Messages

A previous boss of mine went to Croke Park to watch a match one Sunday about fifteen years ago. Was waved into one of the side streets off the Drumcondra Road. He said to the young fella who directed him in - "here's a fiver, and there's another fiver in it for you when I come back and the car is in one piece".

He returned and the wee fella was sitting on the wall and said "Mister, I noticed you had a missin hub cap; me brother is a mechanic and he happened to have a Mitsubishi hub cap in his garage doin nuttin so I fitted it onto your yoke for ye".

John said "fair play to ye fella" and gave him 15 punt instead of five as a thank you and went on his way.

Next morning, John was going to work and went out to his car - and looked at the car on the driveway - the wee ballecks had removed a hub cap from the other side of the car and fitted it where the missing cap was, to make it look like he had replaced it.

Genius

Great news all round.
Should mean that there will be no agreed candidate next time round in Fermangh and South Tyrone.


All this stuff about the Gaa is old news to Fermanagh people.
When Fermanagh reached there second Ulster final in 08 this is what Elliott had to say

"It is clearly much more than [a sporting organisation]. Along with many other rules, like flying the Irish Tricolour and playing the Irish National Anthem at all games, wherever they are held, along with the on and off field intimidation of Protestant players leaves many people from the Protestant or Unionist community feel that the game or sport in this organisation is just a small part of it and the wider Irish republicanism product plays a much larger part of it .. the underlying ethos of the organisation cannot be ignored. I had received a number of comments from my constituents clearly upset at the continual 'in your face' antics of the Fermanagh GAA supporters during recent weeks.

"That is why some of these people were saying to me that they would prefer that Fermanagh would lose in order to halt this constant barrage of Fermanagh GAA hype, which had at least an anxiety factor but often leading to what was a sense of intimidation, particularly in the workplace. This is coupled with most of these work places not allowing a Poppy to be worn in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday or the employees just being too afraid to do so, but GAA tops being a common feature to be worn.

"However I must warn that while most people from my community have a respect and tolerance for the GAA and those who wish to participate in it, we will not accept any intimidation. There is more to Fermanagh than just the Fermanagh GAA.

"Therefore, it may be helpful for that group to more carefully consider its approach with their fellow county citizens in future important GAA events"

Unbelieveable stuff. Spoken obviously by someone who forms an opinion without any knowledge of the subject - Wouldn't exactly inspire hope for the political party he is affiliated to.
I remember Tyrone Howe joining UUP and he had the same  tone as Ringland - does anyone Know what happened his political career? Last I seen of him, he was commentating for Sky.

Cross had a generation of fantastic players.

Put it like this - had Armagh fielded Crossmaglen from 96-08 do you think they'd have been more successful? Honest question.

Honest answer, no.  How the f**k would the likes of myself and a few others been able to play against inter county players?  I'm sure the Pony or Darren Fay would have been shaking in their boots with me running towards them(cue jokes about the ground shaking under my delicate feet!).  Different ball game at county level but doesn't mean we could not be classed in the same league as the successful county teams.  Comparitives like that have to allow for context.

Allowing for the bottle-and-a-half of chateau nouveau-pauvre (€5.99 on special offer at SuperValu) that's sloshing around in me cerebral cortex, that's one of the best posts I've ever read here. It's always been my experience that the higher the standard a man played at, the more devastatingly (and unfairly self deprecatingly) down to earth his assessment of his own worth as a player. The likes of me still fantasise about how we cudda binna contender.

"Hardy in prostrating himself at the feet of brokencrossbar1 shocker" 

Still waiting for your comments here.

http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=15142.msg728961#msg728961

Sam, time colours the way you look at things and I was probably correctly lined but there was no malice in what I did.

Yes mr crossbar, yourself and Mr. Bellew were  just misunderstood

Trevor Ringland was on the Nolan show this morning, Radio Ulster - he was disgusted with the fact that Elliott, in one of his first interviews as party leader said that he had no intention of, or wouldn't even consider attending Croke Park if an Ulster team reached the final next year.

Ringland thoughts his stance on the GAA was disgraceful, stating that he can get his hands on two tickets for next years final through his contacts.
He wants Elliott to confirm over the next two days that he will agree to go to the final next year, as a show of the party moving on.
If not, Ringland is leaving the UUP.

Think the two tickets would be better In the hands of a "true Gael" than some Unionist politician trying to gain ground with the more moderate voters.

ringland is a regular attendee at GAA matches both in Croke Park and elsewhere.  He may make political kudos out of it sometime but he was going to games before he was a member of the UUP.  He is friends with people I know who would be republicans albeit it moderate, and he has been going to Croke Park with them for years.  If people would listen to th elike of him more often there would be less shite holding us back.

Well said - it was actually refreshing hearing Ringlands point of view, and he made Lord Ken Maginnis of Gooleywooley sound like a clown.

Here is how BBC NI reported it:

Ulster Unionist Trevor Ringland has said he will leave the party if new leader Tom Elliott does not show a new attitude towards the GAA.

Mr Elliott was elected leader of the party on Wednesday night.

In previous radio interviews he said he had no interest in attending gaelic games.

However, Mr Ringland, who contested East Belfast in May's general election, said Mr Elliott needed to reach out to the nationalist community.

"I would guarantee him that if there is an Ulster team in the all-Ireland final next year I will get him two tickets for that final," the former Irish rugby international said.

"I want to hear him say in the next few days that if I get him those tickets that he will go to that match.

"Because I see people who are reaching out to the unionist community, reaching out to try and build a shared society here and they need encouragement as well

"They need to see and hear a unionism that actually wants to have a relationship with them."

Mr Ringland said if Mr Elliott does not make such a commitment "he's taking the party in a direction I'm not comfortable with".

Trevor Ringland was on the Nolan show this morning, Radio Ulster - he was disgusted with the fact that Elliott, in one of his first interviews as party leader said that he had no intention of, or wouldn't even consider attending Croke Park if an Ulster team reached the final next year.

Ringland thoughts his stance on the GAA was disgraceful, stating that he can get his hands on two tickets for next years final through his contacts.
He wants Elliott to confirm over the next two days that he will agree to go to the final next year, as a show of the party moving on.
If not, Ringland is leaving the UUP.

Do you have Friday's Euromillions numbers?

Not at the minute - Can get them to you Saturday?

Apart from missing the pitch invasion on Sunday (well I wasn't going to have one anyway as Down lost), I also missed not hearing the opening drum rhythm that the Artane band historically belt out as they make their way onto the pitch during the matches.

Its something I associate with Croke Park as its the only place I've ever heard it, but I couldn't hear it because they were playing Beautiful Feckin Day.

I just hope the next time U2 play Croker that they show a re-run of the All Ireland just as Bono starts his 10 minute save the earth speech.

can someone explain to me how antrim are nearly twice the price of fermanagh or offaly?

Good point - The St.Galls fellas were very late back to county training this year after their AI success; I think this success will be more evident next year (unless they win it again). And Bradley has committed to them - I know of a few folk that are expecting big things of them in 2011

I think that the Ulster championship is going to be a belter next year, due to the following:

Armagh a year further down the line with Paddy O'Rourke
Cavan with Val Andrews in first season, wanting to make an impact
Same applies for Brennan in Derry & McGuinness in Donegal
Down wanting to build on this year
Tyrone wanting to prove they are still the best.
Won't Fermanagh have a new manager as well?
Monaghan will have a new manager, but I predict a player revolt, wrecking Monaghans year, McEnaney being re-instated and Monaghan winning Ulster 2012.

Can't wait

Woah, before you fall head over heels, get a photo of her mother

If you ask nicely Im sure they'll get a photo of her for you.

Fantastico!

A 3 month suspended sentence is a bit much -

I could understand it if he was caught listening to Hugo Duncan...

Woah, before you fall head over heels, get a photo of her mother

Gary Neville?

Amanda Holden?

When my kids grow up, I will show them a picture of these two people and tell them - "Look, you don't have to have any talent or quality to do nothing and make large amounts of money"

When you reach that stage in life when you are feeling down, your wife says in a soft, dulcet tone  - "I know something that will cheer you up" - and she hands you a chocolate bun and a cup of tea

Why does that grind your gears?

Because I was on a promise

Having said that there is undoubtedly a culture of rugby, local soccer, hockey, gaa in that order.

Hockey? Where? How many hockey matches have been broadcast and when? And they're showing the Magners league this year, but before this, how much rugby did the BBC broadcast? And local soccer - is it one or two live matches a year?
The only place there might be some imbalance is the coverage on Newsline, but if you look across BBC NI, the GAA doesn't fare too bad at all.

+1
Newsline seems to be more easily manipulated by those with an agenda and there is a tabloid tendency.  You would be surprised to know who is behind the reporting of negative GAA stories in Newsline with Mr Watson merely a frontman to deliver.  Last March, it was used by some to attempt to embarass me instead of highlighting the biggest day in the school sporting calendar not only for the lads in the MacRory Cup final on 17th March but the lads in the major rugby and soccer competitions.  How much more positive and interesting it would have been to preview their games and achievements.

I would be critical of production values and amateurish, colloquial and patronising reporting/delivery by individuals on the BBC. The local service is miles behind the UK service in broadcasting sport.  Even UK BBC is beginning to fall behind the satellite broadcasters.

It would be interesting to measure the amount of sport on the Irish broadcasting channels in terms of Gaelic games v Other (foreign games) sport.  It certainly would be interesting to look at the number of hours on TG4.  Despite its high output of Gaelic games, it shows huge number of hours of rugby, soccer, tennis, rugby, AFL, etc.  In my opinion, there is no harm in it but I think the BBC shouldn't carry the can for so many complaints about broadcasting time for Gaelic games.  We should be complaining that so much of the money in BBC broadcasting of Gaelic games is wasted on poor delivery in every aspect from commentary to punditry.

Would completely agree with this.... I think the BBC actually do cover GAA considerably; relatives in England were able to watch the match on Sunday through BBC NI - they couldn't pick up RTE.

However, generally, the standard of commentator, analyst and reporter are poor. If they are going to cover matches, they should go the whole hog and make it a spectacle - if it was advertised properly in England, Scotland, Wales, it would be some boost to their ratings, as plenty of people would be interested.

Could they look at covering National League next year, or have TG4 got the rights?

GAA Stars playing Aussie Rules in 2010.....

Adelaide Crows – Brian Donnelly from County Louth.

Brisbane Lions – Pearce Hanley from County Mayo, and Niall McKeever from County Antrim

Carlton Blues – Zach Tuohy from County Laois, and Setanta O'hAilpin from Cork

Essendon Bombers – Michael Quinn from longford.

Nth Melbourne Kangaroos – Conor Meredith from County Laois.

Richmond Tigers - Jamie O'reilly from County Down.

St Kilda Saints – Tommy Walsh from County Kerry.

Sydney Swans – Tadgh Kennelly from Kerry and Chris McKaigue from County Derry.

and Down minor player Caolan Mooney has just signed a two-year rookie contract with Collingwood