Indo GAA
No sanctions for Kerry and Donegal | Cliffords don’t click | Tyrone lay down a marker
26 May 2026
Chapter 1: What are the latest developments regarding sanctions for Donegal and Kerry?
Tessa, this is the first episode of Seachtain. There's a new episode every Tuesday with stories and stories about your life on the island.
I'm very happy to be here. It was like I was talking to Stephen McCullough. It was like I was talking to the audience team. It was like I was talking to the audience team. It was like I was talking to the audience team. It was like I was talking to the audience team. It was like I was talking to the audience team. It was like I was talking to the audience team.
It was like I was talking to the audience team.
It was like I was talking to the audience team.
Hey there, we are Indosport with me, Joe Malloy. We cover sport and we have things like this.
If you ask Arsenal's defenders, Gabriel and Saliba, to play in that PSG team or that Bayern team, they would be exposed as much as those centre-backs were last night. Because effectively, the attackers were on top. Then you ask the question, how many defenders were actually on the pitch last night? Because none of the full-backs have no interest in defending. They're like wingers.
And I've seen Saliba and Gabriel in an open game in that League Cup semi-final doubleheader against Newcastle last season get torn apart by Izak. I won't have anyone convince me that they can defend in that space.
This is an Irish Independent Podcast. I'm Michael Verney and welcome to the IndoGA podcast sponsored by AIB. AIB proudly celebrate the joy, dedication and support that lies at the heart of Gaelic games, club and county, in every community and every player. If you enjoy the show, tell a friend to search IndoGA in their podcast feeds now. Delighted to be joined by Pat and Dick as ever.
And breaking news lads, and it's not the breaking news you think... Sean Fitzgerald, the Galway footballer, will be on Love Island. Pat, your immediate thoughts, and if you were a single man back in the day, would you go on it? I think I would, of course, absolutely. And I say, fair play to him, follow his dream. Right, so you have an option. Right, do you want to be fucking chasing...
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Chapter 2: How does Jim McGuinness's siege mentality affect team dynamics?
Of course it is. According to what the GSA statement, it says... The reason why there's no further sanctions is because the incidents were dealt with by Sean Horson. Now, unless I'm blind and unless I'm losing my mind, I didn't see any incident. Like, first of all, for a start, the incidents that happened, like... There's no doubt about it.
There's a lot of animosity between this Kelly and Dublin. What's this is about familiarity breeds content. And I thought at the very start, even before the ball was thrown in, with all the pushing, shoving, doodle, doodle, doodle, I said, I thought, this is nasty. This is just not nice. And I keep thinking of that rule, contributing to Millie.
I think I saw Brendan Griffin for a one-league match this year, one match this year. And he did bookings before the game started for a similar Malibu. I think if Sean Horson had issued black hats to a couple of guys before the ball was thrown in, I'd say, right, I'm taking no more of this now. It might have started. Anyway, that's fine.
The only thing I'd say about that is, Pat, though, I know what you're saying, but the vast majority of people want to see that needling. Do you know what I mean? Not enough. But do they? I don't think they did.
I always felt as a footballer, when a fella hits you and he pushed you and he shoved you and he mounted you and he sledged you, I never got involved because I always feel if you got involved back, I don't think you're focused. I think you've lost focus. And I see that with the Kerry players. Some of the Kerry players' performance last year, their behaviour, was wrong. They got involved in...
They were distracted. They were distracted. And they were obsessed with Michael Murphy. Every time he was on the ball or off the ball, they had to shove him or push him or just go in. And by the way, while we're on being embarrassed, as a Kerry supporter, I was really embarrassed with the booing by certain supporters of Michael Muff. That's not what real Kerry supporters do.
Real Kerry supporters rise above that thing. So as a Kerry man, I was embarrassed by that. I felt sorry for him. He didn't deserve that. That's fine. Right. Fast forward to the instance at halftime and like one would have to be embarrassed. And it was horrible scenes. It was horrible scenes. And there's so much to talk about. I mean, contributing to Mali, contributing to Mali.
There was at least 20 fellas, 30 people involved in contributing to Mali. Donegal got no card at all. Evan Looney, I don't know how poor Evan Looney got picked up. Must have been a lottery at halftime that his name came out. I have no idea. Micheál Burns rightly got a red card. But as for the behaviour of the officials and all that, as for the crowds on the pitch at halftime, it was crazy.
Jim McGuinness, so I'm saying there's two people very, very lucky, I think, taking into account the first half and halftime. If the G are going to be consistent, I think Jim McGuinness should have been receiving a punishment no different than John Brennan's. Now, I would agree, John Brennan's 12-week suspension was absolutely over the top, and certainly the punishment didn't fit the crime.
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Chapter 3: What impact do missing players have on Kerry's performance?
And I say everybody doesn't want that, even though they might think Jim McGuinness deserves. And yes, in many ways he does. And he didn't cover himself in glory how he reacted to Tommy Rooney. And I think that's the general consensus. I would hope.
Jimmy, if he hasn't done it already, would reflect on that and maybe has done something behind the scenes because that was very poor form in that regard. Just on that dick as well, right? Yeah. Every...
sports editor those legs those legs are distracting sorry sorry Pat they were like your arms were distracted on the sports star back in the day just quickly on that every sports editor the length and breadth of the country if your reporter was at the match what did McGuinness say about this like that's you have to ask he's doing his job he's doing his job and it's not
it's not the first time jim was forming this and going back to a friend of mine with declan bogue how he was treated after that sort of famous and so so it's not the first time jim has in his own words and his own actions shown contempt for sporting journalists which he should learn from because he didn't he didn't do himself any favors and i would hope that's right and maybe that has contributed to what has happened behind the scenes has there been a bit of back channel
Has there been a bit of come down on both parts and sort of put their hands up? I don't know, but as you say, we're only getting it hot off the press. So it'll be interesting to see. So I think in terms of the championship going forward, it's probably better. We'll talk about it now today.
There'll be a wee bit more written about it over the next couple of weeks, but then it'll be sort of put together. Yeah, no, it's gone. It's nipped in the budge. It's gone. And you know what? I think for all our sanity, it's the better thing. And we can look forward to hopefully the two sides meeting again when it really, really matters. Because there is a little element, and I
Still with the new format, I can't get away from the fact that there was a wee bit of almost a no-mask with Kerry in the second half. They said, you know what, this game is gone. There's no point in killing ourselves here. We'll keep our powder dry for again because they'll be waiting, not in the long grass, but they'll be hurting.
And they've got all the fuel that they want now to meet Donegal again in Croke Park for a semi-final or a final. So, as I say, the psychological breeze is now with Kerry. if and when that fixture comes again, because as I say, they got it wrong. I agree with Pat in terms of their focus on Michael Murphy, they got distracted and you could,
I sort of watched the game back in full on GA Plus there over the last few days just to sort of see a few pivotal moments. The game was sort of decided in the first minute of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half. All that mess in the carrier rat distracted them from their game. And what happened? What happened?
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Chapter 4: How did Tyrone's strategy lead to their victory over Roscommon?
And they've... snap of the wrist, 10,000 fine to both boys and be good the next time. So they've taken the easy option. But hopefully they won't take the easy option on one other day. And maybe last Saturday is that tipping point where it's said, lads, we have too many people on the sideline. This is a joke. We have 20 people in either team on the sideline.
What are 20 guys doing with fucking earpieces? Who are they talking to? Why are county board officials on the pitch at halftime? Who are all these people? Like, it's just bananas. It's ripe for disaster. I thought, as far as I know, the rule was one, the manager, some official and medical personnel. But like last week was a joke on the number of people. And here's a little thing, though.
Like, do you know they talk about dugouts? And the word dugout now is archaic and out of date because a dugout was a hole dug in the ground and you put in a couple of seats and you sat down. Maybe Dick might put me wise, but as far as I know, Killarney is the last of the county grounds that has a traditional dugout, which is down under the pit surface. So for management to be sitting there,
All you're looking at, you're literally looking out to the calves and the knees of the players in front of you. Cloners have actually, Pat, they're sort of sitting down. So most people actually sit up in the stand now because you said the subs don't actually sit in the dugout. It'd be a place for, say, medical attention or some of the backroom medical teams so they can get out on the pitch quick.
But subs or management wouldn't sit in there. They either stand out in the pitch or they're up in the stands to get a good view. So, yeah.
well I've been in the sub house often enough and there's nothing worse than when you can't no but when you can't actually see what's going on it's terrible I mean we have to go back to the game I know you have to there's a couple of things about it right so I'll say caveat But Kerry in the first half, they had that opening goal where Tyke switched off.
Kerry were very competitive in that first half. I think they had more possession. They pressed up on Mulready's kick-outs. They got five pints from those turnovers from kick-outs. Dylan Casey will look back on his performance as being absolutely brilliant. He held Conor O'Donnell, arguably Donegal's most consistent forward scoreless. And Jason Foley restricted Michael Murphy to a pint.
And that was scored in the second half when Donegal had an extra man. So that was it. But it comes with a health warning. in the fact that the starting team, the Kerry team on last Saturday, were without seven of the team that didn't start the All-Ireland. And bear in mind, of that seven, five of them were All-Stars last year. Now... I have that written down here, Pat, as well.
Seven stars for Spade All-Stars. Against an almost full-strength Donegal. Can I just ask you though, Pat, how... How relevant will that be with the lack of football that a lot of those guys have played? A good few of them will be back, but whoever is back, they won't be match sharp and have a load of games under their belt. Can I just mention the second thing? Injuries were a major thing.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Cork's rebound in the championship?
That was one player. One player against a Division 3 team, right? And we blew it up to sort of say, oh, well, how could Donegal be doing without him? We made a big case. We have to be fair and give the same to Kerry. Like, yes, you've made Sean O'Shea. Like, Shane Ryan, all-star keeper. His quick kick-outs, his accuracy off the... In the modern game, it's... that he gets back fit.
I don't know where he's at in terms of coming back. He was actually most unusual to tell me that he was kicking around at half-time in freeze. I think there'll be an urgency now to get him back. And that's not to be unfair to Morphy, but he's trying to meet a different standard. If you think about it, Kerry had...
Off the half-back line, half-forward and full-forward, they had three to four of the best players in the country last year. Gavin White, Joe Connor, Sean O'Shea.
and Paddy Clifford Paddy Clifford wasn't fit last Saturday he wasn't fit and I'm wondering why was he put out into that not been fit because it was a case of we just need to get minutes into him we know he's probably going to get dogs abused but he still needs the game time because if we don't get game time in he's not going to be match ready for when we need him maybe that was the logic because it was a bit of a poison chalice to be asked no one especially after the first minute Bimba Rorty mother of God as I said
use the term a few weeks ago, he was stuck to him like a clag. That was only going to go one way. But at the same time, Paul E. Clifford, what does he just want now? He wants another opportunity with about five or six weeks training behind him to go back at it again. And that's on all those Kerry boys. They've got all the motivation. There's almost an element of deja vu for Kerry this year.
It was around this time last year, Pat, they were getting a bit of criticism. There were a few outside players throwing in barbs to try and question where they were at. So you had Dara doing it after the league final. And that all fuelled their motivation to when it mattered.
Yeah, you're right. Kerry terms.
Is quarter finals Semi finals And finals To have them ready So I think Kerry Are a very Very Much more dangerous Animal now Than they were At the start of the year Because of what they need What every county No more than Tipperary I mean Tipperary today Is getting sweltered And they're all talking about They didn't have the motivation To back up It's always the challenge For a team
get up now Kerry have that motivation that they need actually somebody said to me on Sunday evening he said you should do a Dara this week after the meet I said what do you mean by that in fairness you can't beat when you talk about Q2ers Dara is up there amongst the cutest of Q2ers
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Chapter 6: How does the performance of David Clifford influence Kerry's chances?
Lads, we're going to go to a quick break. As ever, we get some great feedback in and great comments in. We will do a mailbag show soon. Keep your emails flying into indogapodcasts at independent.ie and our GA podcast coverage is sponsored by AIB. Every GAA season, cameras follow teams on the pitch. But on the sideline is another team.
One that's passed on what they learned yesterday to shape those on the pitch today. That's what the game is built on. Because playing it forward isn't just about lifting cups, but lifting a team. And behind every county are those who lift us all. AIB, proud sponsor of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. AIB, for the life you're after.
So we kind of mentioned about provincial winners there and maybe been at a disadvantage Roscommon obviously welcomed Tyrone up to the hide Tyrone had delivered a good performance against Armagh we're unlucky maybe not to come away with something and this is a right good game Pat I'd say probably the game of the weekend, realistically. I was on the move. I was on the way to Cork.
I was listening to it. And I have to say, for a fella just gone out of Inter County, I think Tony Smith is one of the sharpest analysts out there. And he's brilliant on co-coms. I felt like I was watching it. And then when I watched it back, a lot of what he was saying, I could kind of see it. But just on this game, Pat...
A difficult one, as Dick said there, for Roscommon maybe to get up to the heights of the conduct final and all the hoopla that came after that. But they performed to a fair level, but Tyrone definitely deserved the victory. There's no doubt about it, yeah. I mean, look, you look back to last year when Lout won their first Leinster title since 1957 and they obviously celebrated wildly.
And if you can remember, in the qualifiers, they were very poor. They had one win in four matches. I think it was against Clare. And there's no doubt about it. As we know from all the radio stations on the Monday or even the TV, everyone was in Roscommon watching them celebrate. And there's no doubt about it. They would have had a couple of days celebrating.
At the end of it, did they look like a team off the pace or something like that? Absolutely not. They were in the lead with a couple of minutes to go, only for a bad kick-out from Conor Cattle, whose kick-outs up to then had been absolutely brilliant. It was a really enjoyable game of football. You have to agree with what Dick says. The winner of a provincial title is not being rewarded.
They're playing within two weeks. and the opposition have a chance to study them. And like you said, Tyrone had been waiting in the long grass for six weeks. Malachi O'Rourke is a shrewd coach. He would have been down at that kind of final, and he would. And it was clear, there's no doubt about it, and Inder McGinley referred to it on Sunday night.
Inder McGinley, who, by the way, when you talk about core commentary on television, he's absolutely outstanding. He's very, very sharp. But like he talked about, they stopped those runners. That pace that Russ Common had, that direct running, Their scrambling defence closed up those spaces and blocked those runs. So a lot of what Roscommon did last week was very good.
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Chapter 7: What legacy did Frank McGuigan leave in Gaelic football?
and almost had a second pre-season and you could see it in them they looked a bit fitter looked a bit sharper they didn't tire they almost finished stronger than Roscommon and that's like a team that has sort of got their house in order and put a bit of hard honest work in which Maliki would do with the team he can get Bay in and sort of wouldn't shy away from doing the hard yards that are looking like now it's really one game because they can equally slip back but it's a damn good start it's basically the start of their own season which for all intents and purposes was a bit vanilla up till now you know
Actually, you made an interesting... You mentioned the thing pre-season. And there's no doubt about it, with the champs of format, the teams who've gone out early... can rejig their entire training schedule for the year. And there's no doubt about it.
I would imagine the Tyrones and the Donegals who went out that earlier, that they are now, they went into pre-season mode for perhaps a week or 10 days and then are ready for the second tier of the championship. Whereas the winners, the likes of the Kellys, the likes of the Westmeaths, the likes of the Roscommons have to go straight in
two championships and all they're doing in training is really ticking over that's all so the losers of the early rounds going to pre-season and are probably physically fit for a second season whereas the winners of the provincial championships are not if you're playing week on week or every two weeks like the provincial winners you're just it's just maintenance whereas if you get to go back and start again you can actually make gains like you can make big gains you know
Like a Malachy and Jerome boys could have said, right, we've guys here who need to mind. They can't do full training. But you can plan your six-week block and you can work on doing heavy lifting that you just wouldn't do when you're in match games in terms of endurance, fitness work and all that sort of stuff. You just can't do that when you're in competitive mode.
So it is, again, it goes back to the structure. There's a bit of an anomaly there. And if it plays out the way the first weekend has next weekend, there'll be sort of questions being asked, you know. What you're looking at, lads, in fairness, is that there's a lot of counties out there remaining in the Samargoire who are saying to themselves, Jesus, you know what, we're as good as anyone else.
Cork can now say, Jesus, lads, we're there or thereabouts. Galway and Roscommon, we know are there or thereabouts in Cork. in Connacht. Mayo will say, we're not a million miles away from any of these. In Ulster, you have Armagh, you have Tyrone, you have Derry, you have Donegal. Dirt, that's four, that's six, eight, nine. You have Westmead, you have Dublin. There's 10 or 11 counties I can say.
It's almost as if you're trying to annoy me. You listed every Ulster county. I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I know you're doing it on purpose now. I just wrote it down. Come on. There's at least 10 or 11 counties who are out there saying, hmm, Jesus, we could beat these scouts. We could win in Ireland. It is very, very open. There's an opportunity there for a lot of counties.
Pat, Malachy spoke afterwards about how much they wanted to deliver a performance to honour one of their greatest Gaels who passed away in Frank McGuigan. I remember having, getting the, we had the, you know those great Gael sport books that were out back in the day? Mm-hmm. And I'll never forget, it was the 1984 one. I still have it at home somewhere.
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Chapter 8: How does the current championship format affect team strategies?
Yeah, absolutely. No, actually it's gas. I used to go up to Tyrone. I remember the first, like when Frank was there, but I remember like they'd introduce God because Peter Canavan would be a function. I said, I stood up. I remember I said, fuck it lads. I said, Canavan is called God in this county. And they called me a bollocks. Hey, they're not wrong, Pat.
He was a gentleman, a gentleman, an absolute, just, he was so good. And you're right, as Dick alluded to, ah, it's a pity we haven't video clips of him in action because it was portrait in motion. Just to echo Pat's sentiments there, a rest, yes there, go raibh se, and sympathies and condolences to all his friends and family he'd be sadly missed.
Just to talk about a bit more of the action on the pitch, lads. You mentioned Cork, Pat. Cork had a right good win because they were looking under pressure at half-time. And that's Stephen Sherlock. Just thank God we're getting to see him because he wasn't involved with Cork there for a while. He is absolutely reveling, Pat. I think he's only...
You have to admire what Corker did because they came to Killarney and they just didn't perform. They just didn't turn up. They flopped. And one of the biggest flops was probably Stephen Sherlock who had a very, very poor game. And you saw him last Saturday in the first half and you said... Now, there's a hangover there. I think he had one shot from playing the first half and to it with White.
But his shooting in the second half was absolutely brilliant. And like Ezra said, this is what the new rules are all about, that are allowing time and space for the skilful players to perform. And Sherlock is a confidence player. And the lad said if he kicked 10 wides in a row, he'd still try to keep kicking. There's not many people like that. That's the mental resolve of a champion.
That's why Rory McIlroy stands out, why Tiger Woods stood out, why the great tennis players stand out. They have that resilience, even when they're going badly, to keep going, to keep trying, to keep trying. And you have to admire Cork because they started well and then it was a typical modern rules game.
Meat got the momentum and they destroyed them in the first half and then Cork got the momentum in the second half. But you have to sort of admire their mental resolve because when they went down to 14 men and that's sending off...
was so wrong so wrong hopefully if the G are in the business of admitting to making mistakes they'll say look lads we got Brendan Carley got this wrong Colm O'Callaghan should not be sent out don't think so Pat I think you're trying to conflate one game and the other the reality is and I haven't been through the ringer on the
the appeal process it's a different thing yourself exonerated you need the video evidence to clearly show you didn't do what you've been charged with it's a different thing of having to try to he struggled to sit in front of a committee showing that action so it's unfortunate because he does but he is that sort of aggressive player but listen
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