacht Galway and Mayo usually have to work a bit to beat Sligo or Roscommon.
In Ulster they knock forty bells out of each other over the three games and although Tyrone and Armagh have come out on top in recent seasons no one would bet against Derry or Donegal being real contenders.
All these sides have to come to two peaks in a season, one in their provincial championship and again for the All-Ireland series.
In the meantime Cork and Kerry can work on speed and conditioning and play challenge games aimed at peaking late July, early August.
This football championship is as distorted as the Munster hurling championship, which works against the south's finest.
It is long past time to scrap the provincial championships in football as they are now an anachronism, and the sooner we get to an Open Draw the better, fair play demands it.

Five in row for Kerry?

Kerry for five in a row, that's what the man who was two minutes away from it in 1982 Mick O'Dwyer reckons about the current Kingdom squad.
Micko believes that the current squad has the talent to do what even his great side couldn't and there was no better side ever in Gaelic football than O'Dwyer's.
O'Dwyer believes that the current side is a great team but he also feels there is more to come from the All-Ireland winning Under 21s.
Five in a row is a mountain to climb but given that Kerry have already two under their belt without really having a fight for them apart from last year's Monaghan game they are clear favourites this year.
O'Dwyer doesn't see any real challengers from Ulster and Leinster and I have to agree much though it pains me to say it about my home province.
Tyrone and Armagh are past their best although I think they will come again and I think Tyrone could be a real threat again if even a couple of the young players Mickey Harte has nurtured finally deliver the goods.
Although he has lost some irreplaceable players since 2005, Canavan and O'Neill in particular but also Cavlan and Dooher for all intents and purposes, Tyrone are one of the counties which puts a lot of work into underage players.
Armagh are at this stage hard to beat but no more, they still have some wonderful players but not enough of them and they will struggle on the big day against a fast team.
Derry will of course take much from their National League win but I think they are predictable and anyone who does their homework on the supply to Paddy Bradley will see them off.
I don't see anything in Leinster capable of winning an All Ireland and I think that the Dubs and Meath made life a lot tougher for themselves with the silly suspensions.
I didn't believe they were good enough anyway but the Parnell Park 'brawl' for me was the final nail in their coffin. Even though they will have the players back for the key part of the championship preparations will be disrupted.
I think Kerry are streets ahead of Cork, no matter who manages them, and for me Galway and Mayo will be there or thereabouts but will come up short.
I can't see past the Kingdom because of their strength in depth and O'Dwyer's right in this sense, if they pull off a three in a row, the first since the last hurrah of O'Dwyer's 1984-'86 side, then there will be a huge momentum behind them for a four in a row and then anything's possible.
This prospect certainly puts it up to the rest of the country and I hope they will respond even if I can't see it happen this year.

Kingdom on track after Under 21 success

Despite losing the National Football League final to Derry last week the people of the Kingdom will feel like everything remains on track for Sam after winning the Under 21 football championship.
Surprisingly Kerry are not renowned for their underage success and this was their first Under 21 in quite some time.
I don't know why Kerry don't do better at underage maybe Cork work harder at it because they need to as they don't have the same conveyor belt of talent coming through as their Munster neighbours.
Even going back to the early '70s Cork dominated minor competition in Munster for years yet only claimed one senior All-Ireland title as the Kingdom prospered under O'Dwyer.
However, Under 21 is usually a better barometer of success than minor but the fact that Kerry have taken that title at a time when their seniors are already ahead of the chasing pack is a bit ominous.
Tyrone are one side which has built good senior teams on the back of Under 21 success at the start of the '90s and again at the start of this decade.
If the only thing the current Kerry side get out of this Under 21 team is a strengthened bench then they will be very hard to beat.

Strength in depth the key to the Kingdom

Wouldn't you just love to have the problems facing Kerry boss Pat O'Shea going into the National League final.
He lost his top scorer in this year's league Bryan Sheehan, in most counties this would be a major problem but for Pat O'Shea it's just a case of bringing in one of the country's top forwards of the last six or seven years, Eoin Brosnan, and while he's at it why not bring back Declan O'Sullivan.
And just in case it gets tight against Derry on Sunday I suppose he could even get Gooch to warm up and go out and do a bit of damage if he needs it.
For me it's that type of strength of depth which gives Kerry the edge on every team in the country.
No matter what way the league final goes the Kingdom will remain the ream to beat.

Sheehan could be victim to conveyor belt of talent

Hope that Bryan Sheehan's knee injury will not turn out to be too serious.
The Kerry marksman is likely to miss the National League Football final against Derry, which is a great pity given that he scored eight points yesterday against Galway and his contribution to Kerry's league campaign has been prolific.
It is a personal tragedy for Sheehan given the fierce competition there will be for places in the Kingdom's line-up during the championship.
Colm Cooper came back into contention yesterday while Eoin Brosnan, Mike Frank Russell and Paul Galvin will add to the competition for places in the starting line-up.
Sheehan has given Kerry real consistency from placed balls as well as tagging on some great scores from play.
However, if someone else gets in and does the business in the championship it will be tough to get back in, just one of the joys of playing for a side with as much talent as Kerry.

Kerry Cork postponement a sign of the times

While the debate rages about the grants scheme for players and the growing professionalism in the game we were reminded today of the changes which have taken place in our games in recent years where money and viewing figures dictate when even some of what used to be our biggest attractions are played.
The annual Kerry Vs Cork game, ok it's formally known as the Munster Football final even though the rest of the province will be off somewhere that day knocking either a sliotar or a rugby ball around, has been put back a week as result of our new TV deal which involves RTE and TV3.
Now even though the Munster football final is about as interesting as watching paint dry, well Cork always give it their best shot while Kerry try to muster up a bit of enthusiasm to play a game which is now only an irritant in their build-up to their All-Ireland preparations, the authorities believe it would be better postponed for a week so that we can have some TV coverage rather than miss out because of other games on the original date of June 29.
I couldn't see this happening back in the day when GAA men were men and sheep were nervous.
The bad news for anyone hoping that there may be some alternative live action on the new date of July 6 is that the only other action is the Leinster Hurling final which is usually as one sided as a Kerry Cork game in the All-Ireland series when the Kingdom feel the need to actually turn up and Cork surrender faster than you can say Dunkirk.