Itâs funny, that Kilkenny team were portrayed as automatons throughout their career - the manly men who knew deep in their souls that they were the best in the land and quietly got on with their jobs. And then you had Tipperary, for whom the mere sight of the black & amber jersey raised all sorts of internal doubts and self-loathing that they struggled to surmount.
The bones of a decade on, Kilkenny have the medals but they also seem to be suffering from some sort of PTSD. Larkin frothing at the mouth about Tipp lads pointing at their heads and bawling down the phone to Cody is the latest. Iâm beginning to form the opinion that the Cody Regime was just as bad for their mental health as it was for their physical health.
The difference was clear imo.
They behaved & trained like professionals. Robots.
Alas, they were incredibly talented, a once in a generation group.
Others trained pretty hard but lived their lives as normals thereafter.
Thatâs what made Kilkenny brilliant. No matter what they believe they should have won the game. No all Ireland was enough. They are serial winners. Compare that to serial loser mentality of limerick fans who are happy and content after imploding in the all Ireland semi final.
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Or rugby fans who delude themselves that losing to Japan means they will beat New Zealand. Youâd wonder what be going on in their tiny heads.
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How is believing you can win a loser mentality? If you donât believe you can win you have no chance.
That was last week - can we move on please.
Oh they were brilliant. I will say that there was a serious gulf in class, talent-wise, between the big three and the weaker counties over that decade, whereas now a lot of underage work has paid dividends there is a greater spread of teams at a similar level. That obviously makes a difference.
Maybe that absolute desire to win absolutely everything has left some huge regrets in their minds over the ones they didnât win - which is fair enough, but if I had 8 AI medals I like to think Iâd be able to let myself off the hook for those looking back - for peace of mindsâ sake if nothing else.
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Youâd regularly see extremely successful people donât have any peace of mind. Itâs kind of sad in a way but what is driving them mental now is probably what drove them on to win so many all Irelandâs.
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Ignoring what has gone before and refusing to learn lessons is a loser mentality. People were actually deluding themselves that losing to a pub team somehow meant that beating the worldâs best was possible.
Ireland beat new zeland 2 of the last 3 times they played them. Iâd imagine thatâs what gave people hope.
We had a little fun with that last week but some lads cant let go. They have to get their full pound of flesh.
Thatâs like beating Kilkenny in the Goal challenge on a Tuesday night in Urlingford.
As easy as halting a DP site, eh?
Barney wasnât around over the weekend. Let Mike have his gutful.
A week is all youâre willing to give me? Iâll be using it for the next 4 years so get fucking used to it.
Fire ahead. Weâre all big boys around here.
No itâs not. Ireland had never beaten new zeland before 2016.
