Four things we learned...
We don’t respect our guests
Can you imagine inviting a man into your home to do a job for you and treating him in such a manner that he requires a Garda escort out of the place by the end of it? No? Well we can’t either.
Fergal Horgan came to Tralee last Sunday afternoon as a guest of the Kerry hurling fraternity. He didn’t have to come, no referee from outside the county is obliged to ref the Kerry County Final. Most counties can look after their own affairs, but Kerry hurling is different and, after what happened to him at the full-time whistle, Horgan understands that all too well now.
If you’re a Kerry hurling person what happened after the full-time whistle should embarrass you. Here you had one of the top refs in the country – he took charge of the 2017 All Ireland hurling final – being escorted from the pitch by the police due to concerns for his safety. Whether or not you think he did the right thing at the end – and we happen to think he did – is utterly irrelevant. This is not how you behave. This is not how your treat guests.
For the second time in five years a county hurling final leaves a sour taste in the mouth and generates national headlines for all the wrong reasons. It’s time for people to reflect on that, otherwise who in the right mind would come from outside the county to take charge of our big games?
Conway is the real deal
Yeah we pretty much knew this already, but when a guy does it in a county final in the manner in which Shane Conway did on Sunday afternoon it moves him from the rank of contender to that of bona fide star.
Conway is the best young talent we’ve seen in the Kingdom in the best part of the last decade if not longer. He’s outrageously skilful – the point he pucked on sixty minutes when he twice soloed the ball off his hurl was stunning – but more than that he’s a player with brilliant vision and anticipation.
He’s also remarkably resilient. He took a couple of pretty hefty belts during the game. Joe McElligott caught him high early enough in the second half and he got up pretty much straight way and pointed the free himself to give his team a six point lead.
And the best thing of all about Conway? He’s only going to get better.
Kilmoyley’s options shrink
It seemed as though Kilmoyley had finally overcome their over reliance upon Daniel Collins for scores. In the semi-final victory over Ballyduff they had five scoring forwards – Joe McElligott scored five points from play and Jordan Brick four for instance. It was the main reason we felt they stood a better chance of winning this final than Lixnaw did who relied heavily upon Shane Conway.
Lixnaw’s reliance upon Conway remained undiminished, but Kilmoyley’s range of options shrunk dramatically. Outside of Collins, Kilmoyley only had two forwards on the scoreboard – a point for McElligott and a goal for Maurice O’Connor (assist Brick). Lixnaw’s defence did a great job, but nevertheless it was a disappointing return for Kilmoyley given how they performed against Crotta O’Neills and Ballyduff in the latter stages of the competition.
Final was probably a little too early
Three thousand people is a pretty respectable crowd, but the old ground wasn’t exactly heaving either for this year’s county final. It’s felt to us over the course of this championship that it didn’t catch the public imagination the way it did in previous years. It’s possibly the case that given the time of year – not to mention the visit of the Bishop of Rome to the capital last weekend – that people simply didn’t have the time or the opportunity to make their way to Stack Park for the big day. It didn’t quite have the same atmosphere either as other finals this decade despite a rousing finish.