But try telling that to Tyrone’s footballers, Kilkenny’s hurlers, Tipperary’s camogie players or Mayo’s women’s footballers. Yes, there was plenty to celebrate internally and as usual Gaelic Games grabbed most of the sporting headlines in the Emerald Isle.
The Northern counties are dominating Gaelic football in recent years and this year it was Tyrone’s turn to make the big breakthrough. Most neutrals were happy to see Peter Canavan become the first Tyroneman to lift the Sam Maguire Cup. And “Peter the Great” celebrated with an emotional speech from the Hogan stand. Tyrone had earlier won the League title, but were thwarted in their bid for a treble when losing to Dublin in the Under-21 final.
But no such worries for Kilkenny’s hurlers. Back in May, the Cats had just a point to spare over old rivals Tipperary in a National League Final that produced 10 goals. They then went on to win the minor, U-21 and senior titles. D.J. Carey’s personal life dominated the headlines in the runup to the senior final, and although the Gowran clubman had a reasonably quiet game by his standards, he still managed to lift the McCarthy Cup after their victory over Cork.
Mayo’s men have not had much luck at Croke Park in recent years, but their women’s Gaelic football players look on the Jones Road venue as a second home. This year’s win, their fourth in five years, was even sweeter as they defeated the Dubs in their own backyard.
Tipperary have a great hurling history, but their women are new to Croke Park. However, they are learning quickly and in September they won their fourth senior camogie title in five years when beating Cork.
It was also a great year also for the Laois footballers, who were a revelation under new manager Mick O’Dwyer, winning the Leinster senior football title for the first time in 57 years. The Waterville man makes no secret of his wish to return to Kerry, but for now he can do no wrong in Laois.
Paidi O Se got the year off to a bad start when he described the Kerry supporters as ” ‘expletive’ animals” in January, a quote that would haunt him until he stepped down as Kerry manager in October. A few days later, O Se was confirmed as the new Westmeath manager.
Keeping up with changes to GAA intercounty managers is a difficult task. During the year we saw Dublin, Clare, Limerick, Meath, Tipperary, and Westmeath change their hurling managers, while the football managers changed at Carlow, Cavan, Cork, Fermanagh, Kerry, Louth, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, and Westmeath.
The annual Compromise Rules series against Australia is the only outlet for Ireland’s top Gaelic footballers and this year the Aussies won the series Down Under. Cork hurler Setanta O hAilpin surprised everybody by securing a contract with Aussie Rules club Carlton, but I don’t think we will see an exodus of GAA players to Aussie Rules.
O hAilpin was one of the players chosen to use a bookmakers logo on his hurl in the All-Ireland semifinal against Wexford, but being a rookie, he declined. However, the Wexford players went ahead with the bookies ads and during the year we also saw more intercounty players get involved in promotional activities.
The debate continues about the possibility of opening Croke Park to other sports and I think the GAA will make the landmark decision at their annual Congress in Killarney in April.
In soccer Brian Kerr, who had done a great job at under-age level, was the natural choice to replace Mick McCarthy as senior international manager. Kerr’s first task was to talk to Roy Keane to try to convince the Corkman to return. Apparently Kerr nearly succeeded, but in the end Keane put his club before his country.
It’s impossible to measure Keane’s loss to the team. Kerr did well to lose only one of his first 11 games in charge. He got the team playing for one another once again but was lacking ball winners in midfield. Ireland picked up valuable away points in Georgia and Albania, and won two home games in June, but things began to go wrong in the autumn. Robbie Keane was injured in a friendly against Australia in August and missed the home draw against Russia in September. The Irish still had a chance if they could beat Switzerland in Basel, but, sadly, failed badly, going down 2-0. It’s going to be a difficult rebuilding process for Kerr as he plans ahead for the World Cup campaign.
Irish sports fans also saw a change of manager in the North, but at the time of writing the IFA hadn’t found a replacement for Sammy McIlroy, who quit in October. McIlroy won only five of his 29 games in charge and under his reign the North had set a new and unenviable European record by failing to score in over 1,200 minutes of international football.
On the domestic front, the stories coming out of both the Irish League and the Eircom League are of clubs spending more than they can afford. In the Republic, a few clubs have gone full-time in recent years, but it seems only a matter of time before they will have to revert to the traditional part-time setup. It’s simple — not enough people are going to the games. For the record, Glentoran won the Irish League, while down south Shelbourne took the title from Bohemians. The only scrap of good news was that Derry City survived the relegation playoff. Everybody was worried about the Candystripes’ future had they dropped to the first division. And, thankfully, the FAI seem to have put most of their internal wrangling behind them with the appointment of Fran Rooney as Chief Executive.
The Irish rugby team suffered a major setback on the eve of their departure for the World Cup in Australia. Fullback Geordan Murphy broke his leg in a friendly against Scotland in September and fans were shorn of one of the most exciting players. Still, Ireland beat Romania, Namibia and Argentina and went within a point of Australia to get out of the pool. But Ireland were hammered by France in the second round and afterward there were tears from retiring captain Keith Wood.
Earlier in the year, the Irish had done well in the Six Nations Championship and when England came to Lansdowne Road at the end of March, the title was at stake. But Clive Woodward’s men hammered Ireland 42-6 and, of course, later they went on to become World Champions.
Dubliner Bernard Dunne continues to do well in the tough professional boxing game in the U.S., but Belfast’s Wayne McCullough needed hospital treatment after his loss to Scott Harrison in Glasgow in March. McCullough’s professional career has to be considered to be in doubt.
In track, sprinter Paul McKee won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, the first Irishman to win a medal in a world sprint event since Bob Tisdall in the 1932 Olympics.
And a good year for Irish jockeys. Barry Geraghty rode Monty’s Pass to victory in the Aintree Grand National and Kerry-born Jim Culloty was on board Timbera, who was first past the post in the Powers Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday. Kieren Fallon rode Kris Kin to victory in the Epsom Derby and the Aidan O’Brien-trained High Chaparral with Michael Kinane on board dead-heated with Johar in the Breeders Cup at Santa Anita in October.
The Agha Khan had a one-two in the Budweiser Irish Derby with Alamshar and Dalakani and later Alamshar won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Pat Eddery and Norman Williamson both retired, Ruby Walsh continues to win big races, and Mick Fitzgerald became only the ninth jump jockey to ride 1,000 winners. Beef or Salmon, Ireland’s big hope for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, fell, but there were still had enough winners at the National Hunt Festival to keep the Irish punters happy.
Padraig Harrington continues to be Ireland’s top golfer. The Dubliner won the Deutsche Bank Open in Hamburg in June and earlier this month took the Hong Kong Open.
Kerry’s Gillian O’Sullivan took silver in the 20K walking final at the Athletics World Championships in Paris in August and earlier this month the Irish women’s team took silver at the European Cross-Country Championships in Edinburgh.
But, of course, sport is all about competing, not winning. And the week in June when Ireland hosted the Special Olympic World Games will go down as the most memorable week of the year. The opening ceremony in Croke Park was amazing and there wasn’t a drop of rain until the closing ceremony eight days later at Croker. And while the Irish government still talks about a national stadium, a nice spinoff from the Special Olympics was that the National Aquatic center in Blanchardstown, West Dublin, had to be completed in time for the games.