Kingdom of Heaven.

It might not have stirred Gav's sporting passions, but Kerry's destruction of Dublin in Croke Park earlier today further underlines the fact that Kerry is the Kingdom of Footballing heaven. A truly breathtaking display saw them triumph by 1-24 to 1-07.
Kerry's spectacular return to form sent the Dubs crashing out of the race for Sam Maguire at Croke Park. Dublin were simply demolished in front of a crowd of 81,890 by a Kingdom outfit bursting with energy, style and substance. Some brilliant performances from the likes of Declan O'Sullivan, Darren O'Sullivan, Colm Cooper and on and on and on. The strength in depth of the Kerry squad is unmatched by any other County in Ireland & Kieran Donaghy is out through injury!

I watched all of this weekend's 3 quarter finals. Anyone thats knows me will know that I have ties to Counties playing in each of the games. Cork's hammering of Donegal was a bitter blow. I know I was poking fun at the Donegal boys in an earlier post, but they were torn apart by a very strong Cork side.

In the other quarter final, the best of the bunch, All-Ireland champions Tyrone had to dig deep to survive Kildare's gutsy challenge at Croke Park, before squeezing through to the All-Ireland SFC semi-finals. The beaten Leinster finalists produced a heroic display at Croke Park, before going down by just two points in agonising fashion.

What I don't understand about some RTÉ panelists, is that when a team like Dublin, win their Provincial Title easily, then have a break for a few weeks, then come against a Kerry team battle hardened from their run in Qualifiers one member will say "We should take a look at the system, they haven't played at the level of intensity for a number of weeks, it was a factor today". Yet when Cork, a team that, like Dublin, haven't played in a few weeks, hammer Donegal, it gets flipped - Donegal are "Weary from their heroics in the Qualifiers, the system needs to be looked at." Seems a bit daft to me, make up your mind, when it suits it favours those coming through the Qualifiers, then Cork win easliy & the Qualifiers are to blame for a poor Donegal display. Methinks there is an apparent lack of insight from the panel when they spout inconsistent tripe like that. Then again what would I know.

Mayo & Meath meet to fight for the final remaining Semi-Final place. On the evidence of this weekend though, both teams will struggle to reach the level of Cork, Kerry & Tyrone. But, then again, what would I know.

All's Quiet On The Western Front

It’s a really quiet day in work today (the August Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally the slowest time of the year for news) and it’s also a relatively quiet time of the year for sport. Sure, Kerry are taking on Dublin in an All-Ireland Quarter Final today but since it’s a contest that’s as one-sided as a hippy missing his left-leg, it’s not coming close to stirring my sporting passions. Baseball is ongoing, but that has fleeting moments of greatness (Note to self: must post one I saw recently) and, sure, NASCAR is on today, but it’s Pocono. Don’t start me on the Ashes.

So not the most exciting couple of weeks but at the same time, there’s stuff on the horizon to whet our appetites. The Premier League will return in no time. The World Athletics Championships are only just around the corner. It won’t be long until Michael Schumacher returns.

All that’s exciting, but it’s not going to arrive for a little while yet. In the meantime, relax, enjoy something else like the football if that’s your shtick, and maybe spend time with your family and loved ones. Your favourite sports stars will be waiting for you to return in no time at all.

Cooper & O'Sé join the Naughty Boys club

Tomás O'Sé and Colm Cooper can add their name to list of players who have been disciplined by their Countys for apparently breaking rules regarding drinking. So the names of one the most famous families in GAA history & the name of one of the most celebrated players in a generation go alongside the names of pretty much in the entire Donegal panel in the Naughty Boys Club.

Attitudes towards drinking by GAA players during the Championship season is something that rears its head every season. But usually the Kerry stars steer well clear of that type of behaviour. This is an issue which seems to effect some counties more than others. Keith Duggan, in today's Irish Times, writes about the sensational reports about the the social dimension of Donegal teams have dogged them throughout the decade. The tales of a Behanesque pub-crawl in Dublin after a draw in the quarter final in 2002 are legenardy. Yet again though to Donegal players have been dropped from the panel for breach of discipline Neil Gallagher & Ciaran Bonner have been suspended by John-Joe Doherty for boozing it up.

Knowing Donegal as I do, and having witnessed first hand some players enjoying themselves thoroughly on nights out during the Championship I can understand where this reputation comes from. But it is hard not to feel sympthay for the squad. I mean Letterkenny has five massive niteclubs. The Grill, The Pulse, Voodoo, Milan, The Orchard and numerous late night bars all competing with each other to get the crowd in. Plus with the streams and streams of hen parties that flock to the town on a weekend from all over Northern Ireland, it must be hard for a young impressionable GAA star not to use his local fame to good effect.

Also it begs the question, if the GAA players were professional would this trend cease or just grow? Players would be less inclined to down pints in Voodoo Lounge if they were to be docked a few weeks wages.

When questioned about this recently a former Donegal County star said; "Jeez hi, i dunno sir, but that doll over there is fine." She wasn't.

Anyway Kerry take on Antrim this weekend without Cooper & O'Sé, while Donegal play Galway in Sligo. Both should be pretty tasty encounters with places in the All-Ireland Quarter Finals up for grabs. There'll be serious celebrations tonight in the towns and villages of the winning Counties. The losers will just drown there sorrows and dream of Sam coming home next year.