Mayo v Dubs 2 July

[seafoid]

In other words the Rhus' large management team fkd up

It sounds like that is what he is saying but by the same token you could have picked 29 other counties and equally held them culpable but only one team can win the All Ireland and it doesn't mean all of the rest are no good. Jimmy is a great man for writing newspaper articles saying what should have been done in hindsight. The reality is that he has been out of the intercounty game for almost a decade but although the game has moved on since, the spectacle has never really recovered.

The single biggest difference however is still the fact that Dublin and Kerry just happen to have better footballers than the rest. Jims Donegal side stole a march when it comes to introducing evolutionary tactics into the GAA but now every other team are almost clones of each other and the advantage to be had tactically has narrowed significantly.   

I think in this article Mayo is sui generis. Out on its own. Because they have this tendency to leave the goal exposed at key moments while refusing to "invest" in goalscorers. And this doesn't work. It didn't work in 2012 and it still doesn't work.

[seafoid]

Very interesting article in the IT
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2023/07/13/generation-game-frank-mcnally-on-the-pain-of-rural-migrants-whose-children-play-for-dublin/Back when I was a young fella, newly arrived in 1980s Dublin, I briefly had a girlfriend by the name of Bernie Ryan. She was from Tipperary, as Ryans tend to be. And among many other talents, she was a brilliant footballer.

Fast and skilful, she more than held her own in soccer kick-arounds with the lads. But in Gaelic, I think, she played county. Despite her diminutive size, she was fearless in the tackle. I recall visiting her sickbed once as she recovered from a broken collar bone.

Our relationship was a fleeting one. She soon traded me in for a Bruce Springsteen lookalike from Mayo, called Noel, who was also part of our circle then. He was an accountant and clearly a better prospect, because Bernie went on to marry him. But I took rejection well, apart from aiming a few sneaky kicks at him during seven-a-sides in Bushy Park.

Noel had a very exotic surname for a Mayo man: Basquel. Unusual as it was, however, his family were doing their best to propagate it. There were 14 of them, if I remember correctly, including about 10 brothers, all Mayo GAA fanatics.

 I lost touch with Bernie and the Basquels a few years later. Then life happened, the way it does. Soon another generation somehow rose behind us, taking centre stage.

A few years ago, I noticed a rising new name in Dublin GAA circles: Basquel. There were two promising young brothers: Ryan (what else?) and Colm, both playing under-age for the county and threatening to break through at senior.

through at senior.

Sure enough, eventually, it came to pass. And last week, when Mayo had their hopes crushed yet again, it was one Colm Basquel, son of Noel and Bernie, who did most damage, with two goals in a Man of the Match performance.

[restorepride]

  Jaysus wept. 

[From the Bunker]

Tipperary women were always renowned for their football prowess! 

[restorepride]

And Galway men for their ex-girlfriends?  Sad.