They Said It ....

October 2006

September 2006

FOOTBALL
“We haven’t won anything. You can’t just say anything just because you’ve beaten Dublin. Dublin are just like Laois, Offaly, Galway. They’re just another team. There’s no point in running and jumping around the place. Unless you win a cup at the end of the game you can celebrate, but we’ve nothing to celebrate now.”
Mayo’s Conor Mortimer urges calm ahead of the All-Ireland meeting with Kerry

“The players decided that. It was their call. As part of the family I stood by them. We were out first and we occupied that space. That was it. We let the players plan the day. Management didn’t say go to the Hill. I had to run with it. I didn’t want it but there you go.”
John Morrison explains that it was the Mayo players’ decision to warm up at the Hill 16 end of Croke Park before the All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Dublin

“The bottom line is I think the standard of refereeing was great all year, it’s too easy to stand here as a beaten manager to have a swipe at a referee. It’s too cheap for beaten managers to criticise. If we take that line we’ll never get anyone to referee matches."
Dublin’s Paul Caffrey is fed up with managers blaming referees after games and was certainly not going down that route after the loss to Mayo
“You’d always see hype as one of Dublin’s great weaknesses.”
Prophetic words from Tyrone’s Enda McGinley ahead of Dublin’s All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Mayo

“The referee certainly did us no favours today. Nicholas Murphy was stood on at the throw-in, and he later got a knee in the back, but yet we got nothing from the referee. As well, on one occasion when Derek Kavanagh was tugged by Donaghy as he went for the ball, the referee gave a free in to Kerry from which they scored a point."
Cork boss Billy Morgan was not a happy man with the match officials after his side lost out to Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final for the second successive year

“We needed something to gel the team and sometimes a bit of aggravation is great. Criticism drives you on. They’re a committed bunch of fellas and they got a lot of unjustified criticism for a while there. It’s all about the team and the criticism brought us closer.
Kerry boss Jack O’Connor admits that the abuse directed towards his players after the Munster final loss to Cork had a positive affect on the squad

“Seamus Moynihan was everywhere, he came out with balls he had no right to win and it just proves the class act that he is. I thoroughly enjoy playing with him and I told him that after the Longford match. He’s an inspiration. He was an inspiration when I was a kid watching him, and now it’s more of an inspiration to play alongside him.”
Kieran Donaghy has no problem saying that it is an honour for him to get the chance to play on the same team as Seamus Moynihan

HURLING
“Cluxton gets a yellow card for that challenge but for Alan McNamee the referee couldn’t get his red card out of his jumper quick enough. If it had been the Offaly goalkeeper there would be no question that he would have walked. That’s my reading on it but I’m going to have another look at the video again.”
Offaly manager Kevin Kilmurray is angry that his side were reduced to 14-men in the Leinster final while Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton stayed on the pitch after a heavy tackle on Cathal Daly

“What a debut - he left his calling card there. We played him in a few league games this year, but the thing was to protect him and wait for the right occasion. You could see in training the last few weeks that the guy was flying. We decided that it was the right time to spring him and it was fairytale stuff."
Cork hurling selector Joe O’Leary on the impact of Cathal Naughton who scored 1-1 with his first two touches after being introduced against Waterford

"Donal Og is the man mainly responsible for getting us into the All-Ireland final. He is the best goalkeeper in the country, and he must also be the goalkeeper who does the most training."
Cork’s Sean Og o hAilpin lauds his side’s goalkeeper, Donal Og Cusack

“We are probably a step ahead of most teams, but maybe there’s a little gap between Cork and Kilkenny and the rest. Even Waterford, as good and all as they played last Sunday, couldn’t quite get there. It’s very hard to break them down.”
Clare boss Anthony Daly has little doubt that Kilkenny and Cork are the two best hurling teams in the country

“I am not trying to talk them up or play down, it’s a Kilkenny/Cork final and history will suggest that it has the making of a decent game. Any team that does stop them, I say fair dues to them. All-Irelands can throw up anything but they will be favourites.”
Kilkenny manager Brian Cody plays up Cork ahead of the All-Ireland final

“The field is lovely to look at. It is a delight to walk on it but underneath it’s like concrete. Colin Lynch fell and hurt himself and other players were sliding all around the place. We tried all different kinds of studs but none seem to work. The ground has to be examined and put in proper order before the semi-finals.”
Clare’s Anthony Daly gives out about the state of the Croke Park pitch during the July heat wave

“We tried out a huge number of players this year, and for Tipperary to make a decent attempt at winning next year’s All-Ireland, the county will have to unearth probably another three to four players of very high quality.”
Premier County manager Babs Keating admits that his side need to make a few finds in the close season if they are to continue their improvement