Leinster Finals

[sLiM Dedalus]

The following is an article I've written for Dublin GAA fanzine Blue and Navy. It is also included on An Fear Rua (link below)
http://www.anfearrua.com/story.asp?id=2901

All comments/ feedback appreciated.

There’s nothing quite like supporting your own

by Ciarán Priestly, from the Dublin fanzine 'Blue and Navy'

Each province in Ireland has its own distinctions, identity and oddities. Every county has the neighbour they love to beat, the one to offer a begrudging “good luck” to when you fail to do so. Provincial loyalties are less obvious and a little harder to define than that of the county. They exist nonetheless. As Dubliners, this camaraderie can often be a little difficult to notice. The hatred of us seems to hold Meath, Kildare and Laois together in some tentative triple entente that other counties sometimes buy into. Rarely Westmeath though – they seem to hate Meath more than we do.

As western cultures go, we Irish tend to be a tribal lot. It’s hardly surprising that our most popular spectator sports insist on a very definite alignment with place and identity - one county, one team. It’s a simple logic. An Irishman is guaranteed to have a comprehensive and skewered knowledge of his people, regardless of the flag he files. A Clareman may live in Dublin for all but eighteen years of his life, but there’s no doubting where his allegiance lies. We all afford respect to the man who never forgot where he came from. James Joyce, that self imposed exile, declared near the end of his life “When I die, Dublin will be written in my heart”. Rory Gallagher remained a Donegal man in Cork all his life, despite how much he loved his adopted county.

Our hurlers and our footballers have both made it to Leinster finals in 2009. Regardless of circumstances, it’s a proud achievement to be enjoyed. Due to competition structures, the county will contest the final eight in both codes. The jury is still out on whether the prestige of the provincial championship has been compromised due to the back door system. All Ireland success is still the ultimate aim of the bigger counties. Tyrone’s recent record in Ulster still suggests that preparation for September takes precedent. Nothing Mickey Harte does is by accident. Dublin’s recent success in Leinster has not yet yielded what the county seeks, but it would be hard to give up nonetheless.

In the glory days of the Railway Cup, St. Patrick’s day at Croke Park was the ultimate expression of provincial loyalties as the best players in the country contested football and hurling at the highest achievable level. Legends abound of Christy Ring and the contests of the fifties and sixties. Consigned to memory and without the benefit of replay and rerun, the myth of these contests will neither be proven nor discredited. On the 2nd May 2009, an exceptional tribute to those endeavours was paid by the rugby squads of Leinster and Munster. Like any good sportsmen, those players eyed little more than the job at hand (or Alan Quinlan’s finger!). In doing so with such ferocity and passion, they bridged a gap in the sporting history of Croke Park that will serve as a means of understanding for generations to come. A Munster man? A peculiar mix of Kerry arrogance, Cork deference and Limerick menace.

Many have questioned the pace at which Munster Rugby, and in turn Leinster, have captured the popular imagination of their respective populations. Could this have been because our ancient provincial loyalties had no current popular expression? Communities and individuals with no previous connection to the clubs have since become entrenched in the culture of Magners League and Heineken Cup. The sight of adult and juvenile teams around St. Peregrines clubhouse wearing Leinster sports gear and kitbags with such comfortable subtlety has been mirrored in working class areas across Dublin.

Leinster Rugby has worked hard to entice new converts to the cause and a trip down to the RDS on a Friday night reveals the relative success of these efforts. The north stand, in particular, is full of GAA club and Dubs jackets and hats taking in their home province’s games on their own terms. Watching Rob Kearney’s kicking style at full back for Leinster, it’s impossible not to notice that he played minor football for Louth. Shane Horgan’s try for Ireland in 2007 used every bit of GAA skill in a Meath man’s capability to combine history and sport in its full eloquence, poignancy and power. Luke Fitzgerald recognised his roots at St. Olaf’s C.L.G. when he sported a blue and navy flag while celebrating success on the Edinburgh pitch.

Sport, at its best, captures the popular imagination through a combination of skill and circumstance. At the forefront of rugby’s unique appeal is its ability to unite - province and country. Ballymun and Ballymena celebrated the grand slam. That’s no mean feat. Those that like to accuse the “bandwagon” might do well to remember that much of our attention is diverted to other cities and clubs every Saturday in winter. For a country of communities so supposedly proud of their own identity, Saturday mornings at Dublin airport and Belfast ferry ports should be taken into consideration.

I was fortunate enough to have the privilege to train as a secondary school teacher in Liverpool. Every fortnight I attended home matches at Anfield, with the odd game at Goodison and a mate from Derry who drove down to Old Trafford to watch Manchester United. The joy of watching Liverpool beat Chelsea in the FA Cup semi final was a tinged with a realisation that I was a tourist. A year trying to teach French to the good pupils of Savio in Bootle and St Eddie’s of Prescot gives you a good grounding in the city. A classroom full of Finnegans, Kearneys, Liams and Seans leaves you with enough questions to ask afterwards. Your sport should reflect where you come from – that’s what they taught me.

A Shamrock Rovers fan should be respected for their dedication to a club that’s only survived on handouts. For all my years supporting Bohs, I’ve always wondered how they took such pride in being homeless. Tallaght is a step up, I suppose. Still though, it’ll be a while before they seal the league in the last minute up in Drogheda, with two of your brothers on the road trip. I was proud to sit beside a Meath woman and watch our home province win a European trophy at Murrayfield. I dare not speculate on how Dublin’s hurlers and footballers may fare in 2009, but above all else - there’s nothing quite like supporting your own.

[Grumpy Old Man]

An excellent article. Well done.

[gfo]

Dublin don't look strong enough to win the Sam by any means. They limped by, and were totally outclassed by Kildares passing. I can see them being demolished by a top tier team

[Avenger]

Dublin don't look strong enough to win the Sam by any means. They limped by, and were totally outclassed by Kildares passing. I can see them being demolished by a top tier team

Not so sure. The game was on the line and they were a man down and still had enough to pull away and get the win. The only team that you could say looks great in every match (so far) is Tyrone.
Even getting to a final would be progress for Dublin. Its an experience 95% of their squad doesn't have yet.

[gfo]

True that, they need to work on their defensive game though. And the over-dependance on Bernard Brogan is a liability. I just hope the match highlights their weaknesses to them and they can work on them

[thecoolfreak]

Dublin don't look strong enough to win the Sam by any means. They limped by, and were totally outclassed by Kildares passing. I can see them being demolished by a top tier team

Really can't agree with that. Dublin aren't too far off Tyrone this year. We look a lot stronger than Cork and Kerry. Losing your centre half back so early is a massive blow. Centre half is probably the most influencial position on the pitch. Dublin played very well yesterday and for a team down to 14 men defended as well as I've seen in years and years. Paul Flynn was brilliant, the amount of work he puts in is unbelievable. You mention in a later post that there is an over dependence on B Brogan. Don't really see that as being the case, the whole of the full forward line is contributing as is Alan Brogan, while the wing backs, particularly Cahill, are chipping in with a nice few scores.

[gfo]

Alan Brogan wasn't really in the game at all I thought. Stupid mistake on Ger Brennans half, throwing digs when he thought no one was looking though, deserved to be off.

[thecoolfreak]

Alan Brogan wasn't really in the game at all I thought. Stupid mistake on Ger Brennans half, throwing digs when he thought no one was looking though, deserved to be off.

What about his beautiful pass for Sherlock's goal and he also scored two points. While he hasn't been as prolific as Brogan jnr, he's been ticking along nicely

[gfo]

He's usually a savage player, but I didn't think he was in the game enough in the final. I'm still waiting for the 2 brogan cousins to start playing though

[tones]

Dublin don't look strong enough to win the Sam by any means. They limped by, and were totally outclassed by Kildares passing. I can see them being demolished by a top tier team

Not so sure. The game was on the line and they were a man down and still had enough to pull away and get the win. The only team that you could say looks great in every match (so far) is Tyrone.
Even getting to a final would be progress for Dublin. Its an experience 95% of their squad doesn't have yet.

Balanced post. After the Westmeath match I was thinking Dublin would eb in trouble because they were running easily away with it and that, in the past, has gone to their heads and not given adequate preparation.
They beat a Kildare team, with a man down for the majority of the game, who were meant to give them a serious challenge with some pundits, (hoping), predicting Kildare woudl win.
Its the best prep they could have asked for and in the second half their defence coped very well. Do take the point that the forwards need to work harder in being the first line of defence. But certainly something to build on.

[thecoolfreak]

Dublin don't look strong enough to win the Sam by any means. They limped by, and were totally outclassed by Kildares passing. I can see them being demolished by a top tier team

Not so sure. The game was on the line and they were a man down and still had enough to pull away and get the win. The only team that you could say looks great in every match (so far) is Tyrone.
Even getting to a final would be progress for Dublin. Its an experience 95% of their squad doesn't have yet.

Balanced post. After the Westmeath match I was thinking Dublin would eb in trouble because they were running easily away with it and that, in the past, has gone to their heads and not given adequate preparation.
They beat a Kildare team, with a man down for the majority of the game, who were meant to give them a serious challenge with some pundits, (hoping), predicting Kildare woudl win.
Its the best prep they could have asked for and in the second half their defence coped very well. Do take the point that the forwards need to work harder in being the first line of defence. But certainly something to build on.

That is what impressed me most about the second half display at the weekend, the forwards did a huge amount of work in defence. Hopefully we'll see that continue on into the rest of the championship

[gfo]

jesus, yeah, last year the overconfidence was unbearable, especially from some fans. oh we'll just have to beat this Tyrone team so we can play Kerry in the finals. Well that all changed in 70 minutes.

Some Leinster fans were the same before the Quins match

[tones]

jesus, yeah, last year the overconfidence was unbearable, especially from some fans. oh we'll just have to beat this Tyrone team so we can play Kerry in the finals. Well that all changed in 70 minutes.

Some Leinster fans were the same before the Quins match

Really?? Don't remember that. Remember people saying we play to our ability then we've enough to get through but that was about it.

[gfo]

not on this forum, but i know plenty of people who took Leinsters victory over Quins as a given, completely incapable of believing we'd have trouble with a second tier english team

[tones]

not on this forum, but i know plenty of people who took Leinsters victory over Quins as a given, completely incapable of believing we'd have trouble with a second tier english team

Didn't hear it anywhere, or if I did, prob from ignorant tools so I didn't take note

[Armchair]

The Dubs bet a decent Kildare team and look on course for at least a semi final without to much fuss but I can't see past Cork this year. Cork & Dublin are the top 2 this year imo but they are also probably the 2 most disliked counties by all other supporters. I don't like either team but the size and ability of those Cork lads is unreal!