An A to Z of the GAA year

[Bainisteoir]

An A to Z of the GAA year

A is for Antrim who competed in two different provincial senior hurling championships in 2009. They made their debut in Leinster in which Dublin defeated them in the first round as well as taking outright honours in Ulster with a final victory over Down. The Glensmen maintained their McCarthy Cup status because of their Leinster 'contract.'

B is for Best (George). Hey there, what's he doing in a GAA article? Well, in November the Irish News paper revealed the GAA links of the late and great soccer star. George's father, Dickie, was a cousin of Billy Best, a member of the Antrim panel which contested the 1943 All-Ireland and who passed away recently.

C is for Cusack (Donal Og) and his 'coming out' with the Cork hurling goalkeeper getting plenty of column inches and airspace including an appearance on the Late Late Show, His book, Come What May, is on the shelves beside a number of other recently-published GAA books, including one by his neighbour, Billy Morgan. C is also for Clare (under 21 championship) and Carlow (Christy Ring Cup) who achieved national hurling successes.

D is drug tests and the fact that of 75 random samples taken among intercounty footballers and hurlers during the league and championship, all came back negative made good reading for the association.

E is for earwigs and after seeing his side annihilated by Kerry in the August Bank Holiday Monday All-Ireland football quarter-final, Dublin manager Pat Gilroy compared his players to startled earwigs! Meath boss Eamonn O'Brien raised a different creature when remarking that his team were like cuckoos going into the semi-final nest with Kerry, Cork and Tyrone.

F is for fireworks which launched the GAA's 125-year celebrations on the night of the Dublin v Tyrone opening National Football League tussle at Croke Park back in February. F is also for fourteen, the number of players from Kerry or Cork who figured on the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA) football team for 2009. Strange indeed that 14 of the best 15 footballers in the country are from just two counties!

G is for grants and inter-county footballers and hurlers are set to get 'a few bob' in 2010 after the GAA agreed to officially recognise the GPA. G is also for Galvin (Paul) who put the nightmares of 2008 behind him to gain so many well-deserved accolades this year.

H is for high free count. Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney was unhappy enough about the large amount of frees awarded against his side in the Leinster SFC outing against Wexford that he invited Meath referee Cormac Reilly to take charge of a training match. H is also for helmet and a ruling made in 2009 will make it compulsory for all hurlers to wear protective headgear next year. Former Cork stalwart Diarmuid O'Sullivan has threatened to quit as a result.

I is Interprovincials (formerly the Railway Cup). The finals of both competitions were played abroad with Leinster winning the hurling title in the United Arab Emirates and Ulster claiming the football honours in London's Ruislip. I is also for invasions with attempts to keep fans off the Croke park pitch proving unsuccessful.

J is for Joe Kernan with the former Armagh boss being unveiled as Galway manager at the county SFC semi-finals in Tuam. The man from Crossmaglen received a rapturous welcome and he will be hoping that he continues to be popular with supporters of the men in maroon and white. Kernan was in charge of Ulster's Railway Cup (oops!) winning team in November.
K is for Kilkenny (for the four year in succession) and Kerry who were crowned as All-Ireland hurling and football champions. Both Ks also won their respective National League titles in the spring.

L is Lory Meagher and the inaugural staging of the competition honouring the great Kilkenny hurler of many decades ago for fourth tier counties was won by Tyrone with a final victory over Donegal.
M is for maors (stewards to English-speaking GAA supporters) and a couple of Croke Park officials in bibs were suspended from headquarters duty following the Leinster SFC final last July. M is also for Marty Duffy from Sligo who was the whistler for the All-Ireland SFC despite suggestions that Monaghan's Pat McEnaney should have got the 'gig.'

N is for naming rights of GAA grounds. Cavan set that ball rolling a few years ago when Breffni Park became Kingspan Breffni Park but other counties are not inclined to follow them with the historical titles of stadiums meaning too much to be sold off.

O is for the O contingent on Kerry's Sam Maguire Cup winning squad. There were three O Ses, Mark, Tomas and Darragh, three O'Sullivans, Tom, Declan and Darran, and Aidan O'Mahony came on as a substitute. Jack O'Connor was the manager, Ger O'Keeffe a selector and Alan O'Sullivan the trainer.

P is for player power with the Clare hurlers the latest group to undermine the role of their manager. They were following in the footsteps of the like of teams from Cork, Waterford, Donegal and Offaly. Is it a case of the tail pulling the dog?
Q is for queenpins and Cork brought off the All-Ireland camogie and women's football double with the latter side taking possession of the Brendan Martin Cup for the fifth year on the trot.

R is for Reid with the three brothers of that surname being sent off while assisting Palatine in a Carlow SFC game. That must have been some sort of record.

S is for statistics and, thanks to phone company Vodafone, GAA stats in big games reached a new level in 2009 with passes (successful and unsuccessful), kicks (short and long) and shots at goal among the items detailed. So there was extra information for readers to digest.

T is for thirty-six and thirty-two, the number of All-Ireland triumphs by Kerry and Kilkenny after this year's championships. It is also for timekeeping and in some matches the additional minutes allowed at the end did not please all.

U is for Unfinished Business, the autobiography written by Kerry football and former Sydney Swan Tadhg Kennelly in which he wrote that the heavy tackle on Cork opponent Nicholas Murphy in the All-Ireland final was planned, saying, "I was like a raging bull."

V is for violent incidents and there was no shortage of them in GAA games in 2009. Six players were sent off in a club game in Wicklow and seven were dismissed in a league final in Tyrone. Also there were attacks on referees with incidents in Galway and Tyrone receiving national headlines.

W is for Wicklow, who had an unprecedented six matches in the All-Ireland football championship. Mick O'Dwyer's charges beat Longford and lost to Westmeath in Leinster before beating Waterford, Cavan and Down in the qualifiers before losing to Kildare.

X is for xenophobia which some people in the GAA may suffer from as they are reluctant to broaden their outlook on life!

Y is for Young (Killian), one of the younger stars on Kerry's latest All-Ireland winning team.

Z is for zephyr, a soft gentle breeze. But I have yet to read of a team being favoured by the zephyr in the first half! Maybe in 2010.

[ladies football]

Very good!!