Time to Cry Foul. . . on Bullshit Reporting
Talking Balls 1 Comment »
Is it because the famous green and gold lends itself to more poetic reporting than the well-drilled shock troops of the Red Hands? Is it because the so-called ‘Twin Towers’ make for a better headline? Likewise the neat symmetry of a three-in-a-row which the media somehow decreed was Kerry’s by right? According to a bevvy of pundits, all they had to do was turn up at headquarters with their team loaded with superstars and claim the treble which would again copper fasten their status as GAA Royalty. Well every team writes its own script.
We had Cliona Foley reporting on ‘a stark image of Joe McMahon trash talking young Kerry star Tommy Walsh’. The poor cub. My heart was bleedin’ when I read that one. According to my programme Walsh is six foot four and sixteen and a half stone. If push came to shove, I’m sure the big lad could look after himself. He would only need to have looked a few yards to his left to watch Star Donaghy talk another ref through the game as he always does. Any mention of that? No. Both were cleaned out. End of story.
We had Martin Breheny spout his load on the need for a clampdown on disruptive fouling. Breheny’s perceptive, acute and precise observational skills informed him that the foul count was 26-17 against Tyrone yet Kerry outscored them 6-2 on yellow cards. How could this be? Well Martin, in the game that I watched three Kerry men were booked for dangerous fouls – O’Mahony, Donaghy and Darragh O Se. Twice trash talking Joe McMahon was clothes-lined by a Kerry man – one of the offences incidentally that would have resulted in an instant punitive yellow card and removal from the field of play under the new proposals. Did any of these fellas report that? No.
Breheny also objected to some theatrical fouls by Tyrone. The man whose name will forever lie in ignominy this summer for his Oscar winning theatricals is Aidan O Mahony who has since received an All Star nomination for the position of Best Supporting Actress so Martin you’re clutching at straws big time.
Did we hear the Kerrymen complain? No, they took their defeat with dignity and grace, as did the hosts of supporters that shook this particular bollix’s hands as he clambered over seat and prone Kerry supporter on his way to invade the pitch. It was unedifying and undignified but as a spectacle was nowhere near as unedifying and undignified as the efforts of the Sunday Game pundits to save face after they all got it so spectacularly WRONG. Tony Davis warbled away like a sparrow on acid; Big Tohill mealy-mouthed trying to belatedly fly the Ulster flag whilst Kevin McStay pouted as if he’d just been told that the shoes he wanted so badly didn’t fit after all. And as for Spillane? Amadan I think is the word as gaeilge.
