PAT SPILLANE TAKES a seat in a Croke Park corporate box for a rare media roundtable and is initially asked a question about Mayo.
Seven minutes and almost 1,000 words later he wraps up an answer that touches on everything from Kobe McDonald to Donegal’s plans for marking Paudie Clifford this summer, to his own playing days with Templenoe, Kerry and St Brendan’s College to Armagh’s ‘grizzled’ defenders.
The Kerry icon, an eight-time All-Ireland medallist, and better known to a younger generation as a pundit, is in the mood to talk.
His most excoriating comments regarded AFL clubs and their increasing interest in Irish players, male and female.
“I still think the AFL are robbing our crown jewels and getting away with it, and getting away with murder by not compensating (GAA) clubs,” said Spillane, who was speaking at the announcement of Comfort Keepers as the official Community Impact Partner of the GAA/GPA.
Four Kerry men – Rob Monahan, Mark O’Connor, Cillian Burke and Ben Murphy – are contracted to AFL clubs. Spillane claimed that Tomás Kennedy, the 19-year-old who scored 1-3 on his League debut against Roscommon in January, was approached too but wasn’t interested.
“Tomás Kennedy, who I know the AFL guys were after, he didn’t want to go out, I don’t know why, but he’s a serious talent, he’s in the Kobe department,” said nine-time All-Star Spillane.
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“He has everything, I swear to God. First of all, he’s obviously the prototype of the modern player – tall, athletic, strong, a ball winner, can score, has pace, everything. Ticks all the boxes.”
Kennedy will have the Cliffords and Seán O’Shea to learn from in the senior setup this season, and Spillane was keen to note that Kerry didn’t play David Clifford against Donegal in Round 2 of the League, despite scoring 1-8 the previous weekend.
“The three blind men of Alabama knew David Clifford wasn’t going to Donegal to play in that League game, it was the worst kept secret in the parish,” he claimed. “I was in the steam room on the Wednesday and I was told, ‘Clifford isn’t going to Donegal’ this weekend. Jack O’Connor wasn’t going to leave Jimmy McGuinness to have a look at, ‘Hmm, how does Clifford operate?’”
On the reigning Footballer of the Year, Spillane had high praise for the Fossa man. “I was 70 in December and we went as a family to Nashville. Inter Miami were playing Nashville,” he said. “I went to see Messi playing and I just watched him for the entire game. The longer I looked at Messi playing, it was like looking at David Clifford.
“The fella (Messi) is standing around, walking around, scanning, scanning, scanning, scanning and then after 20 minutes, whoosh, he scored a goal! And I was just thinking back before half time (of last year’s All-Ireland final) and you watched Clifford and he was standing on the sideline, Brendan McCole was there and the ball was over there and the next minute, Clifford was gone and it was a two-pointer!”
Paudie Clifford toe-tapping the ball to himself while unmarked, and enjoying 76 possessions, mostly just outside Donegal’s defensive screen, is another enduring memory from last year’s final.
Spillane reckons Donegal are currently road-testing a plan for when they run into Paudie again in the Championship.
“I think Jimmy is shrewd now because, outside of the fact that the low block isn’t there this year, the zonal marking, well sometimes it is there but it’s moreso man-marking…but I thought, ‘Jeez, here’s a good one’ because suddenly, against Mayo, Finbarr Roarty is out on Ryan O’Donoghue. The next match, Finbarr Roarty is out on Oisín Conaty. And I’m saying, ‘Aha, he’s looking ahead, guess who is going to be marking Paudie Clifford in a couple of months’ time!’”
Spillane also reflected on his recent appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show, when he opened up about his deep religious faith.
“It just exploded,” he said of the response afterwards. “It is unreal, out of all the reactions I’ve had, out of 30 years on The Sunday Game and all this racket, I’ve never seen anything like it. The phone has been going non-stop.
“On social media, the usual rule of thumb with The Sunday Game was that if I said it was Sunday, 10 percent would agree with me, 20 percent would disagree with me and 70 percent would say I was a b******s! Now it’s 99 percent saying, ‘Jaysus, you’re a nice guy’.
“Only because I talked about religion, which I don’t normally talk about. I swear to God, I’ve been invited to every mission, novena, mass, I’ve got them all! I was invited to Knock. I said ‘No’. The fella said, ‘Jeez, this is the All-Ireland of novenas!’. I said, ‘The answer is still no’.”
The final question to Spillane was about the GAA’s partnership with National League sponsors Allianz and the protest that took place at last weekend’s Annual Congress.
“I abhor all elements of violence, whether it’s genocide, whether it’s murder, whether it’s wars, whether it’s inequalities,” he said. “One death is one death too many.
“My political views, I’ve never ever made them public in my life. I keep things private. I spoke on The Tommy Tiernan Show about my faith and how religious I was and how I pray a lot and all I can do is…I don’t protest, I pray.
“I believe prayer is more powerful than protest and I pray for a happy ending. There’s no winners, it’s so sad. I’d love to say I have an opinion, I don’t. I just pray that people will see a reason that we will have love and peace and reconciliation.
“It’s terrible, but I do respect people’s right to protest. Every murder and every death, one death or 2,000 deaths, or 10,000,000 deaths, they’re all bad.”
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'The longer I looked at Messi playing, it was like looking at David Clifford'
PAT SPILLANE TAKES a seat in a Croke Park corporate box for a rare media roundtable and is initially asked a question about Mayo.
Seven minutes and almost 1,000 words later he wraps up an answer that touches on everything from Kobe McDonald to Donegal’s plans for marking Paudie Clifford this summer, to his own playing days with Templenoe, Kerry and St Brendan’s College to Armagh’s ‘grizzled’ defenders.
The Kerry icon, an eight-time All-Ireland medallist, and better known to a younger generation as a pundit, is in the mood to talk.
His most excoriating comments regarded AFL clubs and their increasing interest in Irish players, male and female.
“I still think the AFL are robbing our crown jewels and getting away with it, and getting away with murder by not compensating (GAA) clubs,” said Spillane, who was speaking at the announcement of Comfort Keepers as the official Community Impact Partner of the GAA/GPA.
Four Kerry men – Rob Monahan, Mark O’Connor, Cillian Burke and Ben Murphy – are contracted to AFL clubs. Spillane claimed that Tomás Kennedy, the 19-year-old who scored 1-3 on his League debut against Roscommon in January, was approached too but wasn’t interested.
“Tomás Kennedy, who I know the AFL guys were after, he didn’t want to go out, I don’t know why, but he’s a serious talent, he’s in the Kobe department,” said nine-time All-Star Spillane.
“He has everything, I swear to God. First of all, he’s obviously the prototype of the modern player – tall, athletic, strong, a ball winner, can score, has pace, everything. Ticks all the boxes.”
Kennedy will have the Cliffords and Seán O’Shea to learn from in the senior setup this season, and Spillane was keen to note that Kerry didn’t play David Clifford against Donegal in Round 2 of the League, despite scoring 1-8 the previous weekend.
“The three blind men of Alabama knew David Clifford wasn’t going to Donegal to play in that League game, it was the worst kept secret in the parish,” he claimed. “I was in the steam room on the Wednesday and I was told, ‘Clifford isn’t going to Donegal’ this weekend. Jack O’Connor wasn’t going to leave Jimmy McGuinness to have a look at, ‘Hmm, how does Clifford operate?’”
On the reigning Footballer of the Year, Spillane had high praise for the Fossa man. “I was 70 in December and we went as a family to Nashville. Inter Miami were playing Nashville,” he said. “I went to see Messi playing and I just watched him for the entire game. The longer I looked at Messi playing, it was like looking at David Clifford.
“The fella (Messi) is standing around, walking around, scanning, scanning, scanning, scanning and then after 20 minutes, whoosh, he scored a goal! And I was just thinking back before half time (of last year’s All-Ireland final) and you watched Clifford and he was standing on the sideline, Brendan McCole was there and the ball was over there and the next minute, Clifford was gone and it was a two-pointer!”
Paudie Clifford toe-tapping the ball to himself while unmarked, and enjoying 76 possessions, mostly just outside Donegal’s defensive screen, is another enduring memory from last year’s final.
Spillane reckons Donegal are currently road-testing a plan for when they run into Paudie again in the Championship.
“I think Jimmy is shrewd now because, outside of the fact that the low block isn’t there this year, the zonal marking, well sometimes it is there but it’s moreso man-marking…but I thought, ‘Jeez, here’s a good one’ because suddenly, against Mayo, Finbarr Roarty is out on Ryan O’Donoghue. The next match, Finbarr Roarty is out on Oisín Conaty. And I’m saying, ‘Aha, he’s looking ahead, guess who is going to be marking Paudie Clifford in a couple of months’ time!’”
Spillane also reflected on his recent appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show, when he opened up about his deep religious faith.
“It just exploded,” he said of the response afterwards. “It is unreal, out of all the reactions I’ve had, out of 30 years on The Sunday Game and all this racket, I’ve never seen anything like it. The phone has been going non-stop.
“On social media, the usual rule of thumb with The Sunday Game was that if I said it was Sunday, 10 percent would agree with me, 20 percent would disagree with me and 70 percent would say I was a b******s! Now it’s 99 percent saying, ‘Jaysus, you’re a nice guy’.
“Only because I talked about religion, which I don’t normally talk about. I swear to God, I’ve been invited to every mission, novena, mass, I’ve got them all! I was invited to Knock. I said ‘No’. The fella said, ‘Jeez, this is the All-Ireland of novenas!’. I said, ‘The answer is still no’.”
The final question to Spillane was about the GAA’s partnership with National League sponsors Allianz and the protest that took place at last weekend’s Annual Congress.
“I abhor all elements of violence, whether it’s genocide, whether it’s murder, whether it’s wars, whether it’s inequalities,” he said. “One death is one death too many.
“My political views, I’ve never ever made them public in my life. I keep things private. I spoke on The Tommy Tiernan Show about my faith and how religious I was and how I pray a lot and all I can do is…I don’t protest, I pray.
“I believe prayer is more powerful than protest and I pray for a happy ending. There’s no winners, it’s so sad. I’d love to say I have an opinion, I don’t. I just pray that people will see a reason that we will have love and peace and reconciliation.
“It’s terrible, but I do respect people’s right to protest. Every murder and every death, one death or 2,000 deaths, or 10,000,000 deaths, they’re all bad.”
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GAA opening up Pat Spillane