Saturday, July 31, 2010 Previous editions
THIS was one of the most exciting Connacht finals that I was ever at.
SITTING cold and numb, physically and emotionally, in the stand at Pearse Stadium last Saturday after yet another one point defeat to supposedly inferior opposition, it did not take long for my mobile to start bleeping.
GALWAY can have absolutely no complaints after their one point defeat on Saturday to a vibrant, fit and hugely committed Sligo outfit.
THE above were just some of the notes that I jotted down during a disappointing game in Pearse Stadium yesterday.
A MASSIVE clash in the last 15 minutes between captains, Trevor Mortimer and Charlie Harrison, epitomised the difference between their respective Mayo and Sligo sides on Saturday evening.
LET’S be blunt. Yesterday’s All-Ireland club final was a very disappointing affair with few positives for fans of the game of football.
KILMURRY-IBRICKANE are a formidable footballing outfit and St Gall’s will be under no illusions about that fact when they go head-to-head in today’s All-Ireland Club final.
“SWITCH off your television. Go and walk the dog” – That is the group text Cork manager Conor Counihan should have sent from Croke Park yesterday to all his panel after Tommy Walsh’s goal in the second-half of this listless, boring mismatch.
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ONE Friday last summer I was at the TG4 studios in Baile Na hAbhainn to do Seo Spóirt with former All-Ireland winning Cork boss John Allen.
ALL WEEK we heard “this is a different Mayo team”. Indeed, many conversations even stretched to how Mayo would cope with another clash with Kerry after being mangled by them in the 2004 and 2006 All-Ireland finals.
THE most important and often overlooked aspect of football team management is people management.
They are one, and the same thing.
DESPITE collecting four Connacht titles since their last big success in 2001, Galway have not won a single game in Croke Park or passed the All-Ireland quarter final stage.
FOR years we have been very critical of Mayo’s forwards.
The county has lost four All-Irelands in the last 13 years, (1996, 1997, 2004 and 2006) and in all those finals they were forced to carry the ball from deep up to the scoring zone.
CRUMMIES. THAT’S the term the AFL commentators use to describe players who will work the fringes and pick up the breaks.
SEVEN years ago a Tyrone team containing men with famous football surnames like Dooher, O’Neill, Gormley, Jordan, McGuigan, McMenamin and Canavan were well beaten by Sligo (1-14 to 0-12) at Croke Park in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
IT IS a little after 10pm on Wednesday night when Sligo captain Charlie – always Charles to his mum – Harrison walks through the doors of the Westwood House Hotel on the outskirts of Galway city.
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