Replay the All-Ireland Final

20th Oct 2009

Replay the All-Ireland Final

Well, well, well. Tadhg Kennelly admits that his gruesome assault on Cork midfield hero Nicholas Murphy in the first few seconds of the All-Ireland final was premeditated. What an upstanding noble example to be setting to kids who play football not to mind the stain it leaves on the game in general.

Kennelly admits he planned smashing Nicholas Murphy

In his forthcoming book, Kennelly reveals that he told Paul Galvin the night before the All-Ireland that he was going to hit someone at the start of the match.

GAA headquarters have made a characteristically vague statement that Kennelly may face disciplinary proceedings. Don't worry though, the cute Kerrymen will have all this worked out.

It's unlikely any charges will be brought against him as a committee has already examined the incident and decided to take no action. Meanwhile Kennelly's publicity machine drives on - in the sad hope of flogging more books.

If the GAA did take action ironically it would make a mockery of the committee who reviewed the match. Any neutral sane football fan could have seen that Kennelly had Nicholas's jaw on his mind. The fact that makes it even more despicable is that the Kerryman struck his cowardly blow from behind.

As the match had just started there is no possibility that Kennelly was provoked - the usual watery context in which classic GAA "let offs" bask. Yet somehow those reviewing the match decided no action was to be taken. Mesmerising.

The widely available footage clearly shows Kennelly using his elbow to smash Murphy's jaw (if you haven't seen it click here). After admitting he premeditated the strike, his outstretched arms protesting his innocence to the referee would boil any decent fan's blood.

The only conceivable reason the committee decided to let him off must have been that after reviewing the video they concluded that he didn't intend to do it. Now that Kennelly openly admits he did it asks a lot of questions about who is reviewing these incidents, the type of hallucinogens they are on while doing so and if people from other planets should be allowed on GAA committees.

Kennelly cheekily goes on to throw even more outrageous fuel on the fire:

"While I hadn't come in and seriously injured anyone, I was determined to make a statement and I think I achieved just that."

Galvin: the willing accomplice who was aware of Kennelly's plan to deck a Cork player

If this closing-time Tralee-style thuggery is the kind of 'statement' that Kerry are proud of and if the GAA are happy to endorse him as one of their decorated players then we might as well pack up and start a separate Gaelic games association altogether.

Just think of the immeasurable and gruesome amount of work that the Cork players and backroom team put in to try to win Sam Maguire. All that sweat and training - much of it revolving around disciplined tackling and fair but firm challenges. But when the opposition decide to throw the rule book out the window in the All-Ireland final the authorities let Cork down. Again.

The dogs on the street know Kennelly should have been sent off after his despicable act and that would have given Cork a justified advantage. It would have forced Kerry to change their forward structure and introduce a player who wouldn't have normally made the starting fifteen.

Dignity, respect and honour is way down the list in the Kingdom mindset. Just look at the calibre of people they elect: Johnny 'Cash' O'Donoghue, Jackie Healy-Rae and former terrorist Martin Ferris who greets cop-killers as they leave prison. The line-up speaks for itself.

The only logical sensible conclusion is that the game should be replayed. We demand that Sam Maguire be immediately returned to the Hogan Stand and the game played again in an honourable way. And this time let the Kerry boys leave the cage fighting techniques back in Tralee.

Can a Croke Park uninterested in justice for Cork players be convinced? Well, it'll be a cash bonaza for the GAA and it'll allow the media to talk about something other than NAMA and TD's expenses for at least a week.

Although saying that, one thing is for sure - after weeks of hearing about devious Kerry men and their preposterous arm-chancing - these revelations only add to the case that Kerry as a county should be wound up and disbanded altogether.

We suggest that the remaining parts of Kerry could be sold on Ebay thus reducing the severity of the proposed €4 billion cuts in December's budget.

Although with such swathes of scandal seeping from the Kingdom of late, much like the mysterious property loans to be coveted by NAMA, nobody can put a real value on Kerry at the moment.

If they continue on like this it's the pound shops and not the IMF that'll be moving in to take over the reigns in Killarney. Meanwhile noble and honourable Cork players like Nic Murphy will have their dignity trampled on by Kerry's crass disregard for common courtesy and respect.

Let the rush for tickets begin…..