WEXFORD SENIOR FOOTBALL manager David Power has added former Irish basketball international star and TV commentator Tim McCarthy to his backroom team for the 2016 campaign.
Famous for phrases such as โDowwwnnn-Tooowwwnn!โ and โBoom-shaka-laka!โ, Cork native McCarthy has taken up a coaching role with the Slaneysiders, focusing on effective man-to-man marking and shadowing of opponents.
McCarthy is regarded as one of the countryโs greatest-ever basketball players and during his international career, he racked up 103 caps, 58 of those as captain.
McCarthy was RTรโs main live commentator for basketball at the Olympic Games in London, Beijing and Athens. He also covered the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club for RTร Radio.
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A former sports columnist for the Westmeath Independent, McCarthy has also worked as a GAA commentator for RTรโs The Sunday Game.
And Power admits that heโs been blown away by the knowledge that McCarthy has already brought to the Wexford camp.
He said: โTimโs a very modest guy and is adding something different.
โIโm learning loads off him and heโs bringing a different approach.
โIf anyone follows me, theyโll know that I keep trying to change, develop and keep the thing fresh.
โTim will be working a lot with our defence.โ
McCarthy, who has held several senior positions in banking and finance, is currently the general manager with financial services company Hello.ie.
Power, meanwhile, has also hailed the appointment of Brian Malone as Wexford captain for the 2016 campaign.
The Shelmaliers clubman takes over from Ciaran Lyng, whoโs not due back in action until March as he recovers from injury.
Power added: โBrian is going into his 11th campaign with Wexford and brings experience and strong leadership, considering the age profile of our senior panel.
We have a dozen under-21s and heโs the right person to lead this group.
โThe young fellas have huge respect for him and while Brianโs a quiet man, he leads by example by what he does on and off the field.โ
Power also revealed that goalkeeper Shane Roche and defender Michael Furlong are expected to miss the vast majority, if not all, of Wexfordโs Allianz League Division 4 campaign through injury, with attacker Lyng due back in early March.
Not a great match but well done Kerry. They did the necessary.
Thank god the Mcguiness/Harte brand of puke football lost yesterday. Itโs killing the game as a spectacle.
It was replaced by the most cynical brand of the game carried out by Kerry. 10 fouls to 1 in Kerryโs favour in the first half. Kerry were the offenders yesterday and made the game the worst final in living memory
The reason Donegalโs โstyleโ is so destructive is that opponents feel they have to match it in order to beat it, creating the kind of awful spectacle we saw yesterday. The Dublin game showed that playing good football against Donegalโs โsystemโ is at best risky. Kerry did the right thing, including playing keep ball in the final stages, notwithstanding the crazy goal chace they allowed Donegal to get in the final moments.
A well deserved win and everyone who likes to watch the game should be relieved the team trying to play a bit of football came through in the end.
So we praise kerry for playing negative football like ulster teams have been accused and lambasted for in years gone by but we dont praise donegal for their โsystemโ which completely hammered dublin.. or the way tyrone played in years gone by beating this wonderful majestic kerry team in all ireland semi amd finals! Funny that eh..
You seem to be suggesting thereโs some kind of hypocrisy at play, but none is evident, maybe you could outline it?
Some football actually broke out in the semi-final. Dublin trashed Donegal in the first 20 minutes and Donegal had to come out and play. When they did that, Dublin looked very exposed. Dublin made Donegalโs wrecking tactics look okay because, unlike Kerry, Dublin responded by playing football. Because Kerry matched Donegalโs tactics yesteray, it was particularly dour. The common denominator in all this is Donegal. You take Donegal out and you have great football. Kerry v Mayo = too brilliant games, Dublin v Kerry last year = one of the best games every played in Croker.
Hypocrisy among the southern media/supporters regarding puke/horrible football eminating from the north and nowhere else? Neverโฆ theres never been negative tactics used by southern teams unless they were made to do it by the dirty northerners if you believe what you read or hear
You appear to have a persecution complex.
What do you dispute in what Iโve written above? Are you suggesting these wrecking tactics donโt orginiate in Ulster?
Look, teams can play however they like within the rules, but letโs not pretend it is anything to watch for spectators. Itโs negative, ugly, and boring to watch. Is it not?
I was at the dublin v kerry game last summer. An awesome display of football. Yesterday made me want to cry. The better the mcguinness and hartes of this world are no longer involved the better
Wrecking tactics? Never heard of theseโฆ i remember tyrone v meath quite a few years back when we were absolutely beaten and battered off the ball at every opportunity and there wasnt the cry of โhorrible tacticsโ etc, the cry was we need to man up and become more physical and in your face.. tyrone learned from games like those and changed their game! Peter canavan, geard cavlan and eoin mulligan, true wrecking defensive legends!
I see youโre studiously avoiding the central question! :)
No question that Canavan, Mulligan et al. are absolute legends of the game. Nobodyโs disputing that. During the latter period of Tyroneโs successful run they were playing fantastic football, scoring some ridiclous scores, and entertaining many a crowd.
Yesterday, Donegal socred 2 points from play in the first half, and tried their dammdest to stop a game of football breaking out. This is a whole other plantet in terms of negativity. Is it not?
2 points from play and a handful from frees.. id put that down to good defending surely? Youโre doing a disservice to kerrys defence there. . Wasnt a great game but not every single game is going to be free flowing and scoring is it..
Meath have a tradition of negativity, but in a different way
Were you watching the same game Petr, kerry continually fouled during the game. They have two wing forwards who canโt/ donโt want to play the game. Oโbrien should have been sent off in first 20 minutes
I note that Pat Spillane warmly embraced โpuke footballโ when delivered by his native county!
Fighting puke with puke out of necessity.
There was no puke football against Cork or Mayo!
Watching Donegal is like watching sh*t on a stick.
No puke football needed against Mayo..they play football the way it should be played..like Dublin really..just unlucky this year, let down by the most incompetent ref that ever has been.
Mayo do play good football but they canโt blame to ref. No more excuese from Mayo, they need to stand up and win.
Nor against dublin
Totally agree with Petr. Mayo are a great team and the two tough tests they gave Kerry may well have made the difference in the final, but donโt stoop to blaming the ref โ it does Mayo a disservice.
Agreed. The likes of Killian OโConnor will ensure Mayo win it before very long.
Did you watch the Cork game? Maybe it didnโt look like puke because Cork were too naive to put men behind the ball but Kerry had only 2 men in the Cork half for the majority of that match โ OโDonoghue and Geaney. Everyone else stayed back. If you were at the game it was very obvious.
Painful to watch..but hopefully the hurling replay will erase the memoryโฆ
Just witnessed two special buses drive by in Denny Street Tralee. That says it all. Well done boys! Ciarraรญ Abรบ!
A sad day for GAA yesterday. Gamesmanship,unsporting behaviour from Kerry
players and supporters, off the ball tactics,particularly against Murphy.
Kerry were one dimensional. Their โ systemโ was to hoof it into Donaghy.
This must be the poorest team to win Sam in twenty years !
Iโll give you 2/10 for that one Michael
Well done Kerry on winning both senior and minor titles.A great honour for the Dr Crokes club to captain Kerry.The last Dr Crokes player to captain Kerry was the famous Dick Fitzgerald a hundred years ago.Well done to all involved.
Bloody hell, Iโm sick of the puritanical, hypocritical bulls**t that people have been spouting the last 2 days about so called puke football. The fact is, any team plays to its strenghts, doing otherwise is the definition of stupidity. Tyroneโs success in the 00s was based on a defensive style as they lacked the attacking options enjoyed by the likes of Kerry (Canavan et al aside), but had numerous abrasive defenders. In fact, itโs often forgotten that Kerry adopted similar tactics during Tyroneโs dominant period which bore some fruit.
McGuiness, like him or loathe him, took a team of largely average players and brought them an all ireland and another final appearance, display clear progression from all out defence to a counter attacking side. Itโs also convenient to ignore the fact that Donegal had the highest scoring average of the 2012 championship, somewhere in the region of 18 points per match, put up 15 scores in the Ulster final this year and put 3-14 on the unbackable favourite in the semi.
Fact is that every team plays to win, Kerry yesterday were evidence of that, good value for the win most definitely but proof positive that negative tactics are far from the sole preserve of Northern teams.
Kerry had to play negative to counter Donegal. When they play the likes of Mayo or Dublin itโs actually worth watching, which is handy for those who watch the game.
So Kerry had to play a defensive style but youโd much rather prefer if Donegal played a style that would get them hockied? Sunday wasnโt the first time Kerry have employed the blanket defence when it suited them.
The fact is that regardless of system, a game is only boring when teams neglect to score or try and score, and at the lower levels every year produces matches where both sides try not to lose. Someone the understands the game would realise that every match isnโt Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, the Dublin vs Kerry semi last year, while very entertaining was a clash of 2 teams not bothering to defend.
The system employed by McGuiness while predicated on defence and work rate, generates excitement too with the quick turn from defence to attack and counter attacking from the half back line.
Hey Kerry footballers make sure you keep Sam clean down in the bog of Kerry !!!!!!!!!
We bulk buy the Mr Sheen down here boy!
Very nice keep it clean for the dubs next year
To Any of the Kerry supporters on their way home there is club football championship on in Kilkenny this evening if ye wanna see a decent game played as the good lord intended
I wouldnโt call the most popular tourist destination and home of tourism a โbogโโฆnot from kerry myself but Iโm sure if u were to kerry youโd realise
Not one player there yesterday would lace Johnny Doyles boots. That Kerry tramp that kicked away the ball at the end shouldnโt be let onto a football pitch again.
They wouldnโt have to, johnny would be doing it for them.
What was the foul count again ?
Add the incentive to the attacking team . Make goals 5 points or have certain lines which only 1 or 2 forwards can go back past . Teams wont change unless their odds of winning will increase
Weโll said Michael Eden, Kerry are dirty winners