Congratulations to Kerry

21st Sep 2009

Congratulations to Kerry
Cork 1-09 Kerry 0-16

They're not the Munster Champions but strangely they are the All-Ireland champions beating Cork by four points in Croke Park in a frustrating encounter.

The. Amount. Of. Wides. Jesus.

Frustration for Cork football fans can be intense and the general public can't be condemned for being cautious about their love for football at times. Like the old doll that might do a runner on you, the less love you commit the less intense the broken heart (and the grade spent trying to woo her!) when she dumps you.

Groundhog days. Kerry in the Pairc. No bother. Kerry in Killarney. Always do-able. Kerry in Croke Park. Never.

Can we get the All-Ireland final moved here? For Frank Murphy's retirement celebrations?

We beat last year's champions and runners-up in the same season and they always get a second swing - or a third bash as this season went.

Of course there's more to it than that. Kerry do the cute hoor thing well. They peak in late summer and September.

How do you deal with it? Everyone is different. Some shake their heads and walk away. Some lash out at the players or coach with stupid and brash statements. He's useless. He shouldn't be near the team. What are they doing? They haven't a clue.

Some try to reason it out.

Why did we keep knocking balls into midfield in the last twenty minutes of the first half when Kerry kept winning the ball over and over again? Aghhh!

What happened the occasional go-short trickery that kept Tyrone guessing? Was Pearse O'Neill even playing?

That's for the long winter debates whilst standing around in the cold and rain desperately trying to fend off the latest County Board power play. Meh. Anyway Kerry were good enough.

Tadgh Kennelly's achievement is remarkable and not just his ability to get away with elbowing Cork players in the face right in front of the referee. His improvement over the year was remarkable.

From some laughable incidents with the new 'roundy ball' earlier in the year to successfully neutralising Cork's captain Graham Canty who was unable to exert influence on the final.

It all sounds very familiar. Cork out-Tyrone'd Tyrone in the semi-final but Kerry out-Tyrone'd Cork. After their first half burst they sat back guessing that Cork probably couldn't score from 40 metres. They also guessed that Cork would panic shoot when the half-backs couldn't get lift-off. Just like Cork did to Tyrone.

The montages on the Sunday Game that show Cork's fourteen wides are heart breaking especially when one remembers the record breaking twenty-seven points against Donegal and the ludicrous angles and distances from which they were dispatched.

Kerry didn't even look that great. But either did we and you only have to be better on the day. Kerry were there for the taking and they weren't taken. Bags of possession, huge men, skilful players - we even had the Tyrone's blood on our jerseys. But those wides. Jesus Christ almighty, those wides.

There are positives though as always and more positives than those we walked away from Semple Stadium with in early July.

Next year Cork's footballers will immerse themselves in tough battles with their new Division One partners. Learning to grind out a win will teach those Cork players some hard earned lessons: be cuter, keep your head up and don't panic. Easy for us to say.

Other lessons might cross their minds too. Smash somebody in the jaw with your elbow at the throw-in and you'll probably get away with it (and everyone will still talk about how sporting you are).

Get trounced in your provincial championship, scrape by a few West of Ireland minnows and you can still win an All-Ireland. Cork might even ponder taking the backdoor route - seems to work for Kerry - and Limerick would love a Munster title. Yerra…

Dithering with teams like Monaghan and Fermanagh in Division Two that rarely see any action beyond early July isn't sufficiently hardening. Cork will have to learn how to grind out a game against tougher opposition than Limerick in Pairc Úi Chaoimh, blood some new players and nurture budding young forwards like Colm O'Neill. There's no option but to drive on.

Kerry lost a final last year and won one this year. We lost one this year. Who knows.

And so we'll amble down to South Mall tonight with weighty frustration to sigh hip-hip hooray for 2010 and watch the bowed heads file away from the platform. We had some great days out this year especially that one against Tyrone in the sun and even though the frustration of losing another All-Ireland to our neighbours is often excruciating we were tantalizingly close which is far from what the fans of other 30 counties have been treated to.

Form all Cork fans, thanks to all our footballers and hurlers, as well as their coaches and mentors for another enjoyable and entertaining year.

Rebels Abú.