Monthly Archives: June 2016

  1. What if? Questions of Sport

    What if? Questions of Sport

    What an epic weekend of Irish sport. The craic was ninety, between the Dublin and Meath match, the Donegal and Monaghan clash in Ulster, the Ireland rugby team in South Africa going so close and the lads heroics in France. The entire country is thinking what if?


    What if the Christy Ring had gone to Extra Time first time around?

    Antrim and Meath hurlers played it again with the same outcome. Most players dream of going up the Hogan Steps once to collect the silverware but what of Meath hurling captain James Toher - he got to collect the same trophy twice in a month in Croke Park. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote you cannot step in the same river twice and he was right. The two teams were the same but different. The outcome was the same but the ebb and flow of the match was different. The result is that Antrim GAA must return to

  2. The Replay. Play it Again Sam. And Liam.

    The Replay. Play it Again Sam. And Liam.

    The replay. Laois and Armagh. Tyrone and Cavan. Antrim and Meath. More memorably? Dublin and Meath. Kilkenny and Tipp. And Mayo. They seem to love them. Yes the buzzword this week? Replay. The GAA has always had a soft spot for the replay. There's been many a tough battle fought over two and sometimes more than two games. After a famine we had a feast of hurling final replays in recent years. Add in Mayo and Kerry in the football in 2014 and Dublin and Mayo in ‘15, there have been some epics. The perceived wisdom is that the team that learns most the first day usually wins the second. Without a replay would the great Cormac McAnallen ever have been converted to a full back? Or Walter Walsh sprung to start an All Ireland. There's been some real crackers.

    All Ireland Hurling Final 2012

    The gods of hurling smiled on supporters in 2012, 2013 and 2014, In ’12 having given Kilkenny a torrid time in the Leinster Final, Galway had every reason to be optimistic about their

  3. Talking Points

    Talking Points

    The Cats Haven’t Gone Away

    What is it they say in Aussie Rules? The third quarter is the championship quarter. Who better to prove a point than Kilkenny GAA? With Richie Power, Richie Hogan and Ger Aylward absence, Jonjo Farrell assumed the latter’s mantle on Saturday night by scoring 1-5. The Cats put in a power packed third quarter display to score 1-8 without reply to see off Dublin GAA. Kilkenny fielded an unfamiliar team to the onlooker but clearly anyone introduced to this team has quality.

  4. #COYBIG Ireland’s Sporting Moments

    #COYBIG Ireland’s Sporting Moments

    Joxer went to Stuttgart in his Ireland Retro jersey, half the country went to Poland and turned Poznan green. Even taking the Irish team all the way to Korea and Japan didn’t stop the Credit Unions stumping up for the hordes of Irish invading Asia.  There’s men still order noodles with their chips on a Friday night. What sort of country is it anyway? Sports mad. There’s wiser eating grass.

    Nothing brings the country together like a bit of success on the sports field. With Ireland North and South heading for the green fields of France, it’ll be lonely round the fields of Athenry, Antrim, Ballymena and Ballymun with menfolk and womenfolk loading up the camper vans, jumping on Michael O’Leary’s finest or paddling their own canoe.

    The effect of sport on the national character is unreal. Bruce Springsteen may have had the Taoiseach

  5. The Sweeper. The Man Who Can’t Be Moved.

    The Sweeper. The Man Who Can’t Be Moved.

    Clare GAA and Waterford on Sunday. It'll likely be a cagey enough affair until a game of hurling breaks out. Central to the whole affair will be the current bête noire of hurling traditionalists. The Sweeper.

    The third high profile game between the two teams in six weeks, it has enough intrigue to keep the pundits going.

    We all remember the first league final provoked a bout of introspection tactical analysis usually reserved for football. Cagey stuff, the first half was damned as heralding the death of hurling because both teams used the dreaded S man. The Sweeper.

     

    The Sweeper

    The sweeper is the seventh defender who plays between the lines and covers space. Traditionally in hurling the no6 fulfilled the role of covering in defence and combined it with a marking job on the opposing 11.

    The job of

  6. 7 GAA Fantasy Auction Items

    7 GAA Fantasy Auction Items

    What is your most prized piece of sporting memorabilia? A jersey signed? A ball? An autographed photo

    This week Brazilian soccer legend Pele is in the news as he auctions his most famous memorabilia. Among the most sought after items in the auction room is a one off replica of the World Cup Jules Rimet trophy presented to him in 1970. This was in recognitions of Pele featuring in three world cup winning teams.

    Also up for sale are his World Cup medals from 1958, 1962 and 1970. Other items include New York Cosmos jerseys, the ball with which he scored his 1000th goal and the boots he wore in the film Escape to Victory.

    This got us thinking, in your fantasy auction, what would be among the most sought after items in the GAA? If they still exist and we could get our hands on them!

     

    Original Cork Jersey

    Cork GAA teams wore