Kerry v Cork All Ireland Final 2009

[AZOffaly]

I think that column is from before the Antrim game. Paddy was hoping Kerry would get over Antrim, get back up to Croker and receive the 'burial' they deserve. Guess the hearse will have to wait another year Paddy.

[Kerry1980]

  has that lad written an article since?

[longrunsthefox]

2. Cork were a shadow of the team that played Tyrone.

Absolute bollox. Give Kerry the credit they deserve, they had a game plan, didnt panic when they went 5 points down and dominated the game when they needed to. Kerry were the best team in Ireland when it matters. 5 All Irelands this decade and 36 in all says it all.

Seems to be only Tyrone and Armagh in '02 will get stuck into Kerry. Cork were a disgrace yesterday, in awe of the Kerry jersey the same way as Mayo in finals. No physical hits at all.. totally bottled. Kery's record is phenomenal...no disputing that. You have to hand it to them... sadly yesterday Cork did.... rebels     

[INDIANA]

2. Cork were a shadow of the team that played Tyrone.

Absolute bollox. Give Kerry the credit they deserve, they had a game plan, didnt panic when they went 5 points down and dominated the game when they needed to. Kerry were the best team in Ireland when it matters. 5 All Irelands this decade and 36 in all says it all.

Seems to be only Tyrone and Armagh in '02 will get stuck into Kerry. Cork were a disgrace yesterday, in awe of the Kerry jersey the same way as Mayo in finals. No physical hits at all.. totally bottled. Kery's record is phenomenal...no disputing that. You have to hand it to them... sadly yesterday Cork did.... rebels 

A lot of young players on that Cork team lads. As much as it pains me to say it- they will win the big one sooner rather than later. They've lads like Ciaran Sheehan and David Gould to come into that team yet. I remember a lot of the current tyrone team losing to feckin Sligo for Gods sake before they won the big one.
A serious amount of bullshit being spoken here as if this is the end for this Cork team. Anyone here want to tell me Colm O Neill and Daniel Goulding will never land the big one.

[longrunsthefox]

2. Cork were a shadow of the team that played Tyrone.

Absolute bollox. Give Kerry the credit they deserve, they had a game plan, didnt panic when they went 5 points down and dominated the game when they needed to. Kerry were the best team in Ireland when it matters. 5 All Irelands this decade and 36 in all says it all.

Seems to be only Tyrone and Armagh in '02 will get stuck into Kerry. Cork were a disgrace yesterday, in awe of the Kerry jersey the same way as Mayo in finals. No physical hits at all.. totally bottled. Kery's record is phenomenal...no disputing that. You have to hand it to them... sadly yesterday Cork did.... rebels 

A lot of young players on that Cork team lads. As much as it pains me to say it- they will win the big one sooner rather than later. They've lads like Ciaran Sheehan and David Gould to come into that team yet. I remember a lot of the current tyrone team losing to feckin Sligo for Gods sake before they won the big one.
A serious amount of bullshit being spoken here as if this is the end for this Cork team. Anyone here want to tell me Colm O Neill and Daniel Goulding will never land the big one.

not saying it is the end of the Cork team or that they are no good. They destroyed Tyrone but yesterday totally bottled it. Realised after 10 minutes or so, 'Jees! this is Kery in an All Ireland final in Croke park-we can't win this.' Yet in Munster they get stuck into them and have no inhibitions. Yesterday was pitiful. They are much better than that yesterday but... bottled it ala Mayo

[BennyHarp]

Have to agree with fox here - cork were very disappointing and did indeed bottle it! They tore into kerry for the first 6/7 mins went a few points up then completely bottled it! Kerry tagged on a few scores and cork psychologically were beaten by the 30th min! They had thrown their best shot at Kerry and found themselves 3 points down and didnt know what to do from there on in! A poor final overall which reflected what was a pretty disappointing championship!

[Donnellys Hollow]

Read this over on AFR:

Just heard that a man rang in to Radio Kerry a short time ago and told the following story...
He stayed in his seat in the cusack stand yesterday for the presentation of Sam and waited until the crowd left the pitch, he was one of the last to be in the stadium when a group of stewards emerged from under the hogan with the cup in tow.
With them were two people not in steward bibs. They went up to the presentation area and put the sam in the place it resides during the game. One of the two 'non stewards' then re-enacted recieving the cup, lifting it a few times over his head. He did this 3 times and the stewards gave a big roar each time...
Intrigued the guy in the stand crossed the pitch to see who the 2 were.
It turned out that it was Mick O'Connell and the person who was lifting Sam was his son Diarmuid, who has Down's syndrome. It is 50 years ago that the great Micko lifted the same cup as captain in 1959.

Great heartwarming story. The stewards at Croke Park might have received some criticism after the hurling final for the actions of a small minority but fair play to the lads that facilitated this. Makes you truly proud of our organisation when you hear stuff like this.

[mountainboii]

To say Cork 'bottled it' is a very simplistic analysis in my eyes. It also implies that Cork were the better team, which in hindsight they were not.

Cork lost yesterday because too many of their forwards were outplayed by their markers. Cork had enough possession and enough forays into the Kerry defence to do damage, but they seemed clueless once they got past the Kerry 45. Time and time again they took shots that weren't on or hit passes just to get rid of the ball. Goulding, O'Neill and to a lesser extent O'Connor couldn't win enough primary possession and Cork had no plan B. They should've brought Cussen in much earlier, at the very least he would've made a bit more hay out of all the high 50/50 balls that were pumped in. Then when he was brought in, he was put in the middle. No sense there at all.

Cork have enough young players to be a major force for the forseeable future, it'd be idiotic to write them off after yesterday.

[moysider]

2. Cork were a shadow of the team that played Tyrone.

Absolute bollox. Give Kerry the credit they deserve, they had a game plan, didnt panic when they went 5 points down and dominated the game when they needed to. Kerry were the best team in Ireland when it matters. 5 All Irelands this decade and 36 in all says it all.

Seems to be only Tyrone and Armagh in '02 will get stuck into Kerry. Cork were a disgrace yesterday, in awe of the Kerry jersey the same way as Mayo in finals. No physical hits at all.. totally bottled. Kery's record is phenomenal...no disputing that. You have to hand it to them... sadly yesterday Cork did.... rebels 

A lot of young players on that Cork team lads. As much as it pains me to say it- they will win the big one sooner rather than later. They've lads like Ciaran Sheehan and David Gould to come into that team yet. I remember a lot of the current tyrone team losing to feckin Sligo for Gods sake before they won the big one.
A serious amount of bullshit being spoken here as if this is the end for this Cork team. Anyone here want to tell me Colm O Neill and Daniel Goulding will never land the big one.

not saying it is the end of the Cork team or that they are no good. They destroyed Tyrone but yesterday totally bottled it. Realised after 10 minutes or so, 'Jees! this is Kery in an All Ireland final in Croke park-we can't win this.' Yet in Munster they get stuck into them and have no inhibitions. Yesterday was pitiful. They are much better than that yesterday but... bottled it ala Mayo

I usually would agree with you Fox but this bottling stuff is just too easy. Not every county plays the game the same way. You have to admit that it took Tyrone a long time to learn how to win AIs. But ye did and developed a game that had the beating of Kerry and they could nt cope with it. Cork have hardened up their act and bottled nothing yesterday. They were out of the blocks yesterday and gave themselves a chance but they re still several players short of Kerry in September - ability not bottle was their downfall.

Dara Ó Cinnéde said yesterday that Kerry were reckless and off-the -cuff as late as 04 ( I would say 05 as well). But as early as 04 they had learned the September peak ( thanks to their excellent trainer Pat Flanagan). Kerry were obviously off the pace in Munster this year. Sunday was more to do with their improvement than Cork s bottle. Kerry were nt fit 3 month s ago and there was no Mick McCarty (my player of the year for the games he played) and Kennelly was only finding his way.As I ve said for September football Cork still shy a good few players and with their best the oldest .......

As for Mayo and bottle it s much the same story. Only the conveyor belt of players, who have natural ability, keeps Mayo going. That the players are label bottlers is cruel. They have never had the nurturing that this generation of Tyrone players have had. The conditioning and coaching in the Mayo senior set up is medieval compared to Tyrone and Kerry. Compared to Flanagans  fitness programe Mayo s is a joke. If Dara thinks Kerry were reckless in 94 we were negligent then and since have regressed to pre 96. We have decent players but under the circumstances have nt a hope. And next year will be no better. Perversely because we lost All Irelands Mayo folk now seem to be grateful for Johnno making sure we dont 'bottle it' again in September. We have no reason to be uneasy. We re lightyears away from  a September appearance at Senior under this Junta. Last 2 years at minor have shown what we can do when properly set up. We conceded less than 9 points a game in this years minor championship. We used to conceded that in the first 10 minutes of last couple AI s and a few Championship matches to Galway, all down to poor preparation and fanciful selection. We did nt win minor last years but neither were bottled.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Whilst 'bottling it' might be too simplistic of an overall analysis, there is but no doubt that Cork threw the towel in psychologically on Sunday, and probably before half-time. Witness the sluggish half-yards, the growing number of wides, the mounting unforced errors, and the general and palpable seeping away of Cork self-belief as the game wore on.

It could be argued to be sure that it was more Kerry's application than Cork's abdication (and taking nothing away from Kerry), but that doesn't explain fully why Cork were failing in the basics with 15 men where they excelled in those same basics against ourselves with 14; Unforced errors are unforced.

Same old same old for Cork: Kerry in Croke and the script was already written.

[INDIANA]

The bottling theory is just lazy analysis. Did Tyrone bottle it against cork? Did Tyrone bottle it against Laois in 2006? Did Tyrone bottle it against Sligo in 2002? Just beaten by a better team. Same as Cork on Sunday.

Its so easy to assess why Cork lost on Sunday. Tactically they were beaten all ends up. Kerry completely snuffed out their key players through better tactical appreciation. Look at how deep Galvin was for example, where Scanlon played. Did either Mike Mc Carthy or Darren O Sullivan play the ball more than 3/4 times between them ? No- because they were doing a specific job.

Cork simply went out and played the same way as they did against Tyrone and Kerry had a plan for that. Cork had no Plan B . thats why they lost on Sunday. Kerry had a plan A. B and probably C.

Counihan will learn from this.

[bcarrier]

Cork didnt bottle it . Their shooting has been a recurrent problem .

They got elevated to higher status than they were worthy of by beating a burnt out Tyrone team without their best player,
a feckless Donegal outfit and an unfit Kerry.

Beating Tyrone was biggest part of it ....personally I think Tyrone just got way with it last year ...that team didnt have the overall ability
of the 03 and 05 teams. Kerry should probably have won 4 in a row on Sunday. Had Sean Cavanagh been missing for final last year Kerry would
now be lauded as the best ever.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The bottling theory is just lazy analysis. Did Tyrone bottle it against cork? Did Tyrone bottle it against Laois in 2006? Did Tyrone bottle it against Sligo in 2002? Just beaten by a better team. Same as Cork on Sunday.

That's not a great piece of analysis there either in fairness: we didn't make half the chances against Cork as they missed against Kerry, we weren't going great in 2006 and just didn't have it. Against Sligo, well, I would say that we actually did bottle it: we threw in the towel long before the end of that game when Sligo turned up the heat.

Despite the best of Kerry's efforts, Cork still had made many chances to convert very scorable opportunities, chances they were burying against ourselves, and once they'd found themselves iin those positions Kerry's tactics were neither here nor there, it was all upstairs.

[INDIANA]

The bottling theory is just lazy analysis. Did Tyrone bottle it against cork? Did Tyrone bottle it against Laois in 2006? Did Tyrone bottle it against Sligo in 2002? Just beaten by a better team. Same as Cork on Sunday.

That's not a great piece of analysis there either in fairness: we didn't make half the chances against Cork as they missed against Kerry, we weren't going great in 2006 and just didn't have it. Against Sligo, well, I would say that we actually did bottle it: we threw in the towel long before the end of that game when Sligo turned up the heat.

Despite the best of Kerry's efforts, Cork still had made many chances to convert very scorable opportunities, chances they were burying against ourselves, and once they'd found themselves iin those positions Kerry's tactics were neither here nor there, it was all upstairs.

But the mistake most people are making that these shots were all from the 21 yard line. A lot of them were kicked passes straight over the endline- ie poor passes. Others like Kerrigans were the result of 50 yard pot shots under pressure because he had no other options. Just watch the kerry swarm defence in the 2nd half just between the 45 and the d. Cork were under huge pressure taking those shots.
Granted a few scoreable frees were missed but most of the other chances were directly because kerry putting severe pressure on the shooter with 2/3 men tackling him.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

OK Kingdom folk, Paddy Heaney in today's Irish News, read it and... wet yourselves with laughter  And the Armagh wans will want him beatified...


Familiar hands on Sam should satisfy lovers of tradition
Against the Breeze

"There is a nationwide inability to dismiss Kerry. Despite the evidence presented in recent games, there are many who insist that 'You write Kerry off at your peril'. What cautious drivel!"

Against The Breeze, July 28 2009

WHAT drivel indeed! Regular readers might remember that the quotation above is taken from a column which explained why Kerry would not win this year's All-Ireland title. Suffice to say it was a slightly inaccurate prediction and I'll gladly accept that my assessment was somewhat wayward.

I'm not going to offer any defence other than to say that when reading the column again yesterday morning, I detected the sound of a sports reporter betrayed, a fan who had been jilted. The cruel irony of this unfortunate affair is that there is no greater admirer of this group of Kerry footballers than yours truly. There is written proof to back up this claim.

In 2005 and 2008, I dismayed many Tyrone fans when tipping Kerry to beat their team in the All-Ireland final. My rationale was always pretty basic. I simply believed Kerry had better footballers. Tomas O Se, Darragh O Se, Declan O'Sullivan, Colm Cooper, Tommy Walsh and Kieran Donaghy. I couldn't look past them.

On each occasion, however, Tyrone underlined the importance of teamwork and tactics. Of course, the Red Hands had their own share of quality footballers, but their cohesion and collective craft was the key difference.

After last year's All-Ireland final, I started to lose faith in Kerry. That faith was jolted again when Cork dismissed them in Munster. It lost further ground when I watched television coverage of the Qualifier games against Longford and Sligo. And it evaporated completely when I travelled to Tullamore and saw them struggle to beat an Antrim side that started the season in Division Four.

Hence the madness of July 28. I concluded that particular column by informing readers that Kerry would receive their last rites in Croke Park before the year was out.

This prophecy was one of the reasons why I was supporting Cork to the hilt on Sunday. By the same token, it would be false to suggest that I had any huge attachment to Conor Counihan's side. Truth be told, it would be more accurate to state that I just wanted Kerry to lose. It was partly due to ego and pride. It was partly because they'd won the thing 35 times already and they didn't need to win again.

I don't think this is a particularly remarkable admission, yet like-minded individuals would be amazing to discover the attitude that exists among the general populace.

Irishmen and Irishwomen appear to love the status quo. It doesn't annoy them to see Kerry back on top. In fact, if pushed, this conservative majority would probably admit that they like to see the Kingdom succeed. They find it quietly reassuring to see the green and gold in the Hogan Stand on the third Sunday in September. It must restore their belief that there is actually a natural order to the universe. There can be booms and recessions, taoisigh and tribunals, storms and sunny days, but if Kerry are winning All-Irelands then it proves there are some laws of the cosmos that cannot be violated.

This contentment in Kerry's success extends to the Irish sports writing fraternity. Journalists, by nature and definition, are supposed to be anti-establishment.

Yet it's amazing the satisfaction many hacks derive from a Kerry triumph. Make no mistake, many of them love to see a county make the breakthrough, and this was evident when Ulster teams like Armagh and Tyrone enjoyed maiden victories in 2002 and 2003. But this support for the little man quickly dries up when he threatens to seize the crown. (Note the bitterness and nit-picking following Tyrone's victory last year). In this respect, sports reporters merely reflect the broad body of opinion in the country as a whole.

It's quite unbelievable how many southerners... and northerners support Kerry in All-Ireland finals. And maybe it's this love of the familiar, and reverence for the ancient powers which explains why tradition counts for so much in the GAA.

In no other sport, can the history of a parish and place hold such store. The very colour of a jersey is often worth six points. The importance we place on the past unquestionably affects the psychology of our footballers and, for this reason, overcoming the establishment is without doubt the greatest obstacle facing any club or county.

This is why the 'team of the decade' debate has become too boring. Kerry have won five titles. Big deal. Kerry win All-Irelands. That is what they do. It's like praising Russia for producing chess champions.

Tyrone deserve a certain amount of credit. They finally stood up and fought the tide in 2003. But the longer I study Tyrone, the less impressive their record becomes.

It's a huge county with the eighth highest population in the land. For many decades Tyrone has had a thriving GAA culture. And unlike many of its northern counterparts, its towns are alive with strong clubs. Equally significantly, the O'Neill men have little truck with hurling.

Given its population, its devotion to football, its culture, and its massive resources, Tyrone should be the Kerry of the north. Yet, they've just three All-Ireland senior titles. It's a paltry return.

But study the past decade closely and one tribe of gaels emerges as true revolutionaries. This is a small county that dared to trample over tradition and trends. Its footballers have proved themselves in every competition where the blue bloods are accustomed to getting their own way.

So take a bow Armagh. All-Ireland senior champions in 2002, All-Ireland U21 champions in 2004, and All-Ireland minor champions in 2009. The triple crown. And let's not forget the National League title in 2005 and those six Ulster senior titles.

Considering the nature of the GAA, an organisation where the rich get rich and the poor get knocked out in the opening seconds, that's some haul of trophies for a county that was on the dole.

So please let's forget all this talk about Kerry and Tyrone. Who cares? What do their exploits really matter to those of us from the blue-collar counties?

When it comes to truly inspirational champions, we should take our cue from Armagh, the county of the decade.