How the mighty fall
BY NEIL FORDE
If you wanted an example of all that is right and wrong with the
GAA, last Sunday's games provided pundits with the perfect
exhibition of where things stand in 1997. Across Ireland in every
province crunch games were held with some of the most spectacular
results seen in recent years, while in Dublin's Croke Park, GAA
headquarters and flagship stadium, high quality sport skills on
the pitch were overshadowed by low quality organisational skills
which could have meant a potential disaster for the huge crowd
attending the Leinster hurling semi finals.
Clare 1-14
Cork 1-13
First though, the good side of last Sunday which left Clare GAA
fans in a unique position where both their hurling and football
teams are still very much in with a chance of securing both
provincial and All-Ireland success in their respective
disciplines.
Having resigned ourselves to the fact it was only Cork who had
the capability to do a double, now a second Munster county have
emerged with double ambitions. Ambitions which just three years
ago would have been laughed off as either the drink talking or
the musings of the incredibly naive.
The performance of both teams was erratic and Cork's forwards
must be wondering how many times in the second half they
squandered point scoring opportunities. Nothing can take away
though from Martin Daly's last kick of the game goal. It merits
the use of multiple sporting cliches. So let the records show
that Daly `waltzed' around the Cork defenders and `let loose' a
`cracker' of a shot that `set the back of the net dancing'.
Sligo 1-14
Roscommon 1-11
Connacht football had up until last weekend become a pedestrian
experience where Roscommon and Galway and Mayo took turns to take
the provincial title.
Last Sunday Sligo ripped up the script and consigned Roscommon to
the abyss. There was a time in the late 1970s when Roscommon
having won a league title were consistently the second best team
in Ireland coming second to either Kerry or Dublin. Now they are
not even the second best team in Connacht. How the almost mighty
have fallen.
At this early stage Sligo are now vying with Clare and Cavan for
the official underdog title. Watch this space.
Cavan 2-16
Donegal 2-10
other crunch match, another upset, this time Cavan beating
Donegal by a six point margin. The Ulster football championship
is one of the most competitive with Derry, Down, Donegal and
Tyrone all vying for glory. Tyrone were the first team in over 20
years to win two Ulster championships in a row. Now Cavan are set
to add their names to the list and maybe emulate their famous
all-Ireland victory in 1947 when they beat Kerry in New York's
Polo ground.
Wexford 3-12
Offaly 2-12
All Ireland champions Wexford took another step towards their
double with a three point win over Offaly. However they scored
two of the most jammy goals Croke Park has seen this year.
It took Kilkenny hurling god DJ Carey's seven points and 61st
minute goal to kill off Dublin's challenge in the other
semi-final. Dublin put in a very credible performance and are
still in the knockout stages of the league. So don't write them
off just yet.
The hurling double header was marred by a massive underestimation
of the likely crowd size. The GAA had expected 30,000 supporters
but 52,000 turned up. The GAA have tried to shift the blame by
highlighting the fact that children were allowed in free, but
this does not explain the organisational ineptitude even when it
became apparent that there was a serious crowd problem.
Ireland 2
Morocco 1
Congratulations to the Irish youth team who beat Morocco in extra
time yesterday to clinch a quarter final place in the World Youth
Championships. The winning goal was scored by midfielder Damien
Duff. Unfortunately there was no television coverage of the
match. RTE were busy screening five and half hours of tennis at
Wimbledon with no Irish involvement. Oh and by the way rain
stopped play all day.
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