ABM bandwagon rolls on
It's that time of year again when GAA supporters across the
country reassess county allegiances. Take the football
championship for example, as the provincial contests reach
conclusion you face the following scenarios. The first
possibility is that your county are still in the championship and
you are gearing up for the big trip to Croke Park as in the case
of Kerry and Cavan.
The second and more likely possibility is that your team have
hung up their boots for this year and now you have to remain
either an interested neutral or a committed supporter of a second
team.
PICK AND MIX
One of the more notable traits in this annual pick and mix is
that Ulster GAA fans will support whatever team comes out of the
province regardless of inter-county rivalries. However now that
Cavan are Ulster Champions it will be interesting to see if this
support will transfer outside the Ulster Cycle of the four
counties who have dominated northern football in the 1990s.
A second trait is picking an underdog team on which all the
committed neutrals can pin their support and vent what at times
seems hugely misplaced venom against the current championship
favourites.
Cavan's one point victory over Donegal last week has not only
given them their first Ulster Championship since 1969 but has
also given them the official PUT (`pet underdog team') nomination
for 1997.
ANYBODY BUT MEATH
Cavan then for many GAA fans carry not only the support of their
own county, and possibly their province, but also that of
thousands of other GAA fans. This year the object of their ire is
Meath. Last year's All Ireland champions must be the most
begrudged winners since either of Kerry's epic runs between1978
to `81 and 1984 to `86 or any victorious Dublin team you care to
mention.
Meath were not fancied at all last year. They had to beat
All-Ireland champions Dublin to win in Leinster and then take on
the Ulster Champions and 1995 All-Ireland finalists Tyrone in the
semi's before facing Mayo in the final.
This seems to me, an obviously uninformed fan, to be a momentous
achievement. Meath a dominant team of the 1980s and early 1990s
had come, not unlike Manchester United, out of a transitory
rebuilding period to win the championship. Even though my support
rests firmly with Dublin, I had to admire what they had achieved.
BULLYBOY TACTICS
Instead of being lauded as rightful victors Meath were condemned
by all in sundry. After the 1996 All-Ireland semi-finals the
whinelines into RTE's daytime radio shows were jammed with
outraged GAA `fans' complaining about Meath's bullying tactics
against the poor unprotected Tyrone boys.
Listening to Tyrone supporters complaining about fouling and
dirty play is for me a revelation. I must have imagined all those
bruising Ulster Championship encounters especially those between
Tyrone and neighbouring Derry. They never happened.
The reality that Tyrone as a team were severely limited by their
over dependence on Peter Canavan, limitations that had been
clearly exposed by Dublin a year earlier was ignored. Yes it was
a dirty match, but are we really expected to believe that Tyrone
were unwittingly set upon by a wily Meath?
REPLAY BONANZA
Now in 1997 Meath are back in that twilight of 1991 fighting
endless replays just to get out of Leinster. They beat Dublin by
the narrowest of margins and have twice come back from seemingly
completely lost positions to live again against Kildare. Surely
this would merit commendation but now interest in Meath's
progress is a bizarre ritual of people watching the games in the
hope that they will lose.
Yes it would be great to see Cavan go all the way, but for Meath
to win two in a row is no less an achievement. What we all really
want to see is good football and no amount of pet underdogs can
guarantee that.
BY NEIL FORDE
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