A dig for Dublin.
The Dubs are sick of it at this stage. Stephen Cluxton is sick of it at this stage and so is Ciaran Whelan.
“Regardless of what people say about money or population, you put these teams out and we really, really go as hard as we can,” said Cluxton of Dublin’s county board in his acceptance speech.
He’s had enough of the narrative that wealth and a huge pick is fuelling Dublin’s success. He’s not the only Dub fed up.
Come Sunday Game time, it was Ciaran Whelan’s turn.
His colleague on the couches Tomás Ó Sé was basking in the glory of the Kerry minor’s fifth minor title in a row. The Gaeltacht man talked up the underage nurseries down in the Kerry football factory. He was paying tribute to the production line, now stronger than it’s ever been in the Kingdom. He was lapping up the 1854 days, the 30 games that Kerry’s youngsters have now gone without a defeat. He was in his absolute element.
“You have to give a lot of credit to the structures they have within the county…Donal Daly organised everything. He has coaches under him who coach the coaches within the clubs, They have structures then for academy players, they start at under-14 level. They bring them through, they’re giving the expertise that they have to them,” reeled off the Kerry man proudly.
And then came Whelo with the rattler. He’d been planning it, holding it in for far too long.
Look at him, preening to get in there, shuffling around his seat while Ó Sé rhymed off his speech.
And then the chance finally arrived.
Bam, delivered with the guilty grin of a child who’s after robbing from the sweet jar.
“Does that cost much money?”
Did that feel good Ciaran?
And Tomás was thrown briefly off course.
Before regathering his composure.
“No it doesn’t, a lot of it is, if you have the right guys in charge in the right positions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Whelo was smiling into the middle of next week.
