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"Maybe we should ask that lad who does the etymology spot on Moncrieff's programme on Newstalk"


That's a sound suggestion, Hardy.
Terry Dolan is the guy in question and he is on on Mondays between 3pm and 3.30. Going by details on the website, listeners can text in to him and he will do his best to oblige.
Texting is not one of my stronger points, too many mistakes, too much bad language, so I'll chance sending Moncrieff an email as well before next Monday.

Mayo's name is the "Yew County".........as in Maigh Eo - Plain of the Yews............Have never heard of us being called  the "Maritime" or the "Heather" county.......I would also be extremely dubious that the word Culchie comes from Kiltimagh........

I have heard Mayo being referred to as the Moysiders and also as the Davitt County. Both terms were used extensively by the likes of Terry Reilly and others who wrote match reports in the Western People and the Connaught Telegraph in years gone by.
I would also be extremely dubious about the term "Culchie" deriving from the natives of Kiltimagh; it was supposed to have been coined in the period following the last World War when  British building sites were full of emigrants from the west of Ireland - for one thing the word was in common usage long before then!
More scholarly research says that the term is a corruption of the Irish words, "Cúl Tí", meaning the rear of the house and was applied to all rural people, who referred to going Cúl Tí when they wanted to answer a call of nature!

I think it makes sense to name an unchanged side.
By now Johnno must have some idea of his first choice personnel and of the style of play he wants them to adopt. One of the positives from last Sunday's match was the success of Jimmy Kilcullen and BJP in their new roles.  Another was the way the corner backs, O'Malley especially, were quick to scoop up loose ball when Kilcullen broke it down in his aerial tussles with Quirke.
He has made minimal positional changes involving Harte, Heaney and Andy Moran and I can see some logic in this switching about – I don't see a compelling reason to replace any of them. The full forward line was playing together as a unit for the first time and they need another chance to get their acts together.
I imagine he feels that the need for wholesale changes and tinkering about is over.

You would have to go with Mayo; they seem to have both the management and the players.
Still, I am quite surprised at the lack of votes for Galway. They certainly have the players to trouble anyone west of the Shannon and if they all strike form on May 20th. Mayo might be in for a nasty shock.
There just seems to be an ongoing degree  of unrest in the camp and maybe Ford won't be able to get the best out of them for the Championships.
Any team that Maughan manages will be both fit and disciplined but here too there seems to be some dissension in the ranks. Maughan just doesn't seem to have good man management skills; he never could draw from a full panel of top players during his spells with Mayo and he was effectively voted out by the players after one season with Fermanagh. At any rate, I think they will need at least another year to develop their full potential.
Sligo sources tell me that the side is coming along nicely and will prove a good test for any side they come up against in the summer but I doubt if they are developed enough to take Connacht this year.
Leitrim damn near shocked Mayo last season and any county that takes them for a soft touch could be very sorry indeed but I don't think they have the resources needed to progress out of Connacht.
So, I'm voting for Mayo but I'll feel a lot more confident after May 20th,   if they get past that obstacle successfully.

A win is always welcome and Mayo fans won't quibble at the result yesterday. I know Kerry showed evidence of lack of preparation and rustiness throughout the game and will be a far different proposition for any opposition they face in the months ahead.
Still, it was obvious they wanted to win and Mayo had to show a great degree of determination and mental resolve to finish in front and will have benefited greatly form the exercise.
A win went some way to laying the ghosts of that debacle last September whereas a loss, especially a bad one, could well have had a catastrophic effect on team morale if we should face the Kingdom again at a later part of the season.
A satisfactory win and a good start to the competitive season and nothing more than that.
The referee struck me as a decent sort of chap who probably didn't enjoy his task any more than the players did but the new directives to referees about personal fouls are ludicrous in the extreme..
Common sense will have to prevail or the League will disintegrate into a meaningless shambles with a spate of yellow and red cards ruining the coming rounds. The Donegal vs. Cork game was also badly affected by the referring directives; I don't know enough about the other game played yesterday but it won't surprise me in the least if complaints surface about the referring directives applied to those other matches also.
I honestly feel that Donaghy was harshly treated yesterday and his dismissal could well have had a bearing on the end result, although I doubt it as Mayo were in the ascendancy at the time and it came at an advanced stage of the game.  Mortimer's red card was issued on slightly more solid grounds but I still think it was a harsh decision.

Let's hope the directives are reviewed quickly as it's crazy to see the result of important matches being decided at a referee's whim.

The Sligo result was somewhat disappointing but things look somewhat better after the win over Roscommon. It's encouraging that some loose ends seem to be coming together.
Conroy, Campbell and Kilcoyne all seemed to have shown up prominently and should be pressing for inclusion when the season gets underway. It was interesting to see BJP tried out at number 6; alternating the position between Heaney and Padden shows that Johnno is anxious to resolve the problem there as quickly as possible.
IMO, the FB and CHB positions are the ones causing the most concern at present. The consensus from people who were at both games is that O'Malley had a good game against Roscommon but is too small and light for the challenges ahead. Kilcullen made a satisfactory debut against Sligo IT. It'll take another outing or two to assess his prospects but the signs are encouraging.
It was great also to see that Trevor and Austin were on top form- they will be needed for the hard road ahead.
It's good to see that already the team is taking on some sort of shape.

I come from east Mayo, where handball was the dominant sport when I was growing up. Every town and major crossroads had at least a three-wall alley and it was the favourite gathering place for boys and girls on Sunday afternoons. The vast majority of us played the game for recreation and there was little or no an organised structure or games of a competitive nature.
I moved to Dublin in the late 60s and more or less gravitated to Croke Park and the famous old stone alley. I played with the Naomh Padraig handball club for many years and I really enjoyed them all. I managed to win a couple of Dublin Intermediates in the mid 80s and played on the Senior League side for a good few seasons as well but was never motivated enough to take the game too seriously.
I would still, at 57, be playing away quite happily but about a decade ago I began to be troubled with arthritis and had to lay off playing.
I really loved the game and would recommend it to any one both as a means of staying fit and for the craic I always enjoyed as part of the Dublin handball scene.

C'mon, Santa, please bring us a full back tonight! 
Johnno has loads of options all around the field but we badly need a commanding figure at no. 3.
What would I give for Kevin Cahill right now!
As far as I can see we have plenty of good players about the place such as Navin, Howley and O'Malley, but none of them stands out as a tailor-made full back.
The three I've mentioned as well as several others I hear being considered for a place in the backs  are all good , mobile players, well able to pass and to link up but  don't seem right for the edge of the square.
I don't see anyone who can grab the ball in his mitts and break out with authority. David Brady did a fair emergency job when called upon but lacks both mobility and discipline. He has the bottle for the job okay but both years and temperament are not on his side. David Heaney is not the answer either.
I really can't see any member of last year's panel being able to do an adequate job there and I can only hope that Johnno does come up lucky when he assesses the new incoming panellists.
There are other positions too that need attention; we could do with a conventional full forward for starters but, IMO, we need to get the number three spot fixed.

This topic is already 8 pages long and may be good for another few yet if present indications are anything to go by.
I don't want too see anyone being denied a good discussion, or row or argy bargy or call it what you will but the subject matter currently under discussion has gone decidedly off-topic  since about the end of page two in fact..
What we are now getting is quite an able presentation by the main poster, Evil Genius, of how it feels to be both Irish and British simultaneously and of how he and others like him regard the GAA.
That may appear as over simplification but any reasonable person, on reading the last six pages of this thread, may very well come to the same conclusion.
The poll asks participants to indicate which of six options they like least and the second listed was the British Establishment. Now, this is a poll on a GAA board and the person setting the poll might reasonably infer that the vast majority of viewers would understand what is meant by the British Establishment and, in this context, it does have a pretty narrow, specific meaning. For starters it does not refer to the non-GAA ((loyalist) people of Northern Ireland.
When I think of the British Establishment I bring to mind Colonel Forde of Bloody Sunday fame or Maggie Thatcher and one could include much of the media and really the list is a long one.
My point is that most poll participants will immediately know the people I am referring to and I do say that this is what, or who, I had in mind when I picked the second option.
I do not think the poll was structured to represent an attack on the people of Northern Ireland who broadly share EG's point of view and I certainly have seen no evidence on this post or elsewhere that GAA followers, as a body, feels it can happily live without the interest of one million Irish people, who just don't happen to share their sporting interests.
I also don't feel that all loyalist people have the same developed sense of Britishness as EG does; I have stood shoulder to shoulder with good decent Irishmen, who also happened to be professed Orangemen, on the terraces of Landsdowne Road as Ireland faced up to the common enemy and I have heard them bawl out the words of the National Anthem too!
Really, I do have many sincere good friends in the North and apart from a period leading up to every Twalfth and in the days afterwards I never have sensed any appreciable change in their demeanour. 
I may be half-joking here but I am deadly serious when I say that many people who feel a sense of being British also have a sense of betrayal and insecurity, as if the protestations of loyalty no longer evoke the same sense of bonding and support it once did. Obviously I am not speaking for the whole of the loyalist people of Northern Ireland here but I do know enough of its rugby confraternity to say there is a case to be made.
I'd go further and state that many such people would blame the British Establishment for this and would share my view that the view from that quarter of all of us who share this island is one of studied indifference and condescension.
I'd gladly discuss this further buy in my view this is not the forum to do so.

1. Why your user name : Once told by a Yank watching TG4 that Lar Naparka was some hell of a player. (Lár na Páirce- geddit?)

2. Favourite all time game : Mayo v Dublin 2006
3. Favourite all time player from your county  : Willie Joe Padden
4. Favourite other poster on gaaboard.com. : Barney, Hardy. The list is really a long one.
5. Things you'd like to see change on the site. : Nothing to change. Like it the way it is.6. Player from another county you admire. : Bernard Brogan
7. Dual players. Should they be allowed do both (why/ why not) : Should be allowed It's an amateur game- they should be free to choose.
8. Dublin Hurling, IS there hope? I think so but it will take time.
9. Best Moment of the year? Mayov Dublin. Pure Magic!
10. Worst moment of the year? Mayo's next game.
11. Breasts or bum? Bum
12. Breaking ball or park live? Breaking Ball.
13. (Situation) Cork v Meath (if from Meath Cavan V Dublin) in an All-ireland final. You have to shout for one or your head will explode. What do you do? Meath
14. DJ Or Eoin Kelly : DJ
15. What  your own county needs to do to win Sam next year? Loads of self-belief and a touch of luck
16. How do you stop (legally, Meath lads) Kieran Donaghy : David Brady  or Franciei Bellew type player
17. Hopes for 2007. To join Sam for a holiday in Mayo
18. Who will win Sam in 2007.  Kerry or Tyrone
19. Who will win Liam in 2007. Galway
20. Your Gaaboard resolution for 2007. TO join in a bit more.

If I hadn't read the posts on this thread I wouldn't credit the way Frank Browne has been shafted by the county board.
He's been sacked for being too successful!
Really, this couldn't happen anywhere else other than Mayo;  after all Frank and his management team achieved last year , it's hard to credit that all he gets from the county board is the proverbial two-fingered salute!
What happens next?
Are the clubs planning a protest? What about the local media; has there been any reaction to the news?
Above all else, what is going to happen now?

I have no experience of |Tyrone club football but I'd say that the problem spreads far beyond Tyrone's borders. I wouldn't confine my criticism to referees either as I think many of the other officials as well could do with a change of attitude.
I wouldn't claim for a moment that all officials let their prejudices and opinions interfere with their control of games in hand  but I have seen enough to say that it does present a problem and it is a growing one.
Of course, they are not acting in isolation but are imbued with the approach of the clubs they belong to and, to me at any rate, the problem begins at club level.
I have been involved with football at Primary School level for almost 40 years and I can say that here the standards are being maintained and biased referring or dodgy umpire calls are not a factor, but the standards of supporters on the sidelines definitely can be.
Many kids from the school I have taught in play also for the local club and we have depended on this club for the use of playing pitches and help on occasion with coaching and the likes.. I know most schools in the Dublin area have the same type of relationship with clubs in their own areas.
I am saying that there is a world of difference between the standards schools expect and those operating at club level generally. Shouting profanities at the referee and urging one's own players to lay into the opposition is commonplace and roaring obscenities at opposing players is considered the height of wit.
I have been called a right narky bollix many times by fervent supporters of my local club whenever  I was reffing. It was considered downright unsporting for me to stop a game and order some parents and supporters to get off the field and moderate their language or to get the hell away from interfering with umpires or threatening opposing players.
The big problem with so many club games is that referees tend to be junior players themselves and so be vulnerable to influence from the sidelines. Given the example from there it is no wonder that many kids either get disenchanted with the game and drift away from the sport or else copy the attitudes of their elders.
Because of our school's relationship with the local club I have been involved in loads of blitzes, involving other Dublin clubs and at time clubs from other  counties as well and I do say that the problem is a widespread one.

Fionntamhnach, I wouldn't give up if I were you. If  you think you are doing the right thing stick at it!
Kids do look up to their mentors who have positive standards and they do need support to counteract the cynical approach from so many on the sidelines. Many young referees also benefit from positive encouragement from team mentors - God knows they get enough of the other sort from the crowd around them.

You are right about rugby;  I played it for many years and I did a lot of reffing also.
As a game and as a culture it may have its faults but, believe me, it leaves the GAA in it wake where sportsmanship and playing the game in the proper manner is concerned.

In Rugby the all important rule is number 8 in the ref's little rule book: "The referee shall be the sole judge of law and fact."
You may question his parentage or display your disapproval at his decisions but that's as far as it goes; you stay on the sideline as a supporter and as a player you don't actively argue with his decisions. The GAA has a lot of catching up to do!

As I come from Mayo I don't claim to know much about hurling, or about Antrim for that matter
However, I did see  some televised matches in the late 80s when Antrim hurling was good and I'd have to say that Cloot was as talented a lad as I have ever seen.
He'd have no problem walking onto any team in the land back then.
Kevin Cashman, who wrote for the Sunday Tribune put him on a par with Nicky English but I'd rate him even higher  as Cloot didn't have the same quality of players around to support him.  From what I have seen since f Ally Elliot I'd rate him highly also.
Mind you, Nially Patterson was another  I'll long remember , even if he wasn't in the same class as the other two but he was some colourful character.

I agree with venter's selection. The names he has chosen are obvious ones, it's the Xs I'd worry about.
Geraghty is too small and Heaney is too loose  for places in the full back line.
Heaney may be the obvious replacement for Jimmy Nallen and that would leave us with one corner back position to fill. David Brady did an admirable job on Donaghy  in the final but he'd have serious  mobility limitations  if playing there throughout the year.  I'd imagine that he will be best used as an impact sub in midfield.
Midfield really picks itself  and the four forwards venter selected  are the obvious front runners for their respective positions.  For the two remaining places I'd go with Kilcoyne and Austin O'Malley.
I know O'Malley is injury-prone but his  continuing failure to nail down a starting place on the team baffles me; I have seen him in action throughout the Dublin club championships and I feel that he'd be a definite addition, if fit, to any team in the land. This could be his year..
I don't know enough about the present form of O'Malley or Howley to comment on their chances of making the starting fifteen but sources closer to home tell me that they'll both be in active contention for a place in the full back line.
The above XV would represent a solid side for Johnno to begin with but there will be plenty of  competition for places on the side and that can only be good for the side. Really, there will be lots of adequate cover for most places on the field but finding an adequate solution for the numbers two and three berths will be critical.
Paddy Navin did play well for UCD this season but I don't think he is the finished article yet  while O'Malley lacks the height to be an authoritative  full back. The make up of the entire full back line will play a critical part in  determining our hopes for next year but it is also the most unsettled looking line of the whole side.
If Johnno can put together a functioning full back line I don't think that any problems that arise further outfield  will be too critical.
As regards the captaincy, I'd go with Peadar Gardiner; he has a proven track record with Cross. Trevor Mortimer is too injury-prone and also too petulant to lead by example, while David Heaney  probably won't be around for O'Mahony's full term.

Micheál Ó hEithir was once asked to name his most memorable slip of the tongue/gaffe and he replied that it referred to the Cork hurler, Alan Losty.
Alan had removed his boots and lost his hurley in a challenge but came out of the tussle with the ball in his hand.
In Ó hEithir  speak the incident was reported as, "And now it's Alan Losty. He's bootless, he's stickless but he's definitely not ball-less."