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And drunkeness (as opposed to having a couple of celebratory drinks) is compatible with Christianity how?

It was Jesus who turned water into wine, was it not? Facilitating drunkenness.

Gluttony and lord knows what else, un reproductive fornication amongst the wedding goers, thon Jesus was a bad'un, knowingly facilitating sins.

It was his mother that told him they'd run out of wine - which is why some scholars have wondered why was she concerned with the lack of booze and they have concluded it was actually her son's wedding.

Anyway, Jesus had nothing on Saint Patrick when it came to miracles. That said, Saint Columcille silenced the Lough Ness monster and Saint Brendan sailed to America in a small curragh and had a barbecue on the back of a whale. We won't see the likes of those lads again.

If anything will fell Ros it's the amount of football the young lads have already played this year, between Colleges and both grades of county. You can be sure Murtagh and Smith will be required again on Sunday for the game against Meath - 3 big games in 1 week. That's on top of the heavy duties DCU required of Smith. Serious burnout territory.

[I also echo the sentiment held by all here and I hope the Leitrim full back is ok.]

I also echo the sentiment held by all here and I hope the Leitrim full back is ok. Onto the game itself, it consisted of 2 teams playing blanket defences. At least we got the goals! Leitrim were always chasing the game even after we got the first goal I thought. Credit to Mayo though, Leitrim probably should have been level for the sheer workrate at halftime. Mayo upped the ante in the 2nd half and all subs were a good addition.

+1. Hopefully it was not as bad as it looked. Fingers crossed. Hope he is well and back playing ball real soon.
Until we know more, any observations I have about the match can wait. For parents at a match or listening in  something like that is a nightmare.

Well said and great news the young man is ok.

In all the cases we are hearing the rapists get sent someplace else where they are free to prey on other children. It is the exact same approach as the Catholic Church. I've seen comments by Sinn Fein supporters all over the place praising the justice meted out, as if its simply ok to banish them someplace else. The twisted logic is pure sickness. This will not cost Sinn Fein any votes because there's something deeply perverse at the heart of Irish Catholic identity when it comes to sexual abuse, whether it be Sinn Fein, Cardinal Brady or Irish families that simply cover it up. It's probably no coincidence that most of the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in US was committed by Irish born or Irish American clerics. It probably all stems from the repression and unhealthy attitude to sex that Catholicism brought into this country. Not saying it's not prevalent in other religions and cultures. But our culture is infested with it, with both the sick twisted perpetrators and their rotten enablers.

Roscommon

Most iconic attraction:    Rathcroghan, ancient capital of Connacht and start of the Táin Trail
Best natural attraction:   Miner's Way - Lough Key to Arigna
Best man-made attraction:   Strokestown House/Famine Museum
Uniquely Irish attraction:   Sheela na Gig carving on Boyle Abbey
Best "obscure" attraction:   Lost medieval town of Rindoon, the "Camelot of the Shannon"

The Wildes, who were quite mad by most accounts, did a huge service to the country by saving much folklore. Dr. William, who was a Roscommon man, also preserved a lot of folklore and indeed was a great protector of our national monuments and documented a lot of the stories around cairns, standing stones (he believed the Lia Fail was in Rathcrogan) and ring forts. He was a native Irish speaker and the locals called him An Doctuir Mór. He was by no means a saint and was embroiled in a big sex scandal long before his son was after he drugged a patent Mary Travers  in Dublin and supposedly took advantage. You can see the influence of their folklore in Oscar's work and they were also a big influence on Bram Stoker, who was a family friend and ended up marrying Oscar's girlfriend, when Oscar was still into the ladies. The Sidhe of Lady Wilde's tales are very vampiric (kiss them and you are dead to this world) and the influence is very much evident in Dracula. Fairies can't cross running water; neither can Dracula. Lots of other stuff for those who look close enough. All in all Lady Jane and her husband were a credit to our country and deserve much more credit in our literary history than they get.

Dr Hyde is very leftfooterish compared to Killarney. Who can compete with all the pony and traps, the capeens, the bawneens, the big red faces and shops selling leprechauns and shillelaghs. They are preserving Oirish culture down there. Yerra let me be nice. They've given us a good manager afterall.

These are great folks, keep em coming. AZ - not a golfing crew. Any thoughts on whether Newgrange is worth the trip?

If you want megalithic, Sligo is the place to go. Have them climb up Knocknarea to see Maeve's cairn. Take them to Carrowmore to see a passage tomb older than newgrange and drive them up Carrowkeel (one scary turn) to see spectacular old megalithic tombs and amazing views of Connacht with nary a tourist in sight.

Tubberman, that's *their* choice. With the new club in Ballagh, Mayo, Galway and Leitrim made the choice for us. You do see the difference, right?

[why would Galway vote to give their near and dearest rivals home advantage for all Connacht finals.]

The grins are for your usual paranoia. You blamed Mayo and Galway for some imaginary skullduggery when the reality is the skullduggery was elsewhere and benefited Roscommon.

'Sligo will always go for the logical vote'.

They did. But something happened their delegate and he voted against the wishes of his CB. That is what I would like to have seen investigated, thoroughly.

Why having a touch of the paranoia yourself? & to repeat why would Galway vote to give their near and dearest rivals home advantage for all Connacht finals.

Why don't you ask the Galway CB at the time? They were asked to vote and that is how they voted.

Well looks like a decision may have to be made again on developing a designated provincial ground. Will there be a democratic vote in Connacht? Will Connacht honour the vote like they did when Connacht (Mayo, Galway and Leitrim) voted NOT to allow Ballagh have a second club to play in Roscommon, or will they NOT HONOUR the democratic vote when Connacht (Ros, Sligo and Leitrim) voted to make Hyde Park the designated provincial ground. My vote is that democracy will not prevail if Mayo and Galway do not like the decision. Despite the huge population advantages they already enjoy over Sligo, Ros and Leitrim, it will be not an inch if the decision goes against them. But I'd say this time there might not even be a "democratic" vote for fear that Sligo and Leitrim will be naughty lads. The mantra will be: GAA HQ if you are taking over the debts, the best way to pay them would be to play all big games in Castlerbar.

The Sligo CB voted for McHale Park. I have already explained that and as I said, given the financial significance of the vote, I would like to see an independent investigation into what happened there.

And can you provide proof they voted for McHale as I have no memory of that. The vote was 3-2 in favour of Hyde. I remember the editorials in The Western blasting the vote. Now we thought Leitrim would side with Ros in the Ballaghaderreen vote for a new club, St Johns to be affiliated with Ros. But after some Mayo influence they sided with Mayo. We accepted the vote because that is democracy even though it sucked for outsiders to deny native Rossies the right to play with Roscommon. Most of the people who would have setup St Johns setup the community park in Ballagh where you can pass by and watch among other things a Ballaghaderreen soccer team representing Roscommon and a Ballaghaderreen cricket team representing Roscommon, who incidentally are Connacht senior Cricket champions. They can play in Ros but Mayo, Galway and Leitrim saw fit to deny the right to Gaelic footballers. Are you calling for an investigation?

[why would Galway vote to give their near and dearest rivals home advantage for all Connacht finals.]

The grins are for your usual paranoia. You blamed Mayo and Galway for some imaginary skullduggery when the reality is the skullduggery was elsewhere and benefited Roscommon.

'Sligo will always go for the logical vote'.

They did. But something happened their delegate and he voted against the wishes of his CB. That is what I would like to have seen investigated, thoroughly.

Why having a touch of the paranoia yourself? & to repeat why would Galway vote to give their near and dearest rivals home advantage for all Connacht finals.

Why don't you ask the Galway CB at the time? They were asked to vote and that is how they voted.

Well looks like a decision may have to be made again on developing a designated provincial ground. Will there be a democratic vote in Connacht? Will Connacht honour the vote like they did when Connacht (Mayo, Galway and Leitrim) voted NOT to allow Ballagh have a second club to play in Roscommon, or will they NOT HONOUR the democratic vote when Connacht (Ros, Sligo and Leitrim) voted to make Hyde Park the designated provincial ground. My vote is that democracy will not prevail if Mayo and Galway do not like the decision. Despite the huge population advantages they already enjoy over Sligo, Ros and Leitrim, it will be not an inch if the decision goes against them. But I'd say this time there might not even be a "democratic" vote for fear that Sligo and Leitrim will be naughty lads. The mantra will be: GAA HQ if you are taking over the debts, the best way to pay them would be to play all big games in Castlerbar.

My final word on this too. It was the alickadoos that caused all the bitterness.

Now you have me well and truly confused as you have gone to great lengths to emphasise a point I've been attempting to make all along.
I think it's fair to say that I accept that county boundaries are political constructs and have no legal standing in GAA circles.
Without going back to the Composition of Connaught or the Grand Jury and Poor Law Union systems and all that, I think it's fair to say that the redrawing of the Mayo/Roscommon boundary did not alter the status of the Ballagh club in any way.
Ballagh affiliated with the Mayo County Board and the subsequent re-jigging of county boundary lines did not and does not the club's right to continue its association with Mayo.
To date, you appear to be the only Rossie, on this board anyway, who grasps this, even if you don't fully accept that fact.
You seem to favour the setting up of another club in the same parish which would affiliate with Roscommon. Therefore, your motives are political, pure and simple.
Is the GAA above politics or are politics above the GAA?
There are democratic procedures open to you and other Rossies in the parish without having to throw your rattles out of your prams when you don't get your own way.
Why not join the club instead of harping about it?
If it's a case of one member one vote, your "side" should be able to gain control of the club in a remarkably short period of time.
As a matter of interest, are you a registered member of the Ballagh club and if not, why not?
Is it not open to you and all other Rossie supporters in Ballagh to work within the structures of the GAA to seek to bring about change?
Seriously, if I were a GAA man in Roscommon, I'd be too embarrassed to publicise the fact that the members of Ballagh prefer to play their football in another county and this has been the case for the last 118 (or so) years.
Doesn't say much about your bleddy bus and all that goes with it, does it?

The only thing I advocate is for Roscommon people living in Ballaghaderreen to have the right to represent their native county, without having to transfer to another part of Roscommon (as Sean Kilbride had to do). I would not call that politics, I would call that a normal state of affairs for most GAA footballers in the land and I think one could only truly understand that if they lived in a county, their own beloved county, supported that county through thick and thin, only to be told by a callous provincial council that if you live in that part of your county, then you can only represent your neighbor and your most bitterest rival on the GAA field. I would say if most people on this board were given that choice and that choice only, then I'd say their provincial council would have damned them to a life of GAA hell.

I also would not ever wish for the current club to be forced to play in Roscommon and I would want Ballagh people who support Mayo (about 50% of the parish) to forever retain their right to maintain this tradition and represent Mayo (de hoors!). My football days are long over but I did play with the Ballaghaderreen GAA club and have many happy memories, but such were my football skills that neither Mayo nor Roscommon wanted me, although I did if truth be told get invited to a Mayo minor trial but was too busy chasing the girls back in those days. Thankfully I was a feckless youth and therefore my primrose and blue purity was never stained.

That's my final say on the matter. The title of the thread is Connacht and whatever about our disagreements about GAA, there's no finer province in Ireland for beauty, storytelling and the character of the people.

I watched the FG Ard-Fheis...

I nearly choked when he rolled out the 5 point plan again.

Telling the same lies again in the hope that people will vote them back in. Everything in that speech is geared towards re-election of their party. As was pointed out by Rabbitte lies are what you tell at election time. Enda has had plenty of time to remediate a number of the items he now promises to fix.
The 5 point plan being regurgitated is particularly galling considering they did not achieve it.
Are we still talking about broadband??
The era of new taxes and charges are over. That's because apart from Oxygen there is nothing left to tax?

I mean you could pick holes in the speech all you want but the short of it is that they just want to stay on the gravy train. Scaremongering about not voting them back is pretty cheap. It's up to the others to show there is an alternative. To be fair a fukking rotting cabbage would do a better job than the ministers and teeshock.

Look personally I am no fan of the Blueshirts but am left wing in politics with a tenuous grá for a Labour. At the end of the day unemployment has fallen from 15% and will likely be under 10% before their term is up. We have the highest growth in Europe.  Our tourism industry is on fire. New beef markets have been opened in US and China. There's social programs we'd never see under FF: Gay marriage. Enda for all his faults and despite his own conservative Catholicism had stood up to Catholic Church something we've never seen from FF or Sinn Fein. We've seen a lot of new investment in the country. In contrast, in NI where Sinn Fein and DUP rule the roost we see nothing but a civil service society. It's actually a place where water meters are being set in place but won't be used. I mean Lord Jaysus but that takes the biscuit altogether. They fair play to you for watching that shite and providing us with updates.

Are you trying to let on you are educated lar napark or are you enda in disguise?

Yes he is Enda in disguise. Well done. In fact Enda is every single Mayo poster here.

Except for Farr. He is Michael Ring. 

Re the Ballagh situation - If the Rossies don't like it then they should have put Ring on it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY
but it's a bit of a joke at this stage

1898 - the Brits are responsible

The Brits had damn all to do with it. Nationalist politician, John Dillon made the decision because of lower water rates. His son James Dillon went on to lead Fine Gael and continued to sign any correspondence as Ballaghaderreen, Co, Mayo. Mayo Blueshirts caused it all. But the Brits did create the county boundaries and as I've said, they gave Galway and Mayo a tremendous advantage over the other three counties, as ye both have more than twice the population of us. At least Galway have made some fist of winning All-Irelands. Mayo on the other hand - even picking from the second largest town in Roscommon and they still can't win shite.

Ah, feck it anyway!
There goes my resolution to accept the inevitable and give up trying to drum anything into anyone in your God-forsaken land. It lasted all of ten minutes btw.
You say the Brits had nothing to do with it, whatever "it" is.
Then you go on to say that "the Brits did create the county boundaries and as I've said, they gave Galway and Mayo a tremendous advantage over the other three counties,..."
Apart from the fact that you said nothing of the sort, how do you reconcile both statements?
Was it Johneen Dillon the b**tard, or was it the Brits who grabbed a large stretch of our county and landed the poor inhabitants in with your shower?
So the implication seems to be that getting rid of Ballagh gives us a tremendous advantage over the other three counties.
You can't be seriously expect the good people there to want to have anything to do with you after that.
I mean ye have had 118 years to try and persuade the people of Ballagh to play ball with you and they are not for turning.
With an attitude like yours, can anyone blame  them?

You are confusing two different points - the creation of the county system, and changes to county boundaries that were made over time. For someone who's had high praise for himself as an educator, you don't seem to understand that Irish county boundaries are arbitrary demarcations on a map. They are replicas of the English county/shire system and so our current county system has its origins in the Normans and the Tudors, with various modifications along the way. My point is that it was a Mayoman and a nationalist Mayoman at that who was primarily responsible for the transfer of Ballaghaderreen to Co. Roscommon. I was of course pointing out that when Norman and British administrators adopted their county system to Ireland, they gave yourselves and Galway the biggest slices of the Connacht pie. Go back in history and Roscommon had a bigger slice. One can stand for example in the lovely village of Cong and have one foot in Galway and one foot in Mayo - it's just a man made division. There's some natural boundaries. The Shannon is one such natural boundary. That said, if you cross the Shannon and go to the Roscommon side of Athlone, you are still not in Roscommon but in Westmeath. Again, that's a man-made decision and a foolish one at that, because even the dogs in the street know when you cross the Shannon you are in a totally different land. At the end of the day, Ballaghaderreen is in Roscommon because such boundaries are man-made and when it was in Mayo it was equally because of a man-made line on a map - and you can be sure that boundary was not created by a Fior-Ghael but some British administrator who couldn't wait to get the fu(k out of Connacht after he set up a few administrative units. Mayo and Roscommon were not created by some absolute God but by invader. But in the event the counties are God's fault, byjaysus didn't he give us poor Rossies an awful shower of neighbours.