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The two helicopters flew directly over my house and I mean directly, noisy as f**k sounded like they needed a service.

Be thankful they weren't British Army ones with a snatch squad in them

Sean Boylan has never ran for office in Armagh as far as I know. I was of course referring to Cathal Boylan!

thought it was another fallout from the meath camp there!

Kerry were caught on the hop by an average Down team last year, a team that nearly won Sam. I can't see how that Kerry squad is not good enough and would fully expect them to be there come the business end.

funny that, it must always be the case that Kerry get caught on the hop by an average Down team seeing as they have never beat them 

And the relevance of the previous Down teams to the present one is

the relevance is they have the same record i.e. Kerry has never beat them - this talk of a lucky Down team and how they are avergae is irking me - an average team doesn't get beat by a point in any final

Plenty of Down lads on here reckon that an average/lucky team won the all-ireland in 2002. In fairness this summer will tell a tale of Downs place in the pecking order, its my belief they had it handy enough in the backdoor and punched above their weight in the final, Tyrone could have ate them alive but played within themselves and beat them in 2nd gear. But as i say we will see.

wouldn't agree with that, armagh were a good team and deserved it

Down have had plenty of good days against tyrone to don't forget and any team is allowed an off day - they learnt from that day and went on their run - it served tyrone well in 2008 when Down beat them in NEwry

Kerry were caught on the hop by an average Down team last year, a team that nearly won Sam. I can't see how that Kerry squad is not good enough and would fully expect them to be there come the business end.

funny that, it must always be the case that Kerry get caught on the hop by an average Down team seeing as they have never beat them 

And the relevance of the previous Down teams to the present one is

the relevance is they have the same record i.e. Kerry has never beat them - this talk of a lucky Down team and how they are avergae is irking me - an average team doesn't get beat by a point in any final

Lads it is symptomatic of the Pop Idol, Corrie watching Sun reading, Chelsea supporting(insert team), Indian takeaway eating attitude that has been evident in this country for years.  Lets have it out in the open, we lost our sense of Irishness, as a nation, a long, long time ago.  People spout off about the West Brit/Blueshit when someone disagrees with a republican viewpoint.  The reality is that unfortunately the notion of True Republicanism is long dead and lying in the Garden of Remembrance.  We all look East for a lot of our entertainment/news/jobs and we have become, understandibly so, very reliant on Britain.  This has gnawed away at our identity gradually and will continue to do so.  The one thing we have is the GAA and no one can really touch it or compare to it and perhaps it is the last bastion of "irishness", even more so than our own language. The concern though is even it seems to be losing its way as well with the gagging by the President against anyone else speaking about the QUeen's visit.  Freedom of speech so long as it doesn't offend I reckon in the last 15 years there are more native Polish speaking people in Ireland than there is Irish speaking. We have allowed our essence to de chipped away and in many ways the forelock tugging by the "great and good" of the last week has put a final nail in that coffin.

Nothing wrong with an Indian takeway. Would ye have us all eating bacon and cabbage everynight before the dance at the crossroads.

Hold on that's not what BCB is saying, he is pointing out that we have become completely anglicised in our thinking due to the saturation of British entertainment and media that we have to constantly face.

On a monday lads in work talk about soccer teams as if we were from those industrial towns in the north of England - e.g. if UTD scraped a win in the last minute i have heard ''you's were lucky last night'' - as if the person was at the game, a member of the club, a member of that local community etc

we have become an offshore island no different than the shetlands as far as i can see, that's BCB's point.

Old Ireland is dead and gone and it's gone that long it's too old to lament, ironic the day we realise this that Lizzie Windsor is standing at a statue of the Children of Lir.

Kerry were caught on the hop by an average Down team last year, a team that nearly won Sam. I can't see how that Kerry squad is not good enough and would fully expect them to be there come the business end.

funny that, it must always be the case that Kerry get caught on the hop by an average Down team seeing as they have never beat them 

Beaten by a point in the All-Ireland final is not an average team

Anyway Kerry will be there or thereabouts as usual I would say, i think they would have to win 3 games this year though if they are to win Munster is that correct? that would stand to them better i would have thought if they win Munster....

Would  totally agree with Nally Stand on this one . Many of my friends feel the exact same when this has arose in discussion. I am not a dinosaur or against moving on or whatever other title you wish to bestow upon six county nationalists whose only crime is that we want to be Irish and enjoy the same sense of freedom that our counterparts in the 26 have . We have made many compromises to hopefully acheive this aim some day.. We have moved on quite a lot. It may not happen in my generation but to hold high that ideal and make it possible someday is something that my father dreamed of I have and hopefully my children will. In the meantime we accept what the staus quo is at the moment. to that aim our only way of maintaining our identity is holding on to the culture that makes me feel Irish and keeps us together ie the GAA Irish language song dance etc.
The queens visit was again a divisive issue , for many in the 26 and some here to it's not a big deal. To us she is positioned as our Queen and we her loyal subjects . When she comes to the six counties she comes not as a foreign head of state but as a figure head ruler to visit her noble and loyal subjects of which whether I want it or not I am supposed to be one . All that was fought for meant nothing to us as we lost and you the 26 won. For her to recieve the accolades, the adulation the over celebrity like status is stomach churning . if thats what you call moving on thats fine it's certainly not a word I would use.

We in my area struggle to get our street names in Irish . We had our clubrooms burnt down twice withiin this past 10 years We didnt get any compo because the psni told us it wasnt a terrorist act because we couldnt prove that more than three people were involved. The council sent us a letter to complain about the flying of the tricolour at our matches and the letter was addressed to Mr Robert Emmett 16 **** road etc.Our church burnt to the ground 5 years ago by her loyal subjects. For us it is a struggle to be and maintain what many others take for granted. Times have improved and please god they will continue to improve but for the GAA or whoever to take the queen to Croke park when many of its patrons are denied the right to their national  identity in my opinion is wrong.
Having said that i would not be involved in any protest and certainly have nothing to do with the neanderthals that protested on the street but quietly register my protest and opinion if asked (which  wasnt ). i will continue to uphold my identity like many others whether the queen is here or not. AS I said life goes on

Great post. Couldn't agree more.

to be honest i think this 'gang up on Nally' mentality or anyone who dares object to the queen is disgusting. Especially the cheap dig at trying to corner him on the murder of a policeman when everyone knows his position. In fact that is absolutley rotten.

He doesn't agree with the Queen's visit, neither do I - i don't think the time is right yet but out of respect for democracy I am keeping my own counsel. She's not that big an event to me as she has come to Ireland many times, this is just one more to me.

But to try and vilify Nally because he has a stance is sickening and i despair for the future of Ireland where no one is allowed to object to something they don't agree with, are we returning to our role as serf's?

As Kevin Keegan (the Lurgan one) might say, I hope we bate the traitorous c***ts right out the gates of the Athletic Grounds for that alone.

wow wow wow - No one has proved Down were actually at it - if they were I am disgusted and it is not representative of the county

did hughie fall out with the new club in kileen that he founded?

i had 2600 in my head for the entire easter rising i.e. f**k all

is it just me or are Irishmen and Irish women pre programmed to have an inferiority complex.

We are near as sad as the Brits with their 'special relationship' status with the yanks, we are like a poor man version of that, always looking for approval from our master like a good wee puppy

we (as a nation) need a good boot up the hole - that's if any of our hole still exists after the constant rodgering from the Brits and the IMF

i think liam austin for down did too

[(North & Rep.)]

just wondering if anyone still thinks ireland is a neutral country? i cant help feeling that given the two state visits ie the queen of england and the president of the united states in quick succession that the country has been sucked into that powerpack that is at present policing the world. i cant get round the notion that things have changed for the worse and I'm  not thinking of money

World War 2 hundreds of thousands of Irishmen (North & Rep.) fought for the allies.
World War 2 British Planes were allowed to fly through a zone of Donegal between their base on Lough Erne and their missions in the Atlantic.
World War 2 Éire signs carried numbers to give coded directions to American planes on way to take part in D-Day.
World War 2 weather details sent from Mullet Peninsula to London for D-Day landings.
World War 2 Irish Consulate in Vatican used to spy on Mussolini and report back to the Allies.
World War 2 many British and other Allies pilots let escape and papers given to help escape back to Britain.
World War 2 Fire Brigades of Counties Dublin and Louth rush to the aid of Belfast during its air-raid bombings.
World War 2 German spies arrested by Gardaí.

Bullshite that we were neutral in World War 2.

i must have been off the day they taught there was a republic during WW2 

The answer is a resounding yes - The Edward Carson trophy is played for in the grounds of stormont for the poc fada competition and he was certainly a terrorist - so yes