Kerry v Tyrone

[Aaron Boone]

Ewan McKenna pretty much calls it. Systematic fouling plan in final quarter not picked up by David Colditz.

[ONeill]

I'm sure it'll not be long before the 72nd minute tackle on Gooch by Peter in 2005 is mentioned. God Damn it...

[Wildweasel74]

NAW i rather go for the mike mccarthy one where ran run into mike and tried to get him booked! and people are complaining about O`Sullivan

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

To summarise Ewan Mc Kenna, that Meath muppet should be let nowhere near the middle of a park in a dodgy black outfit ever again! 

[Seamus]

We all know how the Kerry fans and players celebrated after the Tyrone match, having lost to them the 3 previous times. But Kerry celebrated much the same as I recall, in 2006 when they beat Armagh. And Armagh only beat Kerry once, in 2002. I really do think Kerry don't like anyone getting one over on them.

So we have to be careful regarding celebrating. We celebrated both wins more than most because of the respect we have for those teams. Personally the Armagh win was bigger because they were one of the favourites that year. Then other times we get blasted for not celebrating enough when we win All Irelands. My, but don't ye love turning positives into negatives.

[screenexile]

Off the fence: Crying foul
Posted by EWAN MACKENNA
Thursday 26 July 2012


On a train from Killarney to Dublin last Saturday evening, a group of Tyrone fans stood at the bar and tried to drown their sorrows only to find they're excellent swimmers.

Those from Kerry steered clear of it though, instead basking in the sober reality of what they'd just achieved. But they had one gripe about what had happened during the day's qualifier. "We were lucky that everyone came through without injuries," one man said. "They were up to their same old tricks. They were filthy."

Of course fans are always going to be biased, but this was a particularly odd take on the game. Because, while populism suggests the biggest threat and most damning indictment of modern football is the massed defence, the actual problem with the game had just been demonstrated by Kerry across 30 second-half minutes riddled with systematic and cynical fouls.

We aren't saying that others teams don't do it too. Cork and Donegal in particular are no angels and there's a case to be made for the fact that the better and more clever you are at fouling, the further you will go. But Kerry gave the worst example of a tactic and a ploy that is ruining the game during that second half with Tyrone. Consider the following list of examples from the 40th minute onwards and consider what Tyrone had to endure.

On 40 minutes, after Declan O'Sullivan kicked his third point in a fantastic attacking display, a short kickout was taken to Conor Gormley but Kieran Donaghy's attempt at a tackle was awkward, and Paul Galvin followed it up by hauling the centre-back to the ground and then hung onto him.

On 45 minutes, Donaghy's goal stretched the lead to five and in a commanding position, Kerry clearly decided to slow the game still further. From the resulting kickout, Declan O'Sullivan lazily wrapped his arms around Joe McMahon and then stayed in front of him for the free.

On 48 minutes, after James O'Donoghue pointed and Darran O'Sullivan came on, the new arrival pulled Colm Cavanagh down with another tackle that was lazy from another quick kickout. It was obvious O'Sullivan had no intention of turning over the ball and once the free was awarded, he again obstructed the kicker.

On 52 minutes, following a turnover, Joe McMahon was taken down by Darran O'Sullivan who stood in front of him for a full 11 seconds as he tried to take the free. Finally, McMahon did get to play a short pass to Mark Donnelly but Galvin, Anthony Maher and Shane Enright combined to bundle him over well outside the 45 and well outside shooting distance. From that free, as Tyrone looked for the open man in scoring range, Declan O'Sullivan was hanging out of Stephen O'Neill but the incident went unpunished.

On 54 minutes, Ryan McMenamin turned over a ball in defence and looked to break only to have his legs clipped by Colm Cooper while Donaghy was in quickly to slow play further and laughed in the faces of opposition player as he succeeded.

On 56 minutes, Brian McGuigan finally had enough. From a free out of defence he was taken down high and cynically by Declan O'Sullivan. The Kerry player complained to the referee about his arm, was hit from behind, went down easily and a minute and a red card later he was up laughing at Owen Mulligan. It was stupid from McGuigan and deserving of a red but Tyrone had finally been fouled to breaking point.

On 59 minutes, Enright dragged down Donnelly after a quick free for a square ball. In the next phase of play Maher did the same to Cavanagh. In the next phase of play Aidan O'Mahony did the same to Mulligan. There were no bookings and the ball was still short of the 45. Moments later as Stephen O'Neill went to take a lineball, the ball was kicked away by a Kerry substitute. Nothing happened but when Ryan McMenamin did the same moments later, the ball was moved forward.

On 63 minutes, there was more of the same after Cooper's point as, from a short kickout, Maher fouled, Galvin took off with the ball which led to him being shoved to the ground by Gormley.

On 68 minutes, after Kieran O'Leary's wide, Cavanagh from a short kickout was taken down, and Patrick Curtin's lunge was far more dangerous than that of McGuigan, although the player hit didn't stay down on this occasion.

It's a long and damning list yet doesn't make headlines like more nasty incidents such as Gormley stuffing the ball into the gut of Tomás Ó Sé after the goal or Joe McMahon going for Galvin right at the end. But ask yourself this, which is more disruptive to the actual game? And besides, the number one cause of violent acts on a football pitch is frustration and Tyrone had plenty of reasons to get frustrated given how they were being handled by the opposition and referee David Coldrick.

Kerry were exceptional for long spells, no one is denying that, indeed their tackling when the opposition were within scoring range was exemplary. It was hard and fair and intense and there was never the lazy option of giving away a kickable free. But out of that scoring zone they clearly had a plan and by breaking up the play through systematic fouling and by stalling the free taker it allowed them to kill momentum and get players back and set a defensive formation which was highly effective.

And there was no deterrent. Each of those fouls listed above was worthy of a yellow card and forget talk of common sense refereeing meaning you can't send off three or four players when the fouls aren't violent. The only way to stop what was happening was to punish professional fouling in the correct way and one sending off may have stopped what was happening and changed the face of the game. But when that didn't happen Kerry were happy to continue on. And there's the problem for football, the lack of team fouls which could result in a punishment on the scoreboard or in terms of numbers on the pitch through a sin bin.

A few weeks back after watching his own Donegal, Martin McHugh suggested on The Sunday Game that rules needed to be changed to stop teams defending in numbers. It is odd as why should you change the rules for something as subjective as entertaining football? But as the Football Review Committee gets ready to look at the way the game is played, the worry is they'll listen to those sorts of comments and address those issues, all the while ignoring the real issue here. But if they look back at the second half in Killarney they'll see exactly what they have to do when it comes to tinkering with the game.

QED

[Seamus]

Ewan McKenna pretty much calls it. Systematic fouling plan in final quarter not picked up by David Colditz.

Did they actually pay that guy for writing that dribble? Why should Kerry want to slow the game down when they were so much in command? Tyrone were up to that crack in the first half to try and stop the Kerry momentum. They started the cynical stuff when they knew they could not win playing football. Gormley should have walked well before half time and Ricey should have followed him soon afterwards. Of course McKenna did not want to write about the first half.

[Seamus]

We all know how the Kerry fans and players celebrated after the Tyrone match, having lost to them the 3 previous times. But Kerry celebrated much the same as I recall, in 2006 when they beat Armagh. And Armagh only beat Kerry once, in 2002. I really do think Kerry don't like anyone getting one over on them.

Have Kerry proven that winning AI's is one thing, But settling old scores holds a a certain stature? I suppose when you come from a county that has won alot, you can be more remembered for what you did not win. Especially when it is to a so called untraditional force that has got the upper hand on you. This in turn can be seen as embarrassing, as in it would not have happened to other great Kerry teams. Probably the biggest nightmare await Kerry should they meet Cork in the AI final this year!

Why is this so? They are definitely going to beat us sometime when it really matters and it could well happen this year. We would be first to congratulate them when that happens.

[rrhf]

2 things. Brian mc guigan should broadcast only through twitter 140 characters max. Also Kerry have moved puke football onto a new level.  I heard one guy calling it anti football. I wouldn't argue

[Mike Sheehy]

This is a great thread. Mods, can we make it a stickie ?

[sheamy]

Ewan McKenna pretty much calls it. Systematic fouling plan in final quarter not picked up by David Colditz.

Did they actually pay that guy for writing that dribble? Why should Kerry want to slow the game down when they were so much in command? Tyrone were up to that crack in the first half to try and stop the Kerry momentum. They started the cynical stuff when they knew they could not win playing football. Gormley should have walked well before half time and Ricey should have followed him soon afterwards. Of course McKenna did not want to write about the first half.

So, teams featured aside, do you agree cynical fouling should be tackled or not?

That's the central thesis of his piece. The fact that it happens to be Kerry, made out by many to be the guardians of the beautiful game, only gives it the platform he is looking for, which is what any good journalist is going to do.

[parttimeexile]

Tyrone Fouled, Kerry fouled and then kerry won! End of. Good luck to kerry for the rest of the year.

[sheamy]

Brian didn't get the 'One GAA Family, Respect' memo then...

McGuigan spits fury at Kerry duo
By John Fogarty
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tyrone's Brian McGuigan has sensationally claimed Declan O'Sullivan exaggerated an injury to get him sent off last Saturday.
The Ardboe man, a second-half sub last weekend, said his opponent "smiled and sniggered" after David Coldrick dismissed him and compared the Kerry forward's action to Cristiano Ronaldo's wink following Wayne Rooney's sending off in the 2006 World Cup.

McGuigan was scathing in his criticism of O'Sullivan who he believes, along with Colm Cooper, looked down on Tyrone. He recalled how O'Sullivan refused to shake hands with him after Tyrone beat them in a league game in Omagh in 2010.

However, it was last Saturday's events in Fitzgerald Stadium which agitated McGuigan most.

"The one thing that is going to stick with me is the sight of Declan O'Sullivan smiling and sniggering when he got me sent off," McGuigan wrote in his Gaelic Life column.

"I suppose it was a bit like when Cristiano Ronaldo had the wink when he got Wayne Rooney sent off at the World Cup. That image will never leave me. People might turn around and say I got Gregory McCartan sent off in an Ulster final [2003], but as I've said before, I never wanted to get him sent off. I regretted that he was. Declan O'Sullivan, however, I felt was more than happy to have got me the line."

McGuigan went on to suggest O'Sullivan and Cooper are arrogant.

"Two boys I have found who always had an opinion about themselves were Declan O'Sullivan and Colm Cooper. They always gave the impression they looked down on you. When we were on trips away with the All Stars, I got on like a house on fire with Tomás Ó Sé, for example. But not those two boys. That's not sour grapes, because they're class players. But there's a way to go about things."

McGuigan even claimed O'Sullivan refused to shake his hand after Tyrone's league win over Kerry two years ago. He also made reference to the Dromid Pearses man's involvement in January's ugly All-Ireland club JFC semi-final against Tyrone side Derrytresk.

"He was just pure ignorant. Fair enough, it was hard on them, the way they lost [to Colm Cavanagh's late goal] but there's still a way to conduct yourself.

"I think O'Sullivan and Gooch are from the same frame of mind as Pat Spillane, where they could never seem to accept that Tyrone could beat them... they didn't like it when we came along and beat them not once but three times."

McGuigan qualified that there are "many great people in Kerry" and recalled Jack O'Connor wrote him a "get well" letter after his serious eye injury in 2007. He also praised Kerry supporters for the ovation they gave Mickey Harte last Saturday.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/mcguigan-spits-fury-at-kerry-duo-202185.html

[Onion Bag]

Doenst protray Mc Guigan very well, a class player on the field, on his day one of the best. but spoutting shite to the media and making it personal about fellow gaa players is low.

he may just go and sell those all stars and medals and forget about the whole thing,

[Mike Sheehy]

you know, winning is always so easy on the soul. Makes you wonder why some lads do it so badly #Tyronewums