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The founding fathers of the Free State carried out atrocities far in excess of what the Provisionals would do decades later.

But the IRA killed an awful.lot of civilians and that usually has a bad look..

So did the Old IRA.

What is it about you free staters that doesn't allow ye to see the brazen hypocrisy.

The difference is the old IRA were led and manned by people from the South who drove the British out of the 26 counties,which led to the Republic and the modern European state it is today

They were winners


The provos were a collection of beardie Nordie rabble with guff about a socialist state,who were running to the British authorities at every opportunity to inform on each other.They also didn't achieve their aims of

Brits out of the North

NI is still in existence after all their attempts to overthrow it

They lost

There's the difference

We won't get near any of the other opposition either

The best we can hope for is to beat Westmeath in the relegation playoff

That was the reality before today's game and it's the reality now

Well done to Portlaoise for leading the way

Don't forget we could get Galway potentially in the final as well Zooming Around.

Correct and another rattle at Tipp after that.

Will Limerick give us a game in the All Ireland Final?

There's no reason not to be optimistic. Clare hammered Wexford last year and we'd have beaten Clare if we had another minute or if the ref had applied the advantage rule properly.

Clare were well in control when it was 15 v 15

And we didn't need the ref to beat them when it 15 v 14,we had the opportunity to put them away long before the final whistle and didn't take it.

Of all the Munster teams we could be potentially facing in a Qualifier,I'd looking for Clare again though

Don't forget we could get Galway potentially in the final as well Zooming Around.

Correct and another rattle at Tipp after that.

Will Limerick give us a game in the All Ireland Final?

Don't forget we could get Galway potentially in the final as well Zooming Around.

Competitive against Wexford and then get Clare in the qualifiers is the best we can hope for 

Condolences to all the Nordies on here.

Says the man who hails from what my southern friends call "mini Belfast". A place more famous for pissing on the powder in 1798 than any northern county.

That was Kilkenny

They don't teach ye any Irish history up there?

Northern history is Irish history.

What's that got to do with anything?

They don't teach ye "southern" history?

Which shock horror is also called Irish history

Condolences to all the Nordies on here.

Says the man who hails from what my southern friends call "mini Belfast". A place more famous for pissing on the powder in 1798 than any northern county.

That was Kilkenny

They don't teach ye any Irish history up there?

Anyone hazard a guess or work out when Laois will be hurling league  / Championship and when Club championships will take off this year ??

League to start 8/9th May

County championship can start once the Inter county team is knocked out

Duignan has gotten the bit between his teeth in Offaly

So far He has cleared with shane Lowry and others involvement,the Debt on the CoE in Kilcormac

The Cb debt is halved after this week to €100k and the 41 clubs got an extra €100k due to the fundraiser they ran.

They now have a games manager gone in,
4 GDA's
3 GPO's in Situ

With another 8 GPO's being actively recruited and to be in place in the clubs for this summer

Some uncomfortable truths for some free staters there who feel they have a right to pontificate and moralise on the north. Before they do that maybe some acknowledgement and contrition for the contempt they have show northern natioanlists over the past 50 years might be in order.

MOPE

In relation to point 2. Does your county allow minor players to play other sports?

It's not unreasonable if you enter a pro or semi pro acadamy involving a contract that 2 and 3 kick in

I am not sure what they are told but in soccer you effectively sign for a new team (the league of ireland team)so it would be illegal for you to play with your own club. There is a young lad from our GAA club on the county minor team and I see he is still playing soccer with his local team. I am sure at certain times of the year when GAA minor is going into championship that he has to step away but thats a whole other world than signing your name on the dotted line of a contract.

I misunderstood shark - I thought he was referring to late teens. If you are 16 and in the Cork City or Munster acadamy you shouldn't be playing multiple sports. That isn't a thing for 12 year olds

You have 12 year olds going to the Dublin school boy clubs from outside Dublin and one condition for them to come on board is that they give up other sports

Carty the rugby player was handy in soccer and GAA at 17  but chose rugby. Both soccer and rugby need to broaden the player base. As long as the GAA plug the Dublin model most players from other counties won't win anything. Soccer and rugby have an opportunity.

More people play soccer than football, hurling and rugby combined....

Any figures?

Its aged but there are newer surveys with broadly the same results. On the phone so this will do

https://www.esri.ie/publications/sports-participation-and-health-among-adults-in-ireland

Page 22.

Soccer 13%, 5 a side 4%.. 17% adult male participation.

Football 8%, hurling 5%, rugby not listed as under 1%. So 14%

17 > 14.

The ESRI methodology slightly skewed the numbers with participation in 5 a side

When those numbers were compiled I was in my early 40's,played 5 a side twice a month,long retired from hurling but to class me and others like me as soccer players in those numbers would be well wide  of the mark

It also shows a gap in the market for half pace hurling and football for us ould lads who have no other avenue available bar 5 a side soccer

Carty the rugby player was handy in soccer and GAA at 17  but chose rugby. Both soccer and rugby need to broaden the player base. As long as the GAA plug the Dublin model most players from other counties won't win anything. Soccer and rugby have an opportunity.

More people play soccer than football, hurling and rugby combined....

Any figures?

Bottom line

The North of this island is an underperforming asset relative to the rest of the country

Partition turned the most successful part of Ireland into one of the poorest parts of Europe with billions needed every year from the English taxpayers to keep it even at that level

NI currently has a population 36% of the Republics

1.1920 2 counties Down and Antrim had 80% of the total economic output of the Island, today the total NI economic output is 8% of this islands output.

If NI was in any fit state economically, it would be contributing a third or more.

2.The Size of the Republics economy is €400bn odd, the size of NI's is £40bn odd

NI's economy should be treble what it is, £120bn odd

3.Exports

ROI total exports €160bn odd,2020 up 8% on 2019

NI total exports £7bn odd

the reality is that the increase in the Republic exports between 2019 and 2020 is greater than NI total exports tells its own story.

4.Cross Border Exports by value

34% NI exports to the Republic

1% ROI exports to NI

So what's your point?

Are you that economically illiterate

The NI economy with all its billions in subventions from the English taxpayer is underperforming the Republic by a minimum of 2/3rds by some metrics and up to 90% in others

The billions that have spent on it by the UK taxpayer haven't shifted the arrow upwards on any graph,actually it appears that the opposite is the case

Will it come to a point in 30/40 years time,where even the english will say this is too much of a drain on us,

you lot take it on

remember the subvention to NI is an awful lot more that the EU one and we all know what happened there

We don't know is the simple answer, looking back in the not so distant past Ireland was nearly bankrupt and now its bounced back, go back even further and there wasn't a road that didn't have a hole on it or didnt take you through every village on the way to Dublin.

You are going into the future with a blind idea of how it will pan out.

Northern Ireland is not a country its a state that's been run into the ground after over 30 years of troubles, were building were raised to the ground and business couldn't open without having to pay for the 'protection' from their local hoods.

Within that period industries closed like Mackies Harlands, and other major engineering firms, a small place like here can't and won't be able to sustain itself with the drop off in industry.

I'm sure there is enough of a skilled work force to get it up and going again. Local politics has a lot to answer to, but sure we'll keep voting them in and get the same results.

Your post is something we all know. So what's your real point? That the South would be mad to take back the north, that it would be better to stay as a republic and not unify the island?

The troubles ended 23 years ago and the arrow is still pointing downwards for the northern economy

1945 Germany was bombed back to the Stone Age

1968 it was one of the richest countries in the world

Maybe the English taxpayers should double or even treble the subvention

It still wouldn't move the dial


You don't think the troubles on the island cost the Republic in terms of billions spent on security and lost FDI?