Willie McCreery of Kildare (at right) faces current Galway manager Kevin Walsh in the 1998 Ireland final. McCreery expects a "tribal" war while Kildare renews his old rivalry
Independent. ie
A few weeks earlier than planned, but the former Kildare midfielder Willie McCreery is turning St Conleth's Park tomorrow afternoon, he will see some familiar faces.
A few weeks to come But when the former Kildare midfielder Willie McCreery looks around St Conleth's Park tomorrow afternoon, he will see some familiar faces.
Each year, a handful of the 1998 Kildare team heads for the Galway Races, which traditionally begin at the end of the month. McCreery will be there as a race coach, but knows exactly where his former teammates will be.
"They are standing each year in the same place so you know where they will be," he laughs
Inevitably, they meet some of the members of the Galway team who beat them to Sam Maguire in 1998. McCreery usually meets his former midfield opponent and sparring partner Kevin Walsh in Ballybrit.
And tomorrow, Galway's Walsh team arrives in Newbridge as the second favorite of All-Ireland with the bookmakers
"Galway was good last weekend," says McCreery about their victory over Kerry. "At the beginning of the year, I thought that they would be one of the top three teams in Ireland, and if we could beat Galway, it would be a step forward, I'm a little worried about them. but whatever they do, they gave us a great year. "
The Lilies rebuilt on the hoof. Carlow's defeat may have triggered the end, but it indirectly led to a mistrust that united the county when they faced the GAA and played with Mayo at Newbridge instead of Croke Park.
McCreery relies on the team and the county has been well served. "It was important that they do it, the county council first, then the director made his speech on Monday and did not say anything after that.
" Just Payable in Cian (O. Neill), he did not harpoon about it after this week either. The players said nothing and spoke in the field. I went running that day and the people I met congratulated the players (the booth) by telling them just rights.
"They gained a lot of respect in this game against Mayo
" I thought it was awesome how they played, "McCreery continues. They made the conversation and then they walked. The players showed a good heart and they were very well supported by the people of Kildare the same day.
"It was very unfortunate for Mayo, I'm really sorry for them for this legendary team to have never won an All-Ireland and some of them are starting to have a little bit of time for that "
McCreery insists that" O "Neill and Kildare have" the bones "of a very good team, but Monaghan's defeat last weekend means that everything will be in play tomorrow.
"If you look through the league, they do not lose much, and they have the bones of a very good team out there with excellent players through the middle who seem to work very hard one for the other and they seem to have clicked.
"I thought that they came back to some of their bad habits last weekend against Monaghan and that Monaghan knew who to hit and how much to hit them. It was not so much a step back, we lived with Monaghan and Monaghan probably one of the top three or four teams in the country. "
While they are preparing to renew their rivalry with members of the tribe, Kildare is not helped by the schedule.It will be their fifth weekend of action. in the league on rebound and sixth in seven weeks – something that he would not ask his horses to do. "You would probably do it with a bad horse, you could not do it with a good horse," he obseves.
For McCreery, who enjoyed his best year in a Kildare jersey under the old knockout system, both the back door and the format "Super 8" only serve as the forts.
"What is the (fifth) weekend in a row for Kildare? This is not an excuse but it's not fair, "he says.
" They put on this competition, the Super 8, expect you to play all on the weekends and you go to work during the week, it's a joke and not just for a guy. in work at 6:30 in the morning and have not finished up to 5. That's not right on guys doing it now that they do not enjoy a week rest.
"Good teams win their provincial title and they pause and they only wait behind the scenes, arriving fresh for a game. That's typical GAA, all things from the back door have never benefited the lower counties, do not try to tell me that they did. "
The coach – who is based in Rathbride on the Curragh – continued to insist that giving the teams a second chance only ensures that the traditional counties will eventually come out ahead.
"There will never be a weaker county wins an All-Ireland again, which makes football better in the stronger counties, they lie in the long grbad and do not play not every week, but the weakest guys play every week. "
" You will not catch them a second time, Kildare has made more games for the GAA now, instead of one if that 39; was the good old game. And that's what it does, earn money for the GAA.
"The GAA is an excellent organization but it's a Greedy money shit that does not make football better. "
