Fine win for Roscommon in Killarney.
It was a long but very worthwhile trip to Killarney on
Sunday last. Even the rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of the large Roscommon
travelling support. Many supporters had gone on the Saturday and I was told
that the atmosphere and welcome was top of the range on the Saturday night in
Killarney. The long stand at Fitzgerald stadium accommodated all the 4 to 5
thousand supporters so no ‘trickle down’…. the neck effect here.
Kerry started better and for the opening ten minutes things
looked a bit threatening . Then on ten minutes Enda Smith after a good run
pointed and Roscommon kept the score-board ticking over, as they say, with
several great scores from Cathal Cregg (2 points), Murtagh, Devaney, Fintan
Cregg and Connolly to reach the 28th minute 8 to 3 in the lead.
Kerry came with a late surge which included a goal to leave the half-time score
Kerry 1.6 Roscommon 0.8. Roscommon had been playing with the wind and Buckley
and Moran were on top at midfield for them so they looked in pole position at
that stage. However the mobility, fitness and work rate of all the
Roscommon players stifled Kerry in the second half and even against the
wind Roscommon outscored Kerry to win on the score of Roscommon 0.14 Kerry
1.10. Two more excellent Cathal Cregg points were amongst the highlights of
this half as was the dogged rear-guard action of the final minutes.
All the Roscommon players played well with a lot having
outstanding games including Cathal and Fintan Cregg and Conor Devaney up front,
the full back line of Seanie McDermott, Neil Collins,Niall McInerney and
particularly Niall Daly at centre-back. The TG4 ‘Man of the Match’ award went
to Enda Smith who posed a real threat when driving forward in possession. The
substitutes Cathal Shine and Seanie Purcell also made vital contributions. It
was great to see Enda getting ‘Man of the Match’ and to see Seanie Purcell
coming on to such affect.
One of the real bonuses of being in division one is that
many of the games are covered by TG4 and one can record them when at the game
and review them on television at one’s leisure later. Also the coverage on the
national newspapers is good and it was nice to see the top ‘strap’ of Monday’s
Independent front page picturing Roscommon players celebrating and the banner
headline reading “Roscommon win leaves Kerry in a spin.”
So well done to the team and all involved with them for this
spirited performance.
The next match is against Cork, in Cork, in two weeks’ time.
Cork had a convincing win against Mayo in their first game but went down well
to an impressive Donegal on Sunday continuing a thing with Cork teams, their
inconsistency.
O’Rourke Cup Division One League
Next Sunday the senior club league begins in Roscommon and
Boyle make the long journey to play Padraig Parse’s at Woodmount for 2 p.m.
Boyle have prepared well under their manager Ml. Jordan and assistants and a
good start is half the battle but there are no easy games at his level so every
game is vital. In this way it mirrors the county’s position.
GAA Errata
The decision of the GAA at high levels to fine Longford club
Dromard €3,000 later reduced to €2,000 for allowing the club ground to be used
for a soccer summer school has been widely criticised. I know the arguments but
if the GAA were to avoid much bad press on the issue they might have issued a
stern warning to the club regarding a repeat and leave it at that. €2,000 down
the drain is a large amount for a small club for which, like all clubs, the
burden of fund-raising is a constant chore. Croke Park is constantly on the
airwaves at the moment for the promotion of two Bruce Springsteen concerts in
May. Now I regard Bruce highly but he is not Gaelic sport. Many events other
than Gaelic games have taken place in GAA grounds and Croke Park itself did facilitate
rugby and soccer only a short time ago. In small towns the duplication of
facilities means that what could be very good facilities are divided by two
with another code down the road.
The death of Mayo’s Father Peter Quinn.
For Mayo GAA followers their dual All-Ireland winning team
of ’50 and ’51 are the benchmark heroes for them as the Roscommon team of
‘43/’44 are for us. The names of that Mayo team are known far and wide. The ’51
Mayo team was as follows; S. Wynne/J. Forde/ P. Prendergast/ S. Flanagan
(Capt.)/ J. Staunton/ H. Dixon/ Fr. Peter Quinn/ E. Mongey/ J. McAndrew/ P.
Irwin/ P. Carney/ S. Mulderrig/ M. Flanagan/ T. Langan/ J. Gilvarry with L.
Hastings. (those on in 1950 team not listed above were W. Durkin, goals/ W.
Kenny/ P. Solon/ M. Mulderrig/ M. Caulfield). In the ’50 final they defeated
Louth by 2.7 to 1.6 and in ’51 they defeated Meath by the score of Mayo 2.8
Meath 0.9.That Mayo team won four Connacht titles in a row. With the death of
Peter Quinn aged 91 and recently based in Florida, there are now just two
members living of that great team who are Paddy Prendergast who lives in Kerry
and Paraic Carney ‘the flying doctor’ which appendage he got because he flew
home from the U.S. for some games. Father Quinn was ordained ‘for the missions’
shortly after those All-Ireland victories and the team presented him with a
signed football used in the final prior to his departure.
Just for your information there are two of the Roscommon
all-Ireland winning team of ’44 still with us. Liam Gilmartin now approaching
95 is still hale and hearty and lives in Dublin and the ‘forgotten man’ Paddy
Beisty who was a young substitute in ’44 and lives in Rathcroghan and
will be ninety in March.
Liverpool Fans and ticket Prices
Apparently ticket prices for premiership games are very
high or at least the cost of decent tickets are. I haven’t been to a
premiership equivalent game for decades. I went to White Hart Lane, Stamford
Bridge and Loftus Road in the sixties. I don’t remember the prices from then!
In any event in Monday’s Independent there is a picture of a large crowd of
Liverpool fans leaving the grounds in protest at the prices in the 77th
minute. The 77 was chosen to coincide with a new price of £77 for particular
tickets. At the time Liverpool led Sunderland by 2 goals to nil but ironically
Sunderland levelled with two late goals. In an attendant article the greed of
various branches of the football hierarchy were referenced, from players with
obscene wages to agents, to Gordon Taylor PFA Chairman getting wages of over
£3million. Much of this is on foot of the huge money that T.V. pay for the
rights to screen the games which necessitates ‘pay per view’. It is all a long
way from the flat capped traditional working class supporters who populated the
Kop end, in decades past.
Rugby
I did not see the Ireland v Wales game on television on
Sunday. The interest in rugby, despite the huge coverage of the games in
newspapers and television, is in a hiatus as I see it. The shock of the
performances of the Northern Hemisphere in the Rugby World Cup last summer plus
the fact that no Irish province has qualified for the Heineken Cup play-offs
will take some time to recover from. The Irish coach Joe Schmidt is no longer
the messiah he was spoken of prior to the World Cup. The image of Paul
O’Connell being carried off after getting injured against France is kinda
symbolic of the closure of a great era for the game in this country. It will be
difficult to replicate those years of success and expectation in Northern
hemisphere rugby.
The Save Roscommon Issue
Things have gone quiet on this front in the last week or so
after the great response of over 25,000 submissions being advanced to the
Review Commission. However an interesting development which will be given close
attention by the campaign’s leadership is reported on page 7 of the Roscommon
People this week. It reports that there is similar resistance to the same
proposal by south Kilkenny to the expansion of Waterford City at their expense.
There however they are going to the High Court contesting the issue. The case
result will have implications for all four areas affected by the same proposal.
It may not be the current Minister Alan Kelly’s bother then with a new
Government and Mister Kelly himself reported to be in a fight for the last seat
in Tipperary.
Shane Curran Joins the Race
The addition of Shane Curran to the list of candidates in
the Roscommon/East Galway constituency has certainly put a cat amongst the
pigeons. It is understandable that Eugene Murphy is annoyed but the Dublin
hierarchy obviously felt that they needed to bolster their chances of a seat by
adding a higher profile candidate in Curran. How this plays out is a real
conundrum. How the first count goes will be hugely important. It is expected
that Dennis Naughten and Ml. Fitzmaurice are certain to win seats though they
would dislike that being said right now. Curran will shave some votes of course
from both candidates probably more from Naughten because of location. Many
people feel that it is Maura Hopkins’s seat to lose and that she is the
favourite for the third seat having really got around the county since coming
into politics in the county. Fianna Fail’s prevarication for so long in their
team selection hasn’t helped them and now the addition of Curran does not help
their campaign atmosphere. But as the old phrase goes ‘we are where we are’ and
it would be in the interests of the Fianna Fail candidates to mend bridges for
the purpose of the campaign. The Roscommon People on page 23 has its ‘Quote of
the Week’ as a stray in the wind from Eugene Murphy as follows; ‘If Shane
Curran can transfer to me and get me over the line I would be very, very,
happy.’
Also the advent of Shane Curran has reduced the light thrown
on the other candidates for the time being at least. I imagine that Senator
John Kelly, Sinn Fein’s Claire Kerrane and the other candidates feel that is
the case. There are suggestions that Claire Kerrane will do well but is perhaps
a candidate for the future if Sinn Fein develop in the constituency.
Eddie Conroy will get a good Boyle vote for a start and hope to build on
that. Anne Farrell and Miriam Hennessy have a lot to do to establish
identification especially outside their own zones of recognition. Like
many of the constituencies the count for Roscommon/East Galway will be
fascinating.
Fine Gael-------------------------- Maura Hopkins
Fianna Fáil----------------------- Eugene Murphy, Shane Curran
Sinn Féin ----------------------- Claire Kerrane
Labour Party --------------------John Kelly
Social Democrats ------Anti-Austerity Alliance
People Before Profit-----------Eddie Conroy
Green Party----------------------Miriam Hennessy
Independents/ Others-------Michael Fitzmaurice, Denis Naughten
Renua Ireland ------------------Anne Farrell
I see from the Roscommon People page 32 that another person
has put their name forward as an Independent community candidate named Thomas
D. Fallon originally from Kiltoom and now resident in Tulsk.
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