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He also works for RTE and appears to make a tidy living out of  GAA coverage himself. I would give his article more credibility if he donated his fee to a worthwhile cause every week.

Joe makes a tidy living out of being a very successful barrister. This is his pocket money.
Do you give credibility to any piece you read in a newspaper, magazine or online? Or maybe they should all give their wages to charity.
What about the full time GAA employees- wages to charity too?
In your world who picks the worthwhile cause?

Which intercounty games would you rate as the most memorable you have ever seen (in which your county did not participate )

As we are about to start the season proper this weekend, I thought that a few crackers from the past may just get the juices flowing for the weekend.

Kerry Offaly AIF 1982
Dublin Kerry AIQF 2001
Mayo Dublin AISF 2006
Kerry Dublin AIF 1977

All righty then- in the spirit of the film and music threads- but without the stylish commentary. All suggestions for the best game ever that your county wasn't involved in are welcome until Tuesday Feb 6th at midnight. Then we'll list the top 25 and get you to rank them 1 through 5 and then post the results, and hopefully get a few you tube links in there too.

Is it to compicated. You should just be able to pick a winner or a draw istead of having to add all the 1/2 pts and so on.

Are you kidding me?
maybe you should go try the disney discussion forum

would Mayo count as a surprise team?

armagh vs mayo tyrone vs cork semis, with mayo beating tyrone in one of the great AI finals. CMD as man of the match with Brian McGuigan running him very close for it. 2007 to go down as one of the best years for football in a long long time.

And?

I'm sure this email is doing the rounds but as it is the season for it:


1st Night Back Training

After a players meeting held the Saturday night before, where all the talk is about the lads given up the drink for the whole year & lads never missing a training session, your approach this year renewed hope that it would be different than the shambles that was last year.

You arrive in the door from work & forget that you've training in 2 hours time & eat the dinner, followed by tea & whatever biscuits are still left in the tin of USA biscuits from the Christmas.

No sooner do you stand up from the table than you remember you've to head down to training, your brain hits overdrive as you try to think of an injury that you possibly could have...that you only sustained in the last 48hrs, because as you explained to the players in the smoking room in the local pub on Saturday night, you've never felt in better shape. Jesus that was some session though Saturday night.

You decide that you better head down to training (sure it might not be too bad after all its the 1st night back & the manager won't want to torture ye...after all the players had no respect for him last year, maybe he'll go easy on you tonight while the other lads are running laps). You grab the jacket & the gear bag & head for the door. You remember your going without the fags, but you reckon your better off not bringing them, after all you told the lads you were off them!!!

You pull in to the pitch & see lads sitting in cars looking out at some lad whose setting out cones all round the field, you decide to head in to the dressing room, show the lads how serious you are!!!

You wander in & find the manager & 3 selectors standing there chatting...but if there in here, then whose out there putting down the cones. They explain that they've got an army lad in for the next 2 months to get ye in good shape...you feel the spuds churning in your stomach...something tells you, you'll see them again before the nights out.

You break out the brand new gear & a few lads admire the new Puma boots you bought, €180 you inform them...there also the same 1's Ciarian Whelan & Munnelly wear. You check the cogs, which look like something NASA came up with, but you reckon it'll give you that extra yard in training.

You chat to the same lads that you only spoke to last year, the same lads who arrived late last year, are arriving late as you head out the dressing room door & into the bitterly cold January night air, it most definately wasn't this cold earlier on.

You run on to the pitch & survey the cones laid out, its hard to know exactly what sort of football drills this lad is likely to be using here...you then notice that there's actually not an O'Neills football in sight. Your run slows down to a jog, then to a walk...no point over doing it yet!!!

Training starts at 8, although its 8.15 & lads are still coming out on to the field...little do they realise that everytime a lad comes after 8 your trainer adds on an extra lap to be run at the end of training by everyone.

You start off training by running aimlessly over & back across the field...every now & again the trainer shouts for ye to sprint...but your already at full tilt to stay with them as it is. After 10-15 mins of agony ye stop for stretching, this apparently was only the warm up...

After you've finished stretching ye proceed to run around the field for what seems an eternity, but what the trainer informs you has only been 12 mins!!! At this stage your lungs are killing you & you regret ever taking up smoking 40 a day, & your dinner is slowly working its way back up your stomach!!!

Your also well sick of the county minor player lapping you on these runs...who does he think he is? It comforts you a huge amount when you discover that he's recently been dropped off the panel, yet still trained tonight in the gear that you know his mother went out & bought him!!!

Another 45 mins of running laps, sprints, shuttle runs, sit ups, push ups, & more laps, the trainer says 1 final lap to finish up. This is your moment to shine. You decide to hit the front early & set the pace...you go full pelt...you feel fitter, faster & stronger than ever before. You might have died for the last hour & a half or so but now your going to show them.

40 yards in to the run...you hit your 10th brick wall of the night & lads coast out by you, you try to stay going, but every step feels like a knife in the chest. Finally you give up & walk the last half a lap, where the other lads are just finished stretching!!! You try & stretch but your 2 legs feel like 2 concrete pillars so you decide there's no point & head in to the dressing room...a hot shower is just what you need!!!

You greeted at the door by the Chairman who informs ye all that no one turned on the boiler for the showers so there's no hot water in it!!! You throw on the clothes & scab a cigeratte off 1 of the lads before you get in the car to drive home.

As you drive home, you thank god your the only goalie in the club, they won't see you at training again till mid March!!!

was there too- apparently there was football on the 2nd day as well- we were going to go but we forgot...

ahem- your Honour I have no further comment to make on this matter

I thought leaving it at Mullaghbawn would be sufficient, those who know- know, those who don't - don't
but yes 

Do shebeen's count?
if so I'd like to nominate one in Mullaghbawn just for its soda bread and roaring fire

Lads and lasses,
anyone know if the Fort Lauderdale 7s is on this year- anyone have details?
I see below March 10th is mentioned- is that confirmed?
Thanks

I have a question
why do you think that you are the one person on the board that should be called itgeek- quantify your geekiness for us so that the board can decide

Mc Keevers, a little bit of Ballyhegan in Portadown

it must be true- even Tony is posting in the GAA section now, and not an anti Tyrone/ Down reference in sight.

9 times out of 10 you'd be right Tony- however as we have had to go so far as to advertise a number of one off exemptions have been granted.

The surnames Marley, Hughes, McAtarsney and Morgan have been declared acceptable in their own right.
Families that have been in the parish for more than 200 years may have one applicant per family  (multiple applications rule out the entire family plus in laws)
residents of the Mullavilly side of the parish may not apply
4th Generation families may apply if condition a) or b) is met
a) married inside the parish consistently
b) married outside the parish to a noted footballing family for the betterment of the Davitts

The committee has not allowed any concession on point 2 or 3. an additional criteria has been added. The successful applicant must be able to name and date at least one instance when Ballyhegan finished a game with more than 13 players during the period 1970 to 1978. Manager must have attended the "old school" or remember it when it was a school. We also stipulate that the manager must hold a grudge against the county board as to why the 1961 junior final was played despite a death in the parish ruling out 4 of our starting 15. Also Noel Marley was the most skillful player in the '77 squad- no question.

Additionally Flower exporters, hauliers, publicans, hauliers, mushroom growers and hauliers may apply.

Finally the committee would like to state that "Blow ins are not welcome" this has no relevance to the managers position- its just a general statement

Is anyone else relieved that football has started in earnest so that we can drop into the GAA discussion site first?
For a while there we had more sane discussion on the dark side and all of the numpties were over here

I feel as if all is well with the world again- mostly