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Suppose yer all in the pub watching this..

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Having just ordered fish and chips in a pub after a hard bloody day on the road. I get 3 gougons of fish and lettuce on a narrow wooden board, skinny fries in a steel bucket, tartare sauce in a dinky pot and chargrilled lemon. I am at tipping point. Can we not keep simple food simple or do we need to serve it on stones, boards, griddles, paddles and buckets. Ket. Bring back the humble plate.

 Well done both teams. Let the battle on the board commence.

Radio reported earlier that darragh o se was reappointed kerry under 21 manager ahead of pat Spillane.   What's the story?

Sometimes we take ourselves a little bit seriously.  This gives us a chance to have a wee laugh at ourselves and each other.... 
1) Puke football by Spillane (circa 2003).  this juvenile poor loser rant by Pat Spillane became currency for a generation and heralded in an era of dumbed down punditry.  Even those who laughed at the spur of the moment ravings of the professional wind up merchant eventually bought into it. 
2) Cost neutral - the organisational description of over half a million quids worth of fireworks that lit up Croke Park during the biggest recession in economic history.
3) Franchises - the inspiration for this thread, a Mayo footballer candidly gives advice on the best chance of winning all irelands for some counties...

Already 2 titles from the first 4 this decade with an average age of 20. Will Dublin be the team of the decade or who can stop their march?

Delighted to see the former Ulster president launch his campaign on the basis of putting club first and sorting the fixtures schedule for the silent majority of our members.   No longer can the vast majority of GAA playing members be treated as they are being.  In addition to that I think he needs to address the practices occurring in some counties now with youth players are putting their county training before club games and single minded managers appear to turn a blind eye if not presiding over this dislocation of loyalties.    Development squad routines, county minors and obviously seniors all steal from the talent that the clubs have brought through. These are the guys that will be looked to as leaders in their clubs and communities.   It has become obvious that our counties take the future stars away from the clubs in the same way that rival sports can.   I am of the school of thought that county players should be showing allegiance to their clubs as a prerequisite for breaking into representative football and be encouraged to be the leaders in their clubs for the good of their own and and their clubs future development.  Positive action to ensure the county player remains club focussed will only boost the attachment of the clubs to the county cause and club football continues to improve footballers development and improve natural skill levels in a less pressured environment.  This is the biggest challenge that the GAA faces as county boards wonder why they cant achieve fundraising targets from their people.  The attachment of player to club needs to be ring fenced and then representative football becomes an option if the talent is there and willing.   

Now this should be a cracker. Tyrone need to play more positively but have some great players as do mayo. It's a great feeling to be 1 of the 3 counties there on all Ireland day. Mayo will be favourites but as its a final we should bate them.

Just noticed someone mentioned Joe Mc Mahon on the all star thread.  Could he be the best player never to have won an all star?
Who else fits that bill? Aidan O Se?    Paul Mc Grane?

They say its 57 years since a mayo group won an all Ireland and that was a pipe band surely.  With men like the  o she's, handy andy Moran, and Conor Mortimer having hung up his sun in are mayo equipped with all the guns needed to shoot down the second greatest Kerry team in history, arguably the best Dublin team since heffo and a struggling pish poor Tyrone team who haven't a forward in kind. I want to see what they are made of and I'm 100% behind them. 

3 votes allowed

I see the PR department of the GAA earned its stripes yesterday by parading county footballers at the launch of hawkeye amidst a comment paraphrased as this will cost a large 6 figure sum.  In this age of austerity I see it as an unneccessary spending of GAA money - Id much rather an incentive scheme to bring kids to croke park was funded.  Anyway now that it is going to happen.

Just watching Galway v Roscommon highlights there pre under 21 semi finals. Galway scored a point that could have a claim to be the greatest  point of the modern era.

Well who do we want here?

I noticed this on another thread by this guy,  I hadnt see any of his stuff before, is there any other lesser known journalists that could be archived here. 

Mc Guinness takes the Guinness out of Donegal footballers. 
By Enda Kilkenny

Top footballers possibly, top drinkers definitely, that could have been the lazy description of any North west of Ireland team over the past 15 years.  But it consistently was applied to Donegal.  When an outstanding Cork team walked through them 3 seasons ago in Croke Park, the heavy defeat was attributed to the "party on, happy go lucky" attitude supposedly entrenched in the Donegal psychie.  People didnt question where Cork were going,(and they were heading for an All Ireland final) they questioned where Donegal had been.... at the weekend. The west of Ireland counties have always had the outsiders suspecting their party ethos.  If you start up in the North West, there was always a wild  party on leaked video from Derry before the big games.  Roscommon too notoriously were as wild as hares and not bad at Pool either, but we seemed to be credited with all the best party stories, perhaps unkindly so. 

Jimmy Mc Guinness by name by nature was the eternal student, a damn fine footballer, a Sigerson managers dream and a deep thinker on GAA.  Whilst the parties were ongoing Jimmy enjoyed his lot, but was prepared to think deeper into the ills of the Donegal game.  He needed to make some changes to the way we think about football in Donegal and the way outsiders think about football in Donegal.  He needed a master tactic, something which would shake the game to its very core in Donegal.

He banned the Guinness! 6 30AM training comes early on a weekday and you  cant have been home after 1 30 the night before to entertain the thought of it.  Take the supping out of Donegal and you see their other great strength... their football.
That ability of Donegal to focus on just one of their talents has brought the team on in leaps and bounds.  People laud the tactics, the defense and the work rate,and whilst these factors have their place, the inside story is that there will not be a drop of porter taken in the hills until its the 10 pinter Sam Maguire filled to the brim with it.  Now that'll be a party to be at!

How Can we win more medals. Look at the British model and take over a sport that no one else does. Realistically at athletics our legs and arms are too small. Options: get hurling and football played there. Eg beach volleyball and basketball for the us. They are what we are good at. 2) Yachting sailing, and square boat rowing( new sport). We are islanders after all.3) Fishing. 4) road bowls, they even had the London Olympic express lane cleared for this in London. 4) bring back poetry and art 4) bombing ( into pools of course) 4)winter Olympics snowballing. 4) hoovehagel ridin for Ireland. 4) an all Ireland team. Any more suggestions?

Next 5 years who's going to get their hands on Sam? Current top 4. I fancy cork to win 1 more sam. Donegal for 1. I think Tyrone will grab 1. Mayo will nab 1 and 1 from the dubs, leaves 1 left for either Kerry, a second for cork, Tipperary or Cavan based on their hard work at youth level

With poor joe brolly floundering as a pundit this week, who else over the years got it wrong on the box or in the paper for your county? I recall enda colleran suffering the ire of Tyrone fans in 86.  Colm o rourke having to munch on his straw hat and Spillane eating his words in 2008 and 05. What were the famous faux pas by the paid experts to do with your county?

Debate sprung up in the pub over a few pints the other night.  One client was comparing the Dubs All Ireland win to a "pop up shop" and claimed there would be no prospect of them lasting v long as all ireland champions.  Another chirped in and claimed that Armagh 2002 were the exact same, a team that popped up to win an all ireland with a mammoth second half against Kerry but who seized their moment and were unable to build on it and eventually sadly died away.  Both teams had undoubtedly put in huge years of work to get there but faded away soon after as the status quo returned to power.   Is the term "pop up shop" not too harsh to describe Armaghs win and surely too soon to describe the Dubs achievements?  Do these two teams not deserve great credit for winning the ultimate prize regardless of the state of their youth teams?