You give us Darran O'Sullivan, we'll give you Sepp Blatter

Liam Mackey

KEENLY aware that my interest in, knowledge of and affection for gaelic football doesn’t extend a whole lot beyond a still brooding resentment about the way some alleged Hoops fans defected to Heffo’s Army back in the 70s – not that I’m a bitter person, you understand – the catch and kick aficionados on the Sports Desk were anxious that I offer a definitive garrison game verdict on what they were describing as Darran O’ Sullivan’s “wonder goal” for Kerry against Limerick on Sunday.

Somehow tearing myself away from the gripping spectacle that was the Dublin Super Cup, I popped it up on the laptop and, whaddya know, the lads weren’t exaggerating.

You’ve all seen it by now, I presume: an improvised volleyed back heel, executed at pace, which transformed a wayward pass into, right enough, a thing of wonder.

Not something that came off the training pitch, said Jack O’ Connor wryly afterwards.

Which is true. Or, at least, certainly not off the training pitch in Killarney, though you’d see plenty trying it – and as often failing spectacularly – on training pitches all over London where O’ Sullivan spent his formative years, even coming to the attention of QPR at one point.

So that explains that.

Indeed, the very uniqueness of O’ Sullivan’s goal in gaelic football terms – as exemplified by the fact that most popular comparison has been with Gianfranco Zola, who hails from Oliena, Italy, not a recognised gaelic stronghold – is a reminder of why there are some of us who can’t help viewing the dear old gah as a sort of underdeveloped, misshapen version of the beautiful game.

But O’Sullivan’s dazzling goal shows that there’s hope yet, pointing the way to a brighter future for the native code, one that might even see it gaining a prosperous life beyond the island (and bits of London, New York and, er, Hong Kong).

To that end, I’m sure the good people at Headquarters won’t object if I offer a couple of respectful suggestions. Why not, for example, ban the use of hands altogether? And, after that, you could see about introducing a system which only recognises scores when the ball passes under the bar and between the posts.

Let me know what you think, though I understand that you’re probably still busy trying to sort out the ancient problem of ‘the tackle’.

Finally, talk of rule changes reminds me of another idea. How about a swap? You give us Darran O’ Sullivan and we’ll give you Sepp Blatter?

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/0xUBiTP5XzU/post.aspx

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