July Road: Kerry live up to overwhelming pre-match favourites tag

Rarely have we seen such conformity in prematch predictions as there were before yesterday.

The Irish Independent’s 10-strong panel of journos and pundits all called the match in favour of the Kingdom, by an average margin of 4.2 points. On RTE.ie, Colm O’Rourke (who had a great line about Jack O’Connor having a three-word contract, “Bring back Sam”) also sided with Kerry.

Those tasked with calling the game on these pages also went with Jack O’Connor’s men.

Kerryman journalist Tadhg Evans was moved to tweet: “Seems to be a narrative building outside Kerry that Kerry think this is in the bag. In reality, I haven’t spoken to a single Kerry person who thinks this is a done deal. I think Kerry will win, but I give Galway a better shot against us than I’d have given Tyrone last year.”

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As Michael Foley, author of Kings of September, pointed out, Liam Kelly in the Indo was the only journalist to tip Offaly in 1982.

The only analysts we saw who tipped Galway were Conor Meyler and Colm Boyle.

Spillane bows out

“I’ve been threatened to be killed, threatened to be shot, threatened to be maimed, threatened to have my house burnt down, I’ve had them all.”

So stated Pat Spillane, who had his final broadcast yesterday, in a 2019 interview — and it wasn’t a one-off incident.

In the RTE Guide this week, Pat revealed: “I once got punched by Donegal supporters on Clonliffe Road after a game.

“That day I ran to my car and was driving a bit fast down Clonliffe Road when a Ban Garda stopped me. ‘You are speeding sir!’ she said and I told her that I had just been attacked by a group of supporters and that they could still be after me.

“So yes, there were time it was like running with the bulls in Pamplona.”

Word of Mouth

End of an Era, Memories which will be treasured forever. Best wishes Brian. — Henry Shefflin on twitter.

Ten of the best

Veteran GAA journalist Donal Keenan penned an interesting piece in Sunday’s match programme in which he picked the 10 best Galway and Kerry players he has seen.

“My first football guide — my father, of course — would argue relentlessly that the best footballer he ever played against or subsequently saw was Kerry’s Paddy Kennedy. And Mick O’Connell would get an honourable mention,” he wrote.

Keenan’s top 10s were: Jack O’Shea, Seamus Moynihan, Pat Spillane, Mikey Sheehy, Colm Cooper, Maurice Fitzgerald, Eoin Liston, John O’Keeffe, Paidi O Sé and David Clifford (Kerry).

On the Galway side, Keenan plumped for Padraic Joyce, Mattie McDonagh, Ja Fallon, Johnny Geraghty, Michael Donnellan, Shane Walsh, Johnny Hughes, Gay McManus, Noel Tierney and John Tobin.

By the Numbers: 38

The Kingdom sit proudly atop the Sam Maguire roll of honour.

The last time Jack O’Connor beat Galway

The last Jack O’Connor-managed Kerry side to play Galway in championship football was the 2017 U21s. They were beaten by 2-14 to 2-10 in Cusack Park, Ennis. Remarkably, eight of that Kerry squad won senior Celtic crosses yesterday, namely Shane Ryan, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan, Brian O Beaglaoich, Gavin White, Sean O’Shea, Michael Burns and Killian Spillane.