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Page 19 - O'Neills Blog
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In the GAA | October 07, 2016It 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 form of a tray laden with sandwiches, smoking tea and a few healthy snacks after training. Usually the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters will take up a rota of preparing the grub. Brown bread, chicken, tuna or cheese and ham. One lad we know makes a fantastic sandwich, the flavours explode
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In the GAA | August 12, 2016Salim Al Rahbi plays for Oman GAA. He's as proud a Gael as any clubman. The German hurling team have 21 out of 26 players that are native Germans. Juan Patricio Wade plays for Argentina. It could be the Olympics we’re talking about but it’s the GAA equivalent, the World Games, that drew to a close this weekend in Croke Park. It was a massive success with native and Irish teams living the GAA dream.
The GAA scene is flourishing worldwide. In the States this week NFL draft prospect, kicker Patrick Murray who plays The Gridiron game with Fordham talked of the influence and inspiration Gaelic football has had on him. "I try to watch as much Gaelic football as I can, it is my first love." As expats and first generation Irish continue to spread the games as well as their songs and music, the GAA is flourishing like never before.
World Games
The GAA World Games ended with the finals on Friday in Croke Park. Over 1,100 people from 56 teams and 20 countries played in the tournament. Team from
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In the GAA | In the Jersey HQ | July 22, 2016This week on social media Tyrone GAA player Cathal McShane posted a picture of himself in 2003 with Mickey Harte, juxtaposed alongside a shot taken with his manager in the aftermath of last week’s Ulster Final. In 2003 as a youngster McShane would no doubt have had among his heroes the likes of Peter Canavan, Owen Mulligan and Sean Cavanagh.
They say you should never meet your heroes. But here is the young Cathal McShane playing alongside a man he likely idolised and for a manager he dreamt of player under. His short Instagram message said “20013-2016 – 13 years. Always work hard towards your goal in life. Unbelievable.” It’s good when a plan comes together.
The one thing about the GAA, among all the slings and arrows that point in its direction, is its ability to take a lad from the club at the end of a narrow winding lane and transport him all the way to Croke Park by virtue of hard work and dedication.
In 2014 Lester Ryan of the Clara club in Kilkenny captained his county to their
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In the Archives | June 10, 2016Joxer 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 playing air guitar but after a result or two in France, we reckon we’ll have him logging in to oneills.com for one of our Ireland Soccer jerseys as he relives
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In the GAA | June 03, 2016Clare 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 the 11 would be to break the ball on puc outs and try to shift 6 from the central channel. Often 6 was the Man Who Can’t Be Moved as he sat and anchored defence. If the opposing 11 dropped off
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In the GAA | June 02, 2016What 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 this jersey in blue fabric with an embroidered 'C’ until 1919. During a raid on the Cork County Board office, the British army confiscated the jerseys, never to have been
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In the GAA | May 27, 2016The other night Westmeath GAA’s Warren Casserly finished the u21 match against Kilkenny GAA with a goal to his name and a significant slice in his head. As the saying goes pain is temporary but the glory lasts forever. Don’t ask what your county can do for you but what you can do for your county. For Warren and hundreds of other lads, it is worth it. What’s in a jersey?
Westmeath don't beat Kilkenny in hurling matches, the just don't. But they did. And for Warren and every man among them it made every minute of everything they've done worthwhile. Not to mention the grown men openly weeping in the stand. The county game. The pinnacle of your career. Epictetus the Greek knew all about it.
So you wish to conquer in the Olympic Games, my friend? And I, too... But first mark the conditions and the consequences.
You get to train. A lot.
Yes if you make it onto a county panel one of these days you can be sure that you will train. And train. And train. You gotta love that training. Whether it’s
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In the GAA | May 26, 2016The Dublin Jersey: Style and Finesse
There’s something about the Dublin GAA jersey. Reminds you of an Irish summer. For years now the Dubs have been trendsetters.
From the change to navy shorts from white in 1974 on the advice of media presenter Mick Dunne because it would look better on the telly; to the famous white O’Neills tracksuits they wore onto the field for the All Ireland final, the Dubs epitomized cool.
In the seventies, the Dublin players were like stars in the city, at a time when the GAA was at a low ebb and needed a injection of life and quickly. The sky blue jersey with the famous navy and white trim, a classic. It was instantly cool, and the sort of kit others wanted to mimic and source. I remember a primary school team looking like mini Dubs with the same shirts and shorts. Since then it’s been one classic Dublin GAA jersey after another. A best seller and a must have souvenir for tourists in the capital.
Kevin Heffernan
The irrepressible Heffo. The mastermind of Dublin’s
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In the GAA | May 13, 2016It’s all about to kick off. Or throw in as the case may be.
Imagine if every county captain gave his speech at the start of the year instead of the end, the things he would say, the hopes, the expectations, the dreams. The people that have brought us to this great day. Only four men can lift a provincial football championship and only one lucky man will ascend those Hogan Steps.
Fail to Prepare Prepare to Fail
Getting a team to the championship starting line is a big enough ask. Every man and woman has his or her part to play no matter how big or how small. The Co Board flat out sorting tickets. Logistics in the form of food and transport for players. Maybe a minor team to sort out as well. All hands to the pump..
Pundits may speculate on the potential of a different format for the GAA fan everywhere, but when it’s warm weather, and the smell of fresh cut grass filling up the senses, it means one thing and one thing only, The Championship.
For management and players this week is what they’ve