Rhode really blew this one.
Sadly though, I felt that even being 5 or 6 points up, a Crokes goal would have knocked the stuffing out of them.
Rhode are a fine team, but over the years they haven't always coped with pressure finishes.
A few players wilted, when Rhode couldn't buy a score in the second half.
They got off to a flyer, Niall Mc was taking Paul Griffin to the cleaners as he has done on previous occasions. Anytime Rhode got inside the Crokes 45 they looked like scoring. Also Anton Sullivan at only 17 years of age was looking lively in attack.
Kilmacud looked sluggish as Rhode's fast running game caused them problems.
Early on Crokes committed a few drag backs by the neck and head high tackles on Rhode players running past. I was surprised at the red card (Westmeath ref and all that), but felt it was eventually going to happen as Crokes were skating on thin ice with the high challenges. In the end it was probably no use to Rhode, the ref gave a good few calls to Crokes for a long time after that and only started to give a few charity frees to Rhode towards the end when they were a beaten docket.
Just before half time, when Padraig Sullivan shot over the bar when there was a goal on, you almost got the feeling that it was going to come back and haunt them.
Rhode's high tempo game was not sustainable for the entire game. Not in December on a heavy pitch against Crokes side with a considerable size advantage and star quality also. Rhode expended a lot of energy in the first half. They tended to use a lot of short, sideways passes to get out of their own half.
They took a of high risk option which work early on when you are sharp, but cost you later on when fatigue sets in and you have less support players to bail you out.
Unfortunately I felt they were a beaten team as soon as the first goal went in. Kilmacud had time and momentum on their side. Crokes had also switched Ross O'Carroll onto Niall McNamee to help stem the haemorrhaging at the back.
Rhode mirrored the Offaly senior team in that they seemed incapable of wrestling back a game once the worm turns against them. They had plenty of chances to draw level as Crokes never pulled after the second goal. Setbacks like the lucky goals seem to deflate Offaly teams.
It’s hard to know how good Crokes are. They had an element of good fortune to get out of Dublin too. So either their name is on the cup, or they’ll run out of luck.
On the few occasions when they did actually put together purposeful moves, they looked useful. However unless they managed to put together a more sustained 60 minutes, they’ll be pipped by a more ruthless side than Rhode.
In the stand we also got treated to a live Ross O'Carroll-Kelly show in the stand. I mean towtally!
It was the "Croowkes goys" against "those mockers". Dort-speak at GAA matches is as odd as brown turf on Pullagh bog. To top it all, some middle aged, upper class, Cruella De Ville type bag in a fur coat, sitting behind me decided to whip me around the head with her gloves when the Crokes goal went in. I suppose clapping for those bogtrotters earlier on just wasn’t cricket.
You'd have to question the wisdom of spreading the GAA to posh parts of Dublin.
Maybe it was a blessing that the GAA were barred from rugby schools for so long.
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