BOYLAN TALKS SPORT: What’s in a name? Plenty if you’ve the right one…
“Did you hear the latest about (named jockey)? He was banned for 16 days, appealed it, was, more or less, told to go and… He was then fined €2,000, but it appears status told and there’s quite a pile of stuff brushed under a carpet somewhere.,” writes Brendan Boylan.
That scenario was relayed to me whilst in Fairyhouse last weekend and if ever there was a case of everything happening for a reason this was it.
Last week at Punchestown, Noel Meade’s Colcannon, ridden by Kells youngster Finn Tegetmeir, was a cosy winner of the concluding Bumper. Only for the result to be overturned in the Stewards Room because, wait for it, the lad weighed in 0.3lbs over his allotted racing weight.
Yes, I know, rules are rules etc, but surely a young rider should be entitled to some wriggle room having just partnered his first ‘winner’. If it was a thing that he had come back in underweight or hadn’t weighed in at all I could understand sanction being imposed. Or if it had been a head bob of a finish.
However, Colcannon was a comfortable enough winner and I would argue with anyone that there’s no way 0.3lb made an iota of a difference to the eventual first past the post.
But sure it’s far easier to have a cut off a young jockey only starting out and trying to get their name out there than to rattle the cages of some of the big noises within the sport.
You wouldn’t need the case mentioned at the start of this piece as a reference or the memory capacity of Jimmy Magee to recall occasions when other matters - some far more serious than that which occurred in Punchestown - where what are considered standard operational procedures were deviated from significantly.
In cases involving the highest of high profile individuals in that realm. What’s in a name? Plenty, it seems, if you have the ‘right’ one.
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Mind you, I’m sure if you asked the same question in certain parts of Kildare, specifically, if you asked it of Glenn Ryan or those close to him, you might get a different response.
The Round Towers clubman was not only arguably Kildare’s best player of all time but one of the greatest centre half backs to ever kick a ball.
Not only that, but he went on to do a fine job as manager of Longford - with the assistance of Graham Geraghty - before, belatedly in my view - getting a shot at managing his native county.
Now, there’s no guarantee that good players will in time make good managers, but, with four of the best ever to pull on the white jersey - Ryan’s lieutenants are Anthony Rainbow, Johnny Doyle and Dermot Earley (currently overseas with the Defence Forces) it was natural that there are expectations in a football mad county. Maybe unrealistically so.
Indeed, the same could probably be said of our own entourage currently. However, Kildare are fortunate to be able to call men of such calibre their own, and Glenn and his team are entitled to the patience and support of their Co Board and the Kildare football community at large.
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Closer to home, it appears Colm O’Rourke’s earnest request for patience from Meath fans was not only justified but is possibly, hopefully beginning to yield a dividend.
In no way are we in a position to get ahead of ourselves, there’s no doubt the incremental progress visible in the closing stages against Louth and again on Sunday last allows Colm and the lads approach the closing stages of the league in a completely different mindset than looked likely on the drive home from Armagh.
As in the closing stages last week, the Meath rearguard were to the fore in their latest retrieval mission. Adam O’Neill, Ciaran Caulfield and the outstanding Darragh Campion effected a succession of turnovers. Which in turn laid the foundation stones for match winning contributions from substitutes Danny Dixon, Ruairi Kinsella and Aaron Lynch.
The upshot of which is, barring a complete catastrophe, the Royal County can approach the remainder of the NFL campaign on something of a free rein and maybe, just maybe, have a go at reserving a place at the top table.