SPORTING PREDICTIONS: CRYSTAL BALL GAZING 2011:While some got it spectacularly right and others horribly wrong with their predictions last year, Philip Reidtakes a quick look at who our 'visionaries' lumber with the crystal-ball favouritism over the next 12 months
WE WON’T call them visionaries, for anyone who can predict – tongue firmly in cheek – that England would “relive the glory years of 1966” by winning the soccer World Cup just gone clearly has as much soothsaying characteristics as, ahem, Malachy Logan, our esteemed Sports Editor, who managed to miss hitting the nail on the head by a country mile in providing just such a foresight on these pages this time last year.
Okay, okay, okay. He got other things horribly right. Yes, he did predict Cork would win the All-Ireland football title. Yes, he did predict Tipperary would win the All-Ireland hurling crown. Yes, he did predict there would be three Irishmen on the Ryder Cup team and, yes, he did manage to name all three – Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington – long before Colin Montgomerie got around to finalising his team.
We won’t mention his nomination of Michael Schumacher – whose intended return to the Formula One pit lane had the longevity of a mayfly – as his one to watch for 2010. But, still, his faith in England to deliver the goods in South Africa was, at best, misplaced and, at worst, misguided. In stark contrast, a number of our other prognosticators were much more on the money in anticipating it would be Spain’s year: Brian Kerr, who knows a thing or two about these things, went for Spain as did rugby correspondent Gerry Thornley and racing correspondent Brian O’Connor.
However, proving that sport really is a stage for comedians, Risteárd Cooper provided a Nostradamus-like ability in not only going for a Spain win but also adding the rider that “England will lose the run of themselves”. Now, that’s the sort of wisdom that can only be gleamed from assuming the persona of I, Keano on stage for all those years.
Given that Kilkenny spent much of last year as raging hot favourites to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup, it is worth noting that a number of our Shamans went against common consensus and correctly forecast that last year would be the year of Tipp.
Mr Logan, our wise leader, was joined by O’Connor, Mary Hannigan and London Irish captain Bob Casey in predicting that Kilkenny’s run for a historic fifth All-Ireland hurling title in a row would meet a sad end.
And, as we all know, Brian Kerr remains a man who knows his stuff when it comes to football. He nominated St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder David McAllister as his one to watch in 2010 and, clearly, that sent out the signal for the talent scouts to keep an eye on the young footballer: McAllister was subsequently snatched up by Sheffield United and, as they say, remains one to watch for the future.
In terms of the past year’s sporting highlights, Barcelona’s 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid for some reason seems to have caught the fancy of our incoming panel of soothsayers far more than Spain’s waltz to a first World Cup win.
So, enough of the past.
What of the future?
Well, Brian Kerr’s choice of the player to watch for the coming year won’t ring too many bells in Inchicore or Inchydoney. He reckons that teenage Faroe Islands striker Joan Simun Edmundson – who scored the opening goal of the 2012 European Championships qualifying campaign and who is now on the books of Newcastle United – is one that will soon ring off the tip of our tongues with as much familiarity as Dimitar Berbatov or Roman Puvlyuchenko.
Tongue-twister names are not confined to soccer these days, as US Open champion Graeme McDowell predicts that teenage South Korean golfer Yeung-sul Noh is the player to keep an eye on this coming year while Ireland’s leading tennis player Conor Niland advises that Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov is the up-and-coming threat to Messrs Nadal and Federer.
When it comes to the Champions League, Barcelona – with barely a mention of old favourites Manchester United – are by far the most popular choice to win out in 2011 while, with one or two exceptions, Kilkenny are tipped to return to winning ways in the hurling championship and kick-start a new drive for five.
Similarly, Cork, now that they’ve rediscovered the art of winning championships again, are lumbered with the crystal-ball favouritism to retain the Sam Maguire.
And, bar a couple of reservations, the all-conquering All Blacks are fancied to get things right on home ground in the rugby World Cup.
In fact, if you were to lump our four most popular tips for 2011 into a four-way accumulator – Barcelona to win the Champions League, Cork to win the All-Ireland football, Kilkenny to win the All-Ireland hurling and New Zealand to win the rugby World Cup – you would have a nice little 44 to 1 to look forward to when all of the permutations and possibilities are answered later this year.
For those willing to think outside the box, why not take on board golfer Graeme McDowell’s advice for the All-Ireland football championship.
His tip, Waterford, are available at 300 to 1. On second thoughts, keep your money firmly in your pocket! And we’ll let G-Mac stick to doing his soothsaying on the fairways.
