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In 1983 I saw most of the Dublin games (except the All-Ireland final) as the Kildare minors went on a good run too. (Back then the minors preceed the senior games.)

Mick Holden and PJ Buckley were my favouruite players.

He was a class act.

So sorry to hear that news.

I'm not optimistic at all.

Think we might get another hammering.

Hope to hell I'm wrong. First 15 minutes will tell a lot.

Regarding this perception that Murphy is a liability against the top teams because of his tackling...

If you go back to the video tape you will notice that he did enough good things against France to cancel out the missed tackle. Everyone blamed him for the France game. He was scapegoated and singled out by everyone and dropped by EOS.

Thing is...who was it that missed the tackle on the French player scoring the winning try? There were 2 lads. Who was responsible for not catching the kick-off which led to the try. If we had controlled the re-start - game over.

Also remember what Murphy did when he came on for Hickie in the first half against Wales.

Feck I sound like Mrs Murphy

Although maybe Duffy is included to provide an option at 12 if Darcy is having a nightmare.

Duffy on the bench is a reflection of Darcys poor form rather than anything Murphys' done wrong.

That doesn't add up for me. If Darcy had to be replaced Trimble could go centre and Murphy on the wing. Nothing against Duffy, but his selection defies logic.

Has Eddie O'Sullivan lost the plot completely?

Gavin Duffy on the bench in place of Geordan Murphy?

Some game to hand Reddan his first 'serious' cap. Hope he steps up. Best of luck to him.

But I can't understand the logic of starting him ahead of Boss or Duffy ahead of Murphy (on the bench).

Good article here by Duggan. It's disturbing and not too surprising and says a lot about this country. I wasn't sure whether to put this is the Hurling or Non-GAA section but as the backdrop is the Hurling All-Ireland final I settled on putting it here. [Apologies if it's been posted already].

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Dark undercurrents mar brightest days
by Keith Duggan (Irish Times)

Sideline Cut: In a taxi on the way from the All-Ireland hurling final in Croke Park on Sunday evening, the driver remarked that there had been a fairly boozy atmosphere around the streets. He had already picked up one or two fares leaving the match who were well tipsy and halfway belligerent - not necessarily towards him, just towards the world in general. The disappointment of the match and the general fatigue of the day had begun to kick in. He was an ex-hurler himself, had played for Waterford back with Tom Cheasty, but he was much more interested in talking about the latest match.

Kilkenny had left him purring in appreciation. As pleasant as people come and happily exiled in Dublin for over 30 years, he was disappointed his native county had not made it through to the first Sunday, the decorative national day. But he was sanguine about it too. Kilkenny, he reckoned, were just too good for the rest.

There is always a restless feeling about All-Ireland final evenings in Dublin city. Even as Henry Shefflin raised the cup, there was the sense of autumn sweeping across the low, terraced roofs and the ghettoised Georgian streets where O'Casey roamed.

The fans dispersed quickly. Because Kilkenny is so close to Dublin, the majority of the winning crowd were keen to depart, the better to get a good seat in the hurling bars of the Marble City or Ballyhale or Gowran and to celebrate and analyse a 30th All-Ireland in their own laconic way.

All day the streets had been dense with the green shirts of Limerick, and as evening fell, that was the prevailing colour in the pubs, and it was as though the mass disappointment, all those deflated hopes and all of the energy and anticipation of the previous fortnight, were drifting around the city. Dublin felt gloomy.

In Heuston Station, the platforms were busy and the train announcements were coming thick and fast over the loudspeaker when one Limerick fan decided to spark a smoke as he leaned against the railings. Idly, we in line watched to see how long he would get away with it, and within a minute an Irish Rail employee approached and advised him of the current rules and regulations regarding smoking in public places. He was tall and well-groomed and clearly foreign.

The hurling fan left his pint of stout balancing on the railing and offered his best chest-out, tough-guy stance to the Irish Rail guy, who probably stood one full foot over him. The Limerick fan gave the guest of the nation a good tongue-lashing, which concluded: "Do you understand my f*****g language?"

Clearly, he did. The security guard just walked away, and feeling vindicated, the hurling fan took a long, deep drag. Mutely, we watched on in our dozens, proud to be Irish. After a short time, a lady from Irish Rail appeared flanked by security guards and instructed the fan to leave the premises.

She might have been his sister or his aunt. He understood the accent and the message and although his decision might have been influenced by the presence of the other security guards, he consented and wandered out to the street, grumbling.

Later, on the train west, two Kilkenny lads sat in the aisle across. They were celebrating the championship with a bottle of vodka, two-litre Coke bottles and paper cups, and they were in the mood for conversation.

Bringing your own seemed like a sensible precaution given the precariousness of the bar service on Irish trains - and Iarnród Éireann don't even charge corkage. The lads tippled away merrily and were inquisitive and opinionated in a good-humoured way. But their mood darkened around Athlone.

One of the men was heavily insistent that his life story required telling in the form of a serialised and heavily promoted book that would be a guaranteed bestseller. He dropped a series of heavy hints about having been witness to some fairly hardcore acts of violence down the years. Later on, he declared himself a leading member of the KK Klan, either a real or imagined kind of nativist sect in his home city. He announced himself a racist. At this point, his buddy clarified that they were both racists.

To put it bluntly, he said they both hated "n***ers". Hated the way they drove around "in 10-year-old BMWs". Hated the way that on the streets of Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, it wasn't the "n***ers" lying on the streets at night but the Irish. Hated the way the Government weren't looking after our own first. Hated the way their opinion would never make the newspapers because it was "the f***ing truth".

"Sorry to be going on," they said. It's just that this was important. It made them angry. "Put that in yer f*****g paper."

The sermon rang throughout the carriage.

There was always the option of seeking out another seat - west of the Shannon, carriages were half empty and most passengers were sleeping. But why go to the trouble of seeking other seating because a few lads were sauced up? In the end, though, alternative seating had to be found when the KK Klan leader, possibly disillusioned by his failure to secure a biographer, all of a sudden did his best Travis Bickle (of Taxi Driver fame) impersonation and decided he wanted to enhance his repertoire of violence. There was nothing in it: as the Dead Kennedys once sang, he was Too drunk to f***.

But as the train rumbled on and a harassed ticket conductor tried to reason with the fans the thought occurred: how discontented would they have been had their county lost? And through the haze of vodka and the clichéd diatribe, you could hear echoes of a generation of Irishmen who believe themselves disenfranchised and, in a strange way, champions of the Irish forgotten. After the moving and traditional scenes we'd witnessed in Croke Park, it made for a discordant show of the kind of pride-in-place the GAA advertisements milk like the last cow.

Of course, you can meet drunk men with grievances and latent anger all over the world, born belligerents compelled, as the late Tupac put it, to "keep on thuggin' from the cradle to the grave".

Nonetheless, we are never slow to harp on about how the All-Ireland hurling final is a marvellous celebration of our culture, a glorious tableau of who we are and where we came from. Proud boasts that the hurling final is Ireland's day of days. It is all that. But maybe there is a smug, unspoken note of exclusivity about that notion as well.

For last Sunday also provided troubling indications that behind the facade of heroes on the fabled turf in Croke Park broadcast around the world, this country has a mean-spirited and angry edge, a small man's paradise suspicious of change and irritated by the mere thought of different skin.

The GAA are doing a lot of good work to make sure kids who arrive on these shores will have sport if not much else. But there is a long way to go. If the big dream of All-Ireland finals featuring players with forebears from the far continents ever comes to pass, not all of our proud and splendid Gaels will be cheering.

© 2007 The Irish Times

Ziggy,

I merely pointed out to BC1 that the proposed Celtic Cup competition that your post refers to, is for International teams and not club teams.

I could be taking you up wrong BC1 but this Celtic Cup is for the international teams (not the clubs).

Yes SS it does exists up my way in Ballyteague (or used to anyway when I was there).

Kildare PRO should be able to answer any questions.

Alan Bell  087-257 4612

1 Enda Murphy Leixlip
2 Eamonn Callaghan Naas
3 Kevin O'Neill Moorefield
4 Andrew McLoughlin Ellistown
5 Anthony Rainbow Suncroft
6 Mark Hogarty Allenwood
7 Emmet Bolton Eadestown
8 Ronan Sweeney Moorefield
9 David Lyons Clane
10 James Kavanagh Ballymore
11 John Doyle Allenwood
12 Ken Donnelly Ellistown
13 Michael Conway Nurney
14 Jason Phillips Moorefield
15 Padraig O'neill St. Laurence's

The song is "Woke Up This Morning" by a band named Alabama 3

Crofton's team selection has been quite consistent from game to game in the latter half of the league. So I'd be surprised to see him making too many changes.

I agree that Kevin O'Neill is a better full back and will in future play there but at the moment with our current injuries in midfield, why would we move the only fully fit lad to have played there regularly this season. Same for Lyons - he's being playing well at fullback. If he was going to be moved it should have been done 5/6 games ago.

Ideally, I think the lads returning from injury (Glavin, Sweeney, Foley) should be introduced in the second half rather than be first 15 starters. With Tomas O'Connor gone, he might have to chance Glavin or Sweeney in the half forwards.  Willie Heffernan and Kevin O'Neill should start at midfield. Lyons should be full back.

And while I'm at it - if Peter Canavan wants to help us out he should transfer to us and forget about this sh!te of trying to coach us!

Dinny,

I'm looking forward to Heffernan getting his chance. He'd a great debut against Wicklow 2 years ago (I think) and was then dropped for the next game.

Willie is just not fit enough and seems to be carrying weight

Not so sure. I'm totally out of touch with what is going on back home but he looked in great condition when he came on in the League semi against Donegal.

Makings of close tight game and I too am looking forward to it.

One thing - I fecking hate double headers in Croke Park. No atmosphere for either game.

One thing that struck me last night watching - how can Liverpool leave Anfield?

History, tradition, atmosphere. What a place.

What I do need is a couple of volunteers to help with the administration of the site. This will involve looking at the support site and usually entails manually adding in people's entries that they have had trouble adding. Usually only a couple a week. They will get full access to the site. You don't have to be technically natured and I will show people the ropes. Any body up for this?

I will try and help with this.