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I'm sure Kerry won't use this excuse if they loose... 

Kerry's Championship hopes were dealt a significant blow after confirmation last night that All Star Kieran Donaghy has been ruled out for at least ten weeks.

Reports in today's Irish Examiner suggest the Austin Stacks man will undergo an operation today on the stress fracture of the foot picked up in the National League final victory over Derry at Croke Park.

He is definitely out of the Kingdom's Munster Championship opener against Cork on 7 June and the provincial decider on 5 July, should Kerry beat the Rebels.

He is expected to be available should Kerry advance to the quarter-final stage in August, but this latest setback is perhaps the worst in a long list of casualties, with Killian Young (shoulder), Tommy Walsh (hamstring), Paul Galvin (groin), Tadhg Kennelly (hand), and Eoin Brosnan (hamstring) all on the treatment tab

An official complaint has been lodged about Environment Minister Sammy Wilson after he used references to Alzheimer's to brand other politicians forgetful.
SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone said he had made a complaint to the Speaker at Stormont.
He said: "This is not a matter of being politically correct, it is more about common decency and common sense."
Mr Wilson had told a debate: "Anyone in the House who does not know that I am a councillor on Belfast City Council must be suffering from Alzheimer's disease."
The DUP member made the remark earlier this week after being asked by a rival Assembly member to declare his political role as a councillor.
In February, Mr Wilson made similar remarks during an exchange with Mr McGlone in the Assembly chamber, when the minister attacked his opponent over a letter sent to a local newspaper.
Mr Wilson said: "Perhaps Alzheimer's disease has set in. I will remind him of what is contained in the letter that he wrote to the newspaper..."

Sammy is an idiot and was on the radio digging a bigger hole for himself. 

This is bad news... great scam the last couple of years 


Firm suspends Irish League bets
Betting slip
The firm has suspended all betting outside the 'Big Two'

Betting on all Irish League games, besides those involving Linfield and Glentoran, has been suspended by one of the UK's leading bookmakers.

Paddy Power said there had been an usually high number of bets placed on teams which had no chance of winning the league title.

"This isn't necessarily something sinister," said the bookmaker.

"People on the ground might know that a key player is or isn't playing or something as simple as that."

Mr Power said that his company would not resume betting on the bulk of Irish League sides until the start of the new season.

"This also happens in relation to the lower English divisions and in Italy as well," he continued.

"Things just aren't as competitive at this time of year and we're therefore not willing to take the same risk.

"Teams often field younger players, might not be training fully or might even play after a night out."

A spokesman for Belfast-based bookmakers Toals, which is still taking bets on all Irish League games, said there had been "very, very unusual" betting in relation to Glenavon, Dungannon and Newry City.

He said that money continued to be placed on a 'treble' bet for all three sides to win despite the odds being slashed from 16-1 to 4-1.

Is this the worst ever April Fool ?
From the BBC website-at last GAA gets some coverage... 

...GAA followers in Tyrone have been stunned by the announcement that All Ireland Gaelic football winning manager Mickey Harte has been appointed to Sir Alex Ferguson's coaching staff at Old Trafford.

The inspirational Tyrone boss will take up the new post of Performance Director at Manchester United with immediate effect.

It is understood that Ferguson has been tracking Harte's progress for a number of years, the pair having first met at the Belfast Telegraph's Sports Awards in Belfast, where, according to Old Trafford insiders, 'they instantly hit it off.'

Speaking at today's press conference Sir Alex said: 'We tried to get Mickey on board last summer but Tyrone beat Dublin, so that meant he had those commitments. We also tried to get him in 2004 but circumstances meant he couldn't leave.'

'It's fabulous news for Manchester United and I am delighted he is joining us. Since Carlos [Quiroz, the current Portugal manager] left, we have been missing someone to get the optimum performance from the players. Mickey has proved he can do it at the highest level with players of the highest skill.'

Mickey Harte said that although the decision to leave his beloved Tyrone team was very difficult, he 'technically supported Manchester United since he was a boy', growing up with tales of the Busby Babes and following Charlton, Best and Law:

"This is a good place to be if you want to be the best you can be in sport. Gaelic Football was my first love but in life sometimes an opportunity presents itself. I have been involved with Tyrone in a number of roles for nineteen years. I always tell the players to seize every opportunity to be the best, to be ambitious for the higher gifts. So when Alex called, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. And so, this is a new journey, a new chapter and we'll see where it takes us."

Harte is known to be a fan of Sir Alex Ferguson, publicly praising his methods in the past. Both men share a fierce will to win and a commitment to attacking football. One thing it is unlikely Harte will share with Sir Alex is his customary post-match bottle of fine wine. Harte is a confirmed tee-totaller and member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association.

However, his experience of dealing with the likes of Ricey, Owen Mulligan and Sean Cavanagh will be an asset in getting the best out of Rio Ferdinand, Anderson, Ronaldo and Company.

In the past a number of GAA coaches have been linked with Premiership Clubs – Armagh defender and sports psychologist Enda McNulty was linked with Aston Villa and  former Armagh and Derry trainer, John McCloskey was close to joining Chelsea. Although a number of former GAA players have had successful careers including Martin O'Neill and Kevin Moran, this is the first time a manager has made the jump.

Naked taoiseach paintings removed

Image of man looking at painting
The painting was removed from display at the Royal Hibernian Academy
It could be described as oil on canvas featuring taoiseach, but the appearance of nude paintings of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen in two Dublin galleries has seen the police called in.
A painting of Mr Cowen holding his underpants appeared in the Royal Hibernian Academy and one of him pictured on the toilet ended up in the National Gallery.
Whether it was political subversion or artistic expression if the painter behind them comes to light they could find themselves answering questions from Irish police.
The National Gallery said they had called in the police and were reluctant to comment further on the matter, other than to say the painting had been up for no more than 20 minutes before it was removed.
"It was not authorised to be on display and garda are investigating," the gallery said.
The academy is also deciding whether or not to call in the police to investigate its mysterious appearance, but a spokeswoman did not want to go further.
"We don't want to make more of it than it is," she said.
The painting of Mr Cowen is still on the premises, but in one of the offices instead of on public view.
One woman who saw the painting reportedly offered to buy it.
Apology
Irish police are in possession of the other work, and have said that an investigation into the matter is under way.
State broadcaster RTE said it would be making an on air apology after showing pictures of the portraits in its output.
A spokeswoman for the corporation said that upon reflection this was "in bad taste".


At first I thought this was funny but now I'm not so sure... any thoughts? However,  good artist whoever s/he is.

Re-Cork hurling 
Munster Council secretary Pat Fitzgerald remains hopeful of a breakthrough, writing in his annual report:  'In that troubled part of our country (Northern Ireland), greater divisions existed and they were able to sit down together and work out an agreement. Are we now that bitter that we cannot do the same?"

2009 Cork panel snubbed by GPA
11 February 2009

GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell has told members of Gerald McCarthy's 2009 Cork hurling squad that they are not welcome to join the players' body.

Farrell stressed that members of the makeshift panel would not be allowed to join until such time as the ongoing dispute on Leeside was resolved.

He revealed that no member of this year's panel had applied for GPA membership and he was firm when asked if application forms would be accepted while the standoff with the 2008 players continues.

"No, I don't think we could look into that until the situation was resolved down there," he said on Tuesday.

"Obviously, there is a little bit to be played out but hopefully that will become apparent in the coming weeks and the situation will be rectified."

It is so unfair how one mistake and keeps getting thrown up... 


Man who killed parents as youth outed via TV reality show

Blue-eyed, curly-haired Cyril Jacquet was the perfect reality show participant. Young, attractive, outgoing and ambitious, he and his girlfriend, Paola Alberdi, were determined to win a new Spanish TV show called Around the World.

The show, on the Antena 3 channel, involves couples racing each other around the globe. It promised adventure, a €200,000 (£178,000) prize and, inevitably, fame.

Jacquet did not seem to realise, however, that fans of the show would inevitably start putting his name into their internet search engines and finding out a little bit more about him.

So it was that, on Sunday night, he returned from Venice and abandoned the show after programme-makers questioned him about internet rumours that as a 15-year-old he had murdered his mother and father.

"I will always hold my head high," Cyril said, before he and Paola waved a tear-filled goodbye.

"People change," he added.

Antena 3, which devoted part of the Sunday-night to Monday-morning show to the news, said it had no idea that one of its contestants was a parricide.

"The programme did not know," a ­presenter told viewers. "After we checked the facts of the case we brought them back to Spain to protect them from media attention."

In 1994, Jacquet killed his mother with three shots from his father's automatic pistol after she entered the family home. A few hours later, Jacquet used the remaining seven bullets for his father.

He eventually confessed to the double killing and served three years in a youth detention centre. Under Spanish law he has no criminal record since he was a minor at the time of the double killing.

Jacquet, now an airline cabin crew worker, blamed the media and "undesirable" people for his decision to abandon the show. "They don't let you leave the past behind," he complained. "I don't want to keep giving them the excuse to lynch me."

Paola, who said she had always known about her boyfriend's past, said: "It bothers me a lot that we have to go because someone wants to pour s**** on someone else's life. I know he is strong. If he has got to where he has, it is because he can handle anything."

Seems the rugby boys are most emotive about the national anthem. Always one of them in tears. Watched last years All Ireland DVD  and Tyrone players sing it out with pride while Kerry players were dancing about and strectching and few showed respect. I was in a dance-disco in Kilkenny in the 80s and was astonished when anthem was played at the end and people just dandered about and chatted to each other. It you done that up North you would have got a slap in the bake. Also people are supposed to take off caps when anthem is played but few do. It should be respected.     

Ulster Council president Tom Daly appears to have ruled out prospects of the Ulster SFC clash between Tyrone and Armagh being played at Croke Park.
Daly was speaking in Belfast at the Ulster launch of the GAA's 125th anniversary celebrations.
"It certainly wouldn't be to the forefront of our minds to bring the game to Croke Park," said the Ulster Council president.
"Bear in mind that this is a first-round Ulster Championship game."
Daly added:"In the past where Ulster teams have gone to Croke Park, it has been the ultimate stage of the Ulster Championship, the Ulster Final."
The provincial clash will take place at 31 May.
Tyrone were first out of the hat when the draw was made in the autumn but it's possible that Clones, as opposed to Healy Park, may stage the provincial quarter-final.

Despite what Mickey Harte says this is a good decision... all this running to Croke Park is killing the golden goose and taking the novelty out of it. Saturday was fantastic and appropriate but Clones is  a great traditional Ulster championship summer day out. Could you imagine the Munster hurling championship moving to Dublin? Not  a chance.   

RTÉ RADIO presenter and TV soccer pundit Eamon Dunphy has volunteered to take a 10 per cent cut in pay, and has said that "so-called stars" at the station are "probably overpaid".
Dunphy said he was taking the cut in his salary, understood to be in the region of €320,000, in solidarity with lower-paid workers who were facing pay cuts and job losses.
"I think it's the right thing to do. Aren't I lucky to have a job? And it's a job that I like, and that I'm well paid for."
Dunphy, who is on contract with the station, said he made his decision in the knowledge that directly-paid staff of RTÉ, the majority of whom were on far lower salaries, were facing pay freezes. "I am very conscious that people I work with on the programme are facing pay freezes or wage cuts, while so-called stars in RTÉ are probably overpaid."
He was also conscious that he had used his role as a broadcaster to call for the better-off in society to "take the pain" of the recession.
"There's never been a crisis like this facing the country, and I believe if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. My taking a pay cut is just a gesture, but if it could save one job, or two jobs of the people I work with . . . I believe it's time to show that solidarity."
Dunphy's comments come just days after an Oireachtas committee suggested that RTÉ's highest paid presenters should take a pay cut. When asked if he believed other well-paid presenters should also take a pay cut, Dunphy said: "Everybody must make their own mind up, everybody's circumstances are different, but I could not go on accepting a very large salary while people are losing their jobs."
Radio and TV presenters Derek Mooney and Miriam O'Callaghan have also indicated their willingness to accepts cuts.
The station's highest paid star, Pat Kenny, could not be contacted by The Irish Times yesterday, but he was reported in the Evening Herald as saying he was suspicious of the Oireachtas communications committee's motivation in calling for the cuts.
Efforts were also made yesterday to contact Marian Finucane, Gerry Ryan, Ryan Tubridy and Joe Duffy, but no responses were received.
RTÉ senior management has already had its pay cut by up to 17 per cent. Directly employed staff have been asked to accept a freeze on pay, bonuses and annual increments.

I knew that Dunphy was basically a decent guy even though a loose cannon at times. I remember during world cup and all the diving going on and he said how wrong it was as life is full of cheating and chicanary and we go to sport hoping to get away from that. Also, and I said it on board at time he spoke from the heart on Late Late Show on GAA about going to games with his DAD as a youngster and finding a sense of identity at Dublin games when he returned from England. He has made loads of mistakes and been outragous at times  but he is one of the good guys.   

While it is a national past-time to hammer the GAA for their love of money and ticket prices etc. Get a load of the IRFU... Ireland V France in Croke Park for stand ticket £88 for Dublin V Tyrone plus 125 year entertainment £20... £5 for juveniles...well done.  That rugby price is obscene.

My son of seven pointed at the front of the Irish News history making picture this week of Barack Obama  swearing in for President. I was startled when he said, "that's Barack Obama' and he seemed very taken with him as everyone else is. First time I have seen him take any notice of current affairs or world news.
I was wondering what other posters first memory of local or international news is and how it impacted on their minds then.  To start the ball rolling my very first news memory was when I was about eight... 1968.  Bobby Kennedy's assasination. I remember a few adults and especially in one shop saying 'a pity it wasn't that b*****d Paisley.' (True!). I figured it out in my child head that all these people must be good but some better than others... and turned out Paisley weren't so bad after all!!      

I signed on to this carryon today just to talk about Everton with Mr Bojangles but now I seem to be hooked. Can this be addictive and if so is their help available?