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Weekly Notes - 6th September 2006An acquaintance of mine, coming home from the All-Ireland final on the 'Dort' (southside phonetics!), was privy to an entertaining conversation involving some colour-bedecked Cork supporters and a couple of females of the Dublin 4 type. The ladies were perplexed by, what was to them, the sartorial eccentricity of the Corkmen and proved themselves to be totally oblivious of the major sporting event which had just taken place. One was intrigued by the exchanges of the company which were, in effect, a "dialogue of the deaf" between two Irish cultures which are as alien to each other as either is to any of the cultures which have come to the country with the recent wave of immigration. It would be of interest to know if these ladies are equally ignorant of all sports or whether it was that the G.A.A. message has failed to penetrate into the consciousness of the ABC end of town. Not surprising really. After all, in TV ads the washing powders are rarely called upon to restore the begrimed clothes of youthful hurlers and Gaelic players! And as for those radio and TV suburban mums in their SUVs, do they ever bring their kids to such games?Our Junior B's exit from the championship in Roundwood on Thursday was of the tame variety. Thursday' night's game contrasted greatly with that of the drawn encounter which had generated great excitement and had some outstanding individual Éire Óg performances. In the replay the efforts of many of the players were below par and one can think of only three which would merit greater than 5/10 rating: Lorcan Treanor in goals, making his first appearance for the team, brought off some "unbelievable" saves, Seán Horan, eventhough suffering from jet-lag, was his usual terrier-like self and Gary Doyle who has shown a massive improvement over the season played very well. Whence this less than satisfactory Éire Óg performance? Was it the inability of the team, accustomed as it is to the benign coastal climate, to cope with the harsh conditions (it was a most inclement night) which prevail at higher levels, or was it the absence of the steel required for championship success? Or the again, was it a lack of commitment to training which, besides its fitness benefits, helps to forge a team into a coherent unit? Whatever the cause, Laragh definitely had it over us in fitness and teamwork, and the surprise was that we kept the margin to 4 points. We played against the wind and rain in the first half and, thanks to a Jamie McDonald penalty, the same 4 points separated the teams at the interval, 1-5 to 1-1. However, as the final score attests, we were unable to derive any benefit from the elements in the second half. The u-14 footballers are away to Baltinglass to-night Wednesday in the final game of their section of the championship. A victory would give them a 100% success rate in the competition. Go n-eirí libh, a bhuachaillí! Our best wishes for a Mayo victory in the All-Ireland final go Rose Mary Mitchell and Des O'Reilly, and a begrudging congratulations to Brendan Cuddihy on Kilkenny's win. |
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