Friday, September 12, 2008

Only a Kerryman


Is this the first All-Ireland since the introduction of the backdoor system where none of the provincial winners will be represented? After a tough days work am too lazy to look it up so maybe some Jimmy Magee out there will inform me...

What's the point in winning the provincial championship, if you're not Sligo? Padraig Joyce's suggestion that the winners of the provincial championship get a home quarter-final draw should be looked at. But then how do the provincial winners get a home draw when they kick up a stink when they're not scheduled to play in Croke Park for the quarter-final? Only in the GAA.

Whatever the merits of the current system, there's nothing like a Kerryman to put things in perspective. Or maybe not. The Kerryman, the newspaper that is, reckons, that unlike in 2005, when they were defeated by Tyrone in the final, this year the team is well prepared. Why?Because...wait for it...in 2005 poor auld Kerry only had five games to "hone" their preparation in comparison to Tyrone's nine. Whereas this year they've had six while Tyrone have played seven. So, that's much fairer altogether that is. 

Would Kerry have won 35 All-Ireland's getting out of Ulster every year? 

Whatever you do, don't ask a Kerryman!

4 comments:

deiseach said...

"Would Kerry have won 35 All-Ireland's getting out of Ulster every year? "

As someone who can't stand Kerry fans and their putrid sense of entitlement, my answer to that question would be 'Yes, or near enough as makes no difference'. Between 1915 and 1955 Cavan won 30 out of 41 Ulster championship. In that same period, Kerry won 29 Munster titles. Yet while Cavan won only five All-Ireland's, Kerry won thirteen. The competitiveness of the Ulster championship is a relatively recent phenomenon, and I would bargain that if you switched Kerry with Cavan, that competitiveness would never have come about in the first place

Anonymous said...

Hi Ronan, just read your piece now. You're right, of course - this year was the first final where both teams in it had failed to win their respective Provincial finals.

All the best

WJ

ronanmul said...

Thanks Deiseach. A point well made!

ronanmul said...

Thanks Willie Joe. Glad to see you still pop by from time to time. I haven't had much of that myself lately so haven't been blogging. Meath's performance this summer certainly didn't provide me with anything to blog about!