Journalist Write-Off 2009

[Dinny Breen]

I think Tom has lost his edge, is there a back-door?

Brolly for me..

[IolarCoisCuain]

Brolly.

TOM HUMPHRIES
Change has been visible everywhere, from the names on the teamsheets to the style of play and the methods of training. Even Gilroy has had to accommodate change, a radical shift in the nature of his relationship with Mickey Whelan.

"Listen, Mickey makes it very easy. He goes with it completely. His enthusiasm is incredible. I know the man so long and I get on so well with him that it's a very easy relationship. His coaching is exceptional. His input is invaluable. The other three guys the same. Great relationship."

And that's it. Surely the story is the relationship between Gilroy and a former Dublin manager? What was their old relationship, what is their new relationship - what's going on? Humphries never tells us.

He was great once but it's either all gone to his head or he's mailing it in or he doesn't get edited enough - there's no need to use the word "bullshit" here, for instance - or it could just be burnout but whatever is the matter with him Tom Humphries is not the writer he was.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Brolly.

TOM HUMPHRIES
Change has been visible everywhere, from the names on the teamsheets to the style of play and the methods of training. Even Gilroy has had to accommodate change, a radical shift in the nature of his relationship with Mickey Whelan.

“Listen, Mickey makes it very easy. He goes with it completely. His enthusiasm is incredible. I know the man so long and I get on so well with him that it’s a very easy relationship. His coaching is exceptional. His input is invaluable. The other three guys the same. Great relationship.”

And that's it. Surely the story is the relationship between Gilroy and a former Dublin manager? What was their old relationship, what is their new relationship - what's going on? Humphries never tells us.

He was great once but it's either all gone to his head or he's mailing it in or he doesn't get edited enough - there's no need to use the word "bullshit" here, for instance - or it could just be burnout but whatever is the matter with him Tom Humphries is not the writer he was.

+1

[ONeill]

5-1 to Brolly here - any last minute Tommers?

[omagh_gael]

I'm going to make it 6 - 1...brolly for me

[muppet]

Tom for me but much closer than it should be. A waffler shouldn't get near a storyteller.

[ONeill]

As much as I wanted to go against Brolly (I thought his villification of Cavanagh last week was scandalous and smacked of jealousy), he shades it for me here. You can tell Humphries is the professional journalist but he makes a pig's ear of a potentially interesting insight. Brolly takes a nothing subject and creates a very readable account.

[ONeill]

Probably needed to be this year. He'll not be as excited/crying next year unless they win Sam.

[rrhf]

Brolly

[Billys Boots]

Humphries, at least it's semi-factual.

[ONeill]

Bit of a surprise there as Brolly squeezes through. Humprhries disappoints for the second consecutive year. He's a bit like the Dubs.

Silke v Archer (last year's r-up) this week.

[ONeill]

RAY SILKE:

Galway will have to improve enormously to beat Mayo
Athlone Advertiser, July 03, 2009.

Sometimes there can be no hiding from hard facts. And here are two:

Firstly, the Galway senior football team have not won an All-Ireland quarter-final since 2001.

Secondly, they have not won a single game in Croke Park in the past eight years and on the clear evidence provided last Sunday against Sligo, even if they did beat Mayo in two weeks time, which is a big if, that statistic is unlikely to change.

I was in McHale Park to see Mayo disembowel Roscommon at their ease and I was in Markievicz Park to see Galway stumble luckily to a narrow victory over Sligo. And based on the respective performances from both panels and managements, there will only be one result in Pearse Stadium on July 19.

And that is a Mayo victory.



Galway management must improve

It is not only some of the players, but Liam Sammon and his management team, who need to pick up their performance a great deal if Galway are going to win anything of substance this year.

Tactically Galway were at sea on many occasions last Sunday and it could easily have cost them the game.

Firstly, Seán Armstrong was destroying Sligo's Neil Ewing at left corner forward.

Nevertheless in a bizarre move, after he had shot three points from top of the left he was switched with Joe Bergin who was grafting well out the field.

So out goes Armstrong, and Bergin goes into the corner.

Explain that one to me?

If you have a forward who is making hay, leave him there and feed him lots of ball. Don't take him out of the position. It made no sense whatsoever.

Likewise Galway did not utilise Michael Meehan effectively last Sunday and he only kicked two points from play and seemed subdued for long periods of the contest.

Meehan needs to be on the edge of the square or roving around in the scoring zone. He proved last year against Kerry what he can do if close to goal and getting a good supply. Instead in the first half against Sligo he was wandering out to wing-forward, in the corner, centre-forward and drifting from pillar to post. He is a proven score getter, Galway's best. And he must be kept near to goals. The further he drifts or is told to drift out, the less effective he is.

Galway seem to have adopted a kind of 'rotation' policy like the one Dublin engaged in over the past few seasons.

It was rubbish then and it is rubbish now.

Play your forwards in their best positions.

The decision to bring on Oughterard's Joe Joe Greaney for the injured Matthew Clancy also raised a lot of eyebrows and to take him off again just 20 minutes later will have been a blow to his confidence.

The management team had used two substitute slips at that juncture for the benefit of one.

Finally on the negative list is the continuing ineptitude of Galway's midfield partnerships. Garry O'Donnell from Tuam Stars was having a poor game there, and that was copper fastened by his silly reaction to being held down by Johnny Davey.

With Ewing having just been red-carded for Sligo it was brainless to have gotten involved in any way at that stage. Referees always like to balance the books in that department.

The midfield combo selected by management will be vital against Mayo as Ronan McGarrity and either David Heaney or Tom Parsons are a solid combination.

There will have to be some hard questions and some correct answers provided at county training in the next fortnight if the JJ Nestor cup is to stay in Galway for the next 12 months.



Westmeath in disarray

On the way back from Sligo last Sunday we listened to the horror show from Croke Park on Radio One. It was difficult to grasp the battering that Dublin gave to Westmeath.

I had heard over the past few months that it was not all 'sweetness and light' in the Westmeath camp, but I still didn't expect a drumming of the magnitude they received off the Dubs.

I will leave it up to Joe Fallon to analyse that performance, but suffice to say it will take the panel a fair while to get over that hammering.

Likewise it is unlikely that Tomás Ó Flatharta will be on the Westmeath sideline after the team runs out of road in the qualifiers.

Nobody likes to be involved with or attend such one-sided games and when you consider what Mayo did to Roscommon and now a 27 point defeat for Westmeath, it makes you wonder how far is the gap in standard from the likes of Tyrone in full-flight and the rest of us?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

And Kenny Archer, from today's Irish News...

When even a win isn't good enough for some people
Hitting the Target

SO there you have it – Tyrone are not only Ulster champions already but they've also retained their All-Ireland SFC title.

Who says so? Well, we've been told that Kerry are gone – and now Cork have also joined them on the scrapheap. Funny that, because I could have sworn that the Rebels retained their Munster SFC crown and are the only team actually in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Yet such is the rush to judgement nowadays that Conor Counihan's crew have almost been dismissed as credible contenders for the big prize.

Why? We're all aware that there can be over-reaction to defeat – but to a win? Remember that Cork didn't actually lose to Limerick on Sunday, even if the Treatymen played very well and led for much of the match. But it's who is ahead at the end that matters most. I think I've bored everyone that will listen with my worst tale of terrible tipstering. For those who haven't had that pleasure, I'll keep it short.

In late 1998 I was despatched to Ravenhill to cover Ulster versus Ebbw Vale in the European Cup group stages. In my report, after what I deemed a pretty poor performance by the hosts, I questioned if they were good enough to make much progress in the continental competition. Well, you know the rest. Ulster collected the European Cup at the end of January 1999. What made it worse for me as a pundit was that Ulster won that match. 43-18. Admittedly, everyone had been thrashing Ebbw Vale, including Ulster beating them 61-28 three weeks earlier in Wales, while Toulouse had hammered them 108-16. Still, that taught me a lesson of sorts.

It comes down to this, one of the oldest of sporting cliches: You take one match at a time. And you can only win one match at a time. Heck, even if you lose one, that's not the end, at least not in the GAA. Since the Qualifier system was introduced in 2001, half of the All-Ireland football winners have come through the 'back door'.  Galway were the first, in that inaugural season of the new format, followed by Tyrone in 2005, Kerry 2006, and Tyrone again last year. The Red Hands had it very tough at times in those two seasons when they won the All-Ireland but not Ulster. In 2005 Mickey Harte's men could not get past Cavan at the first attempt in the Ulster semi-final – but then whipped them in the replay.

Last year, Tyrone were hanging on against 13-man Westmeath in the second round of the Qualifiers in Omagh and only pipped Mayo by a point in the third round. Even those teams that have taken the traditional route travelled rocky roads to their final destination. Armagh were written off after nearly being knocked out by Sligo in the 2002 quarter-final, requiring a hard-fought replay to progress. The Red Hands rode their luck against Down in the 2003 Ulster final, going to a replay, as they had done earlier against Derry in their provincial opener.  In 2004, Kerry needed a second chance to get past Limerick in the Munster final while the Kingdom just squeaked past Monaghan in the 2007 All-Ireland quarter-final.

I fell into that over-reaction trap again last year following Tyrone's extra-time defeat by Down. Although I didn't write them off completely, I did wonder whether they could come back from that – but, in my defence, at least that was a loss for the Red Hands. People seem to forget that Cork actually won at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Having been hailed as the team to beat after they impressively disposed of Kerry in the Munster semi-final replay, now many seem to be wondering why the words 'Cork' and 'All-Ireland' were ever mentioned in the same sentence.

Not me.

For starters, they're through to the last eight. It's up to everyone else to join them. Another factor is that, for some reason, they have generally struggled against Limerick in this decade. But it should not be forgotten what they did to Kerry. Besides, very few teams play stunning football (of any code) all the way to a final and also in the decider. Good teams win despite playing poorly.

Consider the knock-out stages of soccer's Champions League in recent years, starting with this season. After their final destruction of Manchester United, all Barcelona's fans, including those in the media, conveniently overlooked how lucky they had been to get past Chelsea in the semi-finals. The year before, Manchester United themselves had been far from thrilling in edging past Barca at the same stage, 1-0 on aggregate, thanks to a moment of brilliance from Paul Scholes. In 2007 AC Milan needed extra time at the San Siro in order for Kaka to score the only goal of their last 16 tie against Celtic. Yet all those three teams went on to win the trophy.

It's obvious there are lessons to be learned from Tyrone for everyone involved in gaelic football – but few appear to learn them, even when they're as recent as last year.  However, the canny Peter Canavan, in his role as a TV3 pundit, did point out that Cork boss Counihan would have wanted and welcomed such a tough test. Sometimes you simply do what has to be done, get the job done – and on Sunday Cork refused to be sunk. I'm not saying that Cork will definitely win the All-Ireland this year. But to cast serious doubts on their credentials because of one match – which they won – seems strange. Sure, only a certain number of counties are capable of collecting the Sam Maguire Cup, but Cork are certainly still among those heavyweight contenders.

If you're still standing, if you haven't been knocked out, you're not out of the fight.

Plenty of questions after Bradley saga

On Radio Five Live on Monday evening, Cardiff City manager Dave Jones was discussing his autobiography, entitled No Smoke, No Fire. There was a certain irony to hearing that phrase as the Paddy Bradley situation changed from "he's gone" to "he's probably coming back' to "he never went away, you know".

Two out of three ain't bad.

The statement issued by the Derry County Board may have been technically correct, with my understanding being that Paddy asked not to be considered for selection against Monaghan, which is not the same as quitting the panel. But plenty of questions remain unanswered, not least this one: If "such rumours are totally unfounded and without substance", why did it take Derry more than 10 hours to refute them?

[ExiledGael]

Archer, narrowly.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Archer for me too. Silke's suffers from the invective, and is rather disjointed as a result.