Inside Track: Success cannot be taken for granted

It would be hard to envisage Limerick hurlers or Kerry and Dublin footballers having a fall from grace any time soon.

All are on the top of their game right now, and while Limerick have a few snapping at their heels, Cork and Clare having run them close this year, you’d have to imagine the Treaty being a force for some time to come.

More so Dublin and Kerry. Derry will have aspirations after this year’s fine effort – and over in Meath they’ve been turning the clock back to when a win in a subsidiary competition was the launch-pad for All-Ireland success.

Mayo are Mayo, and Galway still have a way to go before repeating their dual success of over two decades ago.

If incoming President Jarlath Burns has his way, he might wish to scrap the rule which has penalties as a means of deciding a match.

His county have fallen victim of it three times in the past year or so; had it not been there, Armagh might just have made it to the last match of the championship, and maybe done more than that.

A word of warning, however to the GAA’s present-day high fliers; look no further than to Manchester United to see how quickly success can turn to failure.

The Reds might have thought they were near enough invincible after following Celtic on to the highest plain in Europe.

They were superb throughout a European Cup campaign that ended with a 4-1 extra-time win over Eusébio’s Benfica.

Yet, within six years of their 1968 triumph they were headed for the Second Division (now the Championship).

And along the way, there were some dodgy displays, not all of them in the First Division.

There were signs of what was to come in the 1970/’71 season.

The newly-introduced and short-lived Watney Mann Invitation Cup was the first competition to carry a sponsor’s name, and was confined to the top-scoring teams in each of the previous season’s four divisions, provided none of them had qualified for Europe.

United, who had still the likes of George Best and Denis Law to call on, had only a goal to spare over Third Division Reading in the opening round, winning 3-2.

Next up for the semi-final were Hull City.

United got it even tighter in this one, going a goal down before Law equalised.

It ended like that, 1-1.

Then came another first – a penalty shoot-out, given the name at the time of “The Settling Rule”. Never before had a game been decided in this fashion; and first to try his luck from the spot was Best.

He scored, but Law didn’t follow suit. Still, United won 4-3.

United’s luck, however, wouldn’t hold out. In the final they were beaten by the Brian Clough-managed Derby County.

It wasn’t so much a beating as a thrashing, 4-1 the decision.

That was around this time in the season, 53 years ago.

Four years later, United were on their way down to the Second Division, the bus driven there by Tommy Docherty.
It was only a brief flirtation with the lower reaches, however.

With Docherty still in charge, United won the Second Division title at the first attempt, getting back among the big boys.

They’ve been there ever since, winning the league on numerous occasions, and, of course, adding another major Euro title to the club’s rich collection.

Limerick, Kerry and Dublin....be careful of what you wish for.