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What'd he do with the farm? Seems like a major change in lifestyle to me...

Aye, a game of good quality and great entertainment. Some of PJ and Meehan's passing (and score-taking) was a delight and Galway could have had a couple of more goals had Breathnach (not good enough for this level) and Mullahy (in good form) been sharper in their finishing. Gary Sice continues to impress, Eddie Hoare did fairly well on his big-game debut and there was a pleasing desire about Galway to win that was absent in a lot of days under Ford. The sideline, not for the first time this season, got the calls correct, e.g. Big Barry was introduced in the closing stages when Galway were losing midfield heavily and he did the simple thing of winning possession and giving the obvious pass. On the down side, Geraghty isn't good enough, nor is David Finnegan (yet), midfield went missing for a lot of the time and Matt Clancy continues to waste a lot of ball by not looking up immediately, in spite of his appetite for work. You have to wait a long time for Armstrong but he usually delivers a couple of scores. All in all, more positives than negatives after a match when, not for the first time, these two teams served up good stuff.

Interesting to hear the Bergin might not play.  He was the man I was worrying most about.

As a Galway follower, I worry a lot about him myself at times!

Again, great thanks, Laois. Dream has died for Galway lads, they left their comeback too late probably. They still have the footballers, who haven't a bad side.

Much appreciated Laois. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be going well for GMIT, for whom key forwards Andrew O'Shaughnessy (though he plays) and Conor Kavanagh were injury concerns. Canning, a lad who could have been in GMIT, seems to be doing a lot of damage.

Can anybody oblige please....?

One of the great mysteries of Gaelic football is why did Hanahoe have different colour togs than his teammates back then? Could never figure it out...

Don't mind O'Hailpin making pronouncements re: the strike etc. but how anyone can confuse him with being a great hurler is beyond me - great athlete yes - very moderate hurler, least accomplished of the Cork HB line by far.

Is he the least educated, most sartorially inelegant, most inarticulate major politician this county has ever had? Surely...

Pretty much any line from Casablanca, Some Like It Hot or The Usual Suspects ("Ever hear of a religious guy called John Paul?")

Most of The French Connection

Quint's Indianapolis speech in Jaws.

Harry Lime's Cuckoo clock extract from The Third Man

"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk"  - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

"I like Starrett but I'll kill him if I have to. You mean I'll kill him if you have to" - Shane.

Nor should there be a postponement either. That's what you have squads for. If the GAA are serious in adhering to a fixtures calendar then this issue should not be entertained. I notice that the hurlers aren't  looking for postponements despite being without the Portumna contingent.

Speaking of which, I see Loughnane had named his team for Sunday's opener v. Clare in good time. Good to see such as Damien Joyce and Andrew Keary getting a run again; I bet the team that's named really will start, barring injury!

This has now reached a very serious stage. It is of course the duty of all right-thinking GAA fans outside of Cork to see that this strike is prolonged and indeed exacerbated so that participation in the championship becomes unlikely. (Indeed if the unrest could also be fomented in counties such as Kerry and Kilkenny this would be a very good thing indeed.) The ultimate goal of this strike should be that Cork is weakened in all grades and at all levels for many years to come, thus increasing every other counties chances of success and saving all GAA fans the pain of having to put up with ridiculously-attired followers whining into their ears.

From todays tribune, would Laois and Galway lads agree with it?



Chances are, the next manager will have a lot of cleaning up to do in Laois, just as Liam Sammon will have to do in Galway. He's already begun and is making the right sounds. As an artist at the boot-to-ball game he's taken the county away from the hand-passing style of recent seasons and it's said he doesn't run a drill in training without the football. It's the style the players have been craving but it takes a single broom a long time to clean up a disaster zone Tick tock. February is not usually a time for pessimism but it could be a long 70 minutes and a long season ahead for two sides that have let a golden generation get away.

Galway really haven't had a golden generation since (unless the current crop of minors can constitute one). De Paor was correct when he said that 2001 was more-or-less the beginning of the end - the logical end to O'Mahoney's Senior reign came the following year when Kerry beat us rather easily and players like Mannion and Ja were never again able to exert the influence of old on the big stage. The U-21 victories, as I said at the time, should be viewed in isolation as they were the result more of strong individualism (mostly by Michael Meehan) rather than powerful teamwork.

Anyway, from my TV vantage point, Galway mixed the good with the bad yesterday ( Joe Bergin with his hot and cold performance was the epitome of this). I think you could see though early signs of the style Sammon wants to play with, gaining possession in the half-back line, working through midfield a bit and then a kick pass to the inside line. I'm not hopeful of Sammon's chances of success because I think the players aren't there, especially in  midfield / HF line, but yesterday wasn't a bad start.

Not as taken aback with 'No country..' as everyone else seems to be, must admit. It's very good, and has smoothed out some of the over-philosophizing that was in the book while remaining very accurate to it but there's very little in it that's different. It's very similar in many ways to Steve McQueen's The Getaway with Bardem cast in the Al Lettieri role (now there was a screen heavy); Bardem himself seems to have his lines heavily dubbed. (Expect the compressed-air cow-killer to feature in The Simpsons sometime soon.) Tommy Lee Jones is little more than a cipher in the film.

As for the Oscars, the big contest will probably be between No Country and There Will Be Blood for Best Picture, Atonement being the dark horse.

Director prize looks Coens all the way.

DDL looks a cert. for Best Actor, Viggo Mortensen's shades and M&S suit should have been nominated instead of himself.

Julie Christie is a strong favourite for a second Oscar (Best Actress), over 40 years after she won her first - has there ever been an interval of that length? Cate Blanchett has been nominated for being er... Cate Blanchett.

Bardem will probably take Supporting Actor from a very competitive field. Supporting Actress looks wide open, maybe have a flutter on Tilda Swinton as she's been around a while, always a help in these things.

Hard to look past the favourites in all of the above, in a ceremony that has been overshadowed somewhat by the Writer's strike.

Gerard would be best advised at concentrating on addressing his own deficiencies, of which there are a few. Particularly bad again last night I thought, wayward passing and shooting being his main contributions. Bad and all as Benyaououn was, at least he can hold the ball and is a bit more creative. Can't see Liverpool winning the Premiership until Gerard is sold, I gotta say.