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The new stronghold of West Mayo hasn't the same needle in them games as the 3 North Mayo teams had. You would be surprised when a row wouldn't break out back then!

Would you think that may be due to the fact that most of the players from West Mayo
went to secondary school together in Castlebar, whereas in North Mayo they wouldn't have known each other as well?

I dunno, most of the Knockmore lads would been split between Foxford and Ballina with a few in Gortnor Abbey as well so a fair few would have gone to school together. Before that you would have had a lot of Cross lads heading into Mureadachs. But all three crowds would often end up heading out to the same places at the weekend. They would have been very familiar with each other.

Would they be arguing over who had the most runner up all Ireland medals?

And your wrong that everything needs to be entertaining. I didn't start supporting Tyrone or trillick as a kid because we were "entertaining". We were shite and played shite but it was our shite and I loved that. You've fallen into the Peter Mckenna trap that thinks the gaa is a product. Something to be bought and sold and glammed up to charge a consumer for. I don't need u2 playing at half time of the ai final or cheerleaders before throw-in for me to want to watch it and it's worth f**k all more if they bother to do that.

I don't need change for changes sake. I don't need a super 8 or 40,000 people at a interprovincial final. I don't need heated seats, hotdogs or overpriced pints of carlsberg. By all means change the game to accommodate club players or stamp down on cynicism or eradicate burnout.

But don't change the game to create "interest" or "entertainment" or increase gate revenue. People who turn up to gaa matches for entertainment should be refused entry and sent to the cinema.

Good man. That's the greatest load of bollocks I've read in a long time. Do you still go to matches by horse and trap, do you abuse fellas for drinking a latte from Starbucks when walking to the match rather than a flask of milky tae and a hang sandwich? Do you moan to your mates about the amount of women at the match with their fancy sunglasses or the Tyrone supporters that weren't at some poxy McKenna cup game in the arse end of January??

To say that kids will play their Dads game and won't be influenced by TV sports stars is so far from reality that I wonder if there's any hope of having a reasonable conversation about this with you. Christ almighty Ger Egan and Jimmy Barry Murphy's sons play professional soccer and they are two of the GAA's biggest icons, Seanie O'Leary's son plays rugby, Mick Galway jacked in IC football for rugby, Darren Sweetman jacked in IC hurling for Munster rugby and there's loads more. Ask the majority of Irish kids what they want to be when they grow up and it will be a professional soccer player. We have great games and a lot going for us but it serves nobody to ignore the reality of the competition we face.

By the way, I've often spoken about the benefits of changing our structures so this certainly isn't about change for change's sake it's about have a better structured more vibrant, interesting IC season that will allow clubs more certainty about when they are playing too. The current system doesn't do that so why anyone would want to keep it is beyond me.

Whos Ger Egan and Darren Sweetman?
Maybe you mean John Egan and Darren Sweetnam.

I have a 1934 winners medal for the cork county championship, it was a jubilee year for the gaa as well so a special medal was commissioned for the winners in gold. I am trying to find a buyer for it if anybody could help It would be much appreciated.

I will give you a fiver for it.

Another week another disgusting challenge on a Celtic player escapes a red card. I have no problem with teams wanting to get stuck in but the more referees excuse over the top challenges the more common an occurrence they will become. Kieran Tierney is a lucky boy that he did not get badly hurt today.

The run we are on is absolutely incredible given that most weeks we are up against 12 men. Some disgusting assaults have gone unpunished in the last few weeks though.

The motherwell player went for the ball but the studs up follow through caught Tierney.
I'd say it was a grade 1 reckless challenge, red card.  Tierney had to use up one of his lives with that one.

I see McDonald still dives ......  at his age   his best dive ever was to win that free kick v Man U which Nakamura brilliantly converted.

That must have been some dive as he wasn't even at the club then never mind on the pitch  he didn't sign until the following summer

It was jarosik who got that free kick

Even if it was Jarosik, I still have the (erroneous) image of a tortured McDonald doing it in that game.

Dutch Gold does have that effect on people

The Irish News carried out a survey of the level of Irish speaking among election candidates.  Only 7 considered themselves "fluent" (5 SF and 2 SDLP) and a further 7 were "nearly fluent" (5 SF, 1 SDLP and 1 Alliance - fair play Colm Cavanagh!).  Roughly half had no Irish at all.  But the most interesting comment is from Newry & Armagh Alliance candidate Jackie Coade.  Ms Coade grew up in Cork and responded that she was "discouraged from speaking Irish when she moved to NI"  The question is...by whom??

BTW the possible answers to the survey were:  Fluent: Nearly Fluent: Conversational: Some Words & Phrases: None

As a rough guide two candidates who have A-Level Irish described their level as "Conversational"

Dont let the truth get in the way of a good old rant.

Eoin Larkin retires: 'I am content to walk away knowing I gave everything I could'

" It was always my dream from a young age to play, captain and win an All-Ireland with Kilkenny and I'm proud and happy to say I lived my dream. I am content to walk away now knowing I gave everything I could for myself but also the team every time I walked out on the training pitch or pulled on a Kilkenny jersey and left no stone unturned in the pursuit of perfection, although I never got close. I've played with and against some of the best players of all time and had the privilege of working with the best manager of all time for those years.

"Doing what I loved doing for twelve years didn't seem like a sacrifice but although they never said anything I know for a fact my family sacrificed a massive amount for me to fulfil my dream."



Says it all really.


Eoin was part of an all conquering team. A class act.

"A class act" maybe on the pitch but he was quick to stick the knife in to Kilkenny after the defeat yesterday. Thats not the Kilkenny way. As a Corkman I know what can happen when former players turn Turk. Brian Cody doesnt owe anyone anything and he will fix Kilkenny in his own good time ( thats if they need fixing after losing two league games)
You dont see Shefflin JJ Delaney or Jackie Tyrell laying into Kilkenny.

I'm not so sure he even went for the ball. Saw a few pictures there:
http://videocelts.com/2017/02/blogs/latest-news/horror-picture-of-bowmans-attack-on-tierney/

Those horror pictures just tell what happened after the contact was made and claims are made re intent.

There's a video here of the tackle
http://videocelts.com/2017/02/blogs/latest-news/ryan-bowmans-shocking-tackle-on-kieran-tierney/
Boman made contact with the ball first, the ball was in the air coming down.
That link you sent claimed Bowman had malicious intent, I'd say it was just reckless endangerment, still a red card.
There is a good bit of doubt regards his intentions.

Ex Celt Johansen made a similar high studs up challenge for the ball today,  studs made contact with the thigh of the Spurs player and hurt him a bit, the ref just gave a foul against Johansen.

You should be on the telly. You would do well with Dunphy and the other spoofers

Joe can talk a lot of shite but then occasionally he will identify some matter needing attention that the GAA heads GPA  and cosy pals in the media would rather ignore. Thats why he is worth holding on to

Can't see United finishing ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal.

It will be very interesting to see how the Arsenal squad responds to the Munich result. If they could play to their potential they will still have a big say in the league and cup.
The St Ethienne result will give Mourhino a little respite for some players

Have to say I find this whole thing awful strange - why is there such a lack of political interest in this? It's not like anyone in particular is benefitting from this? So why the reluctance to listen to the whistle blowers and treat them correctly?

Kenny is obviously going to go soon but without having an answer to the question above, it's hard to see how it will change a whole lot

The fair  administration of Justice is utterly fundamental to any democracy .  The full truth must be found and wrongdoing punished .

Why bother having a tribunal at all when all that needs to be done is ask the many posters on social media what was going on. Dont worry about little concerns such as evidence and facts

"We have massive respect for ...."
"These are a very genuine bunch of lads and deserve better "

Ashling Thompson mmmmm!

Ta! A small residual bit from my O Levels a long time ago.I'm all for promoting Irish and indeed all languages.I just don't see the point in expending millions on legislation when it's plainly not needed

Millions upon millions upon millions have been spent in the Republic on Irish but after 14 years education the majority of the people couldnt go in to the shop and ask for a bottle of milk in Irish.

Good win for Mayo. Kerry looked strong last week against Donegal but to allow Mayo back into the game tonight will raise a few eyebrows. Clarke pulled off a few good saves again which will raise the question of what was all that shite about goalkeepers that went on last year

Probably I am missing something but can someone explain:

Garda McCabe had false details copied and pasted into his file at Tusla - Did he already have a file at this agency into which further details of an alleged crime was added?

I understand that there was a file with an allegation made by the daughter of a Garda which McCabe had reported. The allegation was investigated by the Gardai and a file sent to DPP recomending no prosecution and actually questioning that there was even an incident.
McCabe knew nothing about this so the fact he wasnt even intetviewed showed what little credibility the complainant had. That should have been that but the file stayed with Tulsa and some clerk "mistakenly" cut and pasted details from some othet case into it.
Hopefully the enquiry will get to the bottom of all this and if heads have to roll then so be it. However if previous incidents are the standard some patsy will be found to take the rap