Reading boys

[bloody mary]

does anyone remember television pictures of Shane Long in the Tipperary shirt? he got 2-3 or something in the All Ireland minor final apparently. Did Doyle play any gaa, or for that matter Stephen Hunt (born Laois, brought up in Waterford)?

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Read somewhere Long played in 2 minor semis but was beaten both times

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Plenty of pics of Long here

http://www.sportsfile.com/fotoweb/Grid.fwx?columns=4&rows=5&folderid=5000&SF_GROUP1_BOOLEAN=and&SF_FIELD1_GROUP=1&SF_FIELD1=shane+long&SF_FIELD2=&x=0&y=0

[Goats Do Shave]

Seen an interview with Doyle. He reckoned he was a decent Footballer...could have provided a bit of help for Mattie Ford!

[WeeDonns]

Seen an interview with Long in one of the papers before an FA cup game a month or two ago.
He was asked if he was nervous about the prospect of playing in front of a full house. He replied with something along the lines of "No, sure I played in front of 70,000 in and AI Semi-Final when I was 16, and again the year after so its no big deal"

[scalder]

Doyle was a class footballer I'm told, played minor for Wexford, loves his hurling, his mother has All Ireland camoige medals as far as I know.

[bottlethrower7]

Long is a gifted hurler. I remember him playing minor a year before his time and he was the standout player for me on that Tipp team. I recall the semi (or final maybe) of that year (2003 I think) and he started wing-forward. Tipp moved him in full-forward and all of a sudden stopped winning their own puck-outs. Why they didn't move him back is beyond me. I remember him having a far more subdued season the following year. They played Dublin in a quarter-final in Carlow, and though they won comfortably, he didn't stand out at all. His loss to Tipp hurling is huge.

Incidently, if any of the Tipp lads are listening, young Eddie Carey looks a fair hurler too. Isn't he Mullinahone originally? He was savage on sunday. Maybe a bit light for an  inter-county senior midfielder, but surely hes as good as a lot of lads on the Tipp panel right now. I recall him playing (if its the same lad I'm thinking of) in the under-21 Dublin championship for DIT last year. Against my own club in the final he started corner-forward, but with number 8 on his back, I think because he was injured. Just as well for our lads because the little he did, he did with class.

[behind the wire]

read an article about long in the sunday times before he made his full preiership debut, they reckoned then he would be the next big thing for reading. apparently he was spotted playing for cork reserves when the reading scout was over having a look at doyle. seemed like a very down to earth fella, mentioned his mum alot (how he is grateful for the support she gave him) and also his love of hurling. in the article he told how he had brought the ash stick and small ball to reading training one day, steve coppell asked him how far he could hit the ball, so he showed him. he gave the rest of the lads a go but apparently most of them couldnt even hit the ball. just shows that you have to be brought up with hurling. he seems to appreciate and be proud of his gaa background. fair play to him.

[ludermor]

its a disgrace that all these lads have been lost to the GAA

[dublinfella]

its a disgrace that all these lads have been lost to the GAA

why? its not all, its just Long.

ulitimatly they decided they prefered to try their hands at soccer, they arent the first and they wont be the last. thats life. and how do you propose to counteract the £18,000 a week Doyle is on at Reading, nevermind the money Long and Doyle were on in the LOI?

[bloody mary]

What about the 4th lad, Alan Bennett from Cork, he signed only 5 weeks ago for Reading, hasn't been heard off yet but he must have been a gaa man, big lump apparently, centre-half

[dublinfella]

What about the 4th lad, Alan Bennett from Cork, he signed only 5 weeks ago for Reading, hasn't been heard off yet but he must have been a gaa man, big lump apparently, centre-half

AFAIK Long was the only one of the Reading Irish who played Gaelic Games. Precious few Irish pro soccer lads played a decent standard of GAa. Moran obviously, but the actual amount of players of note the GAA lose is few and far between.

[realredhandfan]

very unlikely a man would be able to do both alright. 

[darbyo]

Kevin Doyle also played Gaelic Football to a fairly high level, not sure if he played minor with Wexford or not but he played senior A schools with Good Counsel if I'm not mistaken and was tipped as a future county senior

[Hound]

its a disgrace that all these lads have been lost to the GAA

Do you propose to make GAA professional in order to keep the likes of these lads?