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Messi never does it for Argentina except when he scores one of the all-time great hat-tricks in a do or die World Cup qualifier after they've gone a goal down. Well worth a look on YouTube.

In a game they desperately needed to win, at altitude in Ecuador where they had something like one win in about the last billion years. The man is a footballing God.

Unbelievable stuff from Messi - absolute genius

Wasn't bad was it!

3rd goal, this man is on a different planet.

Check out @samuelJayC's Tweet: https://twitter.com/samuelJayC/status/918002904119857152?s=09

Garrycastle came out of Athlone

Garrycastle had actually formed prior to the Athlone split. They weren't making much inroads though, and may well have fallen apart. The Athlone incident led to an injection of influential men in to Garrycastle, such as Des Dolan.
I remember half time a the county final, about 2008 I reckon, and Athlone were the 25 year team getting commemorated. There were only about 6 former players on the field.

What was the Athlone incident you refer of?

Bundoran and Aodh Rua were formed when St. Joseph's split in the late 70s  (Joseph's formed, in turn, from an amalgamation in the early 60s).

St Joseph's won an Ulster club back in the mid-70s and the first two "unofficial" ones in the late 60s. Not bad for 15 years or so of existence! Not sure if their dominance is why they split (7 Donegal senior championships in 11 years and 4 in a row before they split up again)

McEniff and Martin Carney would be their best known players.

Bloody hell is Carney a Donegal man!! Never knew that 

Ballyshannon man.

His brother, a priest, was principal of St Eunan's College for years. I'm assuming Carney himself moved to and played for Mayo due to work?

Jackie Carney was either his Grandfather or Uncle and was an All Ireland winner with Mayo in 1936 and trainer of the All Ireland winning 50/51 teams.

In a sense Martin came home.

Some of his Midwest radio commentary

https://youtu.be/lEp1NZwD1Gg

[complete package which would include temperament, character, reliability etc]

A supremely gifted and talented player but nowhere near one of the greatest of all time.
The best are usually considered the best because they have the complete package which would include temperament, character, reliability etc and unfortunately Connolly has shown to be lacking in a few of these areas in recent years. The best can also usually be relied upon 9 times out of 10 to perform to a level and where they can be the difference between winning and losing.

A supremely gifted footballer but a heck of a way to go before being considered one of the greatest of all time.

Yeah, you'd have to rule Diego Maradona out of being one of the greatest footballers of all-time on a similar basis.

Diego also has 2 less all star awards.

A week on from the match and it's just about fading from the memory but then I'm not from Mayo so I imagine that it will take a while longer to get over that defeat. The wooden reaction from Dublin to winning, the cynicism and lack of emotion from management is hard to fathom. I've always admired this Dublin team for the way they play the game but I do agree that they are becoming too formulaic, robotic and frankly uniteresting away from football. It's like they are in an army and have become institutionalised. They have become a team to be admired yet not loved. Mayo on the other hand, although they lost the match, won the hearts and minds of the public even more after last Sunday and I hope when the dust settles that they give it one last collective push to win an AI title.

Wooden reaction? Would you rather Jim Gavin ran on to the field and completely ignored Rockford? Would you rather they didn't commiserate with the Mayo lads? You say wooden I say respectful.

I presume Gavin has devoted countless hours over the last year to winning an AI title with Dublin and last Sunday was the culmination of all this work. The season was over, he could have been a bit more open in his interviews but instead it was like he was still reading from a pre prepared script. Cluxton the same. If you can't enjoy the moment after a long season then ultimately what is the point. It was almost like Monday was the first day of next season and he didn't want to let his guard down again. Don't get me wrong I admire Gavin and he has done a remarkable job but if they want to be a team that the public can really enjoy and relate to then there has to be room for a little self expression from his players. Instead they appear to be living in a bubble of over professionalism.

I can assure you that Dublin supporters are very happy with the way Dublin players and management present themselves. These lads are not circus ponies who should be expected to perform for the media whenever required.

Dublin supports prefer to focus on the magnificent achievements of their extraordinary team.

Dublin are not Melchester Rovers. They are something duller. If Carlsberg made boring it would be Cluxton.

As a Mayoman I want to distance myself from such catty and easily typed comments. Cluxton is clearly a super talented player but a reluctant public figure. Is he any less of a man for this? He deserves more respect than such trite comments for his inability to entertain you more. Grow the f**k up.

[none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams]

Ignoring the people who get paid for physio and other stuff around the senior team (no different than Mayo, Kerry, etc), none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams and mostly volunteer past players on Dublin development squads.

Geography and population, where we have big numbers and all live within a reasonably close area are the genuine advantages we have (as well as being the best run county board in the country). Our club game at senior level is better than most too. The work that goes in by players at the 16 top senior clubs is unreal, all training 3 /4 times a week, a generation of fitness fanatics with builds that Olympic swimmers would be proud of.

But it'll be 15 v 15 on Sunday (or 21 v 21 by the end), we can't play any more than anyone else, and it'll be a combination of the most talented and hardest working that prevails, and there's never been much between these two teams. And whichever team prevails, the begrudgers can go feck themselves.

So no county board part financed GDOs at Cuala etc have been involved in coaching likes of Con O'Callaghan?

100% correct. No GDO would have taken any underage hurling or football team Con was on at Cuala or in his school. It was always 2/3 parents. When Con was aged between 4 and 7, the GDO would have taken PE at school instead of the teacher for one class every two weeks or so to teach basic skills. These would be more focused at those lacking in skills rather than the likes of Con.

GDOs don't take teams but coach the coaches and take a few sessions implementing best practise and so on, they therefore have a big impact on all club players. Pointless paying out so much on them otherwise.

Just pointing out the inaccurate point that is highlighted above. 50 odd GDOs employed by Dublin county board not having any effect on players coming through would be ~€800,000/ annum poorly spent.

Some people seem to think that Dublin hire a myriad of Donie Buckleys and Mickey Hartes to train our elite players!

They're a bit like teachers. Some are really good, some really put heart and soul into improving the club they are in, and at the other end of the specturm you have the lazy fecks who do as little as possible and make an art of standing around looking busy. What they absolutely do is spread the word and increase the numbers going to GAA versus other sports. What they don't do is take the best players and make them better.

Do other counties not have "coach the coach" type sessions? Ridiculous if that's the case, and not Dublin's fault.

Fair dues to Dublin county board for financing so many GDOs and having their house in order. Financing full time employees to spread the games and improve coaching clearly raises level of club teams and individual players. This greatly increases the chances of county teams having better players. It's not the mammy and daddy coached teams of my youth that's for sure.

Well you should visit a Dublin club, and you'll be pleasanty surprised that it is actually the mammys and daddys doing all the work. The real problem is so many of those mammys and daddys are not Dubs but their sons and daughters are.

Unfortunately I know only too well .

GDO powered mammy and daddy central.

Good job!

[none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams]

Ignoring the people who get paid for physio and other stuff around the senior team (no different than Mayo, Kerry, etc), none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams and mostly volunteer past players on Dublin development squads.

Geography and population, where we have big numbers and all live within a reasonably close area are the genuine advantages we have (as well as being the best run county board in the country). Our club game at senior level is better than most too. The work that goes in by players at the 16 top senior clubs is unreal, all training 3 /4 times a week, a generation of fitness fanatics with builds that Olympic swimmers would be proud of.

But it'll be 15 v 15 on Sunday (or 21 v 21 by the end), we can't play any more than anyone else, and it'll be a combination of the most talented and hardest working that prevails, and there's never been much between these two teams. And whichever team prevails, the begrudgers can go feck themselves.

So no county board part financed GDOs at Cuala etc have been involved in coaching likes of Con O'Callaghan?

100% correct. No GDO would have taken any underage hurling or football team Con was on at Cuala or in his school. It was always 2/3 parents. When Con was aged between 4 and 7, the GDO would have taken PE at school instead of the teacher for one class every two weeks or so to teach basic skills. These would be more focused at those lacking in skills rather than the likes of Con.

GDOs don't take teams but coach the coaches and take a few sessions implementing best practise and so on, they therefore have a big impact on all club players. Pointless paying out so much on them otherwise.

Just pointing out the inaccurate point that is highlighted above. 50 odd GDOs employed by Dublin county board not having any effect on players coming through would be ~€800,000/ annum poorly spent.

Some people seem to think that Dublin hire a myriad of Donie Buckleys and Mickey Hartes to train our elite players!

They're a bit like teachers. Some are really good, some really put heart and soul into improving the club they are in, and at the other end of the specturm you have the lazy fecks who do as little as possible and make an art of standing around looking busy. What they absolutely do is spread the word and increase the numbers going to GAA versus other sports. What they don't do is take the best players and make them better.

Do other counties not have "coach the coach" type sessions? Ridiculous if that's the case, and not Dublin's fault.

Fair dues to Dublin county board for financing so many GDOs and having their house in order. Financing full time employees to spread the games and improve coaching clearly raises level of club teams and individual players. This greatly increases the chances of county teams having better players. It's not the mammy and daddy coached teams of my youth that's for sure.

[none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams]

Ignoring the people who get paid for physio and other stuff around the senior team (no different than Mayo, Kerry, etc), none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams and mostly volunteer past players on Dublin development squads.

Geography and population, where we have big numbers and all live within a reasonably close area are the genuine advantages we have (as well as being the best run county board in the country). Our club game at senior level is better than most too. The work that goes in by players at the 16 top senior clubs is unreal, all training 3 /4 times a week, a generation of fitness fanatics with builds that Olympic swimmers would be proud of.

But it'll be 15 v 15 on Sunday (or 21 v 21 by the end), we can't play any more than anyone else, and it'll be a combination of the most talented and hardest working that prevails, and there's never been much between these two teams. And whichever team prevails, the begrudgers can go feck themselves.

So no county board part financed GDOs at Cuala etc have been involved in coaching likes of Con O'Callaghan?

100% correct. No GDO would have taken any underage hurling or football team Con was on at Cuala or in his school. It was always 2/3 parents. When Con was aged between 4 and 7, the GDO would have taken PE at school instead of the teacher for one class every two weeks or so to teach basic skills. These would be more focused at those lacking in skills rather than the likes of Con.

GDOs don't take teams but coach the coaches and take a few sessions implementing best practise and so on, they therefore have a big impact on all club players. Pointless paying out so much on them otherwise.

Just pointing out the inaccurate point that is highlighted above. 50 odd GDOs employed by Dublin county board not having any effect on players coming through would be ~€800,000/ annum poorly spent.

[none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams]

Ignoring the people who get paid for physio and other stuff around the senior team (no different than Mayo, Kerry, etc), none of the Dublin players would have received coaching from paid coaches. It would all have been parents over underage club teams and mostly volunteer past players on Dublin development squads.

Geography and population, where we have big numbers and all live within a reasonably close area are the genuine advantages we have (as well as being the best run county board in the country). Our club game at senior level is better than most too. The work that goes in by players at the 16 top senior clubs is unreal, all training 3 /4 times a week, a generation of fitness fanatics with builds that Olympic swimmers would be proud of.

But it'll be 15 v 15 on Sunday (or 21 v 21 by the end), we can't play any more than anyone else, and it'll be a combination of the most talented and hardest working that prevails, and there's never been much between these two teams. And whichever team prevails, the begrudgers can go feck themselves.

So no county board part financed GDOs at Cuala etc have been involved in coaching likes of Con O'Callaghan?

I had a chuckle at this line in the linked balls.ie article in the OP:

"Tomás Meehan is the GAA's Chief Information Officer - he also won an All-Ireland with Galway in 1998 and an All-Ireland club title with Caltra in 2004. When you step inside the doors of Croke Park, presume everyone has an All-Ireland medal, even the person asking if you'd like milk with your coffee."

I wonder what were the chances that the best person for that role would have won Sam Maguire?

Quite high?

I'd say you are.

The Virgin Mary sure picks her spots to show up in. Where next, a bog in north Longford?

Yeah, or Cavan town.

No such thing as a friendly, drive it into the f**kers.

All publicity good publicity for Paddy Power and the like. Only praying done by them is the preying on gullible people with dreams of the big win and those with addiction issues. I put on the odd bet with my local betting shop, the same people in it regardless of when I drop in.

Do you not cast them out, those money lenders and their ilk?

Absolutely. Damn them to eternal purgatory.

All publicity good publicity for Paddy Power and the like. Only praying done by them is the preying on gullible people with dreams of the big win and those with addiction issues. I put on the odd bet with my local betting shop, the same people in it regardless of when I drop in.