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Quote from: thewobbler on September 14, 2015, 09:38:56 AM
Spending a year or two as a reserve / junior b football manager is one of those must-do jobs for any genuine Gael.
One week you'll have 35 players, and one of your first jobs is to weed out players who don't really want to play, or at least will agree to sit this one out. After all, can there be anything more demoralising in the world than not getting a jersey when stripping out at a reserve match? The look on those players' faces takes the form of a really murky red which is found somewhere between embarrassment and outright hatred for you. Especially if they've shown how keen they are by doing a full warm-up, while some of the starters still haven't got changed, and it's three minutes to throw-on.
The next week a dozen will show up - including two lads who make it abundantly clear that they have no interest in playing - and even though not one f**ker will answer his phone, even five minutes before throw-in you know it's still 50:50 that three lads might yet get out of bed and show up. But either way you're in nets, so you tell the lads who are there to sort themselves into some sort of formation, hope one of them notices that there are water bottles and a tap and that they can do something useful by bringing them together, then go and hit a few kick-outs while trying to remember how the name of thon eejit who never turns up is spelled as Gaeilge.
The right referee is vital. Ideally he'll also be hungover, be 40 yards away from the action at all times, but be clued in enough to know that apart from them three lads over there, and those two down there - who can go at it all they want - the rest of the players would prefer a non-contact game this morning, and frees are awarded accordingly. This sets the tone for the match, and players can apply the basic skills safe in the knowledge that they won't have an opponent cutting them in two. Everyone's happy.
The really savvy referee though will try to make it more entertaining for the five men in the crowd - each of whom said they were to old to strip out, though three of them actually only needed to be asked one more time - by judiciously awarding a penalty or two, just to see if everyone is awake, plus to create an opportunity to be called names, so he can dish out a yellow card or two. Keeps his fire burning too.
Penalties are always fun when there's no senior players on the field, and half a dozen players will put themselves forward before - in a scene straight out of the school yard - if the team psycho wants it, he gets it, and if he doesn't, he decides who does.
The actual result only matters if it's the first game of the season - big season ahead and all that - or if it's the last game or two of the season, and a win could mean getting through to a final, which ultimately means a guaranteed feed of pints... something which is worth investing an hour of blood, sweat and tears to secure.
When the final comes around, it's the only time in the year when you know who'll turn up. Except 37 players turn up including nine who promised they'd never play for you again after a previous embarrassment, and them fellas, plus those two lads who you've never seen before - "who's his da?" is a question pondered during the team selection process - will all expect some game time. You know there's going to be a lot of lads unhappy, so you do the only sensible thing... you pick these strongest team available so that you'll definitely win, while making sure your closest mates get a game, so that the craic later on is unfettered by awkward discussion.
Quote from: Mourne Rover on December 08, 2014, 01:23:44 PM
Behind The Wire, Martin O'Neill was the star of the St Malachy's side which won the 1970 MacRory and then lost the Hogan final to an injury time goal. He was also playing soccer with Distillery and won the Irish Cup with them in 1971. The notorious rule 27 ban on foreign sports was still in place, but it did not apply to schoolboys. However, when St Malachy's were due to play St Mary's in a big Belfast derby in the 1971 MacRory Cup, the Antrim County Board said Casement Park would not be available if O'Neill was involved. St Malachy's stood firm, the game was taken out of the city, possibly to Omagh, and St Mary's won. Rule 27 was deleted at the GAA's annual congress in Belfast later that year. O'Neill has subsequently said that the loss of the 1970 Hogan final was the biggest disappointment of his sporting career.
Quote from: NedFlanders on April 14, 2012, 09:47:14 AM
Was down an the An Riocht Banbridge game last night, decent game on poor field. An Riocht had to dig deep to come away with the points, Chris Killen hit 1-6 for us. Have to say though, Banbridge is a poor poor ground for football, has to be one the poorest in the county, spectators literally on the field with the players, making it near impossible for linesmen to give decisions, pathetic!!
