Darren Fay & Graham Geraghty........

[lynchbhoy]

What was wrong with him as a full back, lb?

not sure of all the games that he was exposed, but he was not as agile as some of the top full backs (hargan) or as good a reader at full back as others ( lyons) but against Galway when the tribesmen spread the defense he was exposed and his lack of ability to mark fast turning full forwards helped towards meaths destruction. Same happend in a game v kerry although I cant rem where or when.
further out the field you would see his stronger running , that didnt have the confines of the FB line with no margin for error.

Meath were extremely lucky that their strong defensive structure sheltered Fay at FB and also that many teams never recognised that he was as vulnerable and his reputation def stopped them going for him.
Prob a lot to do with having that great strategy and other superb players around more so than just luck !

At CHB Fay was like harnan (not quite as dirty but along the same lines) but Fay was more athletic and a far better ball player.
IMO if meath could have found a suitable replacement at FB they would have won more AI's in the 90's - Fay was just that good as a player and platform at chb. The best I ever marked in Meath football anyhow.

[Yes I Would]

They just dont make them like they used to!
Two legends of the game who werent afraid to mix it if needed.

Remember a youthful Geraghty giving the super talented Marsden a torrid time from wing half back in Croker back in 94, think it was National League. Great character.
Met Fay through work on a couple of occasions few years ago. Complete gentleman, who gave his absolute all every time he took the field.

[ONeill]

Good luck to the both of them. Geraghty broke our hearts in '96 and '07. A great point scorer from what Canning calls 'impossible angles'. Probably a good time to move on.

Tankie behave yourself, or else I'll have to ban you.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

we'd be certainly open for getting communication from solicitors on the subject, were we to take no action.
Believe me, we've received such contact for lesser topics before, hence the rule about people's personal lives, and any attempt to blacken their name on here.

Is there any case precedence for such action against a message board?
By the very nature of a public forum, it has to be accepted that at any given point in time libelous material might appear on the site. That being held as true, surely the message board hosting entity can only be deemed complicit by failure to comply with some notional service level agreement - remove offensive posts within reasonable timeframes etc.. Would anyone actually want to take action on such subjective grounds? 'GAA Board don't employ the full time resources to remove Mr x's post....'
In the GAA Board's case, who would charges be raised against? I understood it to be a collection of unrelated volunteers moderating this site on a part time basis - can they really be held accountable for John from Longford's published musings on David Beckham's sexuality?

I seem to remember an Australian cricket player sue (and win the case) a message board over allegations that were made about him on there

[ONeill]

But who coughs up? Surely this is a grey area.

[stevecw]

Really sorry to see these 2 greats of the last few years pack it in. But with Geraghty, i wouldnt put in past him to turn up again next May or June in a Meath shirt!
Fay has been a quality full back for over a decade. I remember his debut all too well as a Carlow man.
That was the Leinster qf in 1996 where Meath were in transition handing out 5 debuts, to a few guys who would prove to be greats such as Fay..but at the time nobody knew. Carlow went into that game after hammering Wexford & Wicklow scoring 8-33 or something crazy like that from the 2 games backboned by the great Eire Og club at that time. We went in full of confidence expecting to beat Meath, most of the papers predictions that day agreed.
But oh jesus they made a show of us, ended up 0-24 to 0-08, Fay completely nullified Colm Hayden who had destroyed every full back he has ever come up against club or county up to then. Fay on his debut held Hayden scoreless.
I remember my uncle clever man after that game put money on Meath to win All Ireland, i forget the odds but he won a fortune.
That day Fay started out & its sad to see him bow out 12 years later on such a low note. Deserved better.

[Declan]

Good luck to the two of them. Fine footballers both of them

[agorm]

I remember going that day to the Carlow game, being behind the Meath team on the way and they were in a minibus and a lot of people reckoned Carlow would take us. 2 modern day Meath legends and its hard to top what has been said about these over the years.

I am not sure if people remember the 2001 demolition of Kerry - Darren was man of the match that day as far as I recall. I wonder will we ever have his ilk again? Graham was one player that excelled in the half back line, half forward line and full forward line. I remember him as a minor at CHB and then getting motm for outstanding wing back displays against the dubs. He seamlessly switched to the forwards and this is wher his talent shone. We all know he is a player that the opposition loves to hate. The worrying thing is that after he goes we have noone that the Dubs or other counties "hate"!!

[Mike Sheehy]

I am not sure if people remember the 2001 demolition of Kerry

No idea what you are referring to. Given the current climate I think I could sue you for starting such a libelous rumour. 


.....two great players, pity they had to go out on a low note but, sure, thats the way it goes. They have plenty of good days to make up for it.

[stephenite]

If there was one player that I wanted Mayo to have over the last 12 years it would be Graham Geraghty

[feetofflames]

FFS give the lad a compliment.  Ive sat in countless  Ai finals where Mayo could have done with AN Other!!

[Tankie]

Tankie behave yourself, or else I'll have to ban you.

Sorry MOD! i do think you were a bit harsh banning Gnevin for life tho O'Neill!

[rrhf]

Theres obviously been a few bad comments on here and its terrible the old adage that if you cant say nothing good about the guy say nothing.  Well I would go as far as to say as if you cant say nothing good about these guys you know fCuk all about football.  If we dont applaud double all ireland winners and ex captains then we have all become too cynical.  Geraghty was Meaths panto villain but he was also a fabulous football talent and a model for GAA athletic conditioning long before Tyrone and Armagh brought fitness standards to a new level.  What non winners dont appreciate is that when you cross the white line it often has to be war out there in order to succeed and sometimes you commit war crimes, but when you cross back over the line then its over.   Geraghty was a winner and despite his skills his athleticism to me his greatest quality was his ambition to get back up there with Meath when he had so many chances to quit over the years, and indeed times were bad - he persevered to bring Meath back up there - ultimately its now somebody elses battle to fight.   How could you judge GG if you dont know him personally as is the case of 99 % of the guys you watch on TV or at matches so try not to judge anyone on anything but their football skills.  Geraghty had them in spades. 

[RedandGreenSniper]

I'll always remember the job Fay did on John Casey (who was possibly on the way to Player of the Year) in the 1996 final, a real classy full-back - the best I've seen since I started following GAA as a young lad in the late 80's.

As for Geraghty, well he was something else. Capable of plenty of black marks but you couldn't take your eyes off a Meath game if he was playing because he was capable, and still is, of sublime pieces of football.

He's up there with Ciaran McDonald for being a player who is worth the entrance fee along.

Congrats on being two of the greats of the modern game lads

[uimhir a cuig]

Fay a great full back, Geraghty would get on the All Time XV in my opinion. Or at the very least on the bench.  Good luck lads, thanks for the great entertainment you provided.  You deserved a better end than what Saturday night yielded.