Henry Shefflin hilariously dabbles in Gaelic football punditry as RTE's Saturday Game debuts format change
Donegal's
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It's not the usual set-up for the hurling and football analysts to be on at the same time
Credit: @TheSundayGame
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One of the greatest hurlers ever admitted he had limited football insight to offer
Credit: @TheSundayGame
Typically during either the Saturday or Sunday version of the highlights programme, the football and hurling pundits don't appear on-screen at the same time.
However, on this weekend's edition Shefflin and Diarmuid O'Keefe remained at the table while Sean Cavanagh and Vinny Corey joined the party as attention turned from
Initially host Damien Lawlor threw to former Wexford ace O'Keeffe on account of him being a brother-in-law of Armagh ace Jarly Og Burns.
But he then asked the Kilkenny icon for his view on the latest memorable provincial final to unfold before a packed house in Clones' St Tiernach's Park.
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Shefflin chipped in with: "Well, we were sitting here in the dark studio here all day today while everyone else was enjoying the sunshine.
"But you could feel the tension (in Clones) from all the way over here and that's the great thing about the football and hurling Championships this year.
"I think it's pure drama and sport at its finest, going right down to the end and that's what we want in sport."
With a smile he then literally held his hands up and added: "Now that's all I can say. As for football tactics Damien? No, I'll pass on this one to be honest with you!"
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Amid all five men laughing in the moment of levity, Cavanagh then suggested: "Football is the new hurling eh men?"
Only for Shefflin to fire back: "Hold on, I wouldn't go that far now!"
Henry Shefflin hilariously dabbles in Gaelic football punditry as RTE's Saturday Game debuts format change
On a more serious note, there was one unsavoury aspect to the Ulster Championship decider as there was a
The situation was defused before Donegal skipper McBrearty lifted the Anglo-Celt Cup.
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Donegal boss Jim McGuinness did not see what caused the ruckus.
He said: 'I don't have a perspective on that. It's not nice to see. It shouldn't happen.
"I was giving my daughter a hug at the time. I didn't see what happened, but it shouldn't be in the game.'
His Armagh counterpart Kieran McGeeney has to lift his players for a group of death with Dublin, Galway and Derry but hopes they can bounce back after raising Sam Maguire last July.
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He said: 'We've been in the group of death for the last three years, so what's new?
'It's a tough one. Derry are playing well. Dublin are Dublin, and Galway are probably one of the best teams in the country. There's no easy ones left.'
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Extra.ie
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Kerry boss hints at exit after final win
Jack O'Connor looks poised to bow out as one of Gaelic football's most decorated managers after masterminding an emphatic 10-point victory over Donegal at Croke Park yesterday. A comprehensive 1-26 to 0-19 win comes in a season when Kerry also won the National League and Munster championship, and it's the fifth time O'Connor has guided his native county to a league and Championship double. Kerry's 39th All-Ireland senior football title might just be the greatest of his senior management career that dates back to 2004 and comes in three different instalments. Kerry manager Jack O' Tyler Miller/Sportsfile 'My last hurrah' is how he termed yesterday's thrilling triumph, with captain Gavin White and the Clifford brothers Paudie and David so influential in a five-star team performance that left Ulster champions Donegal shellshocked. Paudie Clifford admitted afterwards that the talk of Kerry being a 'one-man team' in light of his brother David's talent was a hugely motivating force, saying the team didn't take well to being 'disrespected' in such a way. 'We felt disrespected for a long time. Ryan McHugh of Donegal in action against Paudie Clifford of Kerry. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile A team that was in three of the last four All-Irelands and have won two of the last four, we felt very disrespected. 'Being called a one-man team when you have fellas like Joe O'Connor, fellas like Jason Foley [who] have worked all their lives to play for Kerry, and you're called a 'one-man team' because you haven't won every All-Ireland.' Donegal manager Jim McGuinness was blunt in admitting his team just came up short: 'We didn't perform, Kerry did perform, that's the bottom line. Sometimes in life you've got to put your hands up and you've got to take it on the chin.
RTÉ News
21 minutes ago
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Jack O'Connor: The rest of us are only trotting after Micko
Kerry may start engineering these mid-championship crises in future, if they haven't already. Jack O'Connor appears ready to ride off into the sunset after presiding over a fifth All-Ireland title victory in 11 seasons in charge. This is the third of the five in which they suffered defeat in the middle of the championship and the walls were supposedly closing in on them before the quarter-final stage. This has almost become its own genre of All-Ireland victory for Kerry at this stage, particularly so under O'Connor's stewardship. In his explosive press conference after the Armagh win, O'Connor had remarked that a Kerry team that are written off are "dangerous", saying that it allows them to play with a bit of "freedom and abandon." Clearly, the storm of negative commentary that followed the shock loss to Meath in the last round of the group stage provided ample fuel for a tilt at the knockout stage. As he plonked down in his seat to reflect on a "hard-earned" title, O'Connor remarked that "I was inside here a month ago and there was a lot of steam coming out of my ears. "It wasn't faked or it wasn't put on. It was authentic because I felt that we were getting a lot of unfair stick and we were trying our butts off and have been from the start of the year. "There was a lot of fall-out from the Meath game and life wasn't pleasant for me for a couple of weeks there. And maybe that was behind the bit of steam I left off here a month ago. "So, for us to finally get the reward is great." In O'Connor's case, it was the criticism from ex-Kerry players that rankled most - "a few pundits down our way let themselves down". For the Kerry players, it seems like it was the "one man team" barb that had them breathing fire. "As a team, we would feel disrespected," Paudie Clifford told reporters outside the Kerry dressing room. "We were in three of the last four All-Irelands. Have won two of them now. "To be called a one-man team when I see some of the work that our lads put in. Like Joe O'Connor, the turnovers, winning ball, scoring... Jason Foley, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Gavin White... I'm only naming a few. "I see the work that they put in every day. To be called a one-man team then is nearly disrespectful. It's personal. "We'd be our own worst critics as well. We admitted that we have under-performed definitely as a team over some of the years. "But with the work that we put in and the players we have there, for those things to be said - it's not nice to hear." O'Connor's third stint as manager, like his first, has yielded two All-Ireland victories. The 2022 victory in the last of the old backdoor system was more of a straight line, dominated by the anxiety around getting over the hurdle of a slowly declining Dublin team who had tormented them during the 2010s. This one, however, was more stylish and spectacular in the end. Since the early 2000s, Kerry have been listening to endless jibes from their sparring partners in Ulster about their soft route through the Munster championship and how this gift-wraps them an express ticket to the latter stages of the championship. Now, more mischievous Kerry fans might be inclined to say that, in 2025, they've gone and won Ulster alongside the All-Ireland. Clifford, who delivered a stellar display, scoring 0-03 and handling an incredible volume of possession, said immediately after the game that it was the first time that this team had put in a 70-minute performance in championship. An hour after the game, the Kerry centre-forward reflected on the comment in greater depth. "Even in '22, when we won the All-Ireland, we played well against Dublin for maybe 45-50 minutes but didn't finish well. And probably fell over the line thanks to Seanie's free. Against Galway, we probably didn't start great, it definitely wasn't a 70 minute performance. "I know the Armagh second half - and we still played well in the first half because Armagh are a top team. Tyrone, we played well but it wasn't an out and out 70 minute performance like that against a top, top team." From O'Connor's perspective, the key factor in Kerry's victory was their use of possession and their ability to work the Donegal defenders, which in turn drained the latters' capacity for making lung-bursting sprints out of defence. "A big part of playing Donegal is get value out of your attacks and don't turn it over. I think Meath found that out when they didn't work the Donegal defence. They just took pot shots from outside the arc, looking for two-pointers. "Now you take the two-pointers when they're on but you don't force them and you work their defenders. I thought we worked the Donegal defenders and that in turn takes away a bit of their legs from going the other way. "I thought that was a big factor. 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When Micko got a visit from his lifelong friends SAM & Jack #ThisIsKerry 💚💛 — Kerry GAA (@Kerry_Official) July 29, 2022 "Micko, you know, he's created a great history and tradition in Kerry and the rest of us are only trotting after him now," O'Connor said. "A bit sentimental for me because I brought the cup to him to his house in '22 and we had a nice half an hour of a chat there. "And there was a nice photograph taken, so I treasure that always because you know he was an idol of mine." As for the future, O'Connor laughed when the Kerryman's Jason O'Connor brought up the possibility of sticking around for a tilt at All-Ireland No. 40. "Well, all I know is I was going out the door Thursday evening with the with the bag and my missus took a picture of me going out the gate. "I have a fair idea that'll be going up on the wall as my last hurrah. I say now she'll be framing that one. "I think I went on record earlier in the year that it'll probably be my last hurrah. Look I don't want to be telling ye lads before I tell anyone else. There's a lot more important people down the corridor.
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37 minutes ago
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Kerry's embrace of new rules helped them to collect 29th All-Ireland SFC title
All-Ireland SFC final: Kerry 1-26 (1-5-16) Donegal 0-19 (0-0-19) This, we should have seen coming. Kerry may be hierarchy but when it comes to new rules, they have been fleet of foot to embrace them. Fifty years ago, they won an All-Ireland with the allowance of the open hand-pass among other tweaks. When all hand-pass scores were banned a handful of years later, they sucked it in and were champions again. Their jubilee team celebrated before this final won in a year where substitutes were increased from three to five. Paul Geaney and Paul Murphy were around in 2014 when they last beat Donegal in a final to cap a season when the black card was introduced. You can have all your Jack O'Connor league All-Ireland double, lucky Hill 16 side dressing room and Kerry playing in blue piseogs but when the parameters of the games has shifted, so have they. Until they arrived in Croke Park, they mightn't have been setting the world alight with two-pointers but Armagh knew all about it last month and here they outscored Donegal five orange flags to none. 'We played eight games in nine weeks in the league in bad conditions,' opened the ageless O'Connor about why they took time to warm to the new rule. 'There wasn't much time now to be working on two pointers. We're basically recovering and doing a bit of fitness work and basic stuff during the league. 'So as soon as the league was over, we went to the training camp, we started working at it then because there was a bit of an art in getting the right shooters on the ball at the right angles and coming on the right cuts and stuff. 'So it was around then that we started working on it and we didn't see a big need to work on it in the league because, first of all we didn't have time to do it, and second of all we were scoring goals which were kind of camouflaging the fact that we weren't getting two points or so. Simple enough, simple as that.' Donegal didn't look capable of scoring them and trying to claw back a seven-point half-time deficit without them their task was going to be onerous. Wedded to the system, they didn't help themselves either when most of Donegal was screaming out for Paudie Clifford to be shadowed. In performance and tactics, Kerry outclassed Donegal. Gavin White was a supreme leader, Paudie Clifford may as well have held a baton in his hand such was his influence and with yet another handsome haul David Clifford is line for a third footballer of the year award. Hugh McFadden had been withdrawn from the Donegal starting team in the hour before the game. Caolan McGonagle was expected to start but probably not at the expense of the Killybegs man. McGonagle was his team's second scorer but he had a slack enough first half and he wasn't alone in this Donegal team who seemed shellshocked by the intensity of Kerry's beginning. White won the toss and chose to enjoy the breeze into the Davin Stand in the first half and he led by example when he blitzed onto the ball from the throw-in and fed Dylan Geaney for the first score after just 11 seconds. Oisín Gallen responded in the second minute but Kerry picked off the next couple of points. Seán O'Brien punched a ball to the edge of the square over the bar then Kerry won the resultant kick-out and White cut in from the wing to fist over another point. After McGonagle's point, White repeated the trick only this time with his foot and soon enough Donegal were shifting Ciarán Moore from Joe O'Connor's side to pick up White when he came forward. Donegal's problems extended beyond White, though. Paudie Clifford was orchestrating so much and while Finnbarr Roarty was pushed out onto him his marking was surprisingly loose. The elder Clifford opened his account in the eighth minute, one of four Kerry scores without response. David Clifford thumped over his first of three opening-half two-pointers in the ninth minute after a McColgan error. He raised another orange flag three minutes later and then O'Brien doubled his contribution. Donegal were reeling but Gallen offered some respite with a point but Clifford was fouled outside the arc by Brendan McCole and Seán O'Shea applied the punishment to stretch Kerry's lead to eight in the 15th minute. O'Brien was everywhere and made a big block on a Roarty point attempt before Clifford's tally grew to five following a McGonagle error. When Michael Murphy kicked a free against the post and a goal move involving him and Ryan McHugh was overcooked, it seemed too much was going awry for the Ulster champions. However, Gallen was on hand to make sure that attack counted for something in the form of a 22nd minute point and the following three scores were Donegal ones, two from Murphy, as the gap collapsed to four. Ending eight minutes without a score, a O'Shea free for a dubious Roarty foul on Paudie Clifford followed by Geaney's second steadied Kerry only for those scores to be cancelled out by Conor and Shane O'Donnell. However, Kerry killed the clock sufficiently enough at the end of the half to tee up David Clifford for a crowd-rousing third two-pointer. He clenched his fist to the Kerry following as he wheeled around to head to the dressing room having put his side 0-17 to 0-10 up. McFadden's introduction along with Jason McGee's earlier made a contest of Kerry's kick-out and was key to Donegal getting back within four points midway through the second half. That and Michael Murphy's boot, four converted frees in the third quarter. White's third point made it a five-point game in the 54th minute although he appeared to overcarry. McGee was infringed upon for Murphy's fifth free of the half and Murphy slotted it over. A couple of two-point free opportunities came Kerry's way within three minutes. Shane Ryan slipped for the first won by Paudie Clifford but when Paudie claimed another one Seán O'Shea drew it over and Kerry were six to the good. That became seven when a Donegal kick-out was pounced on and Paudie Clifford applied the finishing touch with his fist. David Clifford brought his total to nine and it was appropriate that another star of the season, Joe O'Connor, applied the coup de grace with a final-minute goal. If this was his namesake Jack's last gift to Kerry as manager, it was a beautiful one. The old dog learning new tricks and teaching them too. Scorers for Kerry: D. Clifford (0-9, 3 tps); S. O'Shea (0-6, 2 tp frees, 1 free); D. Geaney, G. White, P. Clifford (0-3 each); J. O'Connor (1-0); S. O'Brien (0-2). Scorers for Donegal: M. Murphy (0-8, 6 frees); C. O'Donnell (0-4); O. Gallen (0-3); S. O'Donnell (0-2); C. McConagle, D. Ó Baoill (0-1 each). KERRY: S. Ryan; P. Murphy, J. Foley, D. Casey; B. Ó Beaglaoich, G. White (c), M. Breen; S. O'Brien, M. O'Shea; J. O'Connor, S. O'Shea, G. O'Sullivan; D. Clifford, P. Clifford, D. Geaney. Subs for Kerry: D. O'Connor for S. O'Brien (50); K. Spillane for D. Geaney (54); E. Looney for B. Ó Beaglaoich (63); T. Morley for M. Breen (65); M. Burns for G. O'Sullivan (69). DONEGAL: S. Patton; C. McColgan, F. Roarty, B. McCole; E. Gallagher, P. Mogan, C. Moore; C. McGonagle, M. Langan; R. McHugh, C. Thompson, S. O'Donnell; C. O'Donnell, M. Murphy, O. Gallen. Subs for Donegal: D. Ó Baoill for C. Thompson (inj 23); H. McFadden for C. McColgan (h-t); J. McGee for R. McHugh (inj 40); P. McBrearty for O. Gallen (50); J. Brennan for E. Gallagher (58). Referee: B. Cawley (Kildare).
