Exciting Sam final promised

We know the legal saying that possession is nine/tenths of the law, but in Gaelic football it seems that it’s ten, especially in men’s football. Basically, the man in possession holds on to the ball until he can pass to an unmarked colleague and that continues until a player feels he is in a good position to kick or punch a point. 

Gaelic football has been a hard watch in 2024, but the novel pairing of Armagh and Galway in next Sunday’s All-Ireland football final could turn out to be an exciting game. With favorites Dublin and Kerry out of the running we are going to see an unfamiliar face on the steps of the Hogan Stand on Sunday evening accepting the Sam Maguire Cup. 

Galway has a great football tradition and this will be their 24th final appearance. They are third in the Sam Maguire roll of honour with nine wins, admittedly a long way behind Kerry with 38 and Dublin with 31 wins. Armagh won Sam for the first and only time in 2002 when current manager Kieran McGeeney was captain. The Orchard county’s first final appearance was in 1955 when one of the Kerry players ran alongside Armagh’s penalty taker Bill McCorry and put him off his kick. They lost again in 1977 when Dublin were their opponents and their last final appearance was in 2003 when they lost an all-Ulster final to Tyrone. Galway manager Padraig Joyce was on the last two Galway winning teams, lining out at full forward in 1998 when Galway beat Kildare and three years later Joyce also wore the number 14 jersey when the Tribesmen beat Meath. So either Joyce or McGeeney will join the select group who have won All-Ireland football finals as a player and manager.

 After losing a few penalty shoot-outs in Croke Park in big games, Armagh showed great composure when putting Kerry away in extra time in their semi-final. There are no super stars in the Armagh team, just a team of talented footballers. Galway’s game against Donegal was all about possession and they won because they had players who could pick points from 30 yards out. Meanwhile Galway do have a real star in Shane Walsh, but he has struggled with injuries this year. Walsh has only played the full 70 minutes in three of Galway’s nine championship games this season  At times it has looked Walsh has been hampered by a groin injury that ruled him out of much of the National League. But Galway are not totally dependant on the man who plays his club football with Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin and I think they should win their 10th final on Sunday.

CASEMENT LATEST

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn admitted last week that rebuilding Casement Park in time for Euro 2028 will be really difficult. The derelict west Belfast ground has been earmarked to host five matches in the football tournament being played in the UK and Ireland. However, the funding required to rebuild the stadium in time for the tournament is not in place, prompting concerns that the delays will see Belfast missing out. 

Speaking to reporters in Derry last week, Benn said: ‘‘Time is running out and there is a big gap between the funding that has been committed and the funding that is needed. The fundamental issue is as follows, there is an executive commitment to build Casement Park notwithstanding, the question is, can it be built to the specs required by UEFA in time for the Euros? Given that UEFA has said for all stadia need to be ready the year before the matches kick off. That is June of 2027 and that is really, really difficult, whether there is any flexibility on the part of UEFA we will have to see.’’

KENNY SIGNS

ELBOUZEDI
  Stephen Kenny returns to European club football tomorrow evening when St Parick’s Athletic play FC Vaduz at Inchicore in the first leg of the Conference League. Kenny, who tasted much success in Europe when he was Dundalk manager, has been busy in the transfer market and last week he signed former Irish under-21 international Zach Elbouzedi from Swedish club AIK. The 36-year-old Dubliner played for Malahide United before joining West Brom in 2014, and while he did have a spell in Ireland on loan to Waterford in 2019, he has now decided to return to his home city for a fresh star, having spent the second half of last season on loan with English League Two Swindon Town.

Also former Irish international Greg Cunningham has joined Galway United. The 33-year-old defender left local Galway club Mervue United to join Manchester City when he was 16 and spent 17 years in English football where he made over 350 appearance for Man City, Bristol City, Cardiff City and most recently Preston North End. He was capped four Irish senior caps when Trapattoni was manager. 

WHY KINGDOM FAILED

TO CATCH FIRE: EX-STAR

Former Kerry footballer and later manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice, who works as an analyst for RTE, has given a good assessment of why his home county failed to reach the All-Ireland final this year. He said: ‘‘Kerry never looked like All-Ireland champions elect this year. A team that wins an All-Ireland, as a season goes on, you can see the ingredients. When you look back, you can see the telltale signs. In Kerry, we kept expecting them to catch fire. I think when the draw for the Round Robin group stages was made, we were a bit disappointed, as they were going to win those games and there wasn’t going to be a challenge there. I looked back at the quarter-final win over Derry. On the second viewing, Derry were actually wrecked. At the time, I was so distracted by the quality of the game, I didn’t appreciate how drained Derry were. I know from being on the inside, if you are trying to win an All-Ireland, you much prefer a route where you are tested week in, week out. You just don’t get to replicate those type of games and those type of scenarios in training. So, Kerry were probably the opposite of battle-hardened. That showed as the game went on. I thought in extra-time, Kerry flagged a bit physically in the end. Armagh looked to have all of the energy.’’

NEW MEATH

TIME FRAME

Noel Dempsey, Chairman of the Pairc Tailteann Liaison Committee, gave an update at recent Meath Co Board meeting on the Pairc Tailteann development with the stark message that the project would commence whenever they had the money. However the former T.D. said he expected that the development would start in 2025. It was originally scheduled for the second quarter of 2024, with an 18-month construction period and now should be finished in 2027. 

DEVLIN BACK

WITH LOUTH

Gavin Devlin is returning to Louth GAA as their director of underage football. Devlin was coach for the senior footballers for three seasons during Mickey Harte’s tenure. Both men left for Derry, where they won the National League with a penalty shoot-out win over Dublin back in March. After a poor championship campaign, Harte quit two weeks back. 

RAY REARDON, 91

Six-time world snooker champion Ray Reardon died last week at the age of 91. Reardon was born in 1932 in the coal mining community of Tredegar Monmouthshire, Wales. He was the first player to be ranked “number one” when the  rankings were introduced during the 1976-77 season, a position that he held for the next five years. Reardon turned down a place at a grammar school to become a miner at Ty Trist Colliery. He wore white gloves while mining to protect his hands for snooker. After a rockfall in which he was buried for three hours, Reardon quit mining and became a police officer in 1960 when his family moved to Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Nicknamed “Dracula,” he retired in 1991.