O’Conall Street

GAA is a glorious game. No doubt about it. 

The Orchard County tried hard to put Fermanagh back in their box but failed. A spirited fight back earned Fermanagh another bite at the Ulster title in a couple of weeks. Down also bounced back in Tullamore. Is this the beginning of a new generation of Mourne men?

Things were special where Dubliners were involved. In the testing conditions of Royal Birkdale Padraig Harrigton served up a master class in links golf becoming the first European to successfully defend the open in over a century. That shot onto the seventeenth will surely go down as one of the finest in Open history.

Eighty thousand witnessed another master class in Croke Park where Dublin disposed of Wexford by an impressive 3-23 to 0-9. It was a great day to be at HQ. Come on you boys in blue…..

Gaff of the weekend goes to David Healy for being a total plonker and pretending to play a flute as he came on in a friendly against Celtic.  Although Iris is not far behind as the Belfast Telegraph reports.

But even that is not going to take the shine of a pretty perfect weekend.

Are Fermanagh on the cusp of history? Could the Anglo Celt be heading to Erneside on Sunday night for the first time in history?

I was in Enniskillen during the week and the town is dressed in Green and White. No doubt about it this is a county and a team on the march. They will arrive at Clones underdogs to face the most formidable footballing force in Ulster but surely after all the YouTube videos, the battle of the songs, and the best build up in years, this could be Fermanagh’s day.

As the AIB used to say. It’s not what your county can do for you but what you can do for your county. The Heraldam was printed in sky blue yesterday morning as I joined the commuters heading into the city. There is an expectation that the blues will lift their fourth Leinster title in a row in Croker on Sunday yet the pre match buzz is still there in the Dublin air.  

TodayFM’s GAA blog has a good post on Dublin and Wexford’s Leinster stats. Dublin have won 47, Wexford 10.

Oisin and I will head off early in the morning through the Gap of the North to the capital. A quick stop in Fairview to meet the lads then on to Croke Park. Colin Moran is free to play after the Disputes Resolution Authority lifted his four week ban. The pundits say it’s ours. Can’t wait.

Advocacy has broken out in the Lakeland county ahead of the Ulster Final showdown with the other orangemen - Armagh. Two songs, two you tube videos and all from a county with a pretty small population. 

Campeones del viejo continente - la Espana del toque triunfa en Vienna!

They played a passing game and brought poetry to the pitch. In footballing terms, hope and history rhymed. 

Germany - Alemania: Lehmann; Friedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm; Hitzlsperger, Frings; Ballack, Schweinsteiger; Podolski; Klose. (4-2-3-1)
Spain - España: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila; Senna, Xavi; Iniesta, Cesc, Silva; Torres. (4-1-4-1)

In the words of Spanish TV (TVE)

Min 32.¡¡¡¡¡GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL DE TORRESSSS!!!! Por velocidad tuvo que ser, al estilo del ‘Kid’. El pase de Xavi en profundidad encuentra el desmarque del ‘9′ español, que eleva por encima de Lehmann en un toque sutil y el balón entra botando, solito, y besa las redes. Golazo que vale su peso en oro.

FINAL. Los jugadores estallan de júbilo. Todos se abrazan en el campo. Los fuegos artificiales se oyen ya en toda España. ¡¡¡ES EL TÍTULO PARA LA SELECCIÓN ESPAÑOLA 44 AÑOS MÁS TARDE!!!!

Min 90+3. SE ACABÓOOOOOO. ¡¡¡¡¡¡ESPAÑA ES CAMPEONA DE EUROPA!!!!!!!

Toreros, toreros, toreros!

From la Castillana in Madrid, up las Ramblas in Barcelona and on top of the Alhambra the finest acclamation to any Spanish male will be filling the warm Spanish night. I remember that summer in Malaga like it was yesterday. Santillana, Juanito - the local hero - and the nation fell only at the last hurdle in 1984. Then it was France in Paris and on Sunday it will be Germany in Vienna. 

Spain ran Russia like a great bullfighter runs the finest bull. The first half is for studying your opponent, testing his weaknesses, probing for opportunities. Then seamlessly the fight turns serious and the crowd responds - torero, torero - a few great passes - ole, ole - and wait for the kill. When it comes it is clinical and swift. The culmination of rhythmic movement and intuitive teamwork. Gol, Gol, Gol - the giant Russian empire is brought to its knees - a clean kill and the crowd responds.

Two ears and the tail, 0ne for each goal, the prize for the heroes of Vienna. 

Spain may only come to play once in a generation but when they do it embodies everything they believe in. That match 24 years ago made me a football fan. Spain did not just reach a European final, they reached in style.

Toreros, toreros, toreros! 

Croke Park had plenty of seats empty on Sunday for Dublin’s Leinster opener with Louth. This surprised me as Ticketmaster.ie  had no tickets to sell from last Wednesday.

It would be great to see some action from headquarters to address the weekly scramble for tickets and to ensure that where there are significant returns from clubs these are made available online. Opening the ticket office on Jones’ Road or Parnell Park is fine if you work on live on the North Side but not the fairest way of ensuring Dublin fans across the country have access to tickets on an equal basis.

Sorry for the indulgent nature of this post. As our Chris Brown (still ecstatic after Down’s draw with Tyrone) spotted in Private Eye this month. All too much blogging is….

There has not been a post on Slugger O’Toole, Ireland’s top political blog since yesterday (Sunday) at 6.24pm which is most unusual. I am presuming this is a technical glitch but have not had this confirmed.  Everyone on O’Conall Street hopes this influential and informative site is back in business soon.

What a day to go down boys.

O’Conall Street is going back to its roots and heading for Europe tonight. Venice is the destination and the excuse are the SABRE Awards, Europe’s PR Oscars, which Weber Shandwick is the only Irish agency shortlisted for. All will be revealed on Thursday night.

Elsewhere the turkey is for the oven. Dustin is out of Europe. His talent rejected at the first hurdle. That is the end of that one. Tonight the island of Ireland will unite in its rejection of Chelsea Football Club. From the Ballymoney to Bantry Bay the red army is our army.

Alex Ferguson has a selection dilemma. With all 24 players fit and ready for the game of the year he will have a job picking not just his first team but also his substitutes.Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Heaton, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Brown, Neville, O’Shea, Silvestre, Pique, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Hargreaves, Anderson, Fletcher, Park, Nani, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Saha, Welbeck are the current inheritors of the great red shirts. This is their night to make history.

Paul Scholes has already been promised a place in the starting line-up after missing the 1999 European Cup victory through suspension while Ryan Giggs is poised to overtake Bobby Charlton’s record of 758 appearances for the club.

According to SportingLife.com, Diego Maradona is backing United tonight. Maradona will support Manchester United in Wednesday’s Champions League final against Chelsea because of Carlos Tevez.

The former Argentina great admitted he will turn into a United fan for one day because he wants Tevez to win the Champions League in Moscow.

Speaking in Cannes, where Maradona is promoting the film ‘Maradona’ by the Bosnian director Emir Kusturica, he said: “I think Manchester will beat Chelsea. My friend Carlitos (Tevez) plays there.

“I think Manchester win tomorrow, even though I have quite a lot of friends in several teams.”

With the hand of God on our side we can’t go wrong. Do us proud lads.

I’ll wake in Venice and let you know what I think.

The Belfast Marathon is today. I ran it in 2005, the year they added the extra mile but never told us. I busted my gut to make up what I thought was lazy running on my behalf to make the target time. It was a beautiful May morning, foggy to start, sunny in the end. Just like today. Great for the spectators, not so cool for the 26.2milers.

This is a big friendly marathon which is only slightly organised. Some 15,000 will set compete but only 3,000 or so will run the whole race, the rest are running in relay teams of four. Apart from the ‘diversion’ my year, I’ll always remember the traffic cops handing out water as the organisers did not have enough volunteers to cover the less scenic water stations. That’s whats special about the Belfast race and God’s speed to everyone I know who is running today.

The legs will be sore later but the satisfaction, and the inner pride, will last all week.

Tonight is the Annual Chartered Institute of Public Relations Press and Broadcast Awards, sponsored by Coca Cola. As this year’s CIPR Chair it has been a busy week with final arrangements and all that. Speech is written and the stage is set for now for the only press and broadcast awards on these islands organised by the public relations profession. If you are interested in all the results I will post them here at about 10.15pm tonight (Friday).

 I’ll also post a copy of my own remarks late this afternoon.

Meantime there is a tux to be collected and shoes to be polished. Can’t wait for the Lifetime Achievement Award. The recipient has no idea he is going to be the man of the night. He was the unanimous choice when the editors met last November and a man who can quite literally claim to have seen it all.