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Irish Times
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dara Ó Cinnéide: ‘I'm getting sick of this #WeAreKerry stuff. What does it actually mean anymore?'
Dara Ó Cinnéide was in Tullamore last weekend, watching the Kerry game alongside an old college friend from Meath . On the way up the road, there was campfire gossip going around that 'a significant Kerry player' wouldn't be togging out. When he saw Seán O'Shea walking around in his tracksuit during the warm-up, the low sludge of unease he'd been feeling for much of the week started to properly crystallise. 'We're in a bit of bother here,' he told his friend, who did what all right-thinking friends would have done and dismissed him immediately. Life is far too short to be listening to Kerrymen poor-mouthing in the 15 minutes before a championship match, especially if you're from a county that has beaten them just once in the past 70 years. 'After about 10 minutes,' Ó Cinnéide says, 'my mate from Simonstown turned to me and said, 'F**k it, I should have listened to you and put a few bob on this, we'd have paid for the weekend'. 'You could see from the start that Kerry weren't working hard enough. They weren't earning the right to play the ball around. They were trying to flick the ball up to themselves on a wet day and all this carry-on. If I'm a Meath player on the pitch at that moment, I'm going, 'These lads aren't great, are they?'' READ MORE They certainly weren't last Saturday . The one upside for the Kerry players who got rinsed by Meath in Tullamore is that the game wasn't televised in full anywhere. However bad Kerry people imagine it might have been, it was worse when you watched it back. The ease with which Meath stretched away in the 15 minutes before half-time was pretty astonishing to watch. It would be one thing if Meath had come up with a flurry of intricate set plays to bamboozle them but the reality was far more prosaic. They routed Shane Ryan's kick-outs, annihilated Kerry on breaking ball. Rudimentary stuff. With 20 minutes gone, Kerry led 0-7 to 0-5. Between there and half-time, Ryan had 10 kick-outs. He went long seven times and Kerry lost every one of them. On two of the three occasions he went short, Kerry turned the ball over almost immediately. Nine of those 10 Kerry kick-outs ended in a Meath player taking a shot at the posts, leading to eight points. Meath's dominance of the Kerry kick-out was so total that when the 10th one finally bought Kerry some breathing space – Joe O'Connor won a brave free that Mike Breen immediately moved on to Dylan Geaney – it led to their first possession in the Meath half of the pitch in 13 minutes of football. Even if there's an element of potluck at the kick-out under the new rules, a team that allows itself to get penned in for 13 minutes is miles off being a contender. 'There were probably a few doubts about where we were at anyway,' says Darran O'Sullivan. 'I've been in games like that where you really don't perform. You don't turn up and you find out the hard way that if you're not committed, which is the only word I can say really, you're going to get found out. 'They were missing a lot of big players, which isn't an excuse. But if you look at who they are – Paudie [Clifford] and Seánie for example – footballers though they are, they love the rough stuff as well. They're not going to back down from any fella. They're not going to shy away from any physicality. Paudie Clifford of Kerry against Cork. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho 'We all know we have great footballers. But you've to be more than that. You have to have the bit of nastiness to you. You have to have the willingness to get hit and give a few hits and get dirty.' And so, in a week like this, the walls come tumbling down all around the county. The sun is out, the schools are finishing up, the tourists are landing daily. A summer heatwave in Kerry is one of the great Irish birthrights and if you get to combine it with the county team hitting a rocky patch, you get the full Kingdom experience. Nobody expects Kerry to lose to Cavan this Saturday but if they have to play Armagh in a quarter-final next weekend, it's perfectly feasible that could be that. All of which means that in every corner of the county, it's the first topic of conversation this week. 'Players are pretty much insulated from it,' says Ó Cinnéide. 'But I nearly think they should be exposed to it a bit. We had no social media in our time so we were able to get into and do our stuff and not worry about the noise. Even though players now take steps to do the same, it has to be almost impossible for some of it not to seep through. And maybe that's no bad thing. 'We can't have it both ways in Kerry. We can't have documentaries on the TV at the moment and fellas going on about the history of Kerry football being such-and-such and what it all means. Well, if it does mean so much more down here, let's see it. Let's see it in Killarney on Saturday. 'I'm getting sick of this #WeAreKerry stuff. What does it actually mean any more? There's a reason we won all the All-Irelands we won – it's because there's an anger there. It's because there's hurt there when you lose. It's because the prestige of the tribe is damaged by a defeat and because it pisses you off on a Monday morning if you've lost on the weekend. 'And that's just me, an ex-player and supporter. I stayed above in Tullamore on Saturday night and drank porter and was just fed up and in bad form after it. I'm just wondering does it hurt any more? I'm sure the players are hurting. I'm sure they are.' Amid all the noise, it should be pointed out that Kerry are still bookies' favourites for the All-Ireland , alongside Armagh. One defeat won't define their summer and if all it takes is an attitude adjustment, that's an achievable target in a short space of time. Particularly if they can get some of their more high-profile injured players back on the pitch by next weekend. But even if they can, Armagh loom on the horizon with the memory of last year's All-Ireland semi-final fresh in the minds of everyone . Kerry were outstayed as much as they were outplayed in that game – O'Shea, David Clifford and Jason Foley all limped away from shots in extra-time before having to stretch out their calf muscles to get rid of cramp. Down in the tunnel under the Hogan Stand that Saturday night, Stefan Campbell was entirely up front about how certain Armagh were of their advantage. 'The big thing we took away with us at full-time of normal time was the amount of Kerry players that were obviously hurting and cramping,' he said. 'I think we won that psychological battle coming out for extra-time. We made the point inside – we've been there before and Kerry haven't. They probably weren't as battle-hardened as we were.' Dara Ó Cinnéide playing for Kerry in 2000. Photograph: Tom Honan/Inpho Kerry have had to dig deeper this year than was the case in 2024 – their average margin of victory for the five games before they met Armagh last summer was over 10 points. This time around, Cork have run them to extra-time and they've lost to Meath. Cavan are being dismissed by everybody but they finished level on points with both those teams in Division Two this year. They will at least believe they can give Kerry a rattle. But there's a sweet spot between being battle-hardened and battle-weary. If Kerry get past Cavan and find themselves landing into Croke Park next weekend having had to rush the likes of Clifford, O'Shea, Paul Geaney and Diarmuid O'Connor back from injury, what kind of shape can they expect to be in? They couldn't last the pace against Armagh with everyone fully-fit and available. What chance would they have as a weakened version of that side in 2025? 'I do think Kerry will be a different proposition against Cavan,' says O'Sullivan. 'I think Paudie will be back, Seánie will be back, I think Paul will be back. I think they'll be more than strong enough for Cavan. But it's a case then of how strong will lads be for Armagh. Because that's what the real test will be.' Can they turn it around? Yes, obviously. This is Kerry, when all comes to all. They've won All-Irelands from stickier spots than this. In 2009, Sligo missed a penalty three minutes from time that would have put them out of the championship. A week later, they were level with Antrim with 10 minutes to go and just about got out the gap. On the bus home that day, the blood got up as soon as word came through that they had drawn the Dubs in the quarter-final and it turned their whole season around. 'Anger can be a very powerful force,' says Ó Cinnéide. 'And you can't manufacture it. It's either there or it's not. A lot depends now on who's back and how they come back. 'The attitude needs to be so much better. Just get nasty, like. I was always criticised for being a nice footballer but there were times when you had to get nasty and you wouldn't be found wanting. That's what people need to see. 'Go back to Tullamore in '09 against Antrim. There was a genuine rallying that day from the Kerry supporters. I was in the stands that day and you could feel it, as if people were saying, 'Jesus, this team might be dying but we're going to support them'. And they did. 'Kerry supporters can be very good like that but the players need to feel that this weekend. They need to feel the anger but also feel the support. Last Saturday, all they heard when they came out on to the pitch was polite support. It wasn't good enough.' Things need to change, quickly, on and off the pitch. Otherwise, they could be knocked out of the championship in June for the first time since 1994. What will they talk about then? Nobody in Kerry wants to spend the rest of the summer finding out.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Darragh Ó Sé: There's an air of finality around Kerry after losing to Meath
In Kerry , there's a sense of finality about the place this week. When it comes to football, you can't fool the people down here. You can't be going around explaining the Meath defeat away because we were down a few bodies. Call us pessimistic or realistic but whatever way you want to look at it, the mood isn't great. Meath are improving, there's no doubt about that. But if you stand back from it, they're still a Division Two team and they were missing a few of their best players too. That's a team you should be dealing with if you have intentions of winning the All-Ireland . The final is in five weeks – if you're not able to beat an understrength Meath now, how are you going to deal with the bigger tests ahead? Kerry didn't take this game seriously enough. I don't just mean the team and the management either – how the county board ever allowed the game to be played in Tullamore was ridiculous. It was as if their attitude was, 'Sure look, we're going to win anyway so we'll go wherever we're told'. Outside of a hardcore of support, Kerry would be known to be bad travellers so maybe they just decided it wasn't worth having the row. That tells you a lot about the state of things in Kerry at the moment. Everything is starting on the wrong foot. Most people think there's an air of inevitability about what comes next. We'll beat Cavan on Saturday and then Armagh will put an end to it the following weekend. I met one fella on Monday who said, 'Isn't it a pity we didn't draw Galway and have done with it?' READ MORE Kerry weren't just beaten by Meath, they were rightly hosed. If it was matchplay golf, they'd have been picking up their ball on the 12th green and heading in. Take the 15 minutes before half-time – they went from being two points up to six points down in a game where there was no wind. They lost the second half as well. Some Kerry people say Jack O'Connor hasn't looked enough to the future. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho Obviously, you're going to lose something when good players get hurt. Paudie Clifford, Paul Geaney, Seán O'Shea and Diarmuid O'Connor are major losses. Barry Dan O'Sullivan was having a good season too. That night in Cork when they started going down like skittles, nobody was under any illusions – this was going to mean trouble somewhere along the way. But the killer problem isn't the injuries. Every team is picking up knocks and losing players. As soon as the GAA compressed the season to make way for the concerts in Croke Park, that was always just going to be a fact of life. The job of managers all over the country is to build a panel that can cope. That's the biggest criticism Kerry people have of Jack O'Connor . He hasn't future-proofed the squad during his time in charge. The Kerry team now is very similar to what it was when he took over at the end of 2021. In that time, he has won an All-Ireland and lost a final so there's an argument to say he didn't go too far wrong. It's totally his prerogative to focus on winning now and letting the next lad worry about the future. Time moves on though. Teams have to evolve. Look at the winners of the last three All-Irelands – Kerry, Dublin and Armagh. Who has the best squad? Armagh , no question. Kieran McGeeney nearly has two players for every position now – some of the lads who won them an All-Ireland last year can't get back in. Who's next? Dublin, without a doubt. Dessie Farrell brought players through during their transition period. They're not as good as what was there before but they have a lot of experience at this stage. Dessie wouldn't have Armagh's competition for places but they've had injuries to Con O'Callaghan, Paddy Small, Eoin Murchan and Lee Gannon and still kept the show on the road. What can Kerry people learn now about Paul Geaney that they don't already know? Photograph: Tommy Grealy/Inpho Now go through the Kerry bench for the Meath game. Dara Moynihan has been a regular for a number of years. Dylan Casey has come into the reckoning in the last two seasons and has had a decent bit of exposure at the top level. Conor Geaney and Seán O'Brien have played a fair few league games. But the other six outfield players listed have very little senior experience. Is that their fault? Or is it down to the management not being willing enough to properly blood new players? I'd say it's a bit of both. Jack doesn't like losing and he knows well that a chunk of Kerry supporters will think the sky is falling in if they get relegated from Division One. But every one of the other All-Ireland contenders has spent a bit of time in Division Two. They blooded players along the way and now they're in much better shape. You have to evolve. Even when you win the All-Ireland, everyone knows you have to improve by 15 or 20 per cent to go again the next year. You need to test the next wave of players to make sure they're ready. There's a difference between being very good club players and being up to the standard of intercounty. The only way to find out if you're able for the big step up is to be exposed to it. You're not going to do that when your response to losing a couple of games in the league is to bring the Cliffords back early after they've had a long club season. Paul Geaney is nearly 35 and still he played in every league game this year. Why? What do Kerry need to find out about Paul Geaney that we don't already know? It all came home to roost against Meath. Okay, there were injuries. But when people go on about it being a panel game nowadays, this is what they mean. You have to be able to go up the country against a coming team and suck it up when you're missing a few key men. It can't be up to Paudie Clifford and Seánie Shea and Paul Geaney to keep the standards up – that's everybody's job. But they can't learn it overnight. This isn't like cramming for an exam. Whether Kerry get their players back in time for the quarter-final, it already feels like they're too far behind to be able to catch up.
BBC News
4 days ago
- BBC News
Relatives of Ashling Murphy's killer guilty of impeding murder probe
Relatives of convicted killer Josef Puska have been found guilty by a court in the Republic of Ireland of charges relating to the aftermath of the killing of Ashling Murphy was stabbed to death by Josef Puska while walking along the banks of a canal close to her home in Tullamore, Co Offaly, in of the killer's brothers, Marek Puska and Lubomir Puska Jr, were found guilty at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Tuesday of withholding information knowing it might be of assistance in securing their brother's brothers' wives, Jozefina Grundzova and Viera Gaziova were found guilty of burning Jozef Puska's clothes in an effort to impede his prosecution. Jozef Puska's wife, Lucia Istokova, had pleaded guilty just before the trial started to withholding information about the included witnessing Jozef Puska arriving home with visible injuries, admitting killing or seriously injuring a woman with a knife, and that he owned a bicycle the gardaí were interested Istokova's plea can only be reported now as legal restrictions were in place while the trial of Jozef Puska's brothers and their wives was taking evidence the court was told that after murdering Ms Murphy, Puska went to the house he shared in Tullamore with his wife and their children as well as his two brothers and their lawyers argued that the brothers knew what Puska had done, and their wives knew why they were burning his clothes. Defence lawyers for the two brothers said that they were worried about incriminating five were remanded on continuing bail and the case will be mentioned on 7 July when a sentence date will be Murphy's mother and father, Kathleen and Ray, her sister Amy and brother Cathal were in court on Tuesday to hear the verdicts.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Irish Times
Two of Jozef Puska's brothers found guilty of withholding key information about Ashling Murphy murder
A jury has convicted murderer Jozef Puska's two brothers of withholding crucial information from gardaí investigating the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy. The two men's wives have also been found guilty of burning the killer's bloodstained clothes in an effort to obstruct his prosecution. Jozef Puska (35) murdered Ms Murphy (23) on January 12th, 2022, by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck after attacking her while she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly. He was later convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence. The Central Criminal Court jury on Tuesday accepted the prosecution's case that his brothers, Lubomir Jnr (38) and Marek (36) misled gardaí by failing to disclose crucial and vital information when they gave witness statements. READ MORE The jury found their wives – Viera Gaziova (40) and Jozefina Grundzova (32) – burned Jozef Puska's clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution. The 12 jurors unanimously found the brothers guilty, while the two women were found guilty by majority verdicts. All four were living with Jozef Puska, his wife Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, when the offences occurred in January 2022. All defendants had pleaded not guilty to all charges. It was the State's case that the two brothers misled gardaí and withheld 'crucial, relevant and significant' information when they gave voluntary interviews in Tullamore two days after Ms Murphy's death. This included information that Jozef Puska returned home on the night of the murder with visible injuries, admitted to killing or seriously injuring a woman with a knife and subsequently travelled to Dublin. The 12 jurors at the Central Criminal Court gave their verdict in relation to the two brothers after deliberating for 13 hours and 40 minutes over five days, before returning again to the courtroom 16 minutes later to reveal their decisions on the charges against the two women. Ms Justice Caroline Biggs thanked the panel of seven men and five women for their service and excused them from jury service for life. The four family members were remanded on continuing bail until July 7th, when their sentence hearings will take place. More to follow ...
BreakingNews.ie
4 days ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Josef Puska's two brothers and their wives guilty of offences after murder of Ashling Murphy
A jury has convicted Jozef Puska's two brothers of withholding crucial information from gardaí investigating the murder of school teacher Ashling Murphy, while the two men's wives have also been found guilty of burning the killer's bloodstained clothes in an effort to obstruct his prosecution. Jozef Puska (35) murdered Ms Murphy (23) on January 12, 2022, by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck after attacking her while she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly. He was later convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence. Advertisement Jozefina Grundzova (31) and Marek Puska (34). Photo Collins Courts The Central Criminal Court jury on Tuesday accepted the prosecution's case that Jozef Puska's brothers, Lubomir Jnr (38) and Marek (36) misled gardai by failing to disclose crucial and vital information when they gave witness statements, while their wives - Viera Gaziova (40) and Jozefina Grundzova (32) - burned Jozef's clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution. Lubomir Puska Jnr (35) and Viera Gaziona (38). Photo Collins Courts The 12 jurors unanimously found Josef Puska's brothers guilty, while his sisters-in-law were found guilty by majority verdicts. All four family members were living with Jozef Puska, his wife Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly when the offences occurred in January 2022. All defendants had pleaded not guilty to all charges. It was the State's case that the two brothers misled gardaí and withheld 'crucial, relevant and significant' information when they gave voluntary interviews in Tullamore two days after Ms Murphy's death. Advertisement This included information that Jozef returned home on the night of the murder with visible injuries, admitted to killing or seriously injuring a woman with a knife and subsequently travelled to Dublin. The 12 jurors at the Central Criminal Court gave their verdict in relation to the two brothers after deliberating for 13 hours and 40 minutes over five days, before returning again to the courtroom 16 minutes later to reveal their decisions on the charges against the wives of the two brothers. Following the four verdicts, presiding judge Ms Justice Caroline Biggs thanked the panel of seven men and five women for their service and excused them from jury service for life. The four family members were remanded on continuing bail until July 7, when their sentence hearings will take place. More to follow.
