Tyrone v Kerry All Ireland Final 2008

[under the bar]

Coalisland!!   
Why them?

Cos they haven't won anything since 1989?.

[screenexile]

Jeez Breheny had a right go at the inbreds for being a dirty shower of goading hoors today!!! It's good to see the bitterness is not dead... that great line was used as well "Nobody is disputing that Tyrone weren't the better side BUT"

What do ye all make of this?


From independent.ie

Time to cry foul

By Martin Breheny

Wednesday September 24 2008

T WENTY-FIVE years ago this week, the GAA was spluttering uncontrollably as the toxic fumes from the Dublin-Galway All-Ireland football final blew across the landscape.

Four dismissals, a row in the tunnel, allegations, bitterness, rancour. If the mood was bad during the game it was no better the following day when players ignored each other at the traditional post All-Ireland lunch -- although the mood lightened when Joe McNally stepped forward to deliver a rousing rendition of 'The Fields of Athenry'.

It took weeks for the GAA to sort out the disciplinary mess of a chaotic afternoon from which neither county emerged with any credit. Not that Dublin cared as their 'Defiant Dozen' had taken possession of the Sam Maguire Cup.

Who would have thought back then as the GAA hierarchy lined up in lengthy file to decry the indiscipline which marred football's big day that both sides would be honoured guests of the Association at the 2008 All-Ireland final?

Dublin were introduced to the crowd last Sunday as part of the 25-year Jubilee celebrations, which has become a welcome part of All-Ireland day. Meanwhile, the Galway squad were in the Hogan Stand as guests of the GAA.

Infamous

Nickey Brennan wrote about the infamous 1983 final in his match programme notes, referring to the game as a "tempestuous affair" (that's one description!) but pointing out that friendships had been rekindled in the intervening years even if players "still have memories of that bruising encounter".

But then time heals and what happened in the distant past, however heinous it may have appeared at the time, looks a whole lot less serious against the soothing background of passing years.

It's like modern-day refereeing, only in this case four months can appear like a lifetime.

Each championship is launched against a zero-tolerance backdrop.

Shiny new whistles play their shrill tunes during the early rounds of the provincial championships but by the end of July they tend to run out of puff. And by All-Ireland final day the aim seems to be to keep as many players on the pitch as possible irrespective of what's going on.

Now before referees or their representatives howl 'foul play', consider this. How is it that there's a public (and indeed player) perception that it's easier to pick up yellow cards and be dismissed in the earlier rounds of the championship than later on?

The truth is that it's more than a perception. If last Sunday's Kerry-Tyrone final had been a first-round game, I have no doubt that far more players would have been yellow-carded and maybe even dismissed. It ended up 6-2 to Kerry on yellow cards which suggests that they were three times guiltier than Tyrone yet the free count was 26-17 against Mickey Harte's men.

Kerry couldn't complain about their yellow cards but they most certainly had reason to feel aggrieved that referee Maurice Deegan didn't adopt a stricter line with the more destructive elements of Tyrone's approach. It wasn't that the referee ignored fouls (although Kieran Donaghy had a valid case for more frees in the first 20 minutes) but he adopted a very sparing approach to use of the yellow card.

And once that became apparent, players pushed the boundaries as they inevitably will when they get a chance.

There's a proposal coming before Special Congress next month to introduce a system whereby players are sent off for what's termed 'highly disruptive' fouls. Replacements will be allowed but it still represents a dramatic change.

There were plenty of 'highly disruptive' fouls on view at Croke Park last Sunday, with Tyrone the more guilty party, but they got away with it, as indeed they did with some theatrical falls to grounds when tackled. As for the verbals and goading which are sadly on the increase across Gaelic football, why don't referees act when they see it happening right in front of them?

Will it be the same if the new rules are introduced? Or will referees apply them to the full rigour right through the season rather than at the start of the League and Championship?

Nobody is disputing that Tyrone were the better side last Sunday but some of their antics were unacceptable. This is not to suggest that Kerry are all angelic souls who never stray over the line. Indeed, their discipline was not good this year, certainly by comparison with previous seasons.

What's more, it cost them in the end. A fully match-fit Paul Galvin was vital to Kerry's game plan against Tyrone but having missed three months playing and training, he wasn't in the starting line-up and couldn't really be expected to make a big impact when brought in just before the hour mark.

It's usual for the GAA to review all aspects of the championship at the end of the season. When they do, the following question should top the refereeing section: Can we honestly say that the same strict standards apply in August/September as they do in May/June?

The answer is a resounding 'no'. Still, if the 1983 football final is now seen as something to celebrate, should we be surprised at a few mood swings over a five-month championship season?

- Martin Breheny

[Kerrygal]

To be fair screenexile - I don't think he was really trying to take from Tyrone's victory. He's right though - Tyrone could have been given a few yellow cards. Equally one or two Kerry players might have gotten red cards. And I'll accept his point that if it was a game played in the earlier rounds, players would have walked because they'd be given second yellow offences/straight reds.
The problem with the GAA is fans, teams and officials want the best of both worlds. We want the rules implemented but we also want the ref to have a bit of common sense. We don't want to see bad sportsmanship go unpunished but heaven forbid the referee might "ruin" the All-Ireland final by sending someone off and making the teams uneven. We want the referee to "make a game of it" - that's not his job. His job is to apply the rules and if it means pointing someone towards the sideline, so be it. We want frees awarded when players are fouled - but only sometimes - otherwise the ref is criticised for "not letting the game flow" or refusing to apply the (non-existent) advantage rule - again - not his job. It's up to the players on the pitch to make a game of it, to stay within the rules and to accept sanction when meted out.

[ONeill]

Jaysus you have to laugh. Respected journalists hold up their hands and say 'I got it wrong'. Big egos find a scapegoat. Brehony's prediction that it'd be a hurling final draw and a Kerry 4 point win must've hurt the pocket badly.

That's why journalism's a great career, be it sport or politics. Say what you want beforehand and if you're 290% wrong it won't matter. Water under the bridge and another pay packet next month. In any other profession you'd be hauled over the coals the first time, and p45 the next.

SACK BREHONY!

[full back]

Usual bullsh1t in the wake of the AIF
Journalists looking to fill the pages & creating a bit of controversy

Great game on Sunday between the best two teams in Ireland.
It is going to be hard for any other team to break the domination of these two for the next few years IMHO

[Over the Bar]

Breheney is smarting from making an absolute ass of himself at the Bredagh night.

Firstly he said that Kilkenny minor hurlers were the biggest shoo-in and safest bet in GAA history and secondly he said that Kerry would win and win handsomely.   

Thankfully he must have lost a fortune given his thinly veiled attack on Tyrone.

[Hardy]

Breheny, typically, fails to see the real points that emerge from his contention that fewer yellow cards were given out than would have been administered had it been an earlier round match.

1. Isn't the fact that officials feel less inclined to give out yellow cards in the showpiece matches in itself an admission that yellow cards are a negative phenomenon, bad for the game, undesirable - whatever you want to call it?

2. The game on Sunday was a contender for game of the year. Good, hard, physical football with hard, strong tackling, physical commitment in the challenges and an excellent level of skill and excitement throughout. If Breheny chooses to pick out the paucity of yellow cards as his highlight of the occasion, he can't then ignore the connection between this and the quality of the game.

The Mary Poppins-style attempts by our hurling president to "clean up the game" have turned most matches into a contorted form of basketball as players pirouette and skip about the place to avoid making the slightest physical contact with their opponents. This still doesn't prevent ridiculous extravaganzas of card-waving that see a card count in double figures in many games. Sunday was a reminder of what the game can be when players are allowed at least to bump into each other in challenging for the ball and yellow cards are reserved for significant fouls with malicious intent.

It's also carping in the extreme to seize on the two Tyrone pratfalls and one instance of mouthing (that I saw, anyway) and concentrate on them rather than on the hugely entertaining event that absorbed the rest of us on Sunday. I've been very critical in the past of Tyrone's tendency to go to ground much too easily. I'm happy to say that the last couple of seasons have seen a huge reduction in the use of  this tactic, much to the benefit of the quality of their football. Tyrone are no more guilty now than any other team (and less so than many) of collapso dramatico. To fail to acknowledge this positive development and instead to search diligently for occasional lapses, just to be able to go "aha - yiz are still at it"  is very small-minded.

We have the same phenomenon in this forum, where a certain section of our number seem to scan each game diligently for instances of foul play and then concentrate solely on these. You have to wonder about their concept of sport and marvel at their ability to miss the point spectacularly. They are presumably the same people who go to matches solely to roar abuse at opposing players and pay little or no attention to the sport on view.

Sorry about the long post, but for feck sake – Breheny does that to me.

[lynchbhoy]

Fully Agree with Hardy on all points above.

also think that too many 'journos' and media hacks are amadans when it comes to football knowledge.
Breheny and indeed eugene mcgee always annoy the bejaysus out of me, and pleny of others fall into the same category.

We are an island of begrudgers!

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Fully Agree with Hardy on all points above.

also think that too many 'journos' and media hacks are amadans when it comes to football knowledge.
Breheny and indeed eugene mcgee always annoy the bejaysus out of me, and pleny of others fall into the same category.

On that note here's an article from last year which annoyed me at the time...might as well bring it back up now

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/end-of-an-era-as-tyrone-shuffle-off-the-big-stage-1052479.html

[tyssam5]

Since we are on the subject I had to laugh at Tom Humphries 'Locker-room' piece on Monday. You have to expect journalists to cover up their woefully wrong predictions with begrudgery but at least Breheny and Sean Moran try to keep it qualitative. Humphries throws out lazy cliches that can be quantitatively disproved.

"When Tyrone lined out, two-thirds of their half-forward line was different from the team that had been announced. Different and way beefier. Kerry, critically, were going with Eoin Brosnan and Bryan Sheehan as their wing unit. Not a lot of hitting and thumping in those boys. "
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2008/0922/1221998221192.html

way beefier? Penrose is the same size as McGuigan, maybe an inch smaller, Mellon is 2-3 inches smaller than Joe McMahon, so Tom is just plain wrong. Penrose and Dooher walked past me on Sunday night and I was taller than them both, I am 5-10.
Brosnan and Sheehan are 6-3 and 6-2, now he may be right that they like easy games and not hard ones, at least that part of it is qualitative.

He was at the same craic in 2005, at that time it was our full back line who were given the imaginary size upgrade. McMenamin and McGee - Goliaths! 

Kerry had a clear height and weight advantage going into the game on Sunday. When are some of these BS merchants going to start looking at facts and give our wee men the credit they deserve for their bravery in the mid-field sector?

[Mr. Nakata]

Having viewed the game on tape in full, it's amazing how much you miss through sheer anxiety and nerves. Jordan wasn't at the races in the first half, yet he was a colossus in the second. At his rampaging best, winning good break as well. McGinley is nothing short of a legend. Diving into places, putting his head where people shouldn't leave their boots. He chases and wins the dirty ball with 100% commitment. He's 27 and rumours persist that his past injuries have been so serious in nature, retirement is a possibility. I would be gutted. Both McMahon's were immense and after Gormley's torrid opening 5 minutes, thought he was back to his best as well. There was a huge amount of spills and mistakes but this of course added to the edge of the seat drama. Big Darragh was excellent. I thought he faded completely, but he was still passing the ball beautifully in the second half and weighed in with a big point. What a weekend.....

[Billys Boots]

Breheny and indeed eugene mcgee always annoy the bejaysus out of me, and pleny of others fall into the same category.

Ah c'mon, you can't put those two names in the same sentence - McGee can be annoying, but at least he knows his stuff, and is rarely less than intelligent in his analysis.

On that note here's an article from last year which annoyed me at the time...might as well bring it back up now

Yes, LDA it's nice to be wise after the event - but McGee is old-school, and the point of his article (to me) was about the 'victory' of the traditional (Meath) game over Tyrone's running/hassling/high-tempo game.  His point about the 'old' Tyrone being finished is not completely incorrect - the 2008 AI victors looked a different team (in the way they played) to me to the 2005 victors.

[Great Leap Forward]

Breheny and indeed eugene mcgee always annoy the bejaysus out of me, and pleny of others fall into the same category.

Ah c'mon, you can't put those two names in the same sentence - McGee can be annoying, but at least he knows his stuff, and is rarely less than intelligent in his analysis.

On that note here's an article from last year which annoyed me at the time...might as well bring it back up now

Yes, LDA it's nice to be wise after the event - but McGee is old-school, and the point of his article (to me) was about the 'victory' of the traditional (Meath) game over Tyrone's running/hassling/high-tempo game.  His point about the 'old' Tyrone being finished is not completely incorrect - the 2008 AI victors looked a different team (in the way they played) to me to the 2005 victors.

I thought the match on Sunday was quite similar to the 2005 final and Tyrone didn't play a lot different apart from the fact that Tyrone seemed defence seemed to be happy to play man to man for all the game on Sunday past.

I did however get to watch the 2003 semi final again last week and it was a brutal match. Tyrone were like a possessed rugby league team in their tackling but you can't blame them for that. They needed to win that match at any costs.

I suppose my point is that Tyrone played superb football in 2005 as well but were still tarnished with the 'puke football' tag from 2 years previous. The 05 final was a superb game of football.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Yes, LDA it's nice to be wise after the event - but McGee is old-school, and the point of his article (to me) was about the 'victory' of the traditional (Meath) game over Tyrone's running/hassling/high-tempo game.  His point about the 'old' Tyrone being finished is not completely incorrect - the 2008 AI victors looked a different team (in the way they played) to me to the 2005 victors.

It is indeed and I take your point. As I said though the article stuck in my craw at the time and I thought it was unfair, Tyrone had a decent summer in 2007 and personally I felt had they just had a bit more luck with injuries they would have been very close to Sam. In my mind McGee was way too quick to write the team off (and "End of an era as Tyrone shuffle off the big stage" was writing the team off). It wasnt unreasonable to suggest that when Tyrone got a few of those key men back they would again be contenders at least. As for style of play Id have agree with Great Leap Forward, the Tyrone team of 2008 is playing a pretty similar style to 2005. The only real difference is that its even more of a total football style to allow for the fact that we didnt have a PtG, SON or Mugsy this year weighing in with big tallies.

[ONeill]

I've been very critical in the past of Tyrone's tendency to go to ground much too easily. I'm happy to say that the last couple of seasons have seen a huge reduction in the use of  this tactic, much to the benefit of the quality of their football.

Hardy has saved football and Tyrone. All Hail Hardy. We will write a song about you yet.