The old adage about all politics being local comes to mind when crossing the line over into sport and especially so into that most local of all enterprises: the club championship, aka “The Toughest” as the marketers would have you believe.
Certainly, it would seem that RTÉ’s conversion into such a philosophy – with TG4 having made the original running – is well and truly established nowadays with the national broadcaster’s first GAA match of the year offering a hint of what is to come in 2022.
In fairness to RTÉ, the coverage of the Leinster football final from Croke Park on Saturday evening between two supersized clubs – Kilmacud Crokes and Naas, both of which have huge membership numbers – whet the appetite for whatever comes down the line; and, in again developing the use of pitchside analysis rather than being purely studio-based, presenter Damian Lawlor and analysts Cian Ward and John Heslin literally brought their insightful thoughts down to ground level.
New faces are a welcome addition to the package and that Ward and Heslin still know only too well how to lace up their boots brought useful and refreshing thought processes of how the two teams would approach a provincial final that brought, as Lawlor put it, a "massive development" before a ball was kicked in anger with the pre-match news that Crokes' talisman Paul Mannion was ruled out due to injury.
Heslin was one of those who’d heard the “rumours” about the possibility of Mannion taking a watching brief rather than pulling the strings. “Naas will take huge comfort from the fact Mannion isn’t on the field, they’d have been targeting him I’m sure in their defensive work [in the build-up],” he said, adding: “[Crokes] would probably have known early days he was out . . . it’ll be interesting to see who steps up to the plate.”
Ward for his part brought some statistical nous to the party, observing – after a cue from Lawlor that Crokes had been “wasteful” in their shooting the semi-final win over Portarlington – of his first-hand experience when playing against the Dublin giants earlier in the provincial campaign that they’d had a low 20s shot rate with 70 per cent conversion against his team but had taken 34 shots with only a 35 per cent strikerate against the Laois side.
So, you'd think Crokes had spent the best part of the time since then on target practice? Not a bit of it if you were to listen to Crokes manager Robbie Brennan responding to pitchside reporter Marie Crowe pre-game. "We didn't focus on it too much, we didn't want to turn it into a negative."
Anyway, the first half had match commentator Ger Canning and his sidekick Dessie Dolan in great form in enjoying the open play and tightness of a game that saw the Dublin champions lead the Kildare champions by just a single point, 0-8 to 0-7, at the break: ". . . . most enjoyable, with both teams having a right good go at it," remarked Dolan.
Down on the pitch, Messrs Ward and Heslin too had enjoyed the fare. Heslin called it a "late Christmas present" given the joy that the two teams had provided and observed that Tom Fox had "stepped up to the mantle" in taking on the role of sharpshooter normally played out by Mannion.
But it seemed that his crystal ball had been cracked somewhere along the way when Heslin gave his predictions for the second half ahead. “It’s nip and tuck, but I could see Naas getting over the line.”
By the time the sos uisce arrived after the third quarter, Heslin was aware he’d backed the wrong horse. “Crokes have gone to another level . . . Naas need a goal.”
Sadly for the kings of Kildare, that goal – and not even a point – ever materialised. Heslin was the first to put his hands up on getting his predictions wrong. “I stood here and I called Naas,” he said with a mea culpa sort of apology that he should ever have doubted Crokes’ ability to win out, never mind by double scores.
As Ward put it, “to have a shut-out where Naas didn’t score [in the second half] . . . brilliant [from Crokes].”
