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AM The Sports Breakfast Show

0:19

from Off The Ball

0:30

How to beat the OTB

0:35

Half-Life 7 Friday morning, welcome to OTB AM,

0:37

Adrian here, Ashling over there and Cameron there

0:39

Ah, hello Good morning What's happening? All good

0:41

now, Adrian how are you? All good, I'm a little bit tired,

0:44

I'm not going to lie I spent a...

0:46

fff...

0:47

mmmmm... 10 hours in various

0:51

hospitals yesterday with the young fella Oh dear Just

0:54

shopping around, was it?

0:55

He... You know, have you heard of the Lego

0:57

up the nose trick? Ah, yes Oh

1:00

no, oh no, it doesn't sound good, I haven't heard

1:02

of it, fill me in Ah, yeah,

1:05

he managed to get a piece of Lego, stuck up his

1:07

nose yesterday morning

1:10

Tiny little piece of Lego, it's the tiny stuff, he's

1:12

obsessed as they are, he's six at that age Obsessed

1:15

with the stuff and was like trying to jam the little... Tiny,

1:18

it's probably like half the size of your little

1:20

fingernail Right And was trying to jam it on to another

1:22

piece

1:22

It flicked, from what I can gather, from what happened

1:25

Oh, is this his version of it? It flicks up, exactly

1:28

It flicks up And goes up

1:30

his nose I actually wouldn't overly doubt

1:32

that that's what happened And I'd say he went chasing it And

1:35

that's where the trouble kicked in Oh no So, it

1:37

was gettable when we went to the first place

1:41

But in the effort to take it out, went up

1:43

a little bit more Oh no And then we went to the second

1:45

place In the effort to take it out, went

1:47

up a little bit more And by 4

1:49

o'clock yesterday afternoon We

1:52

were going for a general anesthetic and...

1:55

Trying to fish it out, and after all of that

1:57

He swallowed it He

1:59

had... swallowed it at some point which is fine. We

2:02

will never see it again needless to say but yeah.

2:06

Why did you go from place to place? Why

2:09

did you go from place to place? Well we went to the first place

2:11

because we thought this is nothing, it's sort of minor enough and

2:14

so because you could see it you

2:16

know if you looked in a little bit you could see it so

2:19

we'll be able to fish that out but the

2:21

fishing out wasn't sufficient to it

2:26

just ended up putting it back up a bit more.

2:28

So then where we were in the first place then it

2:31

became too

2:32

significant for them to deal with and

2:34

then we went on to the next place and it was

2:36

fun all day. Jeez. How was

2:38

he? Was he okay? He was flying it and he was grand

2:40

with the piece of leg up the

2:43

nose. He was like can we go home like I just don't want

2:45

to do any more of this. It was the shuffling around

2:48

to get the thing out. That was driving a bonk.

2:50

Yeah I'd say yeah yeah yeah. Oh God all

2:52

that is a good story for him to tell. Exactly.

2:55

I've heard like a million times this happened to kids before

2:57

and I've always every time been like

2:59

sitting in my high horse going what's wrong with

3:02

these kids that they're sticking the leg up their nose and

3:04

I was talking to some of the people, brilliant people

3:06

in Crumpling Children's Hospital yesterday

3:08

and they were saying this is not unusual this happens all

3:10

the time and more often than not it's in the year that

3:14

the kids are sticking the leg up in their ear.

3:16

Oh okay yeah. Which would be a deliberate

3:19

kind of thing. I don't want to know. I feel that would be worse.

3:22

Listen there's only a certain amount of anyway

3:25

that's happened to me before. Has it?

3:26

I just thought the camera was very like oh

3:29

yeah yeah. She's no lot better than the

3:31

camera. Well went through that but a couple

3:33

weeks ago got it out again so it's fine. A

3:35

couple weeks? A couple of weeks ago. I'm joking.

3:38

Whoa we just unearthed something here. What

3:40

happened to you? As a kid. No

3:42

I think my brother now I was it

3:45

actually didn't happen to me. I think it happened to my brother a few

3:47

times.

3:48

We were a big Lego family so

3:50

naturally you know curiosity gets the better

3:53

sometimes and you just see what happens. When you say

3:55

it to people to begin with they assume that it's like

3:57

one of the giant Lego blocks. Oh

3:59

yeah.

3:59

Yeah, but they properly look at you in

4:02

a kind of Ralph Wiggum sense. Yeah. Forever

4:04

then, or it's out of here. It's fair. He can't be left alone

4:06

with the scissors. We can talk about it forever, you know? Yeah. And

4:08

also, you get an insight into the actual

4:11

work that goes on at a hospital like that. And

4:15

we were on our issue was probably the

4:17

lowest of levels of

4:19

importance of what was going on there yesterday. So

4:22

anyway, that's what I thought. Yeah, we'll

4:24

story it out. That was a good story to have. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,

4:26

exactly. Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

4:28

Share your LEGO stories.

4:29

LEGO stories. Go on. Favorite sets.

4:32

People generally do. Like when we wander off on these tangents,

4:34

people are like, oh, a bit like that.

4:38

Pardon the pun.

4:41

We've loads to get through on the show.

4:43

We've loads of great stuff to talk about. It's our final weekend.

4:45

We might talk a little bit about the excitement of that in

4:47

a few minutes time as well. But

4:51

we wanted to touch on the fact that Jordan Henderson

4:53

has now been confirmed. The worst case kept

4:55

secret in sport. He's gone

4:57

to Saudi Arabia for what

5:00

I would describe as a money smash

5:02

and grab job. Get in, get cash,

5:04

get out of there. Cristiano Ronaldo

5:07

showed them the way. We can do this. We

5:09

can go in, knock a couple of really

5:12

good years out of our career for money-wise

5:14

anyway.

5:15

Messi obviously was doing it with his endorsement

5:18

of Saudi Arabia, even though he didn't eventually

5:20

take the playing move. We shouldn't laud him too

5:22

much. Like he was definitely there

5:25

supporting as an ambassador. Beckham took the dough,

5:27

obviously from Qatar, during the World Cup

5:29

as well. Henderson now bends him obviously

5:31

for me, no can't day. And Bappé turned

5:33

it down. And Bappé was like a cigarette paper away

5:35

from just doing it. So again, I wouldn't,

5:38

you know, I saw somebody saying, like, you know, I can't

5:40

believe that he's turning down

5:42

the PSG, the righteousness

5:44

of PSG to make a move to Saudi Arabia.

5:47

So you know, the source of money. You're

5:49

at PSG, of course. The list is going to get bigger and

5:51

bigger. Like, you know, where

5:53

is it going to end? It's really up to the Saudis today. Have

5:56

the desire to continue to attract

5:58

the world's best players.

5:59

to Saudi Arabia because the players are going to continue

6:02

to say yes, right? Like, I don't think there's any doubt about that. When

6:04

that's eye watering sums of money around

6:06

the table, I think they're just going to keep saying yes. So

6:09

I think,

6:09

obviously, a lot of the fallout of the Henderson

6:11

stuff has been his support of the LGBTQ

6:14

plus community, the Rainbow Laces, the

6:16

Rainbow Arm Band, the, you know,

6:19

hand ringing around the World Cup. And we

6:21

want to take all these stances and bad old FIFA

6:23

aren't going to allow us to do it. And like, it just

6:25

turns out it was all nonsense. Like,

6:27

and I do think that the worst mistake that we

6:29

make, and I fall into it in the same way that everybody

6:32

else does, is investing too much in

6:35

the righteousness of players

6:37

who ultimately and I don't overly

6:39

judge

6:39

them because like, we can

6:41

have a conversation and most likely we'll know about

6:43

whether well, because it always comes back to, what

6:46

would you do that?

6:47

And I don't know, like it's a crazy

6:49

hypothetical situation. I wouldn't overly judge

6:52

the players that are doing it because the sums of money

6:55

are

6:55

crazy. And like, if somebody

6:58

offered you that money, your first response,

7:00

whatever way you look at it wouldn't be, I'm not doing that. Yeah,

7:02

it's what do I have to say? They're going to sit and certainly

7:05

have a think about it for a little while. So where

7:07

you end up after that, who knows? But I do think that

7:09

we need to stop falling into the trap of investing

7:12

too much in like

7:14

the Henderson case just proves this now. No

7:16

more like, go

7:19

command Jordan Henderson or whoever the next person would be

7:21

who's wearing the rainbow laces or wearing

7:23

the rainbow iron band because it's

7:25

paper thin. Well, it shows that all that support

7:28

is completely conditional and completely

7:30

circumstantial, depending on where you are. Like,

7:33

it's not really support, I think is

7:35

probably the point I make. That's the whole, but yeah, it's

7:38

not supportive.

7:39

You can be bought essentially. You

7:43

look at that and I accept your point that they're huge

7:45

sums of money and players, I've

7:47

heard the case made before that, you know, you've only won

7:49

careers. You have to kind of

7:52

take what comes and take the best opportunity. But

7:55

I remember Jarrah said it

7:57

a quote

7:58

one time that really... stuck with me.

8:00

Are you not a citizen of the world? Do you not understand

8:03

this stuff? Do you not go like all these

8:06

people who end up going to Saudi Arabia, the

8:08

question or the response is always,

8:11

I'm here for football. I'm not here. I'm not here

8:13

for politics. That's

8:15

not what I'm doing. I'm a footballer first. I'm

8:18

not here to field all those questions, which

8:21

I don't think is good enough. Really. I think these

8:23

are social

8:25

questions that are in our society. They

8:28

are, I would say the

8:30

LGBTQ plus community, especially

8:32

in a club like Liverpool would make up a sizable

8:35

part of that supporter base. So

8:39

you can't look at a move like that as

8:41

anything other than a middle finger to them. Really.

8:44

Yeah.

8:45

That's the point. It's not so much

8:47

a case of, well, how, how

8:49

much are your principles worth?

8:51

It's that your, you know, your legacy is

8:53

that

8:54

all of that work that you've done to support that community

8:57

is gone now. And Thomas Hitzelsberger made

9:00

that kind of illusion in his tweet yesterday, excoriating

9:03

Henderson, that it's not even a case of I'm

9:05

not supporting them anymore. It's that everything

9:07

that I've done up to that point was meaningless,

9:10

absolutely meaningless. Yeah. Yeah.

9:11

I think there's a few strands to it. Like when you're

9:14

saying there, Cameron, that they're there for football.

9:17

Like I often wonder the standards

9:19

in Saudi Arabia, if you're there for football, really

9:22

you could go backwards playing out

9:24

there. Now, a lot of these, you know, players that

9:26

are going there might be coming to the end of their careers and

9:28

it might make sense that way for them. And okay,

9:31

they look at the money. We have some players that

9:33

are going out there, Jada in particular from Celtic.

9:35

He's only 24 years of age. He's on

9:38

the cusp of, you know, getting

9:40

in the Portuguese team. And now he's

9:42

gone out there. So you look at that as well of where

9:44

is his career going to go after this? And

9:46

obviously

9:46

morally then as well, like you

9:50

have a short career, you've won life. Like

9:52

I think you do need to look at your own morals

9:54

and what's important to you in life because at the end of day,

9:57

football is just football. And you

9:59

know,

9:59

Are you going to be happy if you're

10:02

of all this money in the bank, but really, morally,

10:05

your family, I'm sure there's a hell of a lot of people within

10:08

your family circle that have so many people

10:10

within that community, you know, that are going to

10:12

be disappointed by all of this. I'm sure himself,

10:15

other people as well, like I'm

10:17

sure morally they have to be a little

10:20

bit like this, this isn't right. You

10:22

know, and

10:23

I think that point is spot on and he has

10:25

lit, he has set fire to all of that, Jordan

10:28

Henderson now. So he has gone, I'm an

10:30

advocate for you, you've no voice and I'm

10:33

going to be an advocate for you and I'm going to, you know, publicly,

10:36

really publicly stand behind you and say

10:38

that I'm in your camp and whatever support you need,

10:41

I'm here for you. And he just went up in a puff

10:43

of smoke. He went,

10:44

there's a trailer load of cash over here and I'm going

10:46

to take it. The, the, I

10:48

hope that like even the players that are

10:50

saying, ah, this, I'm doing this for football, like it's

10:53

the, the live golfers who went for to grow the

10:55

game.

10:56

Piss off like, yeah. You know, they've

10:58

subsequently admitted, no, not really. Yeah.

11:00

And it never was like it's, you know, but

11:02

then

11:03

you look what happened there. Like, and Rory

11:05

McRae was, was so outspoken

11:07

about it all. And in the end, he looked like the

11:09

one who was the idiot in the end. Yeah.

11:11

Oh yeah. Do we expect too

11:13

much? Do we, do we, on that point of like investing

11:16

in the rainbow laces and the arm band and bending

11:19

the knee and all that sort of stuff, do we expect

11:21

too much? Is that,

11:22

is that something we should stop? Is

11:25

the, is the Henderson case evidence that

11:27

we should stop expecting sports

11:29

people to be advocates for

11:31

stuff that we know by and

11:33

large, they couldn't really give to hoots about? We

11:36

don't know that. And I think sport is so powerful

11:39

that we need to take these

11:41

stands. We, we have to speak out at these

11:44

moments. I think I

11:46

would like to say majority, maybe I'm

11:48

just living in a bubble, but I would like to

11:50

say that the majority of them who

11:52

do speak out and, and take these stands do mean

11:55

it.

11:55

Like until, until the trailer or the cash

11:58

arrives. That's my point. Like I think. I'm

12:00

sure Jordan Henderson meant all that, right? Yeah.

12:02

And I'm sure you mentioned before we came on air, but the video that

12:05

was dead black and white at the Iron

12:07

Band, the Rainbow Iron Band and stuff, I'm certain

12:09

that Jordan Henderson woke up or whatever, saw

12:11

that video and went, oh Jesus. Yeah,

12:13

he wasn't told about that. But I'm sure he meant all that. But he

12:16

signed up. But at the same time. He knew what

12:18

he was signing up for. He was setting the match to all of that. Oh, you, you

12:20

know, no possibility to go, by the

12:22

way, I'm still with you. That's bullshit. Like,

12:24

that's gone there. You wave your right to have any say in what they

12:26

do from that point on. And your

12:28

point on, do we

12:29

expect too much of athletes? I don't think so,

12:32

because

12:33

we are all so familiar of

12:35

how big a cultural phenomenon football

12:37

and sport more generally is and how much

12:40

of a platform it is for certain cases. And

12:42

we've seen countless times in history

12:44

athletes using that platform to

12:47

champion a cause.

12:49

Rightly or wrongly, sometimes there are other causes that

12:51

we don't agree with. But they've been able to

12:54

use that. That's kind of gone away

12:56

just a little bit over the last while because of the

12:58

age of social media, I think, and

13:00

the waterboutery. And you said this, and Jordan

13:02

Anderson is a great example of a kind

13:05

of you were

13:07

a supporter of LGBTQ plus rights.

13:09

And here's you saying such and such. And we've seen loads

13:11

of players going, I would never go to Saudi Arabia or I

13:13

support this and then end up going. But

13:17

the problem is, if players and managers aren't using that

13:19

platform, others are, which is why I think Just

13:21

Stop Oil have been really successful and gotten

13:24

people's wicks so easily by

13:26

using sports events because they recognize

13:29

that it is a massive opportunity

13:31

to get your message out there. So

13:33

if players and sport is still going to be used

13:35

for causes, I don't care. And that whole

13:38

notion of sports and politics not mixing, I

13:40

think, is nonsense.

13:43

But if players and

13:45

managers aren't doing it, someone will

13:47

do it and it will be very inconvenient

13:49

for the rest of the sporting community. So

13:52

you might as well take a stand, I think. I think

13:54

what's what of you to lose?

13:56

Where does this stop, though? Like it's so

13:58

soulless. It's just. It's

14:00

taken the best players out of say the Premier League and

14:03

the likes like I'm sure that's gonna dilute that too

14:05

And then we see them going to play this this

14:07

standard that we're told it isn't great Where

14:10

does it end unless they flood

14:12

that league with like I know

14:14

and which they're doing Yeah, absolutely

14:16

doing like I mean does that point become

14:18

you have to watch it like yeah I

14:20

mean, I mean, I don't know if it does feel like a

14:22

million miles away from that like you're saying Yeah, well,

14:25

maybe you don't have to watch it the

14:27

Saudi League and the Saudi clubs have clearly identified

14:30

the general trend of Higher

14:32

football is supported these days, which is that it's

14:34

players rather than clubs so

14:37

if I can sell and

14:39

I'll aty fact shirt with Henderson on the back or

14:42

Alnazir shirt with Ronaldo on the back that's just

14:45

as good as Ronaldo playing for in fact It's probably better

14:47

than Ronaldo playing for a Premier League club say

14:49

like a United in terms of getting you mean

14:52

globally like that Yeah, that there are people around

14:54

the world by people still wear those jerseys

14:56

You know and they've identified what sort

14:58

of numbers is good I'd say she a good point and thought about like I wonder

15:01

I wonder what sort of numbers are they selling out? I think

15:04

is that the name that yeah jerseys with Henderson

15:06

on the back? Yeah. Yeah, how many they are but Even

15:09

with a few replicas like knockoff ones

15:11

that they still gets the message across that he's playing

15:13

for that club and it feeds into what

15:16

I think is becoming a trend in football

15:19

and sport more generally of

15:21

Kids today and here I go. Send like

15:24

a 90 year old man It's

15:27

it's the tick tock of occasion of sport hmm

15:29

that you just want the moments you want to see

15:31

Jordan Henderson absolutely wearing the crowd

15:34

against

15:35

insert Saudi team here and That'll

15:38

be a Jordan Henderson recently by the way Like

15:43

Ronaldo going through ten absolutely

15:45

terrible players because that's the stuff

15:48

on tick tock with the song and go Oh,

15:50

what a goal by Ronaldo That's how you

15:52

get to those that fan base any of that stuff

15:54

that I've seen on tick tock and I have seen it You

15:57

see the goalkeeper like a

15:59

thump in the ground

15:59

are sitting there so disappointed and you're like what

16:02

like really I think like seriously

16:04

come on now you know how disappointed

16:06

can you be like this bog standard goalkeeper

16:09

I'm one of the world's best players against planted

16:11

one bad game.

16:13

I think your disappointment is quite

16:15

the iron.

16:18

Right there's a good few comments coming in. Maybe

16:21

they aren't hypocritical

16:24

but under pressure to perform to avoid the ire of the

16:26

mob and to keep the brands happy says

16:29

Michael Lade Larry there's

16:35

a man after my own heart with that that handle lesson learned

16:37

don't speak out don't offer support for any group for

16:39

fear you'll be you'll be torn apart like Henderson

16:42

which I guess is saying what should Henderson

16:44

have done should he have said nothing through the years on

16:47

the basis that maybe he's gonna take the payday at the

16:50

end I don't know maybe there's some sort of a ground

16:52

in between maybe that's maybe that's an alternative

16:54

solution or just you know stand your ground

16:57

your actions have consequences and your words have consequences

17:00

it paints a picture of you Shane

17:03

says it's fairly grim Henderson is joining a club finished seventh

17:06

in the Saudi League last season with an average crowd of five and

17:08

a half thousand people he couldn't care less what

17:10

people think a

17:13

normal folk need to think about it

17:16

need to think about it these footballers already very rich so it's pure

17:18

greed and their parts as Fergus Kyo

17:21

and Darrow too wondering how

17:23

much Saudi money would you need to shove a piece of Lego up your

17:26

nose

17:27

it just kills me that the love for the game

17:29

and like why they got into it and yeah

17:32

talent they have all of that is just out the

17:34

window now like they forget completely

17:36

where they started out and

17:39

now it is all just about the money and this is

17:41

where Henderson probably gonna finish his career

17:43

now like

17:44

that kills me but maybe that's just me

17:46

living in this bubble

17:49

of like the passion for sport

17:51

and yeah that that's what

17:53

gets me I just think it's so list now and

17:55

we were talking about the other day we actually did a

17:57

panel and Michael thermocall he was on it and he

17:59

He just said, I don't rewatch it anymore. I'm not

18:02

into it anymore. Like, thank God the

18:04

GA hasn't gone down this route. And, you

18:06

know, when we're all the question of professionalism,

18:08

if it was to come in, you know,

18:10

that we're

18:12

so unique in that way that we

18:14

have this game that, you know, it's

18:16

not professional and it is for the love.

18:19

And yeah, we shouldn't lose that. But

18:21

that's my point. And I just think, God,

18:24

it is so, so listening at this point. And

18:26

I don't know where it ends.

18:27

And I think that that is the nub

18:29

for me. And I think that Henderson, in

18:31

some ways, this is good because, like,

18:34

you know, it allows us to remove

18:36

the veil of

18:37

it being anything other than just a big money grab.

18:40

And I saw Jurgen Klopp hitching his wagon to

18:43

Henderson yesterday with this very sort of emotional,

18:45

my skipper, my skipper, even

18:47

my longest serving skipper speech

18:51

on the Liverpool channels. And I don't

18:54

know, maybe what else is he supposed to do? I

18:56

know that Liverpool fans are also torn over as well because

18:59

I was in Anfield doing the tour a few weeks

19:01

ago. Well, yeah. And you go into the home

19:03

dressing room and Henderson's

19:05

name block was already taken

19:07

off as a locker in the home dressing room. So

19:09

they've obviously made peace with it. Was there a little bit

19:11

of a gag? Was there like, oh, look at that.

19:13

Yeah. Yeah. Was

19:16

there? Yeah.

19:18

Yeah. I think there was a little bit of, oh, yeah. People

19:20

filming themselves for long. Yeah. It was very

19:22

funny. Really good. Good

19:24

tour. Yeah. I

19:26

think it was a lot of stadium tours, I think, in terms of it.

19:29

I'm going to annoy a lot of people when I say this, but Liverpool

19:31

fans are very kind of we're the

19:33

best club in the world type and shots

19:35

fired a little bit. Yeah.

19:38

Wow. Yeah. Gosh,

19:40

teams fan base loving their club. Who knew? But

19:42

I would have loved a bit more kind of history of the

19:45

ground and stuff like that. And it was very much a sort

19:47

of CV of Liverpool's greatest

19:49

hits throughout the stadium. And you think,

19:51

as in what, like, as in they were

19:53

just saying, well, here's our seven European

19:56

titles.

19:56

Is that a... No, no, it wasn't. It

19:58

wasn't. I'm sure it'll be in

20:00

the morning for me too anyway. You

20:02

try it like that, actually. But

20:05

I would have liked, they didn't really explain when the ground had been built

20:07

or anything like that. Okay. It was a bit of a disappointment.

20:10

They went into where You Never Walk Alone

20:12

came from and You Sit in the Cop

20:14

and all that. Where did it come from?

20:16

Well, they started singing it.

20:18

They used to play the Top 40 before games. Okay. It

20:21

was one of the songs that just... Jerry and the Pacemakers. Yeah,

20:23

Jerry and the Pacemakers, correct. So

20:25

we came directly from that and then they... Then they were

20:28

like, oh, we'll use... I think they played it when they

20:30

came back after they won the FA Cup. That

20:32

was the first song they played and the fans kind of sang along.

20:35

But after that,

20:36

yeah, it was a grand. Hill rating out of five?

20:39

Hill rating out of five. I would say 5.5, good to see. But...

20:43

5.5 out of five? Out of 10. Out of 10. Everything's

20:46

out of 10. Okay. I did say out of five, by

20:48

the way. I'm not. Five is a cop out. Okay.

20:52

You might as well go with two. Not a ring in the bottom.

20:55

Okay. The All Ireland Final weekend as

20:57

well, obviously. It's like the excitement of it is

20:59

off the charts. And we'll talk a little bit about the two semi-finals,

21:02

of course, in Turles as well tomorrow night. But

21:04

like just the intrigue when you

21:06

get to this time of the year, like

21:09

what damage is Clifford going to do? Are they going to

21:11

go man or man in them? Is Baskal going to go back to

21:13

doing what he did in the quarterfinals? Will Cluckston

21:15

finally concede a goal? Will

21:17

he finally get the ninth All Ireland? Will Mick

21:20

Fitz... Is it Mick Fitz and James McCarthy? Will

21:22

they get the ninth All Ireland? Will

21:25

Barry keep venting quiet? You have Desi.

21:27

You have Jack O'Connor. I see Desi being very emotional

21:30

about James McCarthy in the papers this morning. The history

21:32

of it, the hill, the colours, the smells. Just

21:35

the anticipation of this is I can't wait for

21:37

it. I must say, like as somebody who never really has any

21:40

interest in the specific

21:42

teams when it comes around to it, I'm a fully

21:45

sort of paid up member of the occasion.

21:47

Yeah. I think and we think back to the All Ireland

21:49

semi-final last year as well. Like what a game

21:51

that was. Johnny O'Shea, last kick of the game.

21:54

Into the hill. Unbelievable.

21:57

I think any time they meet, it's an epic battle. Yeah.

22:00

it's not going to be any different. And probably that

22:02

we've the biggest names in the game are

22:04

coming up against each other. Did we ever think that we'd see

22:06

David Clifford and Steven Clarkson, you

22:08

know, in an All Ireland final again, like no

22:10

chance, I don't think anybody did. And

22:13

as you said

22:13

there, will he- He's gonna score a goal, isn't he? Will he concede

22:16

a goal and could it be David Clifford? What

22:18

do you think? Oh God, absolutely,

22:20

there's possibility.

22:21

Is David Clifford- I think it's a short chance, yeah.

22:23

And I also think that like, it's

22:25

a footnote, but I do think that like, there'd

22:28

be nothing better than rubbing it into them by

22:30

saying, well, it would be cheap. And also that- We

22:32

got that goal. That record. I see John

22:35

Fogarty's always tweeting the, he's got X minutes

22:37

now without conceding a goal. Yeah.

22:40

He'd love that, Kerry would love that. That's the sort of bitterness that's

22:42

going on there. Yeah, for S-H-E-R-Y. Yeah,

22:45

yeah. I don't know. I was

22:47

talking to someone in the lift today on the way up. I

22:50

felt

22:51

the buildup to the final generally

22:53

has been a little bit more subdued than usual.

22:55

I don't know. I haven't been

22:58

swept away by it where it's like this huge- That's because you're

23:00

watching the rugby championship coming. You don't care about this sort

23:02

of stuff. Yeah, I'm living and I'm

23:05

reading Conoch rugby blogs instead of- Yeah.

23:08

You're probably

23:08

the fact as well that the hurling was only

23:10

last week. Yeah. You know, you just had maybe

23:12

two weeks. And that our attention's a bit divided

23:15

because we've got a World Cup going on. I mean,

23:17

the Open was last weekend, so there was still a

23:19

bit of fallout from that. And then you get to Wednesday, it's like,

23:21

oh yeah. This thing is.

23:24

But I don't know. I've just found this

23:26

year, maybe it's- we're still

23:28

kind of betting in this July

23:30

final structure

23:33

now. But it

23:35

hasn't been this kind of all-encompassing thing the

23:38

way it would have been maybe a few years ago. Maybe

23:40

that's just me. I don't know. If anyone else feels like that,

23:42

please give me some love. But-

23:45

Yeah, no, I definitely know what you mean. But I probably

23:47

think it's probably because they're back to back

23:49

now. You know, if we had a little bit more space,

23:52

we could probably hone in a bit more on each

23:54

team. When we're only getting over

23:57

the celebrations in Limerick

23:58

and all of that. and we're straight

24:00

in then to, you know, the football. But

24:03

no, it's it's like we have the two

24:05

best teams. They're in the final. Like

24:08

I think the midfield battle in particular is

24:10

probably one that is going to be class at talking

24:12

point, like obviously, Benton and Barry. Yes,

24:15

incredible. And we've seen Jeremy O'Connor

24:17

and what he's done this year and he's really stepped

24:19

up and into that role. So that's

24:21

going to be epic in itself. And yeah,

24:24

and then who's firing on the day? You know, that's an easy

24:26

cop out to say that. But if David Clifford

24:28

has the game of his life or at the other end, it's Connell

24:31

Callahan that's having a game of his

24:33

life. That's probably what it's going

24:35

to come down to. These big players on the big

24:37

day being able to step up. But

24:40

yeah, really looking forward to it. Are you heading in?

24:41

Yeah. Bring on the young fellow. Yeah,

24:44

go up his nose anymore. So

24:47

can't wait. A lot of people won't be happy that there's under

24:49

eight year olds at Crow Park and I learned finally course, but

24:51

you know,

24:52

no, like that is unbelievable for them to

24:54

experience. But there was, you know, there

24:57

was something sad a few years ago about where

24:59

tickets should go on on these sort of days

25:01

and that they shouldn't go to anyway. No, I don't

25:04

believe that for a second. Me too.

25:07

Clifford doesn't do quiet days.

25:10

That's the thing, you know, like where some of the other players,

25:12

like it was obviously the battle off between

25:14

himself and Shane Walsh last year. And then

25:17

like for probably understand the reason

25:19

Shane Walsh is quite your Clifford just doesn't tend to do

25:21

that like he tends to. He's got a kind of Maradona

25:23

quality to him. I think when the stories

25:26

will be written and thankfully we're watching all this stuff, but

25:28

certainly when the stories are written of Maradona, when they won

25:31

the 86 World Cup, it was very much Maradona

25:33

pulled his team of average players through and

25:35

won a World Cup, which isn't true at all.

25:37

This carry team is fantastic. But it's just

25:39

that he is such of such a higher quality

25:42

than anything else in the country that

25:44

it feels like the rest pale in comparison. But

25:46

yeah, it's I think it's pivotal,

25:48

pivotal, pivotal, excuse

25:51

me, on how well he does

25:53

if he has a really good game carry win. What's

25:55

it like a bad game for him? An average game

25:58

for him is seven or eight points.

25:59

her own in the quarterfinal everybody said

26:02

he probably had not his best

26:04

game and he had that you know

26:06

the the pass from out along the sideline where the ball

26:08

was about to go over the sideline and he kicks it over his head. It's

26:10

been a genius moment in that game as well

26:13

and that's probably the difference you know he can do these

26:15

magic moments out of nothing and he probably

26:18

was a bit quieter that day which was

26:20

a dangerous thing then going into the semi-final because

26:22

then you saw what he did against Derry

26:24

then you know I got nine points a day with

26:26

Chrissie McEague did a good job in them. I

26:29

often think it's

26:29

hard now to mark a

26:32

player like Clifford if you think about how

26:34

the game has changed so you obviously have the

26:36

mark so how do you

26:38

mark a player like Clifford do you as a defender

26:42

you're always told don't get out in front almost let them out

26:44

of the ball and push them out push them out because

26:46

if a player like David Clifford if you go

26:49

to get out in front of him and then he gets it and he just turns

26:51

you're done so how

26:53

do you mark a player like him do you

26:56

let him get the ball take the mark he can score a mark

26:58

from anywhere and also the size disparity

27:00

like it's not as if mick for time it has if if

27:03

Clifford up front and he wants to get the ball mick for time

27:05

is then getting it off yeah

27:07

exactly you've got that too so I'm always like

27:09

it's must be such an impossible job but

27:12

yeah I think it's all about probably stopping the supply

27:14

that's probably how you need to think about it

27:16

Dandelene agrees which you Cameron find the build-up very

27:18

low key same with the hurling he says games

27:20

way too close together ashens correct if

27:23

Clifford performs Kerry will win simple

27:25

as Shauna Shay better than Clifford in my opinion to

27:27

somebody else and

27:30

it's the wrong time of the year usually kids are back in school

27:33

usually adds that we don't get

27:35

the school shots anymore of going to various

27:38

players primary schools which

27:41

was always a part of the buildup for me and

27:44

when Henderson does his first interview

27:46

says Pwgc here in YouTube with

27:48

the Western Press someone should ask him straight up do you still

27:50

support LGBTQ plus issues and see what he

27:52

says will he will

27:55

his club stop talking to will his

27:57

club stop him talking in these issues I

27:59

mean

27:59

Yeah, I'm sure that as

28:02

much as we discussed the black and white out

28:04

of the Rainbow armband, he

28:07

wasn't knocking on the door the following morning to

28:09

go, by the way, would you mind

28:11

not doing that again? Because I really support those

28:14

issues. That's not a conversation that

28:15

happens. No, because he's signed up now. He knows

28:17

what he signed up to. Yeah, absolutely. The silence

28:20

is deafening, isn't it? Something

28:23

that just the last wee tidbit from,

28:25

because we've delayed these semi-finals

28:27

as well to get to, which we could preview in a minute. Something

28:31

that really is annoying me about the World Cup on the subject

28:33

of football is

28:36

social media teams putting up

28:38

their team announcements as videos rather than

28:40

photos. Have you seen those? The

28:43

Canada one came out. It's

28:46

really annoying. Just put up the team

28:48

first and then have some sort of glossy

28:51

team reveal video, because you have to wait. It's

28:54

not good content though, you know what I mean? It's

28:56

really frustrating. We're thinking of it

28:58

from a work point of view. Oh yeah, yeah. It's

29:00

an entirely self-serving gripe

29:03

I have with this. But

29:06

I don't

29:06

know, it's too much and you're

29:09

waiting and then maybe 10 seconds from the end I'll

29:11

reveal the team. It's all this build-up. I'm

29:14

not a fan of it. Owen Collins is challenging you, actually.

29:16

He says, money is always at the heart of it. How many GEA

29:18

players truly love the AFL?

29:21

It's

29:23

slightly different than Abigail. Yeah, no,

29:25

I get it. It's always at the

29:27

heart of it. I just was making the point that I think

29:30

it's nice that we actually have this organisation

29:32

now that it's not all about, you

29:35

know, you're there because you're getting X amount of money.

29:37

You're actually there playing because you actually

29:40

love it. Yeah. But yeah, if

29:42

you get the opportunity to go to the AFL

29:44

and you have a professional lifestyle, geez,

29:46

absolutely. It's

29:47

slightly different in that

29:50

AFL is paid compared to GEA

29:52

unpaid, whereas, you

29:54

know, if you're going from Premier League to Saudi

29:56

League,

29:56

the Saudi League gets an extra zero on your salary.

29:59

It is.

29:59

a little bit of a difference there. This is different dynamic, right?

30:02

And one other one here. Bum-ba-da-bum-ba-bum.

30:06

Where's it gone? You're living in

30:08

fancy land. Of course they're taking the

30:10

money who wouldn't. And, you know,

30:12

that's a deeper conversation that we might get back

30:15

to again at some point. So

30:17

the two semi-finals, Tomorrow

30:19

Night in Tarless, Kerry against Mayo, 5 o'clock,

30:21

Cork, and Dublin half past seven. I think you're heading

30:24

down to both of them. Yeah. And

30:26

obviously with your own crowd out now. I know. Fancy

30:28

is a bit of a lash off this, don't they? Like, are

30:30

Kerry the

30:31

slight favorites or what's the overall?

30:34

Yeah, I would say that's probably the

30:36

overall feeling. Obviously they knocked me

30:39

down. In the last game it was

30:41

down in Kerry and it was an awful

30:43

night. Brutal. A brutal night. Yeah,

30:46

it really was. But Kerry, you definitely see that they've come

30:48

on a lot since last year. They've really grown as

30:50

a team and you've seen the like, Sir Louise

30:52

Galvin was lining out in midfield for them. What

30:55

a player. And

30:57

yeah, I think for Louise Neemar, her thing and everything

31:00

that she has gone through with this Kerry team, it would

31:02

be incredible to see her back in an

31:04

all-Ireland final. Obviously we saw them

31:06

there as well last year. So yeah,

31:08

I think for them, the big news that came out was that Chief

31:11

Rochet, their captain, she's out again with

31:13

a cruciate ligament injury, which happened

31:15

only in training during the week. It's

31:18

her second time doing it.

31:19

Declan Quill was saying that they had basically had a wake afterwards.

31:22

They had to fully sit down and address it

31:24

and sort of grieve it and work through

31:27

it.

31:27

Because she is their captain and she's

31:29

really stepped up. I talked to her at the start of the year

31:31

and just when she was taking the captaincy, you know

31:33

the way to do it and Kerry, obviously you win. Yeah,

31:36

you're championship there. So she took

31:38

it on and yeah, she really grown

31:40

into the role and she had a big part to play for

31:43

me, against me in that win.

31:46

So it's a massive loss for them and just

31:48

terrible to see that happening to so many

31:50

players and especially when they're coming

31:53

to the end of the season as well. These big

31:55

games in Crow Park, if they make the final,

31:57

it's just yeah, it'd be terrible.

31:59

for her to see her on the sideline. I know if that

32:02

is the case, but yeah, they're coming up against Mayo

32:04

who you have done well, have gone

32:06

under the radar a little bit. I think Mayo have done really

32:08

well. They've a young team coming through. Obviously, they had that

32:10

experience come on back as well. And

32:13

they bet Galway by it was a point in the

32:15

end. Yeah. So they definitely are going

32:17

under the radar. They probably like it like that. Come

32:19

on up against Kerry and then the other side of things,

32:22

then Cork and Dublin. I

32:24

was at the Cork and Armagh game down

32:26

in Armagh, and they knocked Armagh

32:28

that day to progress. And wasn't

32:31

overly impressed with with Cork

32:34

that day. It was a messy night and obviously

32:36

they had to travel to Armagh. But

32:38

I just felt like they they aren't

32:40

fully firing yet. So there could be a big

32:42

performance in Cork yet. And obviously

32:44

then we've seen Dublin. They had a really

32:46

comfortable win over Donegal to get to this

32:49

point. So

32:50

they will be coming into this full of confidence.

32:52

But at the same time, we might see a response because

32:55

from Cork, because I really didn't think they they

32:57

would have been happy leaving Armagh that day.

32:59

They only had a two point win and there was no Amy Macon

33:01

playing for Armagh.

33:02

And I saw the managers stepped away from Armagh as

33:04

well during the week. I

33:07

look at the Kerry result and you kind of think against me,

33:09

obviously, and given the nature of it and you sort of

33:11

try to read a fair bit into it. That scored two seven in the

33:13

first half. Yeah, brutal conditions.

33:15

And they end up scoring

33:16

like hanging on, scoring a point,

33:18

I think, in the second half.

33:20

Is it is it an you would

33:22

want to use it as a benchmark or reference

33:24

to be able to preview the game and say, like you were kind

33:26

of talking about, you know, this is

33:29

continuing involvement of this team. Is it almost

33:31

like is there anything in it just given the conditions, the,

33:34

you know, fast art, loads

33:37

of scores, blitzing

33:39

the team out of in the first half enough to be able to hang

33:41

on? Or is it just worthless given that,

33:44

you know, ideally, there's not going to be repeated that madness on

33:46

Saturday night? Yeah, I don't think you can read

33:48

into it very much. Like we played in a final

33:51

in the Padio Shay tournament and it just reminded

33:54

me of this so much. Like when you've seen the players

33:56

running at the wind, they

33:58

were pulled back. You could see that. on TV

34:01

that I remember the final we played in and it was

34:03

very much like that like one half

34:05

we scored the next half they scored and

34:07

that's exactly what happened in the game you can't take

34:10

very much from it the conditions were

34:12

terrible you know but I think

34:14

what you take from it is probably the other performances

34:17

the carry have put in through the year and you look

34:19

at that and I do think that they probably are the inform

34:21

team at the minute and it's

34:24

hard to know it's so wide open like I would have said Dunne

34:26

Gal you know they had showed signs of

34:28

it and they got you know

34:30

annihilated in the end by Dublin

34:32

so yeah it's hard to read

34:34

into this year which is great though you know it is

34:37

wide open but I don't know if I was looking

34:39

at it I probably think it could be a Kerry

34:41

Dublin

34:42

oh

34:44

is the the Kerry Mill game should be a good game

34:46

to watch in the sense that like they both like to go at it

34:48

there's no huge sort of defensive

34:50

styles they like to get their scores

34:52

yeah and I think you always get that within

34:54

the women's game as well which is so

34:56

refreshing to watch like when

34:58

I got to their ma and court game

35:00

I just sat there was like love this being

35:03

there seeing everyone going at it you

35:05

know that the forward stay up in the forward line

35:08

yeah you don't watch the

35:10

game and you see the 15 behind the ball and then 15 behind

35:15

the ball it's everyone stays somewhat

35:17

in their positions look there is tactics

35:19

to go into it too don't get me wrong there's

35:21

a hell of a lot of tactics go into it but it's

35:24

very enjoyable to watch and players

35:26

go out and express themselves and yeah and you'll definitely

35:28

see that in the in the Kerry and Mayo game

35:30

long balls inside quick balls inside girls

35:33

running off the shoulder yeah and

35:35

tireless like it's it is exactly

35:37

yeah really lends itself to that type of type

35:40

of play like yeah yeah so

35:42

it is it's very exciting and yeah

35:44

and I think it's it's anyone's game because

35:47

it's so wide open there's not a hell of a lot between

35:49

the teams which

35:50

is great to see so yeah

35:54

I think Cork Dublin game in particular

35:57

with the tightest of the

35:59

of the two As in, you think Kerry

36:01

are going to do a bit of a number of mail? I

36:03

just think that Kerry should have enough now,

36:06

yeah, to get over the line. But

36:09

between the Cork and Dublin, I think at the

36:11

minute what I'm seeing

36:12

may be Dublin, but they haven't been firing all year either,

36:15

so

36:15

yeah. Everybody's had their moments in this championship

36:18

and then they've fallen down as

36:20

well, so it's so hard to know. Yeah,

36:22

yeah, yeah. Alright, well you've wetted the appetite nicely,

36:24

Kerry obviously dogged as well, like they

36:26

were against me, it will be interesting to see how much

36:29

of that game sort of is threaded

36:31

into this. And you know, because if they can carry a lot

36:33

of that over, then suddenly they are worthy

36:35

of heading into the final.

36:38

Yeah, I know, it was hard to see

36:40

me being knocked out. There was a lot

36:42

of talk all year, obviously, they didn't have a

36:45

smooth year in terms of the management stepping away

36:47

and

36:48

everything else in between. So,

36:50

yeah, it wasn't great to see them knocked out, but

36:53

I think they'll take a lot from it. Yeah,

36:55

they definitely will and it will be interesting

36:57

to see what happens now next year if Jenny Rispin

36:59

is going to stay on. I

37:01

haven't heard anything yet, but

37:03

yeah, we'll definitely be. The rise was so

37:05

meteoric that there had to be a levelling at some point or

37:08

other, and it's not as if they've fallen off the face of the planet either, like

37:10

they're there.

37:11

And a lot of those girls that went travelling that I'm sure

37:13

will be back, so I'd say watch out for a meet

37:15

again next year. Shots fired already. Righto,

37:18

it's seven minutes past eight, you're watching RTPAM, the

37:20

sports breakfast show from off the ball here, so it's coming

37:23

up for you between now and 10 o'clock this morning. I'm going to be

37:25

talking to the former Republic of Ireland manager Sue Rohn in just

37:27

a few minutes to just take a bit

37:29

of a breath after the week that was and looking forward, of course,

37:31

to Ireland's final group game

37:33

as well. Jar Brandon is going to be with us to preview

37:36

the All Ireland Men's All Ireland final from 20

37:39

past to eight, maybe a little bit after that this morning. Grote-Mac

37:42

Dade finished second in the Men's Shortboard

37:45

at the Eurosurf 2023

37:46

in Portugal yesterday,

37:48

so we'll chat to Grote a little bit

37:50

later in the show. Shane Hannon

37:52

is not somebody you hear from that often, nor

37:55

is a guest today who is

37:57

on Shane.

37:59

So we'll get from the two lads.

38:02

It's been a meeting of minds down in Firey's

38:05

over the last couple of days and Sam and

38:25

Sam and Sam are going to be talking about

38:28

the various talking points we've had so far in the show. So

38:30

please do feel free to keep those coming

38:33

into us and we'll come back to them a little bit later.

38:37

As I mentioned, the dust has settled. So

38:39

let's get the thoughts of the former Republican

38:42

World Manager, Sue Ronan on

38:44

Ireland's progress so far. Sue, good morning

38:46

to you. Morning guys, how are we keeping? We're keeping all right.

38:49

We haven't had John, I don't think since the

38:52

most recent game of course and obviously

38:54

there's the pride and the emotion that

38:56

we've sort of spoken about and I suppose this is maybe

38:59

an opportunity for us to with the dust set a little bit

39:01

to get into more critical analysis

39:04

that the recriminations

39:06

have started. I've heard and watched and

39:08

read a lot during the week about that. What

39:11

are your two down two defeats? What

39:13

are your major takeaways before the final

39:15

game?

39:17

Well, look, as you said, I mean, there is overwhelming

39:19

pride in the team for getting this far,

39:22

for going toe to toe to

39:24

the big teams in the world, I guess.

39:28

It's a shame you spend ages prepping for a tournament,

39:30

the build up since we qualified last October,

39:33

November, whenever it was and then it's over very

39:35

quickly. Really, within six days, I suppose

39:37

we're out. Unfortunately,

39:40

the team needs to move on very quickly

39:42

because you want to end on a high, you

39:44

want to get a result against Nigeria. That's

39:46

not a dead rubber of a game in any way,

39:48

shape or form. They can still go

39:50

through now, you know. But

39:53

when you look at it, I think

39:55

we definitely deserve more from both the games.

39:58

You know, I don't think we show the best of our team.

39:59

maybe against Australia, there was probably some

40:02

nerves there. It was a huge occasion, huge crowd.

40:04

We know all that. We really waited. We

40:06

weren't in any danger, but we didn't really put

40:08

our best foot forward, I think, until we went behind.

40:11

But, you know, it was so different against the Canadians.

40:14

And I was saying to myself, why didn't we play like this against

40:16

Australia? We started off so confidently,

40:18

got in their faces. You know, they didn't

40:20

know what hit them really. We got

40:22

everything right. Tactics right. You know, we

40:24

are pressers in unison, everything.

40:27

And then scored a cracker of a goal. And

40:29

really,

40:29

you know, it was the equivalent, I suppose, of having

40:32

a boxer on the ropes. And unfortunately,

40:35

we just didn't get that killer below. We didn't get that

40:37

second goal, which was badly needed, really. And

40:40

then, you know, the sucker punch conceding just

40:43

before halftime really knocked us. And

40:46

then, you know, the second half was so

40:48

disappointing. We really was like we

40:50

fell off the edge of a cliff, really. You know, in fairness,

40:52

they galvanized. They made some great,

40:55

great substitutions. Huge experience came on

40:57

the pitch. And they were able to

40:59

lift it up a level. And the

41:02

goal obviously came at the right time for them. They were a different

41:04

team in the second half, as were way. Unfortunately,

41:06

we went the other way and they went up. And,

41:09

you know, we weren't that great. So, yeah,

41:11

the recriminations have started, as you say.

41:15

There's a lot of whispers around, I suppose, and a lot of

41:17

discussion around Vera and her, whether

41:19

she should stay, whether she should go. And that's

41:22

always going to happen, I guess. And should this

41:24

player have been in? Should that player have been in? You know, what

41:26

team we should have played? And you get that,

41:28

I suppose, at every tournament. But, yeah,

41:31

really, you know, overwhelming pride, I guess, with

41:33

the team. I definitely think there's more on this team.

41:35

I think we've a taste now, qualifying for a major

41:38

tournament. And hopefully we push on from here.

41:40

You'll see us going

41:41

on to qualify for the next Euros and

41:43

then after that other

41:45

major finals.

41:47

Just the point, Sue, that you made there that

41:49

why didn't we play against Australia? How

41:51

we played in the first half against

41:53

Canada.

41:54

Why do you think that is? Have we played a lot more on the

41:57

front forward with energy? A bit of ambition

41:59

about us? and maybe against Australia,

42:01

was it a little bit of naivety, maybe being

42:03

a bit cautious because Park the Bus

42:06

maybe and hope for the draw?

42:08

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it was

42:10

a cautious approach. And look, you

42:12

know, we need to understand, I suppose,

42:14

our level. Yes, we've qualified, we've done fantastic.

42:17

We're still behind these top teams, no doubt,

42:19

but I still think we can give them

42:21

a good game on any given day and we can take it to

42:23

them as we showed against the Canadians in

42:26

the first half, as we showed against Australia

42:28

in the last 20 minutes. I suppose maybe

42:30

we want to ease our way into the tournament. We didn't

42:32

want to concede anything. We wanted it to be difficult to

42:34

break down, which we were. Everyone's

42:38

aware

42:38

that the system this team

42:40

plays, it's quite a conservative approach.

42:43

That's Vera's style. That's what she wants from this

42:45

team. And I don't think that was

42:47

ever going to read change in the tournament. I

42:50

suppose going into that second game, we knew we needed

42:52

something. So it had to change a bit.

42:55

I think if we sat back and defended and invited

42:57

Canada on and given them the momentum,

42:59

that would be absolutely the wrong thing to do. So

43:01

we prove we can take it to these teams. So

43:05

I think we can definitely mix it. And I think

43:07

this team is ready to take that next step

43:09

now to evolve a bit where, yes, you

43:12

can be compact. Yes, you can be in your

43:13

low block when you need to be against the really

43:15

good teams at vital moments and matches.

43:18

And those vital moments are probably just before

43:20

halftime and after halftime, which is when

43:22

we've been conceding. But there's

43:24

also moments when we can take the game to

43:26

our opponents. And unfortunately,

43:29

I think we look short of ideas how to score from

43:31

open play in the second half. And that

43:33

could potentially be a culmination that that

43:36

hasn't been our approach. And maybe the emphasis

43:38

hasn't been on that in training. But

43:41

for me, I think we're definitely able to do

43:43

it in parts of games. There's no reason

43:45

why we can't.

43:47

If the emphasis needs to be

43:49

on that in training, and I don't know if I'm misreading

43:51

what you're saying, but that suggestion possibly that it hasn't

43:53

been up to this stage. And when you look

43:56

ahead to the Northern Ireland and the Hungary games, obviously,

43:58

in September,

43:59

levels feel to be rising but I mean our inability

44:02

to score goals or goals from play

44:06

it comes back to a point that you touched on earlier

44:08

on about Virapao and you know the

44:10

question is being asked as you've said whether

44:13

she sits down or not what's when you

44:15

put all that in the mix or what is your what

44:18

is your net result what was your answer to that question I suppose

44:20

so when you asked yourself should Virapao stay on?

44:22

Yeah I mean like I don't know

44:24

what goes on training I'm not involved in

44:27

the camp I mean you hear whispers and you hear different things

44:29

and stuff but obviously you know we train

44:32

with the way we set ourselves up I'm sure that's the way

44:34

we train I'm sure we obviously do you

44:36

know look at training the other end of the

44:38

pitch as well but I suppose with the emphasis has been

44:40

on that deep defensive block just within

44:43

a game the mindset it might be a little bit difficult

44:45

to change that when needed

44:47

or you know at the flick of the switch

44:49

I guess but I certainly think

44:52

that's the next evolution for this team to

44:54

be able to change

44:56

styles within a game and

44:58

that's certainly something that has evolved in the women's game

45:01

in general over the years you know teams are now

45:03

the better teams are now able to change

45:05

system within matches

45:06

they're not rich you know they're not ritual

45:09

they're not stuck to their 4-4-2 or their 4-3-3 or

45:12

whatever they're able to change system within

45:14

a game depending on whether they're winning or

45:16

losing or for blocks of matches

45:18

if they want to go and chase a team

45:21

and going back to the question about Vera

45:23

if you're asking me what I think I

45:27

really don't know I guess I suppose you

45:29

could look at it two ways you know on one hand

45:31

you could say she got us to a World Cup

45:33

does she deserve a new contract we've seen

45:36

it happen with other managers Trappertone

45:38

and Mick McCarthy maybe when we qualify for

45:41

euros in rugby it happens all

45:43

the time on

45:46

the other hand why if the FAI not offered

45:48

her a contract now maybe you could say are

45:50

they for where they focusing on the World Cup or did

45:52

they want to see how results went or is there

45:54

something else that we don't know about and

45:57

like Vera's quite clearly said she wants to stay on

45:59

but hasn't really been any word from

46:01

the FAI yet. So maybe they're just, it's

46:03

a waiting game. Maybe they're going to wait until she comes back. But

46:07

I do think the team is ready to evolve. I do

46:09

think we're ready to play a different style.

46:11

As I said, I'm not saying attack for 90 minutes. You know,

46:14

you can't do that with these top teams,

46:16

but we can certainly go toe to toe with them

46:18

for periods of games and for different

46:21

phases of

46:21

games. We've proven that we can do it. Yeah.

46:24

So do we get the best out of our team

46:26

with the system that we play? Do we get the best out of Katie

46:29

McCabe?

46:29

Her playing so deep, do you think?

46:32

Personally, I don't think so. And

46:34

look, again, I would have you at all this

46:37

by saying every coach is different. They all have

46:39

their own style. They all have their own system,

46:41

prefer

46:41

a style to play their preferred system, their

46:43

preferred players, etc. But

46:46

for me, and this is my opinion,

46:48

I feel some of our players are not playing in

46:50

the correct position. I've said it all along. I've said it

46:52

like a year ago, two years ago. It's not just now.

46:55

For me, Katie McCabe is

46:56

better, more advanced. And we saw

46:58

that second half of the game. It reminds

47:01

me so much of Roy Keene against Holland, you

47:03

know, Richie Dunn

47:05

in Moscow that time against Russia, you

47:07

know, like they're like a one. She was like a one

47:09

woman show. She was dragging the team.

47:12

She really wanted to affect the

47:14

game in every way. She was trying to drag the

47:16

team. She really led by example. I thought she was

47:18

absolutely brilliant. For me,

47:20

I think we get more out of her, going

47:23

in a more forward position. Denise

47:25

O'Sullivan as well. Denise, I think needs to be

47:27

a little bit more advanced.

47:29

I would also look at Megan Connelly. I think Megan

47:32

Connelly, for me again, her best position

47:34

is in midfield. In actual

47:36

fact, I think when Megan

47:38

played underage, but her underage national squad, she was

47:40

the number 10 position. So she was even the advanced

47:42

midfielder, not even the deep line, but her

47:45

game has evolved in fairness. Now she's gone on

47:47

and gotten more experience and played at club level. But

47:49

for me, she's a six. So she's your holding

47:52

midfielder and she can spray the ball around. She

47:54

has a great, you know,

47:55

range of passing. She can

47:57

protect that back four as well.

47:59

her into midfield, that releases Denise

48:02

a little bit further forward. We have two other

48:04

excellent centre halves on the bench

48:07

who've never let us down. Diane

48:09

called well, Claire O'Rearne really staked her claim.

48:12

Unfortunately,

48:12

we lost out with Aoife Manion's

48:14

injury.

48:14

But yeah, that has been, that criticism

48:17

has been leveled up here that

48:18

we're not getting the best out of the players because

48:20

they're not all playing in the correct positions. I

48:23

mean, Heather Payne was another one for a long time.

48:25

She played up front. And really, Heather

48:28

was really just a runner up front. She's not a goal

48:30

scorer. And she knows that herself. Heather is better

48:32

wide, either as a wing or

48:34

as a wingback.

48:36

But look, again, going back to the point I made

48:39

also, coaches have different opinions about teams,

48:42

about players. But I definitely think,

48:44

you know, we can make some changes

48:46

and the team can evolve

48:48

because we do have some really good players. And we

48:51

have a whole lot of really good players that are not

48:53

at the World Cup for different reasons, whether it was injury

48:55

left out, not experienced

48:58

enough. But we have some fantastic players

49:00

coming through. And, you know, I don't see

49:02

why we can't qualify

49:03

for the next euros. Yeah. And maybe if

49:05

one of those players, Megan Campbell was there, we might have seen Katie

49:07

a bit further up the pitch. I'm sure that might be a point that maybe

49:10

Vera Powe would make afterwards when she's sitting down with the FA

49:12

on all of this. Well, absolutely.

49:13

Absolutely. She

49:15

was unfortunate with injuries to key players like Megan,

49:18

Aoife. They'd have been the team and that potentially

49:20

would have released them players into different positions.

49:23

And then you look back even further, Jessu

49:25

got a bad injury and she was Ellen, Maloy.

49:28

I mean, these are players that could potentially be in

49:30

that squad and be in that start in 11. So

49:32

we really have a huge amount of talent

49:35

coming through. And I mean, it is an

49:37

exciting time, you know, it really is. And it's

49:39

great. They've got a taste of it now and they're going to want

49:41

more and we're all going to want more. So, yeah,

49:44

I definitely think we can now

49:45

start qualifying more

49:47

regularly for major finals.

49:50

The Vera Powe comments, the last one

49:52

on Vera Powe for me, but the comments

49:54

before the

49:56

last game about the defence

49:59

and the slow. good players, but they're very slow.

50:01

And she obviously made that publicly in the press conference.

50:03

And then afterwards, particularly with Tony Adunu, after

50:06

the game, she was very critical of certain positioning

50:08

for the goals, I think, particularly in relation to O'Neill Gorman, maybe Anifahi.

50:12

Is that just the cutting trust of like

50:15

manager's commentary in and around games?

50:17

Or did it raise an eyebrow for you? Yeah,

50:22

like she did deflect, I

50:24

suppose, a little bit of the

50:28

blame, it's too strong a word, I suppose, when

50:29

she was asked, I suppose she did a portion blame

50:32

to players. And

50:33

again, you know, I mean, Vera

50:35

has said she's very direct. That's her style. That's the Dutch

50:38

style. It is, I suppose,

50:40

you know, managers are different.

50:43

Some managers will deflect attention altogether,

50:45

won't blame players at all in public, won't

50:47

say anything critical, will do it in the

50:49

dressing room. I suppose

50:52

when players are hearing, you know, the comment,

50:54

whatever about criticizing within a game and something

50:56

that's gone wrong, and you know, that can happen from

50:59

time to time. And players

51:01

weren't named as well either, in fairness

51:03

to Vera.

51:03

But

51:04

I suppose when you know, when you're saying your

51:07

defenders are too slow, or, you know, we haven't

51:09

got enough attack

51:10

and whatever, I mean, that

51:12

can sort of play on the mindset of players that

51:14

absolutely can, I've no doubt it can, and it can

51:17

potentially affect them.

51:18

You know, so it's certainly not

51:21

something I'd like to hear from

51:23

a manager, but look, as I said,

51:25

managers are different, cultures are different.

51:29

Yeah, but it definitely can. It can play on the

51:31

psychic, it can play on the mindset of players,

51:33

maybe in bad moments within a game

51:35

or shaky moments, you know, we're under pressure in

51:37

a match, and these things could be going

51:40

through their minds. You just don't know.

51:42

Yeah, there's probably a sense of having their back as well.

51:44

Like, you know, you can be blunt, but maybe to

51:46

them, or maybe in the dressing room, have

51:49

that conversation.

51:50

Rather than out to the media, because maybe

51:52

they can

51:53

send the wrong message to the team.

51:56

For sure. No, for sure. And again, as I said, that's

51:58

different styles and... I would have never

52:00

done that and there's many other managers that wouldn't, but

52:03

there's also managers that would, so you know

52:05

it's different styles, but then

52:07

you have to see the individual as well. Some

52:09

individuals that probably wouldn't bother them, you

52:11

know, they'd take it on the chin, but then

52:13

there are others that potentially could affect

52:15

them in a game. So that's a balancing act

52:17

of a coach, I guess, of a manager,

52:19

which yeah, it's an interesting

52:22

one. We used to lash Trappitoni

52:24

out of it for all the time. We'd be like,

52:26

how does he, why is he, it's fine

52:28

to say it into, anyway.

52:31

Let's see where all that goes over the next file. Just

52:33

a last note on the Nigeria game then, Sue, what's

52:35

your expectation on that? You mentioned at the very start that

52:37

this is not a dead rubber, we need to go for

52:39

it, we need to use it as a platform to kick on into

52:42

the Nations League. What's your expectation around

52:44

what you might do in a team selection?

52:47

You know, I wouldn't beg whole to

52:49

change this. I don't think she will and I wouldn't

52:52

either personally. I would freshen

52:54

it up a little bit probably. As I mentioned, I would

52:56

try and get Megan Conely into midfield

52:58

and bring in one of the other centre halves.

53:00

That releases then Denise a little bit further

53:02

forward because Denise can be creative. But

53:06

Denise is a fantastic

53:06

player. We know she's a world class player.

53:08

For me, she hasn't quite been on our game in

53:10

this World Cup and potentially that injury maybe

53:13

has impacted her a little bit more. But

53:16

maybe having her in a more advanced role

53:19

where she doesn't have as much defensive duties

53:21

might be better for her. We

53:24

might get the best out of her. I'd also try

53:26

and get Katie forward. I definitely would.

53:29

That means bringing in someone like Chloe Mustache who's

53:31

never let us down. She's a natural fit.

53:33

She has a great left foot

53:35

or playing Izzy in that position who Vera

53:37

seems to prefer. But

53:40

I would definitely somehow try to get Katie

53:42

in a more advanced role. Yeah,

53:45

but I freshened up a little bit. I wouldn't make wholesale

53:47

changes. Maybe later on in the game give substitutes

53:51

a longer chance to

53:53

get a run out of it. We need a change within

53:55

the game. But it's not a dead

53:58

rubber by any chance.

53:58

I was very impressed with

53:59

the Nigerians, they're so defensively

54:02

organized from the very outset. I said

54:04

any two teams out of the four could qualify.

54:06

Unfortunately, we can't obviously,

54:09

but another time we potentially could

54:11

have.

54:12

Obviously, the results had gone better.

54:14

We could have, but

54:16

the performance was there in

54:18

part in some of the games. But Nigeria are a very

54:20

good team and they were even able

54:22

to leave their top scorer out of, as you saw, Oshwela.

54:26

What a player she is. She forced

54:28

the Australians to rethink their defensive

54:30

strategy when she came on and

54:31

scored a cracking goal and really caused

54:34

mayhem in the defence. So, hopefully

54:36

they leave her in the bench again. But

54:39

they're a very good team. We're going

54:41

to have our work cut out first, as we knew all along.

54:43

But I still don't think it's beyond us to get a result.

54:46

All right. We're looking at you. Very measured over the last one. Let's

54:48

see where we're at after the Nigeria game

54:50

and we'll chat to you again then. Thanks a million too. Thanks,

54:53

Adrian. Thanks. Thank you. Cheers for that.

54:56

It does worth bearing in mind that

54:58

I was watching the aftermath of the game and obviously

55:00

Katie's in tears and Denise

55:02

Sullivan is very upset. Denise Sullivan is 29. We

55:06

should be around for another World Cup if we can qualify. Katie

55:08

McCabe is 27. Could be around for

55:11

another two World Cups if we were to qualify.

55:13

The point that Sue was making

55:15

there about the the positivity

55:18

of the

55:19

profile of the squad going forward. You

55:22

have your Nifais, Louise Quinn,

55:24

Dan

55:27

Colvin, Aonio Gorman, a few

55:30

of them. But a lot of reasons to think

55:32

that that will be my view about the Nigeria

55:35

game as to there's no

55:38

holding back here. No sampling

55:40

for the future. None of that sort of stuff. Get out there and try

55:42

and use it as a springboard into those

55:44

games.

55:44

Best team. Absolutely. It's

55:47

not a game to maybe

55:49

just give a girl a run because it's the World Cup. And don't

55:51

get me wrong, the girls on the bench are there for a reason.

55:53

It was very tough to even make that squad in the first

55:56

place. I'm sure that Vero will

55:58

probably ring in the changes a little bit earlier. but

56:00

no, we should absolutely be

56:02

going out to win the game. And just

56:05

on the team as a whole, it's such a

56:07

positive experience, the journey they've been

56:09

on, the process in order to qualify for

56:11

the World Cup was so difficult, it

56:14

was unbelievably difficult for

56:16

them to get there in the first place. We can't forget

56:19

how we all felt when they first qualified.

56:21

Like it was incredible. And they've

56:23

been there now, they've had good performances,

56:26

they've been so unlucky. The first goal

56:28

was a penalty, you know, Marisha Shiva

56:30

unfortunate. The next goal was an own goal,

56:33

you know, Megan Conley again slipped and deflected

56:35

in. I just think sometimes you don't get the rub

56:38

of the green as well, I think they did so well. And

56:40

hopefully against Nigeria now, we can see a good performance,

56:43

but we saw Nigeria against Australia yesterday

56:45

and yeah, they're 40 and in the FIFA

56:47

rankings, I wouldn't be reading into that at

56:50

all. It has meant very little at this point. Even

56:53

though like results are not always on the way of the underdogs,

56:55

it doesn't feel as if there's been major gaps in those

56:57

teams. No. Your point about the

56:59

like Megan Conley, OG and the unfortunate

57:02

and so on, like it all

57:04

factors in when you're considering whether Viripa goes

57:06

forward with this group, like there were tiny margins

57:09

that

57:10

if, you know, they've

57:12

gone slightly differently, we wouldn't really be having this conversation.

57:14

We'd be saying, oh, she's a perfect fit. Look what she's done with

57:16

us at this World Cup. She's worked her, you

57:18

know,

57:19

worked with the group that she has, which is the

57:21

euphemism for like managing

57:23

the shortcomings or whatever. So

57:26

yeah, no, I think Vir has done really well.

57:28

Like she's she's blunt in her approach, but

57:30

maybe they needed a little bit of that. Yeah.

57:33

Yeah. To really get things.

57:35

I'd like to see, like you hinted at, I'd like to see more of that

57:37

internally and sorry, I don't know what's going on internally. I'm sure she is as

57:39

blunt internally. I'd like to see less of it. I

57:41

may be a bit rich coming from the likes of us. I

57:44

know. I know. Yeah.

57:47

I'm always so cautious of that too. It's a tough

57:49

environment to be in, but I think, yeah,

57:51

taking players aside and in the dressing room

57:53

and all of that thing.

57:54

I got your back on the panel. Yeah, exactly.

57:57

But it might just be her personality. Yeah. Yeah.

58:00

in the way she does things and maybe she means no, her

58:02

and Bijs doesn't even fully realize it's just

58:04

the Dutch way. I don't

58:06

know. I think when everything else going on obviously

58:10

with her that she should be acutely aware of that

58:12

and in mind of that like maybe it's

58:14

an easy shaking of hands

58:16

for the FAI and go okay listen it's been great

58:19

thanks million and we'll see you down the

58:21

track. That

58:22

might feed into it.

58:24

We have to take into account as well emotions

58:26

are high they just got knocked out the World Cup when

58:28

she did that interview as well. You're

58:31

being very kind to her. I'm probably not even thinking about

58:33

that too. I look at it that way but do

58:35

I think that she should continue? It's

58:38

been a tough road for her at the minute. I

58:40

do think maybe you'd

58:42

love to know what the players are thinking but you

58:44

know

58:46

they've gone through a lot with all of this too and

58:48

it's taken away from the football at times and

58:51

she's done really

58:53

well with this group. I would never take that away from

58:55

her. We got to World Cup. We can't be forgetting

58:57

that but yeah

59:00

it's been a tough road I would

59:02

say and I'd say one not

59:04

easy for her and everything that she's had to go through and then

59:06

balancing a national team at the same

59:08

time.

59:09

And who's coming in of course if she does leave.

59:20

8.32 OTPAM the sports breakfast show from after ball

59:22

as you've heard we've loads come and the show but

59:24

right now it is time to get stuck into Dublin

59:26

Kerry on Sunday and to do that I'd say we're joined the line

59:28

by two time Ireland winner Jar Brannen. Good morning Jar. Good

59:31

morning Adrian. How's it going? How are you doing?

59:33

How are you keeping?

59:34

Not too bad now yourselves. All good.

59:36

We'd Michael Darren Macaulay on the show last

59:38

night and he was threatening to boot

59:41

Steven Cluckston out of the retired players WhatsApp

59:43

group yesterday evening. Has he delivered?

59:46

Would

59:47

you believe? Actually he

59:49

was on the road last night Adrian and I was listening

59:51

to it and I haven't logged into

59:53

the group to check but I will have a look here and I'll

59:55

let you know. If you want to do that at any point join the chat

59:58

and bring us to breaking news we're happy to do that.

59:59

You played

1:00:02

your full career with Clarkson obviously and he was

1:00:04

already even well established I think when you came into it

1:00:06

but there's

1:00:09

a lot made obviously about his impact this year. Do they

1:00:11

get to the final but would they have gotten to the final

1:00:13

this year without him? It's

1:00:16

a fair question like obviously Dublin

1:00:18

have two very good keepers

1:00:21

as understudies in Evan Comerford and

1:00:23

David O'Hanlon

1:00:25

obviously with Stephen Gaughan for since last

1:00:27

season Adrian and mostly

1:00:29

this year I thought

1:00:32

David O'Hanlon did pretty well. I

1:00:35

thought when Stephen turned up

1:00:38

warming up for that was it a league

1:00:40

semi-final or the league final?

1:00:43

He was the first that

1:00:45

anyone knew that he was going to be back in the panel.

1:00:47

I actually thought David O'Hanlon had a great game

1:00:50

and that time in goals which was testament

1:00:53

to his character that he didn't falter

1:00:55

or become overly nervous that the

1:00:57

main man was back in

1:01:00

town and was going to put a squeeze on him.

1:01:03

With that performance I was surprised to see

1:01:05

that Stephen got back in so early but

1:01:07

at the same time if you're coming

1:01:09

back to play and give him what Stephen

1:01:12

has won you're not coming back to be sitting

1:01:14

on the bench, you're not coming back to show the coder.

1:01:16

If you're not getting a run you're coming back to put your shoulder in

1:01:18

the wheel to try to improve the group

1:01:21

and try to win back your position which obviously

1:01:23

he was able to do. So would we have gotten

1:01:25

to a final without him

1:01:27

possibly?

1:01:29

Did we improve our chances of getting there with him?

1:01:32

We did. Actually

1:01:34

myself we're talking about earlier on about the drive

1:01:36

to nine and the three players that are going for it

1:01:39

and I'm slightly putting the card before the horse

1:01:41

here but humor me if

1:01:43

you will. Will he go again

1:01:45

do you think? Is this the last hurrah for him or could

1:01:47

we see him again next year?

1:01:49

The

1:01:51

lake if you're on the outside looking in Adrian

1:01:54

and I suppose one thing former players

1:01:56

we never ferment or

1:01:59

ever ask. some of the current players that we

1:02:01

played with how things go on inside because they're

1:02:04

the type of questions that current players age so

1:02:06

you're always respectful of those

1:02:08

lads who are still playing that you would have soldiers with in the

1:02:10

past so none

1:02:13

of us have asked him but

1:02:15

from the outside looking in and from where you guys

1:02:17

are sitting it would suggest bringing Steve back

1:02:19

in

1:02:20

Jack McAfee coming back Paul

1:02:22

Manley coming back to Pat Gilroy getting involved

1:02:25

it would suggest his one last push here from

1:02:27

Desi and his management team

1:02:29

and that a couple of guys may step away at the end of the

1:02:31

year what's interesting with

1:02:33

the split season aged in national is that lads

1:02:36

will go back to the club

1:02:38

they'll play away they get a

1:02:40

couple of months out of that depending on how well the club goes

1:02:43

and then

1:02:44

you know six months until you play your next inter-county

1:02:46

game so so maybe after the final

1:02:49

or even other teams that have been knocked

1:02:51

out in the semis of the quarters recently fellas

1:02:53

who have a few miles in the clock they're probably

1:02:55

thinking Jeanie Mack I'm tired of this I need

1:02:58

a break

1:02:59

but then all of a sudden

1:03:00

you're probably advised listen leave alone get

1:03:02

the club campaign on your belts and then see how

1:03:04

the legs are come Christmas time and then you

1:03:06

could go at it again you know but but

1:03:09

it's hard to tell but it would suggest that the

1:03:11

cubby and exit is applied after the game on Sunday

1:03:13

and if that is the case where does

1:03:15

that leave Dublin then I

1:03:18

think it leaves in a rocky ish pace

1:03:21

asking to be fair I I think

1:03:23

Desi has as on his upmost it I

1:03:25

try to integrate a lot of

1:03:28

the newer lads and

1:03:31

I put his stance on the team but he

1:03:34

probably has gone back to some of the Detroit

1:03:36

and tested Lee Gannon

1:03:38

has certainly been one

1:03:41

of those guys that Desi's introduced and he's

1:03:43

certainly up to it senior county level

1:03:45

I think he's stepped on again this year

1:03:47

and Colin Basquale has been knocked around a few

1:03:49

years he's had one or two wonderful performances

1:03:52

obviously most notably

1:03:54

Mayo he was better

1:03:56

marked against Monaghan so he'll

1:03:58

have another opportunity to prove himself

1:03:59

on Friday. Tom

1:04:02

the Hiff has also been given a run but we've

1:04:06

been very fortunate actually myself

1:04:09

as a player to have played

1:04:11

part of my career with some of these

1:04:14

great names that are taken to the field tomorrow and

1:04:17

again you guys you're obviously

1:04:19

me, lady and Adrian Urto, are you? Oh

1:04:22

Jesus Christ, end this interview straight

1:04:24

away. Westmeads, Westmeads. Oh

1:04:27

Westmeads, sorry. We used to have

1:04:29

a good bit of banter with each other in there but we

1:04:31

both went for Westmead two years ago. We voted

1:04:33

for chocolate. We've all been

1:04:35

treated to one of the most

1:04:38

talented group of players ever in the

1:04:40

same way that you're probably speaking of some of the Limerick

1:04:43

players there too and they're hoarding. You

1:04:45

know, the likes of Paul Manley and Jack McAfee,

1:04:48

Connell Callahan, look

1:04:51

at the list goes on. It's going to be very hard

1:04:53

to replicate

1:04:54

those guys. Are they there in Dublin? They're not

1:04:56

at Mohn. Will they be? Who

1:04:58

knows? It'll come down to a bit of luck. In

1:05:01

fairness to the County Board over the last number

1:05:03

of years, the structures are there. There's

1:05:06

a lot of committed people in the County Board and

1:05:08

in clubs trying to,

1:05:10

from a participation point of view, force and foremost,

1:05:13

to attract kids away

1:05:15

from soccer or rugby

1:05:18

or other sports, particularly when they hit the later

1:05:20

teens. So there's

1:05:22

a mountain of work being done to retain

1:05:24

players which obviously does give you a chance, maybe

1:05:27

more numbers, you know?

1:05:28

It does. Nobody

1:05:30

has mentioned this word in relation to Dublin in the last 15 years,

1:05:33

I don't think, but it does feel like we're headed into

1:05:35

a transition period, it must be said. Yeah.

1:05:38

There's a lot of the papers written up, it's covered in

1:05:40

a lot of the back pages this morning about Dobbs'

1:05:43

best ever is one that just so happens to be

1:05:46

here in front of me here on the Mer. It's in

1:05:48

most of the papers and it's Desi getting a little bit emotional

1:05:51

about James McCarthy and what he's brought to

1:05:54

the Dobbs' setup. Best ever,

1:05:56

he said, and there wasn't a caveat about it. Do you go with that?

1:05:59

And if you look at James'

1:06:02

overall contribution throughout his career,

1:06:04

and obviously going for 9 all-irons,

1:06:07

James having a bad game

1:06:10

is a 7 out of 10.

1:06:11

So consistently over

1:06:14

his career, James has had the greatest

1:06:16

impact on this

1:06:18

Dublin team as an outfield player,

1:06:21

and then you'd have to put Stephen Cluxon in that bracket

1:06:23

with him then in the goals.

1:06:26

James has just overall contribution. He

1:06:28

just rarely put the foot wrong. And even

1:06:31

there's been a couple of games this year, moments

1:06:33

within games, and even I've seen him go

1:06:35

30-35 minutes where the game has probably

1:06:38

gone away from him a bit, and he'd be probably watching

1:06:40

saying maybe this is the end for James, and

1:06:42

then all of a sudden he comes out at half-time, or

1:06:44

he goes up and wins a great ball, and he's driving forward,

1:06:47

he turns to opposition, and the

1:06:49

momentum of the tie turns, and all of a sudden

1:06:51

Dublin might kick one-two or two or four

1:06:53

points unanswered, and that's the game over,

1:06:56

and that's what James brings. So I would

1:06:58

fully agree with Desi's assessment

1:07:01

there of James' contribution

1:07:03

to Dublin over the last 10 years and

1:07:05

longer. Yeah, he's been incredible

1:07:07

this year, like the form that he's been in. And maybe

1:07:09

the midfield battle, this is

1:07:12

where the game could be won and lost. Dyrma

1:07:14

O'Connor, Jack Barrie, and

1:07:16

then Brian Fenton and James,

1:07:19

it's incredible, the form of the field,

1:07:21

it is probably for the best in the game.

1:07:23

Yeah, well, and

1:07:26

Jack Barrie and Brian Fenton actually,

1:07:29

it's probably been well-known at this stage, Jack

1:07:31

is one of the few lads that's managed to curb

1:07:34

Brian Fenton's influence in some

1:07:37

of the previous meetings. So no

1:07:39

doubt he'll be detailed to pick up Brian

1:07:42

again and to take him out of the game. Jack

1:07:45

is more notably a spoiler. He

1:07:48

would have attended UCD where I'm working, and

1:07:50

I've been fortunate to see him grow and develop.

1:07:53

But

1:07:53

he's extremely athletic, very dogged,

1:07:56

never gives up, gives in. And I

1:07:58

think the challenge is going to be to pro-

1:07:59

I'm fainting that this is one of these players

1:08:02

that you haven't been hit with to shake off and

1:08:04

that's the challenge to you going into the game on Sunday.

1:08:06

Can you shake off this guy and dominate

1:08:10

him? I think in Dermot O'Connor I

1:08:12

think he's been very impressive at midfield. He's

1:08:15

usually dynamic. I've seen him play with the colleges.

1:08:18

He doesn't seem to get

1:08:20

overawed by who he's marking.

1:08:23

I think maybe emotionally he

1:08:26

probably reacted as small this the

1:08:28

last day getting the black card

1:08:29

against Thierry and maybe

1:08:32

would experience probably a voice

1:08:34

such as his

1:08:37

voice or poor decisions

1:08:39

to kind of allow himself to be put

1:08:41

in that position to be put off. He

1:08:44

is all this lettuce is in Dermot of the James McArty

1:08:46

too and I think it's going to be

1:08:49

a huge and very exciting battle to see those

1:08:51

four lads go at it and it's

1:08:53

hard to call it. The

1:08:57

scale is probably way in favour

1:08:59

of Dublin

1:08:59

just given what Brian Fenton

1:09:02

and James McArty have achieved today but they're

1:09:04

going to be faced with two hungry individuals with

1:09:06

Jack Barry and Dermot O'Connor.

1:09:08

We had Anthony Mollison shoot during the week and he was talking

1:09:10

about it sort of stood out because

1:09:12

it almost felt like it was rare an endorsement

1:09:14

of Desi and what he's been doing and he was talking

1:09:17

about he feels as if the players

1:09:19

are bought in a little bit more to the message

1:09:21

over the last

1:09:22

year maybe that

1:09:25

they weren't in a way before that. What's the

1:09:27

WhatsApp group take on Desi

1:09:29

Faro? A

1:09:33

lot of lads in the WhatsApp group would have played with Desi.

1:09:36

Desi has managed a lot

1:09:38

of the lads who have retired at

1:09:40

Muckner in under 21 and a few of

1:09:42

the senior guys aged who have stepped away

1:09:45

and Desi's work as CEO

1:09:48

and one of the co-founders of the Gaelic

1:09:50

Pears Association. Everyone

1:09:52

in Dublin has an incredible amount of time for

1:09:55

Desi. Desi has done incredible

1:09:57

things on and off the field for

1:09:59

players.

1:09:59

and continues to do it and I can

1:10:02

vouch for that personally through

1:10:05

my engagement with the GPA

1:10:07

and the supports they would have put in

1:10:09

place for me when I was kind of transitioning out

1:10:12

of towards the end of my career into

1:10:14

employment and whatnot. So there's

1:10:17

a huge respect there for an agent.

1:10:20

My point of view, any

1:10:22

man, now, more than Derek

1:10:24

Lane taking over as a Kenny, if you take over after

1:10:27

a great manager, it's

1:10:30

said a lot about the character of

1:10:33

that individual.

1:10:34

You know, you look at Portland's new model, you get

1:10:37

a six year term after Alex Ferguson, he lasted 20

1:10:39

months, but you look at what Zayzia

1:10:41

has done coming in after one of the greatest managers

1:10:43

ever, Jim Gavin, six to all Orleans and

1:10:45

seven years under Jim.

1:10:47

And to be able to win in the fourth year, yes,

1:10:50

is there a carryover from Jim's

1:10:52

influence on that group? Definitely there is. But then

1:10:54

there's been two kind of barren years, some

1:10:57

good, some bad, some ugly.

1:10:59

But you can see Desi in

1:11:01

his humility, he has reached

1:11:03

out for support from some of the previous

1:11:06

greats that have been involved and, you

1:11:08

know, look at Pacquerey's involvement, look at

1:11:10

the Cleveland Clucks and come back in.

1:11:12

And then obviously Jack and Paul mining coming in.

1:11:15

Jack and Paul would have been on Desi's minor team

1:11:17

in 2011. That's lost against

1:11:19

Tipperary in that minor final

1:11:21

before we bet Kerry at that time. And

1:11:23

those lads are coming back to him because they're so loyal

1:11:25

to him, you know. So there's a huge amount of respect

1:11:27

around the county for Desi. He's the most overqualified

1:11:30

waterbine that has ever existed. You obviously

1:11:32

played under him. What's the year? What is Pacquerey

1:11:35

bringing to the mix? Well,

1:11:37

well, there's no nonsense

1:11:39

with Pat Adrien. And

1:11:42

again, I just said lucky to have played with Pat, he,

1:11:46

you know, I guess, for instance,

1:11:50

the culture we would have been brought up

1:11:52

in as probably true, I think, to

1:11:54

the Dublin team in a lot of ways. You

1:11:57

know, there's no feeling sorry for yourself, you know,

1:11:59

get on with it.

1:11:59

I'm particularly

1:12:03

in the world that we probably live in, Adrian, where

1:12:06

it's certainly post-COVID. And

1:12:08

again, I won't go down to the path too much here because we

1:12:11

could be here all day.

1:12:12

This sense of I want what I

1:12:14

want and I want it now, or poor me,

1:12:17

I'm playing Inter County. It's so hard. I

1:12:19

have to travel here and travel there. And

1:12:21

it's so difficult. And

1:12:23

I'm missing out on this. I'm missing out on that. But

1:12:26

back here, Roy and Adrian, even Stephen

1:12:28

Clarkson come back in, what they

1:12:30

will be saying is that you have to give

1:12:32

some of the talents to be playing senior

1:12:35

Inter County football to be representing your

1:12:37

parish and your club by

1:12:38

putting on that county jersey. You're

1:12:41

lucky

1:12:42

to stop giving out. And if you keep giving out, you

1:12:44

can f**k off. And that's what

1:12:46

Pat would bring. So it's just there's no nonsense, no

1:12:48

feeling sorry for yourself. Just go down with it and do the job.

1:12:53

From an advisory point of view, I would

1:12:55

say he's probably invaluable to Desi

1:12:57

Farrell,

1:12:58

particularly this year. And

1:13:00

I would imagine, and again, I wouldn't

1:13:03

ask Pat to respect him because he is involved, but

1:13:05

I would imagine he would have had a hand in

1:13:07

getting some of those guys back in and particularly

1:13:10

Stephen Clarkson. Pat and Stephen would be quite

1:13:12

close.

1:13:13

I think that says a lot about Desi's character being

1:13:15

able to

1:13:16

ask for the help from the likes of

1:13:19

Pat and bringing back Stephen Clarkson. Who

1:13:21

do you think will pick up David Clifford

1:13:23

and how do Dublin curb

1:13:25

his influence in the game? Yeah,

1:13:28

it's a

1:13:30

great question, actually. And the

1:13:32

obvious candidates would be Michael Pithaimans

1:13:34

to go pick up Clifford.

1:13:36

Fitzy

1:13:38

has marched David before.

1:13:41

He is a great

1:13:44

athlete himself. He's

1:13:48

one of the most awkward fellows asking

1:13:51

if he's marking it. He's not necessarily pulling

1:13:54

and dragging or swinging digs,

1:13:56

but he's just always hitting it the whole time.

1:13:58

And I think he probably will.

1:13:59

learned a good bit from playing beside for your

1:14:02

carl from chemical close with Rory to be at

1:14:04

that as well just using your body

1:14:06

to obstruct the opponent before the ball

1:14:08

is going in and even when the ball is

1:14:10

in the air being able to use

1:14:13

your backslides elbows whatever it needs

1:14:15

to be to put the individual off so

1:14:18

that's what Fitz will bring now the

1:14:20

other thing that he would bring which I think is usually important

1:14:22

is his composure he knows

1:14:25

that

1:14:26

David Clifford's going to probably score four play points

1:14:28

he's going to set up a goal he might get a goal Fitz

1:14:31

won't panic he won't go into

1:14:33

a shell there'll be a level of acceptance

1:14:36

that he's marking the best footballers of all time

1:14:39

and that this guy is going to do damage it's

1:14:41

just trying to limit that down which is best possible when

1:14:43

he has the ball in his hand

1:14:45

the support that Fitz he gets

1:14:47

then is going to be huge and Brian Howard

1:14:50

is probably I

1:14:51

think of Steven O'Brien looking at the carry team

1:14:53

that was named there if Steven O'Brien is going

1:14:55

to come in and start in place

1:14:57

of agents Berlan

1:14:59

I think that's another headache

1:15:02

for the double management to decide

1:15:04

in terms of the matchups but

1:15:07

more likely Brian Howard would be your man that

1:15:09

will kind of hold the fort and give Fitz

1:15:11

your hands and trying to double up

1:15:14

on Clifford

1:15:15

and then totally the press of the fields

1:15:17

I think is important there's a

1:15:19

obviously a blood connection between Poddy

1:15:22

and David and I

1:15:24

would actually say that if you can get

1:15:26

into Poddy Clifford's head I think it

1:15:28

does lessen the supply that

1:15:31

goes into his brother and

1:15:33

I think double for the huge squeeze in him and

1:15:36

it probably I think a league anon or maybe no

1:15:38

more to my best suit him to try

1:15:41

and take him out of game as much as possible so

1:15:44

today be your three teams

1:15:45

actually a level of acceptance and

1:15:47

that you're marking the best fellow ever and

1:15:49

Fitz you will if you can break even with him that's

1:15:51

huge and then the sport going in with

1:15:54

it with a Brian Howard and breaking ball they're

1:15:56

trying to double up in the tackle and then couple

1:15:58

them with the press for the

1:15:59

the field and particularly his brother, if

1:16:02

he can take the thing of his brother. I talked to Steven O'Brien

1:16:04

actually,

1:16:05

particularly well when he came in at half time, the semi-final.

1:16:09

He really got Kerry on the front foot,

1:16:11

which brought Sean O'Shea into the game as

1:16:13

well. He obviously had a huge second

1:16:15

half last week, so Steven O'Brien

1:16:18

will take a lot of mind with who

1:16:20

he's very direct. I love watching him play.

1:16:23

Yeah,

1:16:23

changed the game for them. And you were saying, dobs

1:16:25

by a couple?

1:16:27

I think three

1:16:30

or four points, Adrian. I think just

1:16:32

again on the line, the guys

1:16:34

that are going to come in for Dublin, we

1:16:36

just have a bit more to offer. I think

1:16:38

with A, Killian Spillan, sorry,

1:16:42

which Spillan is it? Adrian is back. And

1:16:44

Killian is back. I mentioned the bench. They'll have

1:16:46

a bit more firepower coming in. But

1:16:50

from Kerry going through the weekend.

1:16:52

But I think overall Dublin, they just have

1:16:55

too much, I think, and you're

1:16:57

looking probably a draw, a match to the latter

1:16:59

stages of the game. And maybe

1:17:01

three or four, five points of a

1:17:04

flurry that still gets up and over the line. You

1:17:06

see when Dublin did the monin and the semi-final,

1:17:09

there's only a couple of points in it, I think on 63 or 64 minutes.

1:17:13

You see what Kerry then did to Derry. There

1:17:15

were two points down. And then I think

1:17:17

they scored maybe five unanswered points.

1:17:19

And all of a sudden, the game is over. So Kerry, you're capable

1:17:22

of doing that. But on this occasion, I think

1:17:24

Dublin might have a bit too much. In

1:17:26

saying that,

1:17:27

Kerry have Beth Dublin, this Kerry group of Beth

1:17:29

Dublin agent, obviously two years ago in

1:17:32

the semi-final. So they got that monkey off the

1:17:34

back. The challenge, if

1:17:36

you're in Kerry shoes, and I'm conscious

1:17:38

of a Dublin bias here, right? But you

1:17:41

don't have any Kerry person on with

1:17:43

me to challenge me. But if I was a Kerry man,

1:17:45

I think the challenge would be in

1:17:47

order to become

1:17:48

really recognised in Kerry, you have to do

1:17:50

back-to-backs. You have to be able

1:17:53

to win one all-hour in the afternoon or another, because

1:17:55

that's what's been done by the predecessors.

1:17:59

card as well. I think that's

1:18:02

something he hasn't been able to achieve yet in

1:18:04

his terms as Kerry manager

1:18:06

and I think that would be something that he would be keen to

1:18:09

push and impress upon the lads. So that

1:18:11

would be the challenge for Kerry. If you do want to become a great player

1:18:14

or do you want to be remembered as the one in the role

1:18:17

team which won't carry too

1:18:19

much weight down in Kerry. That's

1:18:22

for sure. We'll enjoy it. Thanks, Melanie, for that, Jared. Catch

1:18:24

up with you down the line.

1:18:26

Thanks, agency, Ashley. Thanks, Jared. Thanks,

1:18:28

Jared. I

1:18:31

like a lot of interesting matchups which when the

1:18:33

first five minutes is going to be interesting just to see exactly who's picking

1:18:35

up. I told, very interesting when he said there by Potty

1:18:37

Clifford. Yeah, about getting inside. And then if you maybe

1:18:39

got into his head you'd stop the supply to David. Which

1:18:42

feels more possible. Yeah. The

1:18:47

possibility of having a Clifford with a mic in his hand after

1:18:49

winning an Ireland at Crow Park, I must say, is like

1:18:51

his will of me to...

1:18:54

I watched that again last night.

1:18:56

Oh, Potty? Oh, his speech? Yeah.

1:18:59

And third place, the officials, how

1:19:02

they wrongly sent me off, I don't know how they sent me off.

1:19:05

Anyway, they had a great game last year, like trucking off

1:19:07

the beat. I know. What are the

1:19:09

all-time Ray Bong's? It really was,

1:19:11

yeah. I was there that day. That was

1:19:13

such a tough game because of it. I think it was five red

1:19:15

cards in the end. Yeah, but it was on air. Not air.

1:19:18

I missed a red card on air. Did

1:19:20

you? Okay, yeah. I can't remember. I was like,

1:19:21

how many red cards? And I was like, four.

1:19:23

And someone was like, five. What? I

1:19:26

remember watching it. It was mad. Mad. Yeah,

1:19:28

it was all right near the end. Right.

1:19:32

By the way, he mentioned about balancing

1:19:35

the narrative there. Paul Galvin was at the

1:19:38

football pod show Crow Park last night. So

1:19:40

that very much take that box. And

1:19:42

if people want to catch that, it'll be available for

1:19:45

your dedication very shortly. And also Shane Allen

1:19:47

is in the kingdom as we speak and will be joining

1:19:49

us in a little bit to bring

1:19:52

the green and gold side of proceedings as well.

1:19:54

So all that to come.

1:19:55

What's coming up on nine o'clock?

1:19:58

Good morning to you. Wherever it is, you're at, you're watching out to be a.

1:19:59

which is the sports breakfast show

1:20:02

from off the ball. There's loads of comments coming into us and we'll come back to

1:20:04

those in just a little bit. But before all of that, time

1:20:06

for something a little bit different. We are turning

1:20:08

to surfing. Gerod McDade is a professional

1:20:10

surfer from Sligo. He finished second in

1:20:13

the shortboard grand final at the

1:20:15

European Championships in Portugal, Eurosurf 2023. And

1:20:18

this week to say, join us on the line. Good morning, Gerod and

1:20:20

congrats. Morning, thank

1:20:23

you. How are you all doing? How are you

1:20:25

doing? More to the point.

1:20:27

Yeah, good. Super happy. Yeah,

1:20:30

still here in Portugal, waking up after the

1:20:32

finals day yesterday. Pretty tired and sore,

1:20:35

but yeah, super happy. Do you get a chance

1:20:37

to get out and celebrate that last night or what's the scene?

1:20:40

We tried my best to go out and

1:20:42

celebrate and had a couple of beers,

1:20:44

but that was about the max, but I was

1:20:46

so dead from a

1:20:48

full day of contests, of heat yesterday.

1:20:50

So I was in bed by half nine. So the

1:20:53

celebrations were finished early. How long are you

1:20:55

in the water on a day like that?

1:20:58

So yesterday the heats were like 30

1:21:00

minute long. So I had two heats. So

1:21:02

I had two 30 minute heats.

1:21:05

It doesn't sound like a lot, but it's pretty

1:21:07

high intensity. So you're pretty, you're pretty

1:21:09

fried after every heat.

1:21:11

You mentioned sort of about the body taking

1:21:13

a bit of a battering. How does that

1:21:15

come about? Cause like from the outside looking in the, and

1:21:17

I'm certainly not claiming to be any expert in the area, but

1:21:20

the bits and pieces I've seen, like it all looks so

1:21:22

slick and designed and

1:21:24

carefree and all that sort of stuff. So will

1:21:26

you take us inside the waves a little bit and

1:21:29

how does that battering take place?

1:21:31

Oh, it's a, well, you're

1:21:33

getting battered every time you're paddling out, even

1:21:36

if they get through the waves, that's the

1:21:38

first hurdle you have to get past. And then

1:21:41

you're surfing on the waves. It's

1:21:43

pretty physically demanding. It probably

1:21:45

might not look like it, but it's super hard.

1:21:48

And yeah, then when you

1:21:50

fall, you're getting some hold downs

1:21:52

and stuff. And yeah, it's hard, but

1:21:54

it's good craic.

1:21:56

And how did it all begin for you, Jared?

1:21:59

You might grow, you might take.

1:21:59

us back to how it all started.

1:22:01

So yeah, I started

1:22:03

surfing

1:22:05

probably when I was 10 properly,

1:22:07

but my dad got me into it

1:22:09

like every summer. We'd go out once or twice

1:22:12

to Strand Hill and he'd be pushing me

1:22:14

in from when I was like probably five or six,

1:22:17

I'd say, once or twice every summer.

1:22:19

And then kind of from when I was 10 years old onwards,

1:22:21

I just kind of fully clicked into

1:22:23

it and pretty

1:22:24

much quit every other sport. And I knew

1:22:26

that this was the one thing I wanted to do all the

1:22:28

time. So yeah, it took up most

1:22:31

of my time. And that's kind of how it's been going

1:22:33

ever since. Pretty much the only

1:22:35

thing I do know.

1:22:37

And you're a pro surfer, like how many pro surfers

1:22:39

are there in Ireland? There's

1:22:45

one or two other guys that are pro

1:22:47

surfers now, I suppose. Like

1:22:48

there's guys

1:22:50

like Connor McGuire, who's a big

1:22:52

wave surfer, who's made a career

1:22:54

out of it as well. So yeah, it's

1:22:57

good to have some other guys like that that

1:22:59

we surf with all the time and

1:23:01

yeah, pushes you in, pushes you in

1:23:03

all the different types of conditions.

1:23:05

We'd be very familiar with talking to golfers who

1:23:08

get into it and it's like that

1:23:10

same nature of sort of you're going from venue to venue,

1:23:13

week on week and trying to scrape

1:23:15

together whatever money

1:23:17

you can and winnings and sponsorships and

1:23:19

all that sort of stuff. What is that like girl for you?

1:23:22

Is it a comfortable living? Is it a scrape

1:23:24

by or how do you manage that?

1:23:26

Yeah, so it is pretty

1:23:29

much the same as that. It's scraping

1:23:31

every cent you can get together to get

1:23:33

to some contests, to chase

1:23:35

waves around the world. You're just you're

1:23:38

trying to just scrape as much as you can together to

1:23:40

make a living out of it. And

1:23:42

I've been lucky I have good sponsors at the moment

1:23:44

and it's keeping me going

1:23:46

for now and keeping me off

1:23:48

the workforce. So yeah, I'm pretty I'm super

1:23:51

happy and super lucky that I'm able to do it.

1:23:54

Is there what's what's the you don't need to go into specific if

1:23:56

you don't want but what's the payday like after a day like

1:23:58

yesterday?

1:23:59

Well, to be honest, there's no

1:24:01

payday after day like yesterday.

1:24:04

It's just the European Championships. So

1:24:06

there's no prize money in that. It's just the

1:24:08

European title. And it's

1:24:11

yeah, there's no a lot of the contest. They're

1:24:13

like more the pro contest. There would be

1:24:15

money in and stuff. But yeah, for this

1:24:17

one, you're just doing it for the glory

1:24:20

of European championships and yeah,

1:24:23

happy that I came second. Would love to have

1:24:25

the glory of first, but it's all good. Take

1:24:27

the opportunity there to give your sponsors a shout out. Who

1:24:30

are you working with?

1:24:31

So yeah, I got like Rip Curl,

1:24:34

Monster Energy, Bradley

1:24:37

Surfboards, get

1:24:39

support from sport NI, Irish

1:24:42

Surf Association. They all support me. My whole

1:24:45

family support me. So yeah, it's great. I can't

1:24:47

beat it.

1:24:48

Yeah, it must be incredible to be able to represent

1:24:50

your country as well in a, you know, a sport

1:24:53

that maybe isn't as well known here

1:24:55

at home.

1:24:57

Yeah, that's it. It's kind of

1:24:59

right now surfing is getting more and more into

1:25:01

the mainstream light. So

1:25:03

it's in the Olympics now and all that. So

1:25:05

hopefully it gets more and more mainstream

1:25:08

recognition and it

1:25:10

grows the sport greatly and can

1:25:13

have access to more money and help the younger generation

1:25:16

come along and make more pro service

1:25:18

from Ireland and yeah, just grow the

1:25:20

sport. You

1:25:21

mentioned a little bit earlier there about the fine line between the

1:25:23

silver and the gold. Did you catch a bad break with the swell

1:25:25

in the end? Uh,

1:25:28

no, like I had some good waves

1:25:30

and I was super

1:25:31

close. Like I needed

1:25:33

a 6.5 and I got a 6.37.

1:25:36

So, um,

1:25:38

yeah, it's kind of down

1:25:40

to

1:25:42

personal opinion and human discretion by

1:25:44

the like in judging. So it was just,

1:25:47

it was right there to score I needed. And I

1:25:49

felt like I

1:25:50

did pretty well and thought I had to score, but,

1:25:52

uh, yeah, that's how it goes. Sometimes you can't, uh,

1:25:54

you can't, uh, control what everyone

1:25:56

else thinks. You can't allow for bad taste is what

1:25:59

you're saying.

1:25:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's

1:26:01

the way it all is. It's,

1:26:03

yeah, you never know. Some people prefer one thing,

1:26:05

some people prefer another. So yeah, you never know

1:26:07

how it's going to go. But I felt I was pretty happy

1:26:09

with how I served in the final and had

1:26:12

good scores. And yeah, I was I was happy.

1:26:15

You mentioned the Olympics, their growth. Is that

1:26:17

the hope, the dream for 2024? Yeah,

1:26:21

exactly. So that's kind of my main goal

1:26:23

now for the next year is that

1:26:25

get into my training and the

1:26:27

next qualifier for that is in Puerto Rico

1:26:30

in

1:26:31

February. So

1:26:33

that's our main goal is to try and qualify for

1:26:35

the Olympics for next year. It's it's in

1:26:37

Tahiti. So it's

1:26:40

on a really good wave and a wave that I'd love to be

1:26:42

able to go surf. So that's that's a huge goal

1:26:44

of mine right now. Yeah.

1:26:46

Is there a bit of a sniffiness from the surf community

1:26:48

about the Olympics? There was certainly a

1:26:50

time ago. A

1:26:53

bit of what? Like that the surf community

1:26:55

were not quite bought into the Olympic

1:26:57

spirit? I

1:27:00

don't know. It depends. There is like kind

1:27:02

of a lot of different sides to surf and people

1:27:04

who

1:27:05

like it who just wanted to be like the lifestyle

1:27:07

thing and all that. And they don't

1:27:10

they don't really like competitions and stuff. So

1:27:12

they might have been like, oh, we want it

1:27:14

to be old school surfing

1:27:17

and stuff. But I mean, 90 most

1:27:19

of the people are stoked that it's in the Olympics and

1:27:22

it's getting more mainstream recognition. And

1:27:24

it's mean and it's just going to grow the sport everywhere

1:27:27

all around the world and just help the

1:27:29

future generations and everything.

1:27:31

And yeah, I think it's amazing. And everyone

1:27:33

else I know thinks it's amazing. But

1:27:35

for sure, there's definitely some haters out there. What's

1:27:39

the are you like you mentioned about the

1:27:42

travel nature of things? You've mentioned several

1:27:45

exotic destinations already in the last sort

1:27:47

of five or 10 minutes. What do you

1:27:50

is like, go down the base that you continue to come back to in

1:27:52

between times or how do you manage that?

1:27:54

Yeah, for sure. I live in Strandhill

1:27:56

and Sligo right now. So

1:27:59

every time I come.

1:27:59

home, I'm always hoping

1:28:02

for good waves. I mean, there's not really anywhere

1:28:04

else in the world that has as good waves as Ireland.

1:28:07

So during the summer, I try to travel

1:28:09

a lot because it gets kind of small and flat at

1:28:11

home.

1:28:12

And then kind of come winter, I try

1:28:14

and stay home as much as possible to get the winter

1:28:17

swells to surf some of the amazing

1:28:19

waves we have.

1:28:20

I've traveled all over the world and I

1:28:22

still haven't found anywhere as good as Ireland, to be honest.

1:28:25

That's

1:28:25

incredible. Yeah. What does a week look

1:28:27

like for you, Grode? Obviously, you're out in the water,

1:28:30

but what else does a pro surfer

1:28:32

do? Do you do gym? Is nutrition,

1:28:34

does all of that stuff come into it as well?

1:28:37

Yeah, for sure. I mean, the last

1:28:39

couple of years I've started getting a lot more and more into

1:28:41

my physical fitness

1:28:43

and nutrition and it

1:28:45

definitely is making a big difference. You

1:28:49

kind of have to keep up with the game at the moment.

1:28:52

Everybody else in the world is really

1:28:54

on top of their fitness and stuff. So

1:28:57

it's definitely, everyone's becoming proper

1:28:59

athletes now in surfing. So it's definitely

1:29:01

something you have to stay on top of.

1:29:03

At the National Surf Centre opening up in your doorstep

1:29:05

last month, does that impact you?

1:29:08

I haven't, yeah, it's really

1:29:10

good. It's a super cool building and stuff there.

1:29:12

So hopefully that'll help surfing

1:29:15

in the local community and

1:29:17

help Grode and help us all

1:29:19

to

1:29:21

improve our surfing with a facility like that there.

1:29:23

It's great. Well,

1:29:25

listen, will you jump on with us again down the line when you

1:29:28

qualify for the Olympics and you go out there and win a medal

1:29:30

as well?

1:29:30

Definitely. That's the plan. I'll

1:29:33

definitely be back on when I qualify for the Olympics

1:29:35

and yeah, brought them to give

1:29:37

that a try. And

1:29:39

if it came off, it'd be amazing. Yeah.

1:29:41

Well, listen, well done. Yes. Great. Congrats.

1:29:43

That's an amazing achievement. And thanks for jumping on this

1:29:45

morning.

1:29:46

Thank you. Thanks so much for having me on. Cheers. Not

1:29:48

at all. That's a pro surfer Grode my day thereafter

1:29:50

success at the Euro Surf 2023 in

1:29:53

Portugal yesterday, silver medal, quite the achievement.

1:29:56

Loads of comments that are coming into us this morning on YouTube and elsewhere

1:29:58

as well. And back to those. As

1:30:03

we work through the morning, we're with you until 10. We're going to

1:30:05

be talking to Matt Williams just a little bit about the

1:30:07

latest state of play and the rugby championships. We head into

1:30:09

the curtailed one of course with the work up in mind and we're

1:30:12

heading into the final round of games tomorrow. So

1:30:14

we'll get Matt's thoughts on that in

1:30:16

just a little bit. But in the meantime, by

1:30:18

the way, as we head into our next item about

1:30:21

more preview of the Dublin Kerry game, a reminder that you can

1:30:23

win a couple of tickets for the game. Yes,

1:30:26

they are available and if you check out our social handles,

1:30:29

you will get all the details on that.

1:30:32

The post is up there.

1:30:33

Pretty sure it's still live, he says, frantically

1:30:36

searching to see there's people replying

1:30:38

with who they think is going to win the game. And

1:30:40

that's your mechanic to win. So just check

1:30:42

out Add Off The Ball on Twitter

1:30:44

and it's all thanks to AIB as well. So go on up there

1:30:46

and check that out. Shane

1:30:50

Hannon

1:30:51

from the Wiles of the Kingdom.

1:30:53

Good morning to you. Adrian and Ashley.

1:30:55

Good morning. How are things? Good morning, Shane. What

1:30:57

is it like there? We're flying right the

1:31:00

Ha Ha Roundabout. Don't know why it's called,

1:31:02

I don't even know if it's a roundabout, but it's called the Ha Ha. It's where

1:31:04

the tourists pick up the horse and cart. Oh

1:31:06

yeah. They're little left. The Jareveys. Yeah,

1:31:09

exactly. There's one horse and cart still behind me. There was about

1:31:11

four a minute ago. So I was cursing

1:31:13

the American tourists there, taking them away from me for my lovely

1:31:15

background shot here. But

1:31:17

still one left. I was hoping for more equestrian action, but

1:31:20

still looks pretty nice. You've got the Killarney Avenue Hotel.

1:31:22

I want to show you the mountains in the background, but there's

1:31:24

a bit of mist

1:31:25

on the Killarney this morning above the mountains. So

1:31:27

I gave you as good as good as shot as I could. More

1:31:30

equestrian action. Yes,

1:31:32

basically. So I was in that you were

1:31:34

speaking of tickets there and I was in Tatler

1:31:37

Jacks on Killunga Street last night for a pint

1:31:39

after me traveling about the kingdom. And

1:31:41

it was a little bit emotional. There was a Dublin fan

1:31:44

with his wife sitting at the bar. He

1:31:46

obviously knew the the owner of the pubs. Tyler Jacks is

1:31:48

actually a club owned by the Kerry Cardi board

1:31:50

chairman.

1:31:51

And it basically had a ticket for

1:31:53

somewhere else way up in the gods. The nosebleeds in folk

1:31:56

park for Sunday and the Kerry

1:31:58

fan behind the bar swapped them. for

1:32:00

the Hill 16 ticket that he had. This Dublin fan was absolutely

1:32:03

screaming out for a Hill 16 ticket and he happened

1:32:05

to just drop it into conversation and

1:32:08

all of a sudden the bar man pulls out a Hill 16 ticket for

1:32:10

him and I was like, the guy was literally, he came

1:32:12

round the bar to give him a hug and thank him and stuff

1:32:14

so it was pretty nice.

1:32:15

The little mixture of the Kerry

1:32:17

and Dublin fans, they're all getting along in the days, leaving ups with our

1:32:19

guests guys. Well, funny you should mention

1:32:22

that because Dylan Prenner gassed on YouTube earlier on, Shane

1:32:24

Hannon spotted Leighton Killarney last night looking

1:32:26

jolly. I mean, the jolly I'm assuming

1:32:28

was not looking delighted with life, I'm

1:32:30

sure. You can't do anything. You're saying that you were half

1:32:32

caught. See,

1:32:33

I had one pint last night so you can

1:32:35

get away with nothing. You can get away with absolutely nothing.

1:32:38

I was absolutely wrecked. I went down

1:32:40

to Farron IV early yesterday and the

1:32:42

Firey's area, that whole area

1:32:44

and then had an unbelievable drive

1:32:46

out through Anis Gall, through Dingle,

1:32:48

out towards Ventry. I will get to the clip. I was

1:32:50

tracking the Darrow Canadian out there

1:32:51

yesterday but it was an unbelievable

1:32:54

trip. Kerry is such a beautiful kind. I think that's hardly

1:32:56

breaking news this morning but the confidence

1:32:58

in the Kingdom is

1:33:01

pretty high, I have to say. It

1:33:02

was similar in Dublin chatting to Charlie Redmond and the lads

1:33:04

during the week but I did get chatting to

1:33:06

a few people, guys. I was

1:33:08

of course during the week chatting to Dublin Jerry,

1:33:11

renowned Dublin fan who wears the suit and the hat

1:33:13

and all the rest of the matches.

1:33:15

I was just driving along the road, near

1:33:17

enough to Farron IV and this

1:33:19

young red-headed

1:33:21

lad with a beard was sticking out his thumb,

1:33:23

sticking,

1:33:24

wearing a Kerry jersey of course and I

1:33:26

said, Jesus, I'll give that lad a

1:33:28

lift. Sure enough, he takes me to his

1:33:30

house, lovely hospitality, breakfast,

1:33:33

the whole lot. Lovely lad

1:33:35

once a career in broadcasting and to be honest

1:33:38

he's got an actor. He can fairly well speak.

1:33:40

We sat down in his back garden so I think

1:33:43

the first clip we have

1:33:44

is of him and we were talking about how he went to travel to

1:33:46

South America. He's now home and

1:33:48

I guess he's timed his return

1:33:50

perfectly to coincide with the All-Ireland final. Have

1:33:53

a look.

1:33:59

What was the crack along

1:34:02

with your way for? I was away for a year there about,

1:34:04

like actually as it turns out more I've read

1:34:07

about this Kerry G thing, it turns out

1:34:09

that actually they are all Ireland champions and they

1:34:11

won this championship last year so it's funny

1:34:13

actually I just coincided with my

1:34:15

departure and my return coincidentally

1:34:18

seems to have happened right on time for

1:34:20

this game this weekend so obviously

1:34:23

there is some sort of external extraterrestrial

1:34:25

force at play here that has dictated

1:34:28

that my time away

1:34:29

on the other side of the world has exactly happened

1:34:32

at this juncture. It worked out well and you

1:34:35

obviously, you'll be aware of the Kerry stereotype,

1:34:37

the cute kind of Kerry fan

1:34:39

that plays down chances. You booked your flight

1:34:41

home I noticed for after the semi-final

1:34:44

and for before the final so I'm guessing

1:34:47

this isn't a coincidence? I

1:34:49

mean it is a coincidence, it's a pure

1:34:51

coincidence, these things

1:34:53

just tend to happen, I'm very very fortunate that

1:34:56

Kerry vs Dublin has happened this weekend, there was absolutely

1:34:58

no planning whatsoever done when

1:34:59

I happened to be booking these flights back in February,

1:35:02

pure coincidence that Kerry happened to be playing this weekend.

1:35:06

Listen, if there was ever two like-minded souls who

1:35:08

randomly encounter each other on the back roads of Kerry.

1:35:12

Yeah, his name was Owen, he was very nice I have to say. His

1:35:15

mother Carmel put up a lovely, lovely feed for me

1:35:17

when I landed in Kerry as well and pop a tea in

1:35:19

the kitchen.

1:35:20

Breakfast! Breakfast,

1:35:22

the whole life, I mean like a

1:35:24

spread in half, they sorted me right out. Give

1:35:26

us the details then. Oh the full details of

1:35:28

the breakfast. Oh yeah. You're talking

1:35:31

toast, sausage, bacon, tomato,

1:35:34

egg, tea, coffee, orange

1:35:36

juice, like you name it, it was

1:35:38

made out in the place and a bit of white pudding

1:35:40

as well I think. I was wondering what the

1:35:42

tomato was doing in that mix.

1:35:44

I'm just out

1:35:46

of water like. I met Owen's family when we did

1:35:48

a show down in Tralee

1:35:50

and they are mad Kerry supporters.

1:35:52

Shocked, yeah, that actually shocked. Absolutely

1:35:55

shocked. Where did he get a from? I

1:35:58

know, they have a big mosaic in there.

1:35:59

in the living room and it's like loads

1:36:02

of photos, must be 70, 80 photographs

1:36:04

on it. And I made the wall. I am in

1:36:06

a photo with Owen before the All-Ireland Final. Let me go

1:36:09

with Jersey last year and he's in his carry top in Dublin. Jer's

1:36:12

on the wall as well. Remember when Jer, or the whole family

1:36:14

popped on to

1:36:15

surprise Owen last year before he headed

1:36:17

off. So that little screenshot is on there as well. So

1:36:20

yeah, they're absolutely obsessed. What's that

1:36:22

for National Guard? Not on the wall is what you're telling us.

1:36:24

Well, you might've been. I didn't look hard enough. My ego was only

1:36:26

looking out for myself, obviously. Not yet. Not yet.

1:36:29

I think I might've been. Come back here in September,

1:36:32

but yeah. Maybe not now. The Dublin

1:36:35

team is in, by the way, and we should bring it to our viewers this

1:36:37

morning. It's kind of as you'd expect.

1:36:39

And as Ashne has been pointed out during the own

1:36:41

clip there, who knows who actually starts,

1:36:43

but the team that was named Steven Clucksman goal, merchant

1:36:47

for Simon's, David Burn across the full back

1:36:49

line, James McCarthy, John Small and Lee Gannon,

1:36:51

Yafenton and Howard in midfield, Yafpaddy

1:36:54

Small, Paul Mannion and Niles Scully across the half-ords,

1:36:57

Cormacos Slough, Kahn and

1:36:59

Baskill in the full forward line. All

1:37:01

of which means Sean Bugler is on the

1:37:03