Messages

Extra time...great.

Also, wtf are TG4 at..cutting away from play to watch a free being given in the hurling game?

I've lost count of the number of frees Mayo have got by holding onto the tacklers arm...the ref (despite standing 3 yards away) doesn't seem capable of spotting them either.
Young and O'Mahony getting a bit of a roasting at the back and Darran O'Sullivan having a shocker...apart from that would be happy enough if Kerry played quicker ball to Curtin.

Terrible to hear. RIP.

Worrying number of incidents like this in last few years.

Here we go again....2 yellows for Keegan so he should be good to start again. Hopefully Boyle has recovered from sickness of last weekend. Keane to replace O'Reilly as well i'd say.

Team are flying out to Portugal for a weeks training on Sunday evening.

Huh?
Is the knockout stage a different competition to the round robin section?
I thought a red card meant Keegan would have to miss the next two competitive games, regardless of their nature.

Not 100%, can anyone confirm?

You don't miss any games for 2 yellows, only for straight red. So Keegan will be available again for Sunday.

I think I'd go for McHale before Keane. I haven't seen a lot of McHale but he really impressed me against Dublin and he has more pace than Keane. On a big wide pitch like Croker, Keane could be in bother.

True, need to keep tabs on O'Leary this time around whoever picks him up, caused us serious bother on the last two occassions.

O'Leary? He was fairly meh last Sunday in my eyes. Certainly far less dangerous than Curtin/Cooper were anyway,not sure why you'd single him out. He mightn't even start from what I'm hearing.

Was really saddened to hear this yesterday morning. It was not totally unexpected as I heard John was in hospital during last week, but you never expect someone like him to die so young. He was as good a player as I've ever seen, thats all I can say. The way he could swat away a corner back with one flick of his arm or the coolness of the many finishes to the net were all a great example to corner forwards wishing to learn the game. RIP John, you won't be soon forgotten.

Jimmy McNulty would probably try his hand if he was asked.

I'd say he'd be more of a cricket man having gone to Eton & Trinity..bout as far from hurling country as you can get!

Seriously though, thats class work out in B'more. Amazing stories about the growth of the games in faraway places.

[My abiding memory of Walsh was him being hyped up to the hilt in the 2006 All-Ireland minor finals and getting cleaned out by Donie Shine in the middle in both games. And I mean took to the cleaners, given a bleaching and air dried for good measure. Shine's obviously proven himself to be no mug either, but let's not get ahead of ourselves with Walsh.]

Never bought into the Tommy Walsh hype. Thought he was a good player who used his height well but who was a bit raw in general play. Kieran Donaghy 1.5, then. Maybe a few more years would have ironed out his inconsistencies, but he was made look alot better by being on a very, very good team.

My abiding memory of Walsh was him being hyped up to the hilt in the 2006 All-Ireland minor finals and getting cleaned out by Donie Shine in the middle in both games. And I mean took to the cleaners, given a bleaching and air dried for good measure. Shine's obviously proven himself to be no mug either, but let's not get ahead of ourselves with Walsh.

Really? Well, it just so happens I recently watched the DVD of the drawn final. In the 1st half alone Tommy fielded cleanly from at least 5 kickouts...I'll go back and get the accurate stats for you when I can. Shine got at least 2 points from play from what I remember alright but was destroyed in the air, so your assessment is way off. Funnily enough in the replay, Walsh was less influential in the air, but kicked 2 great long-range points and was one of our better players in a bad team performance.
In general I would doubt that Tommy will ever make it in AFL...he failed to make the breakthrough at St Kilda in 2 years and isn't looking like he'll make the Swans team either. Obviously I would love to see him home, but if he proves me wrong, fair enough.

Edit: Just asked a mate who follows the Swans if there was any word on him and got an almost instant reply. Played for the reserves at the weekend in the first round of their league and was virtually anonymous. Started at centre back and was moved up to full forward for the 2nd half.
To be honest I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in Ireland before the year is out.

Clearly nobody else is going to do it so might aswell myself. Surely 2 of the top 5 going head to head merits some discussion?

CORK (SF v Kerry): A Quirke; R Carey, E O'Mahony, E Cotter; N O'Leary, G Canty, P Kissane; A O'Connor, P O'Neill; F Goold, P Kerrigan, P Kelly; C O'Neill, A Walsh, D O'Connor.

KERRY (SF v Cork): B Kealy; M Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, K Young; P Crowley, E Brosnan, B McGuire; A Maher, B Sheehan; P Galvin, Darran O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan; BJ Keane, K Donaghy, P Curtin. Subs: T Mac an tSaoir, T Ó Sé, S Enright, S Scanlon, J Lyne, D O'Callaghan, M Geaney, J Buckley, D Casey, K O'Leary.

Counihan doing his usual stupid move of naming the team that started the last game (which won't start obviously)...will be interesting to see how it goes anyway.

Another story that portrays the GAA in a negative light on Primetime this evening.
It's either no coverage or negative coverage the last couple of months.
Are they going out of their way to put the boot in?

Exactly my thoughts last night, you'd think there was enough scandal in Europe to concentrate on. Recent Primetime episodes about the GAA that spring to mind are:

The Cork Hurlers
Payments to managers
The Handball Center

The Late Late is another useful tool for bashing the Jay Aye Aye

I presume the egg chasing U20s are live again on RTE2 this weekend?

Don't know what the handball Centre thing is about, but the other 2 probably merited attention. Didn't think either of those features were overly critical of the GAA.

U-20's are live,why wouldn't they be when they're playing for a grand slam..don't see why you're dragging that in.

Sounds like a savage game..Extra time has been a feature of many Sigersons!

I would expect UCC v DCU final, but you never know in Sigerson.

I've huge respect for Cross anyway, and Armagh in general. Have met some great genuine GAA people over the years from Killeavy, Pearse Og, Mullaghbawn, Cross and many more.
This Cross team play great football aswell, loved when I heard they had sessions where handpassing was banned!

Looks like he has a good boot on him! He should've hit that smug pr*ck Varadkar a belt of a shoulder while he was at it!

Fair play to Cross...1-5 to 0-1 down after 20...down to a man and level with what 13 to go, and still they come through. You have to admire them. Their record over the past 15 years or so is phenomenal and I fancy they will pick up the Andy Merrigan cup for the 6th time on Paddys day.

Best player in Donkey's years....? Nowhere near as good as McCabe, and debatable whether he's as good as Larry or Jayo.

Ok, let me rephrase that...best player since McCabe retired. IMO he is better than Larry or Jason Reilly. He is certainly in the top 10 of Cavan players of the last 25 years anyway.