Kerry Kings swagger towards All-Ireland final
The perennially unanswered questions of the inner workings of the
GAA - why do substitutes give the referee a piece of paper when
they come on the pitch? What does it say on the little white
slip? Is there official issue substitute paper?
Now the difficult question, why do Kerry fans never throng Croke
Park like the followers of other counties? Is there some mass
unconscious force at work that makes them such stay-at-home
supporters?
One would think that after 11 years in the All-Ireland wilderness
the GAA supporters in the Kingdom would relish the day trip the
to capital to throw their voices behind the new batch of young
tigers. Not so it seems. Old habits die hard and instead it was
the Cavan faithful who filled Croke Park last weekend.
Cavan 1-10, Kerry 1-17
It was nice to see a team in blue at Croke Park again this year.
However, with remarkably similar traits to their blue
counterparts Dublin, Cavan chose this premier venue to very
publicly self destruct.
Cavan were never real contenders in this semi-final. For that
they only have themselves to blame. It was evident early on that
hand passing out of defence was problematic and gifted the Kerry
forwards a lot of scores.
The most telling aspect though was that on the three occasions in
the first half that Cavan took the lead Kerry pulled them back
with ease.
Swaggering winners
Kerry never looked under pressure. This had as much to do with
the attitude of the team as their competence on the field. Kerry
swaggered through this match running around and through the Cavan
defence with a certain nonchalance as they calmly knocked over
scores from all angles.
Chief swaggerer was the tanned Maurice FitzGerald whose
contribution of seven points and an excellently made through pass
to Michael Russell for Kerry's icing on the cake goal seemed an
almost effortless contribution. This team were never at full
throttle and this is fairly ominous for whoever faces them on
final day.
Offaly to win
Only Offaly stand between Kerry and the reconquest of Sam. If the
unthinkable happens and they capitulate to Mayo next week it will
be an easy ride for Kerry. Sam Maguire will make his first trip
back to Munster since 1990. It would be nice though to see Sam
come back to Leinster for a third year, not to mention the
possible fiscal rewards for myself having finally backed up big
talk with money on the table. All bets will be collected, you
have been warned.
Super Celts
Finally the season has begun and Celtic have not only managed to
win two games on the trot but lifted themselves off the bottom of
the premier league table while qualifying for the first round of
EUFA cup.
On Saturday it was the Celtic sons Lars and Jack who provided the
two goals that sealed defeat for St Johnstone and three points
for Celtic.
This week Celtic recovered from a one goal deficit to FC Tirol to
win 7-5 on aggregate. The first leg of this match was 2-1 to
Tirol and even though Celtic's Simon Donnelly opened the scoring
in the 34th minute Tirol were back in the lead five minutes
later. By half time it was 2-2 on the night. Celtic scored again
in the 68th and 70th minutes only for Geonot Krinner to score in
the 82nd leaving it 4-3 on the night but 5-5 on aggregate with
Tirol having three away goals to Celtic's one.
Never fear though as Morton Wieghorst and Craig Burley made it
7-5 overall with last gasp goals in the 88th and 90th minutes.
The spirit of Lisbon lives on.
Next week sees the first Old Firm engagement of the season and
then maybe we will get a better measure of how things stand for
the season. But for now the bhoys are back in town.
BY NEIL FORDE
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