O'neills talking points

“Then his warriors laid him in the middle of it,

Mourning a lord far-famed and beloved...

...They were disconsolate 

And wailed aloud for their lord's decease”.

From The Funeral of Beowulf, Seamus Heaney

Voices cracking with emotion, former teammates and opponents paid tribute to their fallen comrade Anthony Foley. 

Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer, Will Greenwood, Martyn Williams, on-field friends and foes respectively talking of this stellar rugby human being. Brave, fearless, intelligent and humble.

The heartrending posts from men who soldiered in the fields of France, in England, Scotland and in the cathedrals of Irish sport, in Croke Park, Lansdowne Road and his spiritual home, Thomond Park. 

Most of all, thoughts go out to Anthony's wife Olive and their two young sons, Tony and Dan. His dad Brendan and mum Sheila, and his sisters Rosie and Orla.

One

It all starts with the Club. And ends with the Club. So we are told. This week the Dublin GAA players didn’t have long to digest their two in a row success before its back to basics. Likewise the gallant Mayo GAA men don’t have time to wallow in defeat, they return to the warm embrace of their club and the championship.

Training Under Lights

You know you’re doing something right if your club training is still going strong into the fading Autumn evening and the floodlights are switched on. There’s something about that pool of yellow light, looks like success.

The Food Rota

In some clubs the grub’s laid on year round for the players. In some clubs, but in most outfits when success arrives it comes in the

One thing the GAA is never short on is opinions. There have been many expressed this week.  Mayo will want to hear none of them. Dublin probably can’t get enough.

The Bench

Dublin bench is formidable. In the first game it was Paddy Andrews. This time Cormac Costello. When a team can afford to leave players of the calibre of Bernard Brogan and Michael Darragh McAuley on the bench it tells you something. In fact the Dublin bench alone if added to another county would probably turn them into All Ireland contenders. It says a lot about the Dublin GAA panel and Jim Gavin's leadership that he can maintain such an obvious sense of team with so many quality players to keep satisfied. And it's not just the substitutions. To have a panel of players of similar quality is the envy of everyone. We've hardly seen Cormac Costello all

There are a lot of conversations overheard sitting on the fence this last few days. The heart says Mayo, the head says Dublin. We’ve heard them all.

It’s like Al Pacino says it is. A game of inches. What differences will we see on Saturday? Who has learned the most in the last two weeks? What tactical changes will we see? What match ups will there be?

“Dublin won’t be as poor again. Mayo won’t have as many things go in their favour again. It was a freak result those two own goals.”

“Bernard Brogan is like Wayne Rooney. Nonsense, Bernard’s at the peak of his powers, he’ll strike gold the next day, always does.”

“McManamon’s better coming off the bench.”

“Lee Keegan and Diarmuid Connolly. Less said.”

“Tony McEntee’s influence is vital, he’s been involved in 21 replays with Crossmaglen

Dublin GAA and Mayo GAA lock horns again on Saturday. Who’s marking who this time? Well, you can speculate however you want but we think one match up is pretty much signed and jerseys double sealed.

Much has been made in the media of Lee Keegan’s match up with Diarmuid Connolly. The advent of sweeper systems in recent years had brought into question whether the concept of man marking still existed as a role in Gaelic football. With sweepers and defenders marking zonally, picking up space and tracking runs the day of the mano a mano contest seemed to have disappeared. But not so, thank the stars.

In the Burlington the night before all Irelands the question would have been who will mark who? The danger man on the opposition team always needed special attention. With

Is Mayo ready for an All Ireland win? In fact is the world ready for a Mayo All Ireland win? God Bless us all, seeing Mayo captain lift Sam on Sunday evening could have seismic implications worldwide.

It is a county that has suffered particularly from the curse of emigration. Almost every Irish community worldwide has a few Mayo men and women. ‘He’s from Mayo’ they’d say. These people go about their business like everyone else, but when the football team get near the business end of things they become withdrawn, agitated, as if there is a great weight upon their mind. And to be fair there is. The Gaels of Mayo are fed up with people harking back to 1951 and talk of curses. Time to march on. These are the people that go up the Reek in their bare feet for God’s sake!

Mayo Clichés

If they win the cliché’s will come bursting from the West. There won’t be a reek climbed, shore caressed, ocean kissed, sheep sheared,

A week is a long time in the GAA. Especially All Ireland Final week. Means one thing. Tickets. If you're from Dublin or Mayo and you meet people walking about with a smug semi permanent grin on their face you know they're sorted. Are you sorted? If you’re a committed Gael from either of the counties, hopefully the smugness is on your own face. But sometimes the sweat can be on right up until late on Saturday night. We’ve all been there, meeting some lad outside the Burlington or at the corner of James Gill’s pub.

If you’re feeling the heat, here’s our desperado ticket guide. We can’t promise you anything though. 

Enter the club draw

So obvious it's simple. Pay your membership and get your name in the hat. And your ma's, the husband or wife or partner, and any children. And your dad? Why not. If you’re not in you can't win. Rumour has it some people still pay memberships for deceased relatives decades long gone so

With freedom. Passion. Skill. Abandonment. Express ourselves.

Driving from the north southwards to the All Ireland hurling Final has a number of rituals. It’s like an annual pilgrimage to one of the great holy sites. Tipperary GAA and Kilkenny GAA in a hurling Final. What else would you do on the First Sunday in September.

Families that have scraped together the cash to bring 3,4 or even five children to Croke Park. At €70 its not a day out to be taken lightly. The obligatory stop off in Applegreen for a Costa milk shake, a slushie, an Americano and a choc chip cookie. A bit of nervous expectation. Tickets tucked securely in an inside pocket, checked fifty times in a day. You know they’re there but what

Cork and Kilkenny Tradition

If banging on a door doesn't work then you have to kick it it. Whether it's a pair of hypervenom boots or a high heel doesn't matter. For the Camogie players of Kilkenny for years they’ve laboured in the shadow of successful hurling teams. Unknown much outside their county and the circles of their sport. Times are changing, slowly but they’re getting there. Armagh and Carlow, emerging teams deserving their day in Croke Park.

For years Camogie has been viewed under the glass ceiling of media coverage. Not enough interest out there they’ve been told. 'No one wants to read about women's sport'. The everyday sexism and misogyny is all around us, in every break in the game. It's been the same story for too long. With notable exceptions Camogie tends to be ignored or treated with ignorance. A prominent GAA writer told us once he hated the game. Clearly had never been to watch one was my response. The days of the pinafore long gone.

It’s getting near that time. Keys to the flat. Freshers’ week. Can’t wait to blow the loan on some new gear. Had the eye on a few of those World Games jerseys? New pair of skinnys. The 1916 jersey. Time to get back to college and get in the groove.

You never know who you’d run into the next few weeks. You know what its like - catch his eye across the supermarket shelf. I remember this one time at Cúl Camp. It's the same lad, ten years later!

It’s not just yourself that’s glad to see the start of another new term. Across the country Irish mammies can look forward to life without the