In today’s Hospital Pass, we dissect the real reasons behind Wexford’s blast at The Sunday Game boys, and question the wisdom of announcing your intent on wreaking revenge on the best team in the country.
On the face of it, we like a good blast at The Sunday Game lads. When Paul Galvin has a go at CSI Sunday Game, oh, how we laugh. When Paul Galvin gets a four-week ban retrospectively after O’Rourke and Brolly give a routine off-the-ball incident the super-slo-mo treatment, oh, how we wail and gnash our teeth.
So when people aim a kick in the direction of Spillane and the rest, we can usually be relied upon to join in.
John Hegarty, the Wexford selector, is the latest in a long line of individuals to have done just that. But then we sniffed a rat.
Hegarty said, “A lot of regular punters and even pundits don’t actually know a huge amount about teams outside the top ones like Kerry, Cork, Tyrone and Dublin.
“We have played Limerick twice this year and they beat us both times. We had much more to play for when we played in the league and they still beat us.
“We met them in a pre-championship challenge as well and they beat us again. We gave it our best shot in that game, we went all out to win it, so Limerick are better than people give them credit. Teams like Limerick need to be given more credit by the likes of The Sunday Game and these people. Limerick are not seen to be a threat or a high-quality team and that is unfair.”
You see, far from actually having a go at the RTE boys, what Hegarty was really doing was saying that Limerick are much better than Wexford, and sure what point is there even turning up in Portlaoise for the fourth round qualifier on Saturday night?
It’s mind games dressed up as lamb. Or something.
Down, down, deeper and down
When someone with a Northern accent starts talking about revenge, you usually do least one and possibly two things: take heed, and take flight.
If it was someone like Jerry Kelly, say, or Derek Davis, then you would tell yourself not to worry, and you’d probably be right. Derek Davis would never do any harm to anybody. Unless he happened to sit on you.
But when it’s a smallish man with a biggish dose of menace, then you better take it seriously.
Derek Davis. Careful now.
Usually, when it comes to sport, all talk of vengeance is pooh-poohed. Gaelic games are no different. “Ah no,” the players/managers/selectors/waterboys will say. “Last year is long gone, we’re just thinking about this weekend.”
Blah, blah and blah.
But James McCartan doesn’t do blah, and never did. “[Revenge] is a natural emotion,” he told the Irish News. “Obviously a manager will try to use any angle he can, but I’d be hoping our guys won’t need too many verbals from myself or Brian McIver or any of our management team on Saturday night.
“Cork taking an All-Ireland medal out of the pockets of our guys last year would be a motivation for them and that will come from within them rather than having it pointed out to them.
“We don’t want to be the good losers which we were perceived as last year – we’d rather be someone that won something.”
All of which should be like a red rag to a bull. Cork have won the last three national titles – two National Leagues and an All-Ireland – and they underlined their supremacy over Down with an 11-point win in the National League in March.
Now that they’ve been given advance notice of this vengeful hunger ahead of Saturday night’s qualifier, expect them to dance on Down’s grave at Croker this weekend.
Not that anyone from Cork would ever, ever be triumphalist.
