Perhaps the best Sunday read ahead of today's All-Ireland final centres around a titan of previous finals: Jim McGuinness. Every couple of weeks, the Sunday Independent treats us to a two-page record of the meeting of minds between Paul Kimmage and a sports star, and today's interview with Jim McGuinness may be his finest work yet.
It's an astonishingly good interview, and we cannot recommend it highly enough. It doesn't appear to be posted on the Independent's website yet, so best to go out and get the paper.
It covers an entire range of topics, and sparks flew somewhat when Kimmage asked McGuinness about his treatment of journalist Declan Bogue. This being an excerpt, it is not reflective of the tone of the full interview.
In case you may be unaware, McGuinness ejected journalist Declan Bogue from his press conference after the All-Ireland final win in 2012, citing "inaccuracies" in Bogue's book, This Is Our Year, looking back at the 2011 Championship from the perspective of ten Ulster footballers. One of the footballers interviewed was Donegal's Kevin Cassidy, and his contributions to the book saw him banished from the Donegal panel. McGuinness refused to speak to the written press after the final until Bogue had left the room.
In the Sunday Independent, Kimmage challenged McGuinness on his treatment of Bogue. Things became slightly heated as Kimmage approached the Bogue story by describing it as "the one part of your story that makes no sense to me".
McGuinness: I know what you're going to ask.
Kimmage: Yeah?
McGuinness: And it's a very simple answer.
Kimmage: Okay, well I'll ask you first, and you can give me the simple answer. You walk into the press conference...
McGuiness: (Laughs)
Kimmage: ...it's the greatest moment of your life, but you catch Declan Bogue's eye as you enter the room.
McGuinness: I didn't. I didn't even know who he was. Somebody told me he was in the room.
Kimmage: That makes no sense. I know how these press conferences work.
McGuinness: No, you don't.
Kimmage: Think about it: you've just won the All-Ireland. Why would somebody...
McGuinness: You're calling me a liar here! I'm not lying. I haven't said one work that is inaccurate since I walked into this room.
Kimmage: And I accept what you're saying, but I'm just putting it to you that it seems absolutely fucking extraordinary that somebody would tap you on the shoulder and say 'hold on a second here folks. Let's forget about the fact that we've just won an All-Ireland for the second time in history and we're all on cloud nine Let's focus omn this wanker in the corner who has done what, exactly? What did he do?
McGuinness: Can I say something?
Kimmage: Sure.
McGuinness: This is the only time (since the interview started) you've got animated. And that's because it's a journalist we're talking about.
Kimmage: No, it's not.
McGuinness: Yes, it is.
Kimmage: No, it's not.
McGuinness: Yes, it is.
Kimmage: Ok, that's a fair observation, but...
McGuinness: It's a very fair observation. It's the only time you got lifted and that's because it's a journalist. All journalists have this wee thing...
Kimmage: No, Jim, I'm going to pull you up on that. I've no time for a lot of journalists and have never subscribed to the view that we're all one family. (He is laughing). I really resent that. (Big hearty guffaws). What are you laughing for?
McGuinness: No, it's good.
Kimmage: You don't believe me?
McGuinness: Do you want me to answer the question? First thing, there were inaccuracies in the book that I was not happy about.
Kimmage: Here's the book, show me them.
McGuinness: No.
Kimmage: Have you read it?
McGuinness: Of course I've read it.
Kimmage goes on to tell McGuinness of the number of references to him that are in the book (50), and points out that none of the references to McGuinness are critical. He also quotes a passage from the book of Kevin Cassidy praising McGuinness highly.
McGuinness tells Kimmage that this is "irrelevant", before conversation returns to the figure of Bogue:
McGuinness: We had a group of people with the ambition of being All-Ireland champions. We had one of the people in that group, leaving the group and spending Saturday after Saturday after Saturday after Saturday with a journalist, while we're in the process of trying to win the All-Ireland.
Kimmage: That's not the journalist's fault!
McGuinness: Hold on a second...I was not going to be a hypocrite. I was not going to sit in the press conference and pretend it didn't happen. That would have been the easy thing to do. The hard thing was to go 'I'm taking a stand here'. Because if there was one thing - and I'll get animated now - if there was one thing that had the potential for that day not to happen, that was it.
Kimmage: that wasn't Bogue's fault.
McGuiness: Are you sure about that?
Kimmage: Absolutely. He's a journalist. He's doing his job.
McGuinness: That doesn't mean I can't have an opinion.
Kimmage goes on to further argue that McGuinness is holding Bogue responsible, which is different from having an opinion. In the end, they move on to discuss Celtic.
It's an exceptionally good read overall, and is today's Sunday Independent.
See Also: Aidan O'Shea Once Wrote A Leaving Cert Column With The Irish Times, And It's Magnificent
