Has Galvin Ruined the Kingdom?

Irish Voice Sport

Has Galvin Ruined the Kingdom?

July 10, 2008

The Cathal Dervan Column

SOME years ago a very well known man down our way was enjoying the Croke Park spectacle in front of him when Kerry fans started to leave the Cusack Stand in their droves.

The occasion was an All-Ireland semifinal between the aristocrats from the Kingdom and the Royals from Co. Meath, and our man was none too pleased by the defections.

Meath, you see, were handing Kerry an almighty hammering in the final glory days of the Sean Boylan era when one of Gaelic football’s greatest managers was at his peak.

And the Kerry fans, at least those heading for Heuston Station or the N7, had seen enough halfway through the second half as Graham Geraghty and Co. Meath destroyed all in front of them.

Our man, a member of one of north Meath’s proudest and strongest GAA families with more than one All-Ireland medal in the household, was nothing if not loyal.

He had never given up on a Meath team, not even in the darkest hours BSB — before Sean Boylan — when the championship was normally over long before the hay was baled.

Thus the sight of grown men and women walking out on their team before the inevitable defeat really irked our friend from Nobber.

Rising to the bait and to his feet he stood up in front of some bemused Meath fans around him and shouted at the stewards, “Lock the gates, make the f**kers watch every minute of it like we had to watch them destroy us over the years.”

The call to close the gates met with laughter from those of a Royal persuasion around him, and it is still the stuff of bar room legend whenever the new generation of Meath players take to the field, as they will for the qualifiers next week.

Our man will be in Limerick for Colm Coyle’s make or break clash with Mickey Ned Sullivan’s team simply because his loyalty knows no bounds.

He has stood by Meath through thick and thin, when the whole country was Anyone But Meath, and when the knives were out for Boylan and his crew after more than one Croke Park shemozzle.

In a way he can understand why some Kerry people are so loyal to their fallen captain Paul Galvin right now as their season threatens to fall apart. That’s when happens when you follow your country with a passion –- those at the heart of the action can do no wrong in your eyes.

What our man can’t understand is why Kerry fans give up on their team so easily, why they wait for the All-Ireland to finally come out and show their colors.

Maybe it’s the fact, as he suggested when we chatted on Sunday night, that they are so used to All-Ireland glory, maybe they have been spoilt by so many September Sundays when they have left Croke Park with the Sam Maguire in tow.

They are passionate when they get down to it. The letters page of the Irish Voice proves that, and my good friend Liam Hayes has invoked their ire on the pages of The Sunday Tribune on more than one recent occasion.

But Kerry folk are also great ones for the blinkered outlook on life -– when they bother to turn up to follow their team, that is.

Just over 20,000 fans paid into Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday to witness a Lazarus style comeback from Cork as they came from eight points down and a man down to beat Kerry by a handful of points.

The majority of those fans were from Cork, and even with the terrible weather conditions it is easy to suggest that many Kerry fans had already decided to save their traveling money for the All-Ireland quarterfinals in August.

They can still get there of course. There was nothing on Sunday, not even in the second half collapse that saw them finish with 13 men and a defeat, to suggest that Kerry won’t walk their way through the qualifiers.

That’s not the point here, however. Those who have defended Paul Galvin stoutly since his act of stupidity against Clare must now stand up and ask themselves a very simple question -– did his act of petulance derail Kerry’s season?

No doubt his relations in Kerry and his supporters in the Bronx will be jumping up and down at that suggestion, seeing as how he wasn’t on the field on Leeside last Sunday and deliberately withdrew into the background in terms of his next appeal in the build-up to the game.

But the fact remains that all the talk about Kerry football this summer has been talk about Paul Galvin, the suspended Kerry footballer.

It has clearly taken a toll, a toll that was so evident when the champions of Ireland managed to blow an eight point lead and have two players sent off in the Munster final against a Cork that was lucky to see off Limerick in the semifinals.

Cork deserve nothing but praise for the manner in which they orchestrated Sunday’s incredible win, all the more incredible considering they had lost captain Graham Canty to injury and the influential Nicholas Murphy to a red card early in the second half.

But a lot of Kerrymen need to ask some serious questions on the complacency front right now, both those who blew the lead and those who stayed away from Cork in their thousands on Sunday.

Sometimes when you take things for granted, like an All-Ireland final, life has a habit of biting you in the face. Or slapping you in the notebook!

Is Scolari Hungry Enough?

THE summer holiday season is only up and running, but already the new English soccer season is up and running this side of the Atlantic.

Chelsea went back to work for pre-season training on Monday, and by the end of the week all the prima donnas of the Premiership will be sweating their little socks off.

It promises to be a fascinating few months ahead as the arrival of World Cup winner Phil Scolari as the new Chelsea boss adds an extra bite to proceedings.

Scolari is a bona fide winner. He is, after all, the man who once described second as “the first of the last places,” and that’s exactly what Chelsea need right now.

He will have lots of Roman Abramovich’s money at his disposal to turn things around at Stamford Bridge, with Deco and Boswinga already on board and a lot of talk of a move for the great Brazilian Kaka.

Scolari’s biggest headache won’t be inside the West London dressing room however. His biggest problem is one that has proven too much for many a manager in the recent past.

Alex Ferguson, even as he approaches 70, is still the hungriest manager in the game and proved it by winning the Champions League and the Premier League last season.

How Scolari copes with his competition will determine who wins and who loses the English title in what promises to be a spectacular season.

HERO Of the Week

CONOR Counihan is only a wet week in charge of Cork and had to survive a near public lynching when his team scraped past Limerick in the Munster semifinal, so you can imagine how he felt when his side were eight points down to Kerry as they went into the dressingroom at halftime on Sunday. Whatever he said and whatever tactical switches Counihan made were pure genius as Cork pulled off an heroic comeback to dethrone the All-Ireland champions.

IDIOT Of the Week

THE Dublin defender Colin Moran is to appeal against a four week ban imposed essentially after The Sunday Game on RTE highlighted his very illegal tackle on Westmeath youngster Dermot Bannon in the recent Leinster SFC. Moran and his supporters are protesting his innocence and want him cleared for the Leinster final against Wexford, but they really should have another look at the video evidence and accept his punishment. After all, this is the GAA’s summer of zero tolerance.

Sideline Views

SOCCER: Some old habits are still finding it hard to die. The famous Belfast club Donegal Celtic will play their namesakes from Glasgow in Belfast in a pre-season friendly later this month, but Casement Park with its 30,000 capacity is unavailable as the recent change to Rule 42 only allows soccer to be paid at Croke Park, and for big money rent of course.

GAA: Worrying times for the bean counters in Croke Park. Only 18,000 fans turned up for the Leinster hurling final between Kilkenny and Wexford last Sunday, and only 22,000 paid to watch Cork beat Kerry in a fascinating Munster SFC final. Revenue is down this summer, no matter how they try to color the figures and paint a positive outlook.

GOLF: Good job Darren Clarke had already missed the cut by the time he was disqualified from the European Open outside London on Friday evening for returning an incorrect card -– signed by his good buddy Padraig Harrington! Ouch.

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