No more poor mouth - Talking big is in!

[GalwayBayBoy]

http://sport.irishexaminer.com/post/2013/06/05/Talking-yourself-up-is-the-new-talking-down.aspx

Talking yourself up is the new talking yourself down

John Fogarty

In case you didn't know, talking big is en vogue among the top counties in Gaelic football right now.

It's the new black and while Cork and Kerry have not yet cottoned on to it or maybe never will (we'll explain that shortly) the rest of this year's contenders are bigging themselves up.

In a sport pockmarked with poor mouth phrases, lip service and mind-numbing clichés, it's refreshing to see and perhaps points to the hardest-working generation of footballers finally realising it's okay to back themselves.

Just look at what they've been saying – Mayo manager James Horan following last month's victory over Galway: "We've guys out there playing up front who are as good as anyone in the country."

Mayo captain Andy Moran: "The old Irish thing is to talk yourselves down and you can't do that all the time. We believe we're a good team, we're trying to win a Connacht title, we're trying to challenge later on in the year if it comes to it."

Dublin's Michael Darragh Macauley last week: "We're all good footballers. We have a serious panel of footballers. He [Jim Gavin] wants lads to express themselves and I think that's important."

His team-mate Paul Flynn before Christmas: "The talent in Dublin football is frightening."

Jim McGuinness after beating Tyrone last month: "There was a lot of talk about putting all the eggs into one basket, but it was the same last year and the same the year before. That's what we do – it's Championship football.

"It will be no different next year. It was a media spin that got the whole debate going. Next year we will put all our eggs in that basket again."

Paddy McBrearty standing close to him after that same win: "We have probably the strongest squad that we have had since Jim took over."

None of the above could be identified as brash or as bordering on arrogance as say Ger Loughnane's famously accurate half-time sign-off to Marty Morrissey at half-time in the 1995 All-Ireland final. But when something as banal as a Galway player saying football is in the county's DNA is plastered on a Mayo dressing room wall that threshold is lowered somewhat.

Everything, it seems, can be taken as a slight. We've written before of the Kerry player who was approached by Donegal players at an end-of-season event last year asking him to explain his comments about the direction of football. The Donegal pair had felt his words were a thinly-veiled dig at them.

It can't go without mentioning that Mayo, Dublin and Donegal, the three counties well on their way to winning third consecutive provincial titles, all have sports psychologists in some shape or form.

McGuinness is, of course, a qualified one and then there is Kieran Shannon at Mayo while former world boxing champion Bernard Dunne fulfils the role of lifestyle coach with Dublin.

Kildare have a sports psychologist in Hugh Campbell and it was intriguing last week to see Eamonn Callaghan say it would be "a travesty" were his team not to win a Leinster title. Gaelic footballers' dealings with the media have become so bleached it would be silly to suggest there was no influence on their words.

As for Cork and Kerry? Well, as one learned colleague put it recently, they are old money. With their estates backed onto one another and a meeting at the boundaries guaranteed at least once a year, they are understandably reticent to be singing from the rooftops about what they've got.

With arguably the smallest following among football's echelon, Cork have reason to be unforthcoming but then they much prefer others to do it instead.

Paul Kerrigan gave a great insight into their mentality after winning the Division 1 final against Dublin two years ago: "It absolutely suited us down to the ground. We've been underdogs for the last six or seven years in every game.

"People have always questioned us. The Dubs were built up again and within their panel I'd say they didn't want that themselves. It just happens when you're in a Dublin team and it suited us perfectly. Nobody was talking about us and in the end we showed there was more hunger in us than them."

Kerry's coyness is more to do with not giving the game away. Cute hoors to the end, they are the GAA's version of the Venus flytraps, passing themselves off as inoffensive creatures only to snare their prey with deception.

Cian O'Neill, their Kildare-born selector and trainer, hasn't been afraid to exude self-confidence but even he, having featuring in five All-Ireland finals in the last five years, won't change winning habits of a lifetime.

Mayo and Donegal had to change. Being most people's second and third favourite teams was doing them no favours. Horan and McGuinness had to get their players as far away from those romantic failures as possible. The reason for Dublin's big talk? They just appear to be more comfortable in their own skin.

All three have walked the walk to varying degrees of success these past couple of seasons. If it's working for them why should they stop? The media, for one, won't be asking for a halt in such a practice.

[Hardy]

First week in June and that's the best this GAA journalist can do?

[Dont Matter]

Do people still buy newspapers to look for GAA opinion pieces or any of that shtuff? If you want a report from a match just look it up online, if you want an opinion on the current state of Gaelic Football or hurling then form one yourself. Same thing if you want to know how a teams playing and do you enjoy their style.
If you want the same articles repeated every year then read Martin Breheny or one of them boys.
If you get your news from the newspapers then it's time you came into the new century, you're wasting your money. I haven't bought a newspaper in about 7 years. As people say when they've kicked the smoking habit; I've never been happier.

[BluestackBoy]

First week in June and that's the best this GAA journalist can do?

A bit harsh, I've read a lot worse in papers

[thejuice]

I can already see the Indo's reaction to this:

"GAA in crisis over lack of humility.
Some blokes child may have taken up rugby instead as a result."

[Rossfan]

Or Breheny will have " Goalscoring crisis! Dosappearance of the majors?"

[Syferus]

Or Breheny will have " Goalscoring crisis! Dosappearance of the majors?"

Ah lay off the poor Breffmeister - he's done a Gaelic Games Leaving Cert course in his column today, you could learn something

[Rossfan]

Or Breheny will have " Goalscoring crisis! Dosappearance of the majors?"

Ah lay off the poor Breffmeister - he's done a Gaelic Games Leaving Cert course in his column today, you could learn something

Aw for fcuk sake 

I immediately thought of you Syfín when I first saw the title of this thread 

[screenexile]

Anybody read Breheny today? I don't usually get to see his column but D'Indo was in the hotel I'm staying in so I picked it up... utter dross!!! I'll not be picking it up for GAA again. There were a couple of good pieces on the Rugby though!

[The Iceman]

Do people still buy newspapers to look for GAA opinion pieces or any of that shtuff? If you want a report from a match just look it up online, if you want an opinion on the current state of Gaelic Football or hurling then form one yourself. Same thing if you want to know how a teams playing and do you enjoy their style.
If you want the same articles repeated every year then read Martin Breheny or one of them boys.
If you get your news from the newspapers then it's time you came into the new century, you're wasting your money. I haven't bought a newspaper in about 7 years. As people say when they've kicked the smoking habit; I've never been happier.

Nothing wrong with reading newspapers the old fashioned way. Same with books.
I miss the Irish News. Cup of tea, a big full soda and a kindle on the side just doesn't do it for me.... Hard to beat a newspaper spread out over the table on a Sunday morning or on your tea break at work during the week.....

[Dont Matter]

Nothing wrong with reading newspapers the old fashioned way. Same with books.
I miss the Irish News. Cup of tea, a big full soda and a kindle on the side just doesn't do it for me.... Hard to beat a newspaper spread out over the table on a Sunday morning or on your tea break at work during the week.....

Match reports are nearly written before the matches start. Sometimes journalists have a couple of different ones done out pre match and they pick the one that suits the result. They just change some of the detail.
Finding articles that have anything new to say or anything interesting are very hard to find.
Maybe at lunch time it's acceptable but that's only because it's better than listening to your work colleagues natter away.

[ross matt]

Or Breheny will have " Goalscoring crisis! Dosappearance of the majors?"

Ah lay off the poor Breffmeister - he's done a Gaelic Games Leaving Cert course in his column today, you could learn something

Lay off him? You serious? He is a a joke of a journalist. Time and time again he produces the most banal shite. Today was a new low in fairness to him. He must have shares in the Indo or dirty pics of those in charge because I cannot for the life of me fathom how he gets daily opportunity to spew such crap in such a high profile setting and get paid for it!

[Farrandeelin]

FFS, a leaving cert column! Let me guess, giving teams As, Bs etc based on his own rankings for the year so far.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

FFS, a leaving cert column! Let me guess, giving teams As, Bs etc based on his own rankings for the year so far.

I'm sure I have read that one before.

[ross matt]

FFS, a leaving cert column! Let me guess, giving teams As, Bs etc based on his own rankings for the year so far.

Hmmm.... that and worse Farrandeelin. You'd need to read it. But like I said he's presumably generously rewarded for such tripe. Where did we all go wrong?!