HE WAS A celebrated player in one of the most storied periods in GAA.
But multiple Kerry All-Ireland winner Mikey Sheehy isn’t keen to join in with the showers of negativity cascading down upon modern Gaelic football.
Ex-Kerry player, current Kerry selector and well placed to contribute to the interminable debate over standards in Gaelic football.
Sheehy applies some perspective to all the romantic reminiscing about Kerry’s exploits in the 70s and 80s.
“I mean, it’s a known fact, watching some of our games (from the ’70s and ’80s) and I’ve seen some of them myself, and they’re horrific games!
“The ‘Golden Years’ … they’re dreadful games, they’re slow games. It’s not that (they were one-sided), it’s just they were slow. You see, there was no quick free in those days. The ball was put down and, Jesus.
“I’d assume that on Sunday you’ll have a huge crowd at the Kerry/Tyrone game. We played in All-Ireland semi-finals and I’d say you’d 20, 24, 25 thousand people – and about 24 thousand people of those were from the opposition, there wasn’t too many there from Kerry! That’s fact.
“So, despite what people say, and a lot of people talk about the negativity of the game, there’s still huge crowds going.”
Time to place the quarter-final bouts of Tyrone against Monaghan and Donegal against Mayo under the microscope.
“The two games last weekend (week), now I’d beg to differ,” says Sheehy.
“The first game, in my eyes, was a fascinating enough game. Tyrone scored, what, 18 points in the game.
“The second game was an exceptionally good game; I really enjoyed it. And I thought, not because we were involved, but I thought the replay of the Munster final was quite a good game as well, in bad conditions.”
Is the concept of breaking down defensive systems frustrating for one of the greatest corner-forwards of all time?
“I suppose sometimes, when you see teams setting up defensively, it’s a thrill to be involved with a team that is trying to break down these systems.
“Obviously, as a corner-forward, in the day that we played, there certainly was more space and it was easier to create space.
“But nowadays, if you’ve two fellas around you, they’re always going to lose concentration at some stage.
“And it does happen, particularly as the game moves along into the 40th or the 50th minute. Fellas get tired and you see concentration levels lapsing.
“No, it would be fascinating. Jesus, I’d give anything to be playing in Croke Park, it’s such a fabulous facility, and it’s such a big, big, big pitch as well.”
This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone