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[mute]

That's a mute point.
Irregardless.
That really effected me badly.
You inferred that Sean was taking money.

What are the others?

I was heading down to Kerry at the weekend and I was for some mad reason thinking of the Rally of the Lakes, and how dangerous it must be to watch a rally on roads down there. Then I heard this on Sunday...

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/safety-procedures-up-to-standard-at-rally-where-car-ploughed-into-spectators-injuring-four-motorsport-ireland-chief-31354056.html

I'm not a major fan of motor sports, but are these sort of events really safe for spectators, and should they be allowed? This is not the controlled arena of an enclosed track (and even then there's been some horrific accidents with flying tyres etc at Nascar and the like) but on Public Roads, with people standing on hedges and corners. How is this safe in any way? I know people have been killed participating in the events, and while that is very sad at least they are in some way aware of the risks. But is a sport which is by it's nature so hard to monitor in terms of spectator safety actually worth having at all? I watch the programs on TV the odd time, and I can't believe how many risks the spectators seem to take, when cars are going out of control and hitting farm gates or ditches.

I'm sure we have a few petrol heads here, what are yer thoughts on the safety of car rallies and motorcycle rallies?

Might as well start it. Kildare will be favourites, but coming off a bad beating only 6 days beforehand (which is unfair) and travelling to Tullamore to play an Offaly team who are quietly feeling they are making some progress (albeit with a bad day at the office v Longford) it should at least be a proper championship challenge. Offaly will want to play through the hands, and at pace, before feeding the inside line. A lot will depend on whether Niall McNamee is fit, but lads like Willie Mulhall, Panda Allen and Nigel Dunne can score, I just think they will need their leader to direct operations. They are young, fit and keen, but they are probably a couple of years behind Kildare in preparation.

That said, if Offaly fire into it, they have a chance. I'd love to see them win a game like this, we could do with it, and after all Kildare will be a D3 next year, so you want to prepare for that too.

One of the cowardliest most dangerous strokes with a hurley I ever saw. I think it was the Mount Sion #9, if that's Austin Gleeson he deserves a long ban for that. That's a serious, serious belt and could have had horrible consequences. 5-6 seconds in.

http://www.joe.ie/sport/video-waterford-club-hurling-championship-match-marred-by-violent-scenes-as-mass-schemozzle-breaks-out/500650

Lads, I was just wondering what the format of next year's All Ireland Championship will be. Now that Kerry have upset the Leinster monopoly on the Christy Ring, where do they go? Do they join the Munster Championship? That would be ironic given their withdrawal from Munster was one of the prime factors behind the realisation that we needed 2nd and 3rd tier hurling competitions.

If they do join Munster, does that mean that the Leinster Round Robin only has Westmeath Carlow and Offaly next year, rather than the 4 teamer we had this year?

Was surprised when I heard Cheddar resigned as he had Laois making great progress, and then I heard "for personal reasons" which is a euphemism in Laois for in fighting. Last night I heard a few lads were dropped, all from the one club. I'm presuming the two events are not unconnected. What's the story does anyone know?

Lads, some of ye will remember me floating a similar idea a couple of years ago, but it's great to see Cúl Heroes launched with the backing of the GPA and GAA. It's basically like the Match Attax cards for young lads, and I hope it does really well for them. I just found out they are an Offaly company as well, so fair play to them. Best of luck with it lads.

http://www.culheroes.com/

RIP to Tom Furlong, brother of Martin and part of that great Offaly and Tullamore GAA family. Tom very nearly made it in the NFL after he went to America, probably only missed out due to a blown ACL. RIP to him, and sympathies to his family.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/offalys-tom-furlong-and-the-nfl-career-that-slipped-away-30549405.html

Lads, I was just wondering, is there such a thing as social GAA, and I don't mean Junior B. We all probably have kicked a ball around with pals on a 5 a side soccer pitch. Is there anyone doing something similar for Gaelic Football or hurling? I'm thinking of trying to get a group going at over 35s/40s but I am wondering if there are any rules adaptations (sorry wobbler!!!) that people are using that makes it work, or are people basically using 7 a side rules. Or is nobody actually doing this at all?

I'd love to get a street league type thing going in the club.

Horrible news for Waterford after their great league win. Pauric Mahony broke his leg hurling for Ballygunner against Ballyduff Upper in the Waterford SHC. Apparently a broken tibia is the exact injury, and the timeline for recovery is 4-6 months, so it looks like he's gone for the year. Sad news for him, best wishes to him on his recovery, and a major blow for Waterford.

I caught a bit of an interesting documentary on TG4 last night about Dan Breen, and obviously Sean Treacy was mentioned quite a lot in it as an inspiration to Breen and the activities during the War of Independence in Tipperary and Dublin. I did a bit of research on Treacy afterwards, as our next door neighbour club here in Tipp are called Sean Treacys, from Rear Cross, and I came across this tradition which I was unaware of I have to say. Apparently every time Tipperary are in an All Ireland Hurling Final, there is a commemoration ceremony on Talbot Street, where Treacy was killed in a gunfight with British Security forces. This has been a tradition since the 20s, and is still faithfully observed. Apparently in 2014 there were a couple of thousand at it. It lasts for less than half an hour and involves a few short speeches, a recitation of the proclamation and renditions of Amhrán na bhFiann and Tipperary So Far Away.

I thought it was interesting that such a tradition is still going strong.

2014 crowd www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZqatXCBSSo

And a better example of what goes on,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RurjGgp6y0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eJ-qV-6JFo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c05BKr3wajo

I thought this was worthy of a conversation here. Congratulations to Kerry on beating Antrim and getting up to Division 1B for 2016. It's a huge achievement for them, especially after coming badly unstuck against Offaly in the same playoff last year.

Now, I write this from the perspective of someone who believes Offaly should have gone down last year, and not had a second chance, and I believe Kerry should have already been up (and probably coming back down) but what does this mean for Antrim. I see some fairly caustic comments on social media, and it's obvious there's a bit of soul searching going on. I'd hate Antrim to drop down the rankings and become a perennial division 2 type team. Fair play to Kerry, it's great to see, but Antrim need to come straight back up I think.

What's the view from the Glensmen here?

Nice interview with the Iron Man himself, Paddy McCormack, on Irish TV that I stumbled across. Great to see him looking so well. It's from 6.30 in on this clip.

http://www.irishtv.ie/offaly-matters-1/

Kinnegad publican and long-serving Westmeath administrator Denis Coyne has passed away suddenly.
He served as Westmeath's County Board chairman for 6 years in the 1970s, having previously been the Minor Board chair in the Lake County.
The Coralstown/Kinnegad clubman was then part of the Football Board during the most successful period in history, where an All-Ireland Under-21 title was won along with Leinster titles at minor, under-21 and senior level.
In a statement on their website, Westmeath County Board have thanked Denis for his five decades of service and say he'll be 'sadly missed'.


I remember calling into his pub in Kinnegad numerous times in my childhood on trips up to Croker in the days before the new roads. I also remember him from that era when Westmeath won their underage All Irelands. RIP. A great Westmeath football man.

Hi all,

looking for your thoughts on this. I'm the coaching officer in my club, and we have great numbers at the moment in our nursery programs, u6,7,8 and actually all the way up to u9 and 10. We are a dual club, and give equal attention to hurling and football.  Things are generally going well, but obviously from time to time you run into a few issues and in my role I'm trying to propose a solution to a couple of them.

In our younger age groups the kids are great, but obviously they have 'moments' where they don't pay attention, or don't properly concentrate on the game or skill they are learning. Everyone knows that in hurling especially, every second is vital in a childs development of the skills of the game, so this is causing our coaches frustrations, and is also affecting other kids in the group, making a ripple effect. Up to now we've been trying to handle these kids and their messing by running it out of them, or trying to work individually with them but it's taking a lot of our time.

Recently we've had a new hurling wall built, and the back of the wall features a storage room where various equipment is held. My proposal is that if a coach is having a behaviour issue, or someone not executing the drill properly, they would approach the manager and place the child into the storage room for a period of 10 minutes, to allow them cool off. That would allow the child to calm down, and to understand the seriousness of what we are trying to achieve. The fact that the door is locked means you don't have to worry about them going missing or anything, and there's enough light in there for the child to not be frightened.

Has anyone else any similar schemes in their clubs? Any help appreciated.

A press conference has been called for tomorrow for Shefflin to outline his plans for this year, and it's highly touted that he's going to retire from the Black and Amber. If he does this, I'd just like to say it's been a pleasure watching him for 16 years, and his record of 10 All Ireland Medals is an unbelievable achievement. He was a bit part last year, but his determination to come back from the injuries and contribute in some way to the machine rolling on is a credit to him.

A Kilkenny Legend indeed.

Hard to Credit it, but today is Cormac McAnallen's 11th Anniversary. He'd be 35 or so now I suppose, and probably finished his inter county career with the rest of his comrades from 2003. I can still remember the sense of shock from his passing, even as someone who never met him and wasn't a Tyrone fan.  Someone so fit, strong, talented and with his life ahead of him shouldn't be taken so young, but I suppose a lot of good has come from his legacy in terms of the Cormac Trust.

RIP

HI Lads, and lassies,

Question for ye, as I can't find the answer readily myself. I'm setting up a website at the moment, as a repository of information, session templates, drills etc for our coaches. The reason for this website is we are implementing a coaching and games development plan, aligned with age appropriate skills and I want our coaches to have access to a source where they can choose games or exercises which align with our plan, and with their age group.

Anyway, at a committee meeting last night, someone mentioned that they thought there was a rule that a club could only have one website. I'm assuming this is aimed at not having duplicate sources of news, lotto results, fixtures, etc etc, rather than a dedicated repository like this. I have no info about the club, other than the name, on the website..

What think ye?

Sad news out of Kilkenny this morning, as Johnny Ryan, father of Lester, has been killed in an accident on his farm in Bennetsbridge. RIP.

Scary video too, the poor cop....

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/world-news/terrorists-on-run-after-twelve-people-killed-as-gunmen-open-fire-in-satirical-newspaper-charlie-hebdo-hq-in-paris-30889144.html