Messages

1

General discussion / Re: The Official Golf Thread

« on: July 28, 2022, 11:01:46 AM »

I wonder will we see the tears when he wins his first LIV event. . . I highly doubt it!!!

God probably told him to move to LIV

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GAA Discussion / Re: The Sunday Game

« on: July 24, 2022, 11:19:29 PM »

Some shocking attitudes here

You must be easily “shocked”

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Hurling Discussion / Re: Hurling 2022

« on: July 20, 2022, 07:14:26 PM »

Yeah, now they are Div 2 & intermediate but only a couple of years ago they were Div 3 & Junior. He was a county regular then. Maybe even more so than now.

There will always be exceptions to the rule.. Gearóid Hegarty is from great stock, his da Ger was a fantastic hurler back in the day but the strangest thing he never played county until under 20 and better known as a footballer, fair fucks to whoever seen his potential as his dad (own words) never seen his hurling ability

He was up with the minors but didn’t do much according to this article I read a few weeks ago

Limerick’s bionic man Gearóid Hegarty ready to take on Galway

Denis Walsh Sunday Times

There was a time in Gearóid Hegarty’s career when none of this was imagined: the acclaim, the awards, the Marvel Comics stuff. He was a gangly teenager and, like a crossword, he was full of blanks and cryptic clues. For two years he was part of the Limerick minor hurling panel, and in his second season he failed to make the match day squad. It sounds outlandish now, but not then; it didn’t represent a blind spot in anyone’s judgment. The clues were obscure.

John Brudair saw a glimpse of something and explored it. For a few months, nearly a decade ago, he trained the senior footballers at St Pat’s, Hegarty’s club. Hegarty had a platonic relationship with football at the time, but that year they went on a run in the championship, and Brudair loved Hegarty’s moxie. St Pat’s lost the semi-final by a point and towards the end of it Hegarty was so wasted from the fight that he threw up on the pitch.

Brudair was appointed manager of the Limerick senior footballers shortly afterwards, and even though Hegarty had no underage pedigree as a footballer, he invited him on to the panel. “You could see he just needed to grow into his body,” Brudair says now. “He was a very tall man who hadn’t done any strength work at all. He’ll admit himself, the learning curve in terms of S&C that he got from football was hugely important. But he also had great character, so he was going to make it at some stage. He had great belief that he was going to.”

Hegarty tells a story from his first gym session with the footballers in UL. The players were asked to bench press three-quarters of their body weight and Hegarty was paired with Garrett Noonan, who was around the same size. Noonan did 25 reps at 70kg and Hegarty stepped up for his turn.

“I said, ‘Jesus, this can’t be too bad.’ I got down and I couldn’t even lift the bar. I was never so embarrassed in all my life. I swore to myself, ‘That will never happen again.’”

The Limerick footballers weren’t a stadium act, but they gave Hegarty a stage. Brudair remembers him playing centre field for the U-21s against Cork with Will O’Donoghue as his companion giant, like something from Game of Thrones; O’Donoghue had never played minor hurling for Limerick either. Nobody was making wild forecasts.

Hegarty was still in his early 20s, in just his third season on the team, when Brudair made him vice captain of the senior footballers. It was around that time that he started to blossom. When Limerick won the U-21 All-Ireland in 2015 Hegarty played wing-back, surrounded by a dozen other players who had already played senior, or would do so shortly.

Hegarty is a former member of the Limerick senior football team
Hegarty is a former member of the Limerick senior football team
BRENDAN MORAN/SPORTSFILE
On that team, the limelight didn’t know where to look: Cian Lynch, Diarmaid Byrnes, Sean Finn, Tom Morrissey, Darragh O'Donovan, Barry Nash, Mike Casey, Richie English were in the line-up. Peter Casey couldn’t get a game. And Hegarty? He was mid-pack. It is hard to countenance now, but when TJ Ryan asked him to join the senior panel for the following season there was an element of speculation and risk.

“How raw was he? Oh jeepers, as raw as could be. I don’t even know how you could measure it,” says Ryan. “He just would have had a lot of developing to do. He wouldn’t have been exposed to that level of hurling before. He probably didn’t know at the time whether he could make it at the top level or not. That was probably the question he had himself.

“It was around the time when there were probably questions about everybody – including myself – about whether people were good enough for Limerick or not. And I’m sure it would have been questioned why we were playing him in the forwards.”

James Ryan was one of the pillars of the team at the time, and just like Hegarty, he had started his inter county career as a footballer. He understood the challenge of making the transition.

“His hurling skills were definitely a bit behind what they should have been,” says Ryan. “You’re not going to have a good first touch and you’re striking isn’t going to be good if you’ve been concentrating on football, that’s just the way it is. His athleticism was at an unbelievable level, but the big talk around Limerick was, ‘He’s not good enough at all. His hurling isn’t good enough.’ Now look what he’s doing with the ball.”

Four years later, Hegarty was the undisputed Hurler of the Year. In the All-Ireland final he scored seven points, some of them magnificent. Over the course of the season, he had more shots from play (28), and more assists for shots (21), than any other Limerick player. In a team at the height of its power, he was first among equals.

Hegarty’s sweet and sour game is the perfect expression of Paul Kinnerk's vision. On the ball, he’s explosive and productive; without the ball he’s dynamic and aggressive. Just like many football teams, Limerick pursue a pattern of strategic fouling in their forward line, and Hegarty is one of the enforcers: in the 2020 All-Ireland semi-final and final he conceded ten frees, evenly split, without being booked in either game.

His tackle on Joe Canning in the 2020 semi-final could easily have generated a red card, and this year he has been sent off twice; once harshly, once without argument. Limerick make no apology for hurdling whatever boundary constitutes the edge, and jumping back. It is hard-wired into their outlook. In their push for discipline they budget for slips.

Their home match against Waterford in the championship this year captured the full spectrum of Hegarty’s game. Within four minutes, before he had touched the ball, he had committed two fouls; the first should have been a yellow card, the second one was. “It’s not the first time we’ve seen Gearóid a bit loose with the hurley like that,” said Nicky English in the Sky Sports commentary.

Not long afterwards he dispossessed Darragh Lyons twice, legitimately, in the same episode of frenzied tackling. Then, a couple of minutes before half-time, he struck a sumptuous point from the side line, under the Mackey Stand. “That’s one of the scores of the game,” said English. “Hegarty’s touch was unbelievable there.” It was.

Hegarty is 27 now, in his athletic pomp. Standing at 6ft 5in , and carrying 15st 2lb, he is built like a Springboks flanker, the biggest player on the biggest team in the championship. “With Sean Finn and Gearóid Hegarty it’s the very same thing when they have the ball,” says James Ryan. “It’s like a good minor marking a bad U-14. They look that far ahead at times.”

So, did anybody see it coming? “I’d love to tell you I did,” says TJ Ryan, “but no, it was impossible to see what he would become. Only he can take credit for that. But one of the things you love to see in a player is ambition, and he definitely had it. When you want it, and you keep going after it, your ambition will keep taking you there. That’s what he did.”

That’s what he does.

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General discussion / Re: New Car Advice

« on: July 18, 2022, 11:18:38 PM »

Trying to sell a relative s car but have no idea what its value is.
 Is there a reliable website I can find out it’s value ?

Used Cars NI

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GAA Discussion / Re: Attendances

« on: July 18, 2022, 07:01:43 PM »

How much is an AI ticket this year and how much for Hill?

90 Euros seats in Hogan and cusack

Fantastic value. I enjoyed my day thoroughly yesterday.

It should have been €80 with no minor game

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Hurling Discussion / Re: Hurling 2022

« on: July 18, 2022, 06:05:24 PM »

I have never seen a team as composed, maybe even more than the great KK team, no matter how tight the situation there was no panic with the ball, and there was *always* at least one option for the player to pass to. I think they will need to regress for anyone to beat them.

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General discussion / Re: The Official Golf Thread

« on: July 17, 2022, 09:39:35 PM »

Someone like Smith going will really hurt the PGA Tour

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General discussion / Re: The Official Golf Thread

« on: July 17, 2022, 06:56:40 PM »

Great performance by Smith, playing like that when it really matters

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General discussion / Re: The Official Golf Thread

« on: July 16, 2022, 05:40:06 PM »

Pretty sure it’s contractual

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General discussion / Re: The Official Golf Thread

« on: July 16, 2022, 12:04:03 AM »

St Andrews is just too easy when the weather isn’t rough

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General discussion / Re: Cost Of Living

« on: July 15, 2022, 01:45:38 PM »

If you c an, fill up the oil before the payment of £400 comes in.. Scummy bastards will increase prices as soon as the first penny hits someone’s account

It’s specifically for electricity I think

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Hurling Discussion / Re: Hurling 2022

« on: July 15, 2022, 01:04:32 PM »

A few Nally Stand tickets on Ticketmaster today

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General discussion / Re: Cost Of Living

« on: July 15, 2022, 10:03:30 AM »

Is it not meant to be a loan?

It should only be given to people who need it but I suspect it's too much effort to work that out.

It’s not a loan and it will be off your electric bill

14

General discussion / Re: Things that make you go What the F**k?

« on: July 12, 2022, 06:04:45 PM »

Sir Mo Farah has owned up to being an illegal immigrant. It was hanging over his head for quite a while before he decided to own up. Now there is just one more thing he needs to own up to.

That one is as clear as day.

I wonder is there any stories or allegations due to break on him, call me cynical but is he playing the sympathy card to get out in front of things.

Really strange timing

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GAA Discussion / Re: Dublin v Kerry AISF

« on: July 10, 2022, 10:41:41 PM »

Have to laugh at the comments that the ref helped Dublin
 3 big calls - the penalty, the boot in the keepers mush and the free at the end. All went Kerry's way. All incorrect.

Have to laugh at you having to laugh.  Even if you were right, and I don’t think you are, what goes around comes around - I’m remembering Peter Crowley getting emptied in 2016 and no free to Kerry at a crucial stage. Cost them the game.  Them’s the breaks as the man said.

Dessie Farrell said it was a free at the end