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At what age did you go to your first GAA match ?
Who played in the match?
Do you remember anything about it ?
Who were the main figures involved in introducing you to the GAA ?
What was your first match in Croke Park ? 
Who were the first GAA players you were aware of ?
Is anyone else in your family as interested in GAA as you are ?
Did your indoctrination involve any bad-mouthing of soccer  or was it more ecumenical ?

Where are Finian Coone and Kerrill Wade in terms of the Galway senior team ?

what happened to him anyway? Did he retire? does he still write about hurling?

Reillers very few of the Cork side in 2005 would have been good enough to get on the current kilkenny model.

That's a bit over the top. I was at the 2006 final between the 2 and there was not much in it at the end. The Cork backs were breached in the end but they went mano a mano for most of the match.

Tom Kenny and the O'Connors on their day were unbeatable. 

[Whe're you at it now Seaf.?]




Paroiste Zurich again.
Cork could have been beaten in 2005 as well. Galway footballers would have won a final like that.

.

The Jackie Carson one I've never figured. Him and Hubert Rigney had some keen tussles, however it was Carson who cleaved Rigney with a stroke to the leg in 1999 and left Rigney on crutches for a few days. In the same game Carson also took the fingers off Kevin Martin, meaning he had dispatched 2/3s of the Offaly half back line to hospital.

[/quote]

I was at that match. I thought 3 Offaly fellas went off injured. It was unprecedented. God be with the days. 

I think the cats will do it. I wouldn't begrudge it to them. I mean, Tipp or Cork winning 5 in a row would be unbearable but the cats are different.   Imagine Reillers with the rebels on the verge of history. 

I don't really care anyway so long as Galway win the three in a row later in the decade 

I found this the other day, from 2004. how many of the KK minors made it up to senior?



All-Ireland MHC Final Replay/Galway 0-16 Kilkenny 1-12: Wow, if only all replays could recreate such brilliance. When Galway and Kilkenny drew so flamboyantly at Croke Park last Sunday the immediate fear was that the second act mightn't hold up. Instead it surpassed it, even better than the real thing. As the last word in the summer's hurling championship yesterday's minor replay was simply rousing.  It was at all times a game embodied by a will to win and to battle for survival and, most of all, by pure hurling skill. That Galway won by the narrowest of margins was undoubtedly dependent on their combination of all three. In the end it seemed they were the only team that could win.  With that they bring the All-Ireland minor title back west after a four-year absence - and for the sixth time in all. Not that they didn't need to win this one. But to say Galway's hurling future is secured for at least the foreseeable future is merely stating the obvious. They beat as good a minor Kilkenny team as you can get and did so with distinct verve and determination.  "Character," said Mattie Murphy when asked to assess what won it for Galway. The well-seasoned manager couldn't have found a better word. Kilkenny led for most of the first half and refused to lie down in the second but ultimately it was Galway's desire to be the best they could that won the day.
"We had plenty of opportunities to drop the head and we didn't," added Murphy. "And I tell you this much. Wait four or five years and we'll be heard of in the senior ranks too. They've also put a lot of pride back into Galway hurling, and for that we're eternally grateful."  Just like last Sunday, the game was played at machine-gun pace but without any sacrifice of precision or skill. Some of the scores were as good as you'll see at any level. To highlight just one case, the sidelines cuts of Galway's 15-year-old full forward Joe Canning were a wonder to behold. None seen in Croke Park this summer were any better.  "Nothing," said Murphy when asked what Galway did to make the difference from last Sunday. True their team-work and spirit were once again faultless, but a few tactical switches also became part of the mix. Keith Kilkenny for one came out of the defence and into the half-forward line and his influence on the game soared as time progressed.  "Sure, if you keep making enough decisions like that they'll eventually come right," Murphy added. David Kennedy was later repositioned from midfield to corner back and, with Gerard Mahon for company, did so much to quell the Kilkenny full-forward line, particularly Richie Hogan and Mathew Ruth. With Kerril Wade's free-taking a model of consistency and Kevin Hynes and Finian Coone completing a dominant half-forward line, Galway had the greater share of talent in key areas. This might suggest they largely had things under control. Far from it.
Kilkenny in fact were three points up after 10 minutes, the main damage coming with Eoin Guinan's goal on nine minutes. He met Richie Hogan's sideline with prefect precision and left the two-time champions 1-3 to 0-3 in front. Not that Galway had started badly, with both Canning and Coone collecting scores inside the opening 90 seconds.  Despite the setback of conceding the goal and also having one disallowed because of a square ball, Galway tore into their opponents with unrelenting drive. In the closing segment of the first half two more superb placed-balls from Canning and a stunning 80-metre free from Wade brought Galway level in time for the turnaround - 1-6 to 0-9 - and it was no less than they deserved.  There had been the standard 15-minute delay at the start for reasons of crowd control and, incredibly, they were still pouring in at half-time. By then the number had swelled to around 10,000 and no one would have contemplated leaving early such was the ferocity of the pace throughout the second half.
Later, when all was said and done, the Kilkenny manager Br Damien Brennan said Galway simply produced a super-human effort in the first 10 minutes of the second half that ultimately won them the match. Like Murphy's assessment, he was spot on.  First came a fourth beautiful free from Wade, then a huge point by Hynes, and it was finished off with another Wade free. All within six minutes. Galway had pulled three points clear and that established the impetus to drive them home.  And yet with the clock on its knees the game was still there for the taking. Neal Prendergast sent over a majestic point straight from a Galway puck-out on 55 minutes, and on the hour Maurice Nolan's free brought them within a point. One minute 45 seconds later it was all over.
"We just said at half-time we'd give it 30 minutes of everything," said Galway's captain and brilliant centre back John Lee. "And we deserved to win this, because we worked like no other. Things didn't go too well in the first half, but you just know when the team has spirit like this it will come back against any odds."
GALWAY: M Herlihy; P Loughnane, G Mahon, C O'Donovan; M Ryan, J Lee, J Hughes; A Keary, D Kennedy; K Kilkenny (0-1), K Hynes (0-2), F Coone (0-2); K Wade (0-7, six frees), J Canning (0-4, two sidelines, one free), B Hanley. Subs: D White for Ryan (22 mins).
KILKENNY: L Tierney; J Maher, K Joyce, P Cahill; N Prendergast (0-1), R Maher, S Prendergast; P Hartley, P Hogan (0-3, two frees, one 65); G Nolan, M Nolan (0-4, three frees), N Kenny; R Hogan (0-1), E Guinan (1-1), M Ruth (0-1). Subs: E O'Donoghue (0-1) for Kenny (48 mins).  Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).

Waterford did hurling a disservice last year by beating Galway with a last minute point. I think this year galway should be improved on last year and they'll probably meet KK in Leinster . Now is the year to beat them. Galway have a reasonable track record in this regard.  2005 was one example. 2001 another. 

Train booked for March 17 and lower Cusack tickets in hand!

Double check the date, Tony. You know your history on this.

I wonder where AIB get the money to sponsor the tournament.

Mayo for another quarter final exit following in-county mass hysteria during month of July

This was on the board in 2004

My sister took an English relation to a club game of ours many years ago.  During the course of the game, when things weren't going too  well for one of our corner backs, a woman in the crowd was shouting:

>     "Take that useless c**t off, he's good for nothing". >     Needless to say, the English relation was horrified at such a  remark  and tried to reason with the lady saying:  "There's no need for  that language, I'm sure you wouldn't like someone saying those things  about your son,"  to which she replied:  "sure, the useless c**t is my son!"

     **************************

I was at an Armagh match in the early  90s with a neighbour of mine who's loud by nature but is particularly vocal at matches (a bit rough  around the edges you might say). Anyway, he took particular umbrage at one particular Armagh player who wasn't having a great game.  At one stage he shouts out the  name of the player and roars:  "if they won't take you off, for f**ks sake, walk off!"

       *****************************

At a reserve game in Co. Derry, one team who had only the bare fifteen trotted off at the break getting pretty badly beaten.  Francie the full forward was having a nightmare.... here is part of the half time

talk:

   Manager:  "Francie, you're coming off."

   Francie:  "but we only have the bare 15."

   [short  pause]

   Manager:  "come off anyway."

____________________________
     At a minor league game a couple of years ago, our manager was giving >     the usual f**king and blindin' to us when a spectator said to him  over the fence:

  "Don't be so ignorant....(short pause).... ye big fat f**ker ye."

>     ************************************

Nice Tipperary one.    Workmates console Eddie Tucker after Tipp
are demolished by Clare and he's had a bad day:  "don't worry about it
   Eddie, it wasn't your fault, it's the fecin eejits that picked ya."

  *************************************

  Another classic I've been told involves the Ballygar-St. Brendan's
      hurling club in Galway where a major dispute reared its head at
the AGM.  The chairman is reportedly a straight-talking bachelor of
questionable diplomacy.  Amidst the row, a newly appointed priest
took the floor commenting on how the GAA should be a focal point for the 2
parishes, not a source of argument.  He continued on about how
veryone should pull together for the good of the club and see the club as a
unifying force.  The chairman stood up and said:  "Thanks a lot for
that now Father, but that's the kind of talk that sickens my  hole."

When the 12th imam comes back to earth to lead the Shia  he will be accompanied by a manager for Mayo who will
bring the county to the promised land.

Paidi O'Se told us he is that man!

This is gas

http://tigerwoodsisgod.com/blog/index.php/evidence-of-tigers-divinity/

What was entirely unexpected was the rise of arch rivals Tyrone and the rise again and again of Tyrone to the point where they became joint team of the decade. That really must have hurt considering that Armagh had a head start.