Search Results for 'Maurice Deegan'

Cork 2-10

When Maurice Deegan calls together the captains for the coin toss in Sunday’s national league final, Andy Moran will be the man who goes to centre field for the green and red. The Ballaghaderreen man has captained Mayo on a couple of occasions in the past, but Sunday will mark his first official duty as the full-time captain of the team.

There are very few football and hurling fans who do not agree that colleges sport is one of the purest forms of both codes. That conviction was reinforced on Saturday afternoon in Croke Park when St Jarlath’s College fell narrowly short in their attempt to win what would have been the college’s 13th Hogan Cup title.

Tomás Ó Flatharta will be on home ground in some regards next Sunday as the Kerry native manages Galway against the Kingdom in round 4 of the NFL. The game throws in at 2.30pm in Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney.

Last Sunday’s clash between Cork and Kerry reminded me so much of Mayo’s All-Ireland final versus Meath in 1996. Mayo could and should have won in 1996. Cork could and should have won last Sunday. Cork were ahead by five points with 15 minutes remaining but were clinging on in those final minutes when Kerry came storming back into the game in typical bullish fashion. Cork have only themselves to blame as they should have been out of sight, notwithstanding the fact that referee Maurice Deegan stands accused of leaning very much in favour of Kerry in the closing stages of the match. He had indicated two minutes of additional time to be played in the second half, but left the clock running. Cork managed to edge in front with a converted 45 within those two minutes and appeared to have pulled off a sensational victory. But inexplicably Deegan managed to extend playing time by a further two minutes and, to add insult to injury, advanced the last free awarded to Kerry by 20 metres, giving Bryan Sheehan the easiest of chances to convert and level the game. The additional time played created a lot of debate after the game and Mick Curley, the chairman of the National Referees’ Association, was invited by RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss the matter. Curley, himself a former referee, understandably wasn’t ever going to land his former referee colleagues in the manure and went on to defend Deegan stoutly. I was on the same radio show and decided that I should come to the defence of both Deegan and Marty Duffy (Croke Park referee), reminding listeners that a young Pat McEneaney, who refereed the All Ireland in 1996, had a terrible game and we here in Mayo managed to forgive him for some of his bizarre decisions in both the drawn and replayed final of that year. Mick Curley did go on to suggest that he would be personally in favour of a countdown clock similar to that used so effectively in ladies football, rugby, and basketball, that would make life so much easier for referees. You know I’m not so sure about this at all. I never minded a draw in football, as long as I wasn’t involved in any way with a participating team. A drawn game creates great debate afterwards. Also I am delighted to have the opportunity to see these two teams have another go at progressing to a Munster final tomorrow evening. TV3 has again decided to televise the match at 5pm, and with a live Leinster championship encounter involving Kildare and Wexford also beamed into our living rooms at 7pm, we can have no complaints about our national broadcaster. If Cork do manage to prevail next Saturday evening, they will advance with great confidence and it will take a very good performance to beat them later in the year.

To prove my point, after attending the All-Ireland football finals of 2004, 2006, and 2007, it was impossible not to come away from those days feeling a bit forlorn, a smidgen despondent, and a tad empty from the whole experience.