Countdown to upcoming county finals
One of the reasons people love sport is because of its unpredictability… to flip a familiar phrase, it’s the hope that inspires you.
While both clubs were entitled to credibly aspire to a serious title tilt at the start of the season, few would have predicted a Padraig Pearses-Roscommon Gaels County Senior Football final… mainly because nobody could really overlook the claims of St Brigid’s.
But that’s where we are… and it’s exciting! Once Pearses so impressively edged past the Kiltoom kingpins, the title race was thrown open.
Last weekend, Pearses maintained their momentum and comfortably accounted for St Faithleach’s. In the other semi-final, Roscommon Gaels and Michael Glaveys played out a thriller.
I wasn’t at the game, as we were in Dublin over the weekend (see page 6), but by all accounts this was a terrific encounter. The Gaels trailed by four late on, only to finish with a flurry of scores and secure an extra-time showdown.
In extra-time, it was nip and tuck for a while, before Roscommon Gaels pulled away in the closing minutes to deflate a very gallant Michael Glaveys and claim a place in the final.
In the Intermediate Football Championship meanwhile, Elphin and Strokestown set up a fascinating local derby showdown!
Musings on the peerless Paul McGrath
Sometimes, a book (or a TV series maybe) is so good… you just don’t want to reach the end.
Avid readers will know the signs… you’re loving the book so much that you occasionally check to see how many pages are left, breathing a sigh of relief if it materialises there’s still more than half the book to go. As you get closer to the end, there’s the dread of knowing… that you’re closer to the end.
I think the reason I still haven’t read Paul McGrath’s autobiography – (‘Back from the Brink’, 2017), written with Vincent Hogan – is because I don’t want to get to the end of it! (The book has been described as a classic of the genre, but for now it rests unread amongst my collection).
McGrath is one of my favourite players of all time. As such, I was delighted to see Sky Sports present a short documentary on him last weekend. While the programme’s primary ‘angle’ was on McGrath becoming the first PFA Players’ Player of the Year of the Premier League era (1992-1993), the former Republic of Ireland international was also interviewed about his career highlights and his exit from Manchester United. Paul also spoke very movingly about the alcohol addiction (and injuries) he was battling while still performing brilliantly against the best players in the world.
One could write a book about the peerless McGrath (one could even read the acclaimed one referred to earlier), but I’ve often felt his brilliance can be summed up by two slightly quirky points.
One: In the 1990 World Cup, Paul McGrath was selected on the Team of the Tournament by football writers from across the world. But here’s the fascinating aspect: the world class defender was selected in midfield (where Jack Charlton unexpectedly played him). So here was an injury-prone centre-half with addiction issues being played out of position against the world’s elite players… and he gets chosen on the Team of the Tournament.
Two: While his career at Manchester United and Aston Villa has been well documented (that and his superb displays in an Ireland jersey), McGrath, for all his knee trouble, played club football in England until he was 38 or so. When he moved from Villa to Derby County, and later to Sheffield United, I used to check the player ratings which were a popular feature of the English tabloid papers at the time. Week after week after week, McGrath was his team’s best player, and frequently he was man of the match. He was outstanding to the end.
Paul McGrath, in addition to being a magnificent warrior on the pitch, has always come across as a gentleman. He has had to overcome many challenges in his life. It was good to see him in such good form in the Sky documentary. Young football fans today may not realise how great McGrath was, but the fact that an injury-ravaged defender with addiction issues could perform to a level where he was voted footballer of the year by his peers marks out just how special he was.
