Gone are the days when Olympics was about sport
DUNDALK’S fairytale summer suffered a heavy blow with the final kick of the game last Wednesday night at the Aviva.
In front of a crowd in excess of 30,000, the League of Ireland champions didn’t look out of place at this level and looked more than capable of holding their own against their Polish counterparts.
As the game entered injury time Dundalk trailed Legia Warsaw by just a single goal (a dubious penalty award) and were still in the tie with the second leg to come. However, in the 93rd minute Legia doubled their lead when substitute Prijovic lifted the ball over the advancing Gary Rogers for their second goal which drained whatever optimism remained for the home fans. It was a cruel blow that Stephen Kenny’s side didn’t deserve after putting in a tremendous shift on the night.
It’s still possible for Dundalk to get a result in Poland this Tuesday night, but the odds of progression to the lucrative Champions League group stages are now firmly stacked in Legia’s favour.
Although it was a miserable night weather-wise, it was still nonetheless fantastic to see such a massive turnout to support the team. The generous pricing of tickets was an excellent call and it no doubt contributed to the large attendance.
In addition to the huge local support on the night, I recognised plenty of faces from other parts of the county who helped swell the crowd, including many GAA heads.
Dundalk don’t go to Poland without hope on Tuesday night, but after conceding two away goals it’s very difficult to see them getting the required result to progress.
Europa League football appears the more likely outcome and the list of possible group opponents is mouth-watering.
There are some big names in the hat for the draw on Friday at lunchtime, and wouldn’t it be wonderful to welcome a European powerhouse like Manchester United or Inter Milan to Dublin in the coming months.
Looking down through the list, everyone will have their own fancy for a mid-week European adventure. I can hardly wait. Tipperary’s fairytale came to an end as they also came up short, succumbing to a more battle-hardened and experienced Mayo outfit last weekend in the All-Ireland semi-final. An upset looked on the cards in the opening 25 minutes as Tipp out-muscled and out-fought a lethargic Mayo, but the westerners have been down this road many times before and a scoring spurt before half-time gave them a cushion which they enjoyed for the remainder of the game.
On the evidence of this performance Mayo will not trouble either Dublin or Kerry in the final, but after their dismal Connacht Championship exit to Galway in June they will be happy just to be €20 on Bernard Brogan to score the first goal in the Dublin v Kerry clash there. Mayo’s management team of Stephen Rochford and Tony McEntee have plenty to work on between now and the third Sunday in September.
The 2016 All-Ireland Football series has been very disappointing so far, probably the poorest I can remember. No game has stood out in my memory and the quality of the fare on offer has not enticed me to any fixture apart from those involving Louth.
Dublin and Kerry have an opportunity to change all that at the weekend, with another intriguing clash of this epic rivalry. However, I’m not entirely convinced the Kingdom have the resources to stand toe to toe with the Dubs and come out on top. If Eamon Fitzmaurice has a similar outlook then we can expect another dour encounter, with Kerry deploying 12 or 13 men behind the ball as they try to contain Dublin’s attack. The Olympics are over and the history books will register Ireland as the winner of two silver medals at Rio 2016, the O’Donovans in rowing and Annalise Murphy in sailing. But Irish folk are left with a bad taste in their mouths following these games.
It’s quite obvious now that Olympic Games are no longer about sport. Maybe it was once upon a time, but that time has long gone. The modern hyper commercialised version is rife with corruption and scandal and has subsumed what should be the pinnacle of human athletic achievement.
This was kind of obvious before the circus rolled into Rio, with the dark cloud of the Russian drugs scandal never lifting from this Olympiad. There were some glorious moments, but not enough to paper over the cracks. Ireland then somehow managed to insert itself in the middle of this infamy. A failed drugs test, two weeks of nightmare in the boxing ring and the Olympic Council of Ireland/ Pat Hickey ticket controversy has damaged the country’s reputation.
This money-swashing bandwagon moves to Tokyo in 2020 where little will have changed. The same golden circle will be in charge and meddling administrators will still triumph at the expense of the athletes. There is a darkness in the Olympics at the moment that may never lift, but athletes dreams’ have already begun and we’ll all probably be watching again in four years’ time. But without the modern day Olympic god that is Usain Bolt, I wonder where it will go?
Finally there were lots of Louth players in action across the pond last weekend in the Boston Championship semi-finals. Tommy Durnin, Brian Donnelly and Eoin O’Connor were part of the Donegal team that lost heavily to a Galway side which featured Meath’s Cillian O’Sullivan, while Paddy Keenan and Andy McDonnell starred for Wolfe Tones in their 3-17 to 1-8 win over Connemara Gaels. My Sideline Bet has had a disastrous summer so far, with no winners since the end of April. This week we hope for a change in form and go for an old reliable, Bernard Brogan at 5/1 to be Dublin’s first goal-scorer on Sunday.