Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Everything bar scoreline is just WHITE noise now..
THE GAA never ceases to amaze me.
The last time I remember an outcry similar to this was the Leinster final debacle in 2010.
But I’ve never seen anything like what’s happened since the third round qualifier draw on Monday morning, with the keyboard warriors, the do-gooders and genuine GAA supporters all weighing in.
The bandwagon jumpers rowed in behind Kildare and boss Cian O’neill but a lot of those people don’t really care about the Kildare team.
It was an anti-establishment movement rather than anything to do with Kildare football.
Where were a lot of these supporters during the League when the team needed them most?
The GAA establishment has a serious problem in how it’s viewed now. The GAA must be commended for backing down but this was a PR disaster.
I’m not privy to it, but I suspect Tom Ryan grasped this toxic situation by the scruff on Tuesday night and showed a bit of leadership.
The GAA does so much for this country. If we had no football and hurling now, half the country would be alcoholics and the rest on anti-depressants.
But it takes so much to undo the silly wrongs, and the lack of foresight and planning points to people not doing their jobs.
If a referee messes up he can be stood down. If a player under-performs he can lose his place. A manager can be sacked.
But nothing ever happens to the Croke Park suits. I watch these people come and go at matches. They breeze through corridors and written all over their faces is ‘I’ve got a job for life here, I’m indispensable’.
Kildare got their way and O’neill is to be commended for not backing down. Just over a year ago they were my pick to make the breakthrough into the top four or five teams. Since then they have badly underachieved.
But if they can show the same heart, unity and togetherness on the field as they’ve showed off it this week, they can win.
Make no mistake, the pressure is on now to perform. Go back a few weeks to Kevin Mcstay’s insistence that Roscommon would host the Connacht final at Hyde Park, when the Connacht Council didn’t want it there. He got the home venue for a big game, just as Kildare have.
I have still yet to be convinced that Newbridge was the right call for this team.
The sporting public is very fickle. Come the Monday after the Connacht final, how many people rallied around Mcstay (left), and thanked him or his players for bringing the game to Roscommon? None. Kildare have got what they wanted, and it was 100 per cent their right. But let’s not forget that their stadium, as a county ground goes, is a disgrace.
The biggest shame is many people who bought tickets to see this game in Croke Park, people who regularly watch Kildare or Mayo, will be shut out.
I would have jumped all over the chance to play in Portlaoise – to pack it to the rafters with Kildare supporters after spending the week training there.
It’s obvious Kildare have an issue with Croke Park but I wish them all the best, it would be brilliant if they win.
But there’s a lot more pressure on them to deliver now after what’s happened and they must stand up and deliver as a collective unit.
It’s a fascinating tie, and I can’t wait to see it.