Journalist Write-Off 2009

[ONeill]

Archer too. He makes a point. Although Silke's article is more match-related, it's a little rambling.

On another note, have you noticed that Archer looks about 2 stone lighter in his photo compared to a year ago. Yesterday I noticed Bimpe Fatogun is now Bimpe Archer. Not ruling out Geoffrey here but it looks like oul Bimpe has Kenny sweating like Musgy outside the Conway Inn.

[lob her in lad]

Dennis Croke (Laois Nationalist) Just thought I'd throw my hat into the ring just to get one of our boys in there.

[ONeill]

Duggan v Hayes
Heaney v Harte
Brolly v Humphries
Archer v Silke


This week McEvoy v Shannon, and it's one hell of a duel.......

Ewan MacKenna

Back Stage, Ewan McKenna - Above and beyond the Troubles

For the members of Antrim football's last golden era, it remains a tragic case of what might have been, but today's side hope to rise above their bleak history

By the time Frank Fitzsimons was let out in 1976, he couldn't escape from the changes. He'd only been in Long Kesh for three years, a mere starter compared to what was served up to some of his old teammates, but things weren't as they used to be. Certain faces and voices on the Antrim bus had disappeared and the ones that remained had grown haggard and hoarse, aged by what was going on around them. They had all been forced to live too much life since a free and flighty day in Clones in 1970 when the world opened up in front of their talented feet.

Everything in the lead up to that Ulster final at the start of the decade seemed right. The under-21s had wandered off the previous year and returned with an All Ireland and a confidence foreign to the county. Hordes made their way across the border to follow a new phenomenon on a perfect day but then, brick by brick, what they had built was torn down by Derry. Centre-back Billy Millar started despite bad sunburn and was roasted further; Aidan Hamill missed a penalty they thought Andy McCallin should have hit; two shots rattled the crossbar in the experimental 40-minute second half and by the finish Antrim had lost by 2-13 to 1-12.

On the way home Fitzsimons tried to get drunk but couldn't get enough alcohol on board to forget what had just happened. Instead they consoled themselves with the fact this was a beginning and the group were simply too talented not to win an Ulster title. But by the time they got home that evening, Belfast was burning and a curfew had been introduced on the Falls Road. It turned out it was the end and in decades since, a game dredged up for convenience this week was grasped tightly by many of its participants, held onto as a single shard of light reminding them of better days.

"It came at a bad time," says midfielder Fitzsimons. "The Troubles were just starting and a lot of people got caught up. A few fellas ended up in jail after. They got me too and we were forced to grow up quickly. From one year to the next it was a different life. You are enjoying Gaelic football one minute and the next you are battling on the streets of Belfast. But if we could have stayed together as a team we could have gone the whole way."

He sighs, but it could have been worse. In 1975 Din Joe McGrogan wandered into a bar near Casement Park in the midst of an IRA ceasefire. Known as the character on the team and a keen Elvis impersonator, he was busy entertaining those around him when a bomb went off. "A lovely fella and a bad loss," says Michael Culbert who played alongside him on that under-21 side. "Din Joe was one of those aggressive, ginger players. As they do be. A dynamo. I remember quite clearly when he was killed, I was on the scene in a very short period of time. Everybody knows the term collusion. It was during one of the IRA ceasefires and there was never a more dangerous time in west Belfast than an IRA ceasefire."

Culbert himself was tipped as a name for the future but by the end of the decade he was locked away for 14 years. Inside he became the results man. Every Tuesday a visitor would say goodbye with a kiss, transferring a pellet wrapped in cling film. Culbert would then swallow what was the results page from the Irish News. It made him a celebrity in Long Kesh. "There were all these weird things inside," says Fitzsimons. "There was good football inside. Four teams. Antrim, Derry, Down and Armagh. I got out on the Monday and I went back to football the following Sunday but I found it very hard to see and play on grass."

As the 1970s wore on, the number of AN Others on the Antrim team increased. Guys refused to get in squad pictures for fear they'd be spotted and others were hunted down during games. Fitzsimons played one match in Andersonstown when a helicopter landed on the Sarsfields pitch and he was forced to take off in his gear. Others didn't get away. The under-21 captain Liam Boyle got caught in a car with two rifles after a shooting incident with some British soldiers and served 18 years. "Two rifles," jokes Culbert. "He was greedy. But sure there were three of us from just St Gall's on the inside at that time. There was a guy Pat Sheehan who was a hunger striker and another you might have heard of. Brian Keenan."

"The Troubles just ended that team," maintains goalkeeper Ray McIlroy who is still part of the Antrim set-up. "It never crossed anyone's mind that we'd be waiting another 39 years, and that was because of the talent of some of the players in that team."

"That side disintegrated slowly and that was really sad," says wing-forward Gerry McCann. "It was never the same mix after that. Even going to training became a chore. We should have got at least one Ulster out of that, maybe two, if everything had been above board."

"I tried to ignore what was going on about me," adds corner-forward Andy McCallin. "More interested in football and didn't want to know what was going on. But after a while you couldn't help but notice and it gets a team down."

Others just went away. Millar got disillusioned with life in the north and headed for Canada. He remains there till this day but will be back for today's game. McCallin spent time in Limerick, just to clear his head of it all. When Boyle was finally released he headed for America, annoyed with a life lost behind bars. And nobody could blame any of them.

"You can imagine leaving your house every morning to go to work," continues Fitzsimons. "You were stopped and searched, every hundred yards and this went on seven days a week. We were tortured and they didn't like to see you playing for Antrim. It's a hard life to live but you had to live it. It was part of your life. It was forced onto you and you had no say in the matter."

"Who knows what could have happened with Antrim football had things worked out differently," concludes Culbert. "But like life back then, we are never to know what might have been."






Kieran Shannon

Fuel For Thought

Liam Bradley's upbeat enthusiasm has helped Antrim to a rare Ulster final. Kieran Shannon finds out the secret of his success

The Thursday week before the Ulster final and three days after his son Paddy has left and rejoined the Derry panel, Liam 'Baker' Bradley bounds into Walsh's Hotel in Maghera.

What strikes you first is how fit and trim he is, wearing an Antrim GAA sweat shirt, soon followed by how vigorous and amiable he is. His upbeat disposition reminds you of the kind of infectious, unrefined enthusiasm that Dinny Cahill brought to the county hurlers a few years back except even an optimist like The Baker knows you don't go publicly proclaiming that you're going to win the All Ireland. But hey, Antrim aren't going to Clones to make up the numbers against Tyrone, and you can quote on him that, he says, before insisting on paying for your carvery as well. So since he's paying and since he's been doing all the winning, you might as well let him to do all the talking too. Any other way and you'd only be getting in the way.

• • •

I'm a building contractor, so I am. Four years ago you were talking about five or six squads of plasterers working for me. Now there's just enough work for me, Eoin boy [Bradley] and two or three other men but sure we just have to get on with it and hope for the best. How did I get into construction? Sure there was nothing else for me; when you've no brains and don't work at school what else can you do? There's not many boys like me left managing county teams, that way. Most of them seem to be teachers or in the bank with plenty of time to do it. But sure [Eamonn] Coleman was a brickie and he was the best of the lot.

Whenever we were growing up, that was one thing my father instilled into us – no matter what you do or who you are, you're as good as anybody. You're not any better than anybody else but you're not below anybody else. That's something I would try to instil into my own cubs and even the Antrim boys.

Our first competitive game was the McKenna Cup, first Sunday of January, against Armagh. We started off well, probably should have won but we were missing all our college players and lost by two points. But 20 minutes in, a prominent Armagh player says to one of our players, "Do you not think it's time now you boys f***n' give up? There's 20 minutes gone now!" I've reminded the boys about that all year; that's the perception other counties have of Antrim football – they play for a bit and then lay down – but we'll show them Antrim are as good as anyone else.

There were 12 of us in our family. I think my father must have put six of us to bed, then wakened us up and then put the other six to bed! I was about the sixth. There was nothing handed out too easy but it was the making of us.

They've been calling me Baker since I was eight years old. Match of the Day was the big thing on TV, I used to support Arsenal and they had a boy playing for them called Joe Baker. So kicking about at home and you're a cub, one of the boys says "I'm George Best", another says "I'm Bobby Charlton", and Mugins here says "I'm Joe Baker". It's stuck with me. I played a bit of soccer later for a team to keep in nick over the winter. It's a good game, so it is, soccer. Well, it's a good game to play but it's a f***n' terrible game to watch! It's worse than the blanket defence!

Growing up in Glenullin there was nothing else other than the GAA club. There's not even a shop in the place; it's just a backward country area so it is, with 150 families, the community centre, the pitch and the chapel; that's it.

I was full-back on the St Pat's, Maghera team that won the McRory Cup in '76; first time the school ever won it. Jesus, talking of St Pat's, here's one of my old teachers. How you doing, Joe?

Joe: "All the best in the final, Liam."

Right, Joe.

"And I hope Derry do well too, of course."

Of course, Joe. We'll get them further down the line!

"I taught Paddy too, you know. Tell Paddy his old history teacher was asking about him. Tell him he's too young to become a historical relic himself."

[Bradley taps the table, laughing]

I will surely, Joe! No problem. All the best, Joe.

[Joe bids farewell and walks out the door]

That thing about Patrick [Paddy]; I'll tell you what happened. He wasn't happy with his form. He was carrying a quad injury into the Tyrone game. The night that Antrim beat Cavan, Glenullin were playing Swatragh in the championship. I actually took them the night before for a wee session and he says to me, "I'm not going to be able to play here tomorrow night." Now it's a local derby so I says, "Patrick, you'll have to play." He says, "I can't kick the ball." I says, "All the better. They'll probably put two men on you anyway, so you just drag them away from goal and it'll open the game up for Eoin." Eoin scored something like eight points. But Glenullin missed three 14-yard frees which Patrick would put over with his eyes closed but he wasn't able to take them, so he wasn't.

Then Derry was only getting back training that Tuesday night. He couldn't train that week. He tried it then on Sunday morning, went to Damian [Cassidy] after, said he wasn't feeling good and felt it might be better forgetting about it for a few weeks. There was no bust-up. Our whole family has massive respect for Damian Cassidy. It was injury-related and loss of form; nothing else. Patrick would have done a lot of soul-searching to come up with saying something like that but he was probably a bit rash too. Thankfully it's sorted, because Joe's right; whatever time you get to play county football is precious.

I was called up to the Derry seniors my first year out of minor. I was one of the great white hopes of Derry football but it didn't materialise. The next year Mickey Moran took over, my face didn't fit but that's the way it goes. I was playing well for the club when in the first game of 1985 I went for a ball, not a man within 20 yards and whatever way my studs stuck in the ground my whole knee twisted around. Cruciate. We won our first county in 57 years that same year. There were eight of us Bradley brothers, six of whom started, but I was one of the two subs.

I struggled on for a few more years but by then I'd got into coaching. In Glenullin everyone coaches because there's nothing else to do. I only coached the two boys at under-12 and never took them again until senior. I didn't want to be seen to be pushing them. I was a county selector alright in 1999 when Paddy was a minor. It was the first time I ever seen a sweeper system in Gaelic football. We'd beaten Cavan in the first round. A boy Martin Donaghy scored 1-5, Patrick scored something like 1-4. We met Donegal in the semi-final and before the ball was thrown in, their wing-forward was standing in front of Martin and Patrick. Wee James McHugh was over that team so he must have been getting a few tips from his brother, Martin, and him now always complaining about men behind the ball!

Then Coleman brought me in to look after the under-21s. Mickey Moran and John Morrison kept me on with the 21s as well. Mickey and me would be the best. Even now he'll give me a ring before Antrim games and wish me good luck. John as well. So when you work with coaches like that and then win the county with Glenullin[ in 2007], inter-county is the next step-up. I was nominated by five or six clubs for the Derry job but never let my name go forward because everyone knew that Damian was getting the job, and look, I was delighted he let his name forward because he was the man for the job.

But one of my selectors, Paddy McNeill, is an Antrim man and he felt I was the man for the Antrim job. So I did the interview and the next evening the county chairman John McSparron phoned me to tell me I had got the job. He says "Will you do me a favour? Get us out of Division Four." I said, "I'll do my best, John" but to be honest Antrim could have got out of Division Four without even training.

I knew the talent was there. When you're from Derry, you're interlocked with Antrim football, playing challenge games. St Gall's – class footballers. Cargin – class players. Through the years I'd sneak away during the week and watch Sigerson Cup games. I'd see a boy like James Loughrey playing for Queen's. If James Loughrey was playing for Tyrone he'd be an All Star two or three times over. Mick McCann is one of the most gifted players in Ulster.

One of the first things we did to try and create a bit of interest around the county in the senior team was arrange trial games for people who hadn't been involved in the county team for years. So we had six trial games and brought the best 20 from those games to play the 2008 panel. I couldn't believe the talent at those trials, guys I didn't even know! Niall McKeever, 6'5, catching balls out of the clouds. Peter Graham, our goalie. And right there in those trials I started drilling it into them – they were as good as anybody out there.

We lost some boys along the way, of course. I'll tell you what happened with CJ McGourty. I was overseeing the 21s. We played Tyrone the Wednesday before the seniors played London in the league. The 21s should probably have beaten Tyrone so they should, and as usual with under-21s a few of them went on the razzle after.

I had no problem with that, but then the eight of them didn't come to training on the Thursday night. Selectors were trying to get in contact with them and all phones were turned off. That was grand but in CJ's case it had happened before and I had warned him so we had to do something. It was a big call but believe if I hadn't made it, Antrim wouldn't be where they are today. I firmly believe that's why we're here.

Aye, the time before CJ had left me a message on the phone [late at night] but every manager in the country knows what young lads are like with mobile phones. That didn't bother me. I think the world of the lad. He's a lovable cub, an absolute brilliant footballer, but I had to make a stand when he missed training again. My only hope is that in years to come that CJ McGourty will be – and I know he will be – a better player for it. I would say there's a very strong possibility CJ McGourty will be playing football for Antrim in 2010. But if I hadn't made that call I'd have been better walking away because I gained more respect from the senior players than if I had gone down the other road.

After promotion we didn't care about winning the league final against Sligo. It was all about championship, Donegal, Ballybofey. We knew Donegal were sitting ducks. Okay, they won a national league a few years ago, but around where I live, national league medals grow on trees, so they do; anyone can win them.

The Sligo game worked out well for us because [Donegal manager] John Joe [Doherty] was one of the analysts for TG4. We went pure orthodox; six on six at the back, six on six upfront. We weren't going to show the whole country and John Joe our game plan for Donegal.

At that stage Terry O'Neill and Kevin Niblock hadn't rejoined our panel but I'd been in constant contact with them. Terry was carrying a calf injury at the start of the year. But I wasn't worried whether or not he played much football in the league. He was ideal for us to play a sweeper system against Donegal. Revenge for '99, aye! But I knew by the demeanour of the players getting on the bus that day we were going to beat Donegal. We expected to win. The boys now expect to win every game.

• • •

Because he's been telling them all year what fathers in Glenullin tell their sons. "You're as good as anyone!"

[ONeill]

Any opinions on the above 2 articles?

[omagh_gael]

two very good articles, but I'm going to have to give it to mac kenna only because there's more input from the journo, shannon's  was nearly all baker chatting

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Mac Kenna for me, though there's a whole book (or two) in that one. Shannon's was interesting too, if a little more parochial.

[orangeman]

I like Baker's honesty and direct approach.

[RedandGreenSniper]

two very good articles, but I'm going to have to give it to mac kenna only because there's more input from the journo, shannon's  was nearly all baker chatting

That's what makes Shannon's so good, that he actually had the originality to think of this simple ploy but he still linked it fairly well so that it is not all rambling. One of the best pieces I've read all year - some great lines from Baker, he sounds like quite the talker!

How did I get into construction? Sure there was nothing else for me; when you've no brains and don't work at school what else can you do?

It's a good game, so it is, soccer. Well, it's a good game to play but it's a f***n' terrible game to watch! It's worse than the blanket defence!

We met Donegal in the semi-final and before the ball was thrown in, their wing-forward was standing in front of Martin and Patrick. Wee James McHugh was over that team so he must have been getting a few tips from his brother, Martin, and him now always complaining about men behind the ball!

Aye, the time before CJ had left me a message on the phone [late at night] but every manager in the country knows what young lads are like with mobile phones. That didn't bother me. I think the world of the lad. He's a lovable cub, an absolute brilliant footballer, but I had to make a stand when he missed training again. My only hope is that in years to come that CJ McGourty will be – and I know he will be – a better player for it. I would say there's a very strong possibility CJ McGourty will be playing football for Antrim in 2010. But if I hadn't made that call I'd have been better walking away because I gained more respect from the senior players than if I had gone down the other road.

All classics! Baker is a breath of fresh air.

Shannon easily. McKenna makes a haims of a decent piece. Is there room for Enda McEvoy? A top quality hurling scribe. Maybe you could pit him against one of the Sunday Times hurling men - Denis Walsh or Christy O'Connor???

[Saffrons]

Shannon. I like the way he just let's Baker talk and gives a good insight into the person.

[Sandy Hill]

Shannon for me!

[IolarCoisCuain]

shannon's  was nearly all baker chatting

That's harder to do than it looks. Shannon for me.

[ExiledGael]

Would have been a worthy final, but it's Shannon for me. Excellent reading.

[rrhf]

To me baker has been the outstanding personality /breath of fresh air in the championship in 2009. so he has. 

[Fuzzman]

Apologies if this has been posted before

Running On Empty
A non-stop decade of success and attention have left Kerry tired of the summer slog, and that is the very reason why a team of superstars that has illuminated recent years is fast approaching the end
Kieran Shannon, Gaelic Games Editor

The real story isn't so much what happened in Kerry in the past week but why it happened, but we'll begin with what happened first. After Syl Doyle blew the final whistle in Tralee last Saturday week, you'd only have known Kerry had won by checking the scoreboard or the cheer of relief from the crowd. Even Paul Galvin, who had a magnificent game, seemed to be as embarrassed as he was sympathetic in offering his commiserations to Sligo players before drooping off towards the tunnel. As the crowds emptied out, a dozen Kerry players that had got little or no game time were put through a rigorous sharpening-up session by trainer Alan O'Sullivan. Micheal Quirke was instantly visible from the stands, as was the blinding pace of Darren O'Sullivan but the player that stood out most was Tadhg Kennelly. After all the others had finished up, Kennelly stayed on for another quarter of hour working on his point-taking. It signalled a message: Kerry were still in the championship, determined to win their All Ireland, and in Kennelly was someone desperate to win one.

Back in the dressing room though, there were players in a pique of "Yerrah, f**k it", who decided to go drinking that night. In a goldfish bowl like Killarney they were always going to be spotted and when the panel assembled on Tuesday, they were challenged by management and then in a players' meeting by their colleagues. Tomás Ó Sé and Colm Cooper owned up that they had been drinking; Cooper in downtown Killarney, Ó Sé on the outskirts of the town.

But why did they do it?

It's all in the name of where Cooper went on Saturday night with a few friends from home.

The bar is called Jade's.

The jaded went to Jade's.

• • •

Last Thursday Colm Cooper was the main photograph on the front page of a national broadsheet newspaper, above the story that he and Tomás Ó Sé had been dropped from the starting 15. There's barely another team in Ireland that would command such attention for their indiscretion and demotion.

In being such public property, Cooper is there to be deconstructed. Liam Hayes has questioned Cooper's claims to greatness, saying that he could never win a game on his own the way a Canavan or Colm O'Rourke did. It's a dubious argument; for every brilliant performance of Canavan or O'Rourke's, we'd be able to counter it immediately with one from Cooper. But there was another fundamental reason why it was flawed. Only Cooper's dodgy spells were recalled by Hayes; never Canavan's or O'Rourke's.

The country had never heard of Colm O'Rourke before he hit a 14-yard free off the upright against Dublin in a 1983 Leinster semi-final. O'Rourke by then was 25. Cooper was only 25 last year.

Peter Canavan was 23 by the time he won his first championship match. When Cooper was 23 he had won three All Stars and three All Irelands. Liam will magnify Cooper's run of four poor-to-mediocre games in the middle of Championships 2006 and 2009, without any mention of Canavan's five-year anonymity from 1997 to 2001. We say this not to question Canavan or O'Rourke's greatness, but to defend Cooper's. He's been a gift to the game.

But he's been flogged. He's gone stale, on the verge of burnout.

In his club, Dr Croke's, they've noticed it. Over the past couple of years any teammate that doesn't play in the perfect ball, any referee who makes a dubious call, risks a verbal lashing and chasing. That would have been unimaginable a few years ago.

Sports psychologists have a term for it – depersonalisation. They hand out a questionnaire called the Maslach Inventory, asking players to agree or not with statements like: "I find myself treating others impersonally and feel less sensitive and more hardened towards others"; "When things go wrong, I'm less tolerant and tend to blame others more than I'm used to." In the 1990s the angriest anyone in Erins Own ever saw Brian Corcoran get was when he was wrongly pulled up for a free and without saying a word snapped the ball to the ground before walking on. By 2001 he was regularly hounding referees. He retired a few months later, burned out, depersonalised.

If you were to sum up why Kerry are stuttering this summer while Tyrone are flying, then you could call it August in Chicago Syndrome. When Tyrone were beaten by the likes of Laois and Meath in 2006 and 2007, their players were able to head off and party, see the sites, play a bit of football as mere fun. Kerry have only known August in Croke Park. This is Cooper's eighth championship and he's only had one September off. This is Darragh Ó Sé's 14th summer as a starter with Kerry and he's only had one August off.

It's the same for most of the team. Incredibly, Cooper was the side's fourth-youngest starter last Saturday week.

Diarmuid Murphy won an All Ireland under-21 medal way back in 1996. Four of the six backs that played in front of him against Sligo have been there since 2000. Marc Ó Sé has been there since 2002, Aidan O'Mahony since 2004.

There's a lot of medals in them backs but a lot of mileage too.

And that's what's happened here. That's all that's happened. This is the downside of success. The hamsters are tired of the treadmill.

The likes of Cooper are playing county championship into November; East Kerry O'Donoghue Cup right until Christmas. And then it's the holiday.

This Kerry team have never had the full month of January at home. The January after they lost the 2002 All Ireland final you'll remember Páidí sitting by the waterfront in Cape Town, waffling on about Nelson Mandela. The January after losing the 2005 All Ireland they headed off to Las Vegas and Cancun. Even the one year they didn't reach an All Ireland final there was no reprieve; in January 2004 they went to Lanzarote for a training camp.

In the unlikely case that Kerry reach this year's All Ireland, take it there will be no team holiday. These fellas don't need another break with each other, they need a break from each other. And they're never away from the scene. They're always been judged – in every pub and every paper in the country, not just county – by the crippling standards of the two most successful teams in GAA history – O'Dwyer's Kerry and Cody's Kilkenny – the only two other teams that have played in as many consecutive All Ireland semi-finals as this current Kerry team. When Tyrone lose to middleweights like Laois and Meath and Down they get a leave of absence. When Kerry lose to fellow heavyweights like Armagh and Tyrone and Cork there is a national inquiry (and let's face it, something of a national celebration too).

Can they turn it around now? Highly unlikely. You can say that they were here in 2006 too but they're three years older now and there's no Donaghy to ignite and remind them it's all just a game. That's part of their problem. They keep reading from the 2006 script. Win the league. If you don't win Munster, drink ban.

In a book that Mickey Harte has devoured, the legendary NBA coach Pat Riley outlines the various stages in the cycle of a team. The last he calls 'core cracking' – "when winning," he says, "has played itself out". After a decade of incredible success, Riley left the LA Lakers, Magic Johnson telling him that after a big loss, the players knew he was probably going to crash a chair against the wall to buck them up. So it is with Kerry. Lose to Cork – drink ban, lads.

Even the pros drink between games. On Planet GAA, you can never just have a couple of drinks; it's feast or famine. It's hard to feel that sorry for these Kerry players. They've played in so many All Irelands, they've travelled and seen the world. But Colm Cooper lives in Killarney. There's a lot more going on there on a Wednesday night than there is in Ballygawley. Forget about August in Chicago; Cooper wanted a bit of July in Killarney. His decision to go drinking last week wasn't so much a breach of discipline as a cry of exasperation, nigh one of help – "I'm a Kerry celebrity; get me out of here."

Cooper had to be hauled up with the rule in place, but maybe this summer the rule shouldn't have been there in the first place. But it's difficult to be critical of Jack O'Connor. He would have wanted to freshen up the team but then Aidan O'Shea and Daniel Bohane got injured, so did Anthony Maher while a couple of close relatives of David Moran suffered some ill-health. Plus, that's a tough dressing room to handle.

It will be a different one next year. Darragh will go; probably Diarmuid Murphy and Tom O'Sullivan too, and possibly Tomás Ó Sé, Aidan O'Mahony, even Gooch, along with him. What we're witnessing is the core cracking of a team that has had an incredible run.

[ONeill]

Duggan v Hayes
Heaney v Harte
Brolly v Humphries
Archer v Silke
McKenna v Shannon

McEvoy v Allen

Enda McEvoy:

Tactical Strike

Five years ago Brian Cody said he did not spend his time analysing the opposition's pros and cons, but a few harsh lessons have changed his way of thinking

Fennessy's field in St Kieran's College one Saturday morning a few months back. At a coaching day organised by the Leinster Council, Martin Fogarty, the Kilkenny selector, is discussing the finer points of zonal marking with a bunch of young hurlers from Laois. He positions a forward and his marker in front of the defenders. The latter announce that they're happy: space has been closed off. Fogarty then shoos away the forward and his marker. The defenders are not so happy: space has been opened up. JJ Delaney is brought into the discussion and reveals the consternation the shuttle runs of the Wexford wing-forwards caused Kilkenny in the 2004 Leinster semi-final: "had our half-back line stayed in position we'd have been better off." Noel Hickey is given the floor and declares that he's always on to his half-backs to "pull back a bit, and they're on to the midfielders to pull back a bit more. Squeeze it all up tight. There's less of a chance of the forward getting a run on you then."

Kilkenny don't do tactics? Kilkenny just get the ball and hit it? Yeah, right.

Not that it was ever thus under the current man, obviously. When Brian Cody declared five years ago that he didn't do tactics he was simply speaking the truth. The announcement shouldn't have come as a surprise in any shape or form. This, after all, was a man who by the time he was 21 and a half had won All Ireland medals at senior, minor, under-21, colleges' and club level and was an All Star; who had hurled with Eddie Keher and Pat Henderson and Frank Cummins and Fan Larkin; who had managed DJ Carey and Henry Shefflin and Tommy Walsh.

What did Cody need to be worrying himself about tactics – a new brand of Tic-Tacs, presumably – or any of that oul' nonsense for? What else, given that he had a half-forward line capable of winning their own ball, was there for him to do but let his players get on with it? Why would he want to be complicating things for them? For counties blessed with what the Inter Cert geography books used to describe as abundant natural resources, hurling is a simple game. As a consequence, Kilkenny tends not to produce innovative hurling thinkers. The soil is too rich to be conducive.

But then the day came when letting them get on with it wasn't enough any more. The day in question was the day of the All Ireland semi-final with Galway. Not the 2001 semi-final that we've all read so much about, however. The 2005 semi-final.

It was the afternoon that John Tennyson was left naked in front of goal and taken for a hat-trick by Niall Healy. It was the afternoon that Tommy Walsh won and processed an ocean of possession at midfield but in trying to make every ball a telling ball allowed David Tierney institute a couple of telling incisions that led to Galway goals. It was the afternoon that Kilkenny hit 4-18, sufficient to win any normal match but insufficient to win this glorious freak of a match. Among Cody's most impressive achievements in the intervening four years has been to ensure that his team haven't appeared in a single championship fixture that spiralled out of control on them. Every game they've played in the meantime they've played on their terms.

The 2001 semi-final marked the first sharp turn in the road Cody has travelled. The 2005 semi-final initiated a change of direction that has proved even more pronounced and even more successful. From dual carriageway to interstate.

The decision that Tommy Walsh would become a card-carrying right-half back rather than a chess piece to be shoved from Billy to Jack as the need arose was one large chunk of the new jigsaw that was assembled, the reinvention of 'Cha' Fitzpatrick – a stylist happy to get his hands dirty – as a defensive-minded midfielder another. Cody's forthcoming autobiography may, though probably won't, illuminate the extent of the influence of his selectors Martin Fogarty and Mick Dempsey – both were involved with the Kilkenny under-21 team that won the 2004 All Ireland final by 21 points – on the paradigm shift. But what is not open to argument is that the trio looked north, saw what Mickey Harte was doing with Tyrone, and learned from it.

"Sport is about observing what's going on, taking what you believe is useful and applying it to your own team and your own resources," Harte asserts. "I think Kilkenny saw the way we played when we came on the scene in 2003. Some people who didn't like it described what we were doing as 'total defence', but I'd describe it as total honesty. You're asking players to enlarge their repertoire of skills. It was every player's duty to regain possession and help defend." Sound like any hurling team you know?

The tactical configuration drawn up to stymie Cork's running game in the 2006 All Ireland final has endured as a template, with various bells and whistles added on over time. One is the practice of the two wing-forwards dropping back to defend the opposition puck-out, giving Kilkenny seven players in the neighbourhood of a delivery aimed down the centre and ample bodies on hand to snaffle the breakdown, another the sleight of Aidan Fogarty and Eddie Brennan crossing to the other man's vacated corner to shoot points against Cork and Waterford last year. Father Tommy Maher, who half a century ago was emphasising the importance of space and the need to "fill all gaps", would have approved. Getting Derek Lyng motoring through the centre and breaching the enemy half-back line to shoot a point per game has long been a favourite and highly successful ploy, right back to 2002-03.

One gift of Cody's that has largely passed unacknowledged is his ability to identify opposition weaknesses – or strengths – and plan accordingly. John Hoyne was placed at left-half forward to do a stopper job on Brian Whelahan in the 2000 All Ireland final and Shefflin was instructed to go straight down the centre against Seánie McMahon in 2002. Two years ago Kilkenny concluded Shefflin had the beating of Stephen Lucey in the air and decreed that Seamus Hickey must be stopped coming out of his corner with the ball the way he'd done in the semi-final versus Waterford. And last year Ken McGrath was negated by the simple expedient of having Martin Comerford keep the ball away from him while Declan Prendergast's weakness in the air was exploited by supplying Richie Power with a stream of head-high deliveries which Power could either turn and take on himself or lay off to a runner from deep. Those late nights Cody spends at his table in Langton's, in the corner just beyond the door to the kitchen, are not spent regaling Fogarty and Dempsey with old war stories.

A little speech of his from that recent Leinster Council coaching day as follows. "A fella playing half-back must stop the ball. That's the first and foremost business he has to do. He can decorate the game in other ways later on if he can, but if he taps over a couple of points and doesn't do the basics of stopping the ball he shouldn't be playing half-back. No way. The defender's job is to defend. Stop, stop, stop, stop. You're holding up the ball. You must have defenders who can do that. Defenders defend. Some fellas love to see these beautiful wing-backs, beautiful stylists. That's why we have wing-backs without beautiful style. [Laughter.] First to the ball should be always in your head."

For Brian Cody, hurling was and always will be a simple game. But he's discovered in the past three years that tactics don't necessarily have to complicate it.

John Allen

Rhyme but no reason to doubt Cats' season

Mostly Hurling: I'm not a Thomas but a doubting John For I believe, after Sunday, the four in a row is still on

Championship Poem Number 2

July was almost over and four teams they did sweat.

Dark clouds crept over the rooftops

Stealing the colour from the Dundalk street

As the DRA sat in conclave to avoid a relegation repeat.

"Let Carlow in, won't ye?" they uniformly said

To the Liam MacCarthy for the hurling year ahead

Mike Mac and Dr John made a strong plea for a break

To the wider hurling public to stop this appalling mistake.

"Right we'll call a special meeting

And we'll change it all again

Shurr if it doesn't work the next time

We'll find some clever men

Who'll find some auld loophole

And we'll start it all again".

So we headed back to Thurles on a showery cloudy day

And the Dubs with their satnavs also made the way

Their team wasted little time and playing with heart and soul

They dropped a ball into the net for an early settling goal

But Limerick said "Now, stop it

Ye can't be doing that",

And big man Paudie Mc he pulled the pretenders back

Then referee Mick Wadding blew and stopped the play

As on the ground young Paul Browne all forlorn lay.

He said "I'm awarding a free, in the goal only three may stand",

So up stepped keeper Murray with a rocket launcher in his hand

He then pulled the trigger and near Joey Boland found a hole

And as the ball it hit the net he ran back to his goal.

Young O'Mahony, Gavin, was chomping at the bit.

He started scoring many points with every ball he hit.

So to conclude and finish, Limerick they won the game

And now meet Tipperary in the hope of further fame.

And on that Sunday evening the dream was still alive

Of a double All-Ireland victory for the boys from Shannonside.

But Dublin they can be proud, in defeat there was no shame

Yes they'll be back again next year to seek out further fame.

Next on to the hallowed ground the Galway men did run

Waterford came then and their warm-up they begun,

But the Tribesmen started better and had the Déise in disarray

But Eoin Kelly said "Hold it, lads" and he put the frees away.

When referee Kirwan blew half-time and said "There'll be no more"

John McIntyre's men were in the front but just ahead by four.

In the second period the game became quite wan

With not too many highlights until Davy brought subs on

He sent in the Shanahan boys and said "Now do your stuff

A goal and a few points will probably be enough"

Right, thought Dan and Mossie

We'll show that you were wrong

To leave us sitting on the bench for so bleddy long

Maurice with his first touch duly won a free

And then Dan said 'Moss you leave the rest to me'

He grabbed a dropping sliotar and shot for the goal

But the radar was slightly off and wide the sliotar stole

The next ball he caught again and round McEntee he went

He threw a pass to Walsh who hit it on the drop and to the net it bent.

The portly obese lady was almost singing in the clover

When up stepped John Mullane and hit the sliotar over.

Davy was in raptures, he jumped on to the ground

And out of his gob there came a high pitched sound

"I never stopped believing that these boys would win the day

And shut the so-called experts up in such a savage way"

And as Kilkenny waited in the grass that was so very long

Waterford would head to Dublin their season to prolong.

From Nowlan Park the rumours they came both fast and thick

That Comerford he might play and pulverise the Brick

That Brian he throws the sliotar in and says "now chaps, let's go

We'll stop in September when we've won the four in a row."

The papers said they're going well and will hardly be beat

With Cha and Eddie Brennan flying there's no chance of defeat.

Some others said be careful the blaas their form they might quadruple,

There could be a big game in them yet, proclaimed the Kilkenny People.

"If they lose to that crowd," says Fan, "I'll head to far Bombay

"Shurr Tommy and JJ are outstanding and will surely win the day

"And Henry will pull the strings and Eoin Larkin as well

"Richie Power will score a goal and send them back to De La Salle"

The experts on The Sunday Game they thought both hard and long

And then Cyril he did up and say, "Michael, Kilkenny are on song

"With the Shefflins of this world they won't go too far wrong."

"Now," says Ger, "Will ye listen to me, for Waterford to win the day

"They'll have to hope for a miracle like the one down Cana way"

But where there's life and hope there's always a chance

That the underdog might just arise and produce a Riverdance

If all their players are allowed perform and they get the rub of the green

Then they would have a chance to cause a big surprise

And on Monday's press this team the media would sensationalise.

But me I'm not a Thomas but a doubting John

For I believe, after Sunday, the four in a row is still on.