The battle of Aughrim

[Jinxy]

This was one of the lowest days in the history of the GAA. Laois, at the time had a team that was one of the most talented ever seen. Full of class, skill and beauty. They had an All Ireland in them but they were the victims of a vicious ambush.
Wicklow players came out to physically attack some of the greats of the game and they were let away with it by the Biffo ref and his assistants. In fact they only punished the Laois players who were defending their lives.
Then this ref Buckley says Laois were complacent and felt they only had to show up. Laois were 5 or 6 points up at half time, they were playing ball and well in control. The only reason they were beaten was because of Buckley and his linesmen, they let the animals in Wicklow away with murder.
The letter was from some thickos in Lilyland, they obviously were hoping that Buckley would go public with the letter earlier and tarnish the reputation of honourable Laois people. They weren't smart enough to post it in Laois though.
That day in Aughrim will forever be remembered as a black day for Gaelic Games. A crime against football.

It'd be just like them to do something like that.

[Donnellys Hollow]

This was one of the lowest days in the history of the GAA. Laois, at the time had a team that was one of the most talented ever seen. Full of class, skill and beauty. They had an All Ireland in them but they were the victims of a vicious ambush.
Wicklow players came out to physically attack some of the greats of the game and they were let away with it by the Biffo ref and his assistants. In fact they only punished the Laois players who were defending their lives.
Then this ref Buckley says Laois were complacent and felt they only had to show up. Laois were 5 or 6 points up at half time, they were playing ball and well in control. The only reason they were beaten was because of Buckley and his linesmen, they let the animals in Wicklow away with murder.
The letter was from some thickos in Lilyland, they obviously were hoping that Buckley would go public with the letter earlier and tarnish the reputation of honourable Laois people. They weren't smart enough to post it in Laois though.
That day in Aughrim will forever be remembered as a black day for Gaelic Games. A crime against football.

[Go home ref]

If that Laois team were so good why were they never heard from after that day?

[Wildweasel74]

That actually was a good laois team, but Meath reawakened round the same period and Laois slide away very quickly with Meath and Dublin coming to the fore in leinster. I have read about this game in detail, and is famously covered in book Classic football matches, i have to pull it out to revisit the breakdown of the match. Wicklow by all accounts were no angels that day!

[The Boy Wonder]

Good man Don't Matter, u sound exactly like Willie Brennan, bitter as f**k

Bad cess to you Mayo4Sam - Willie Brennan told it was it was. A quote from another forum :
"I was on the opposite side of the stand where Willie Brennan and Christy Maguire were playing and the treatment they were receiving was unbelievable. Willie was being targeted from the start for special treatment and the linesman was just looking at it happening.
At one stage his marker, Nick O'Neill spat the full contents of his nostrils straight into Willie's face as he went up for a ball straight in front of the linesman. A short time later another ball came in and as soon a Willie caught it Nick O'Neill pinned him to the ground, a scuffle broke out and both men were sent off."

I was there that day and my blood still boils at the memories of the off the ball stuff from a handful of Wicklow players that went unpunished. Laois were 6 up at half-time but then got sucked into retaliation and 3 forwards were sent off and another carried off after been taken out with a disgraceful tackle. Wicklow did have some fine footballers, notably Kevin O'Brien, who were able to get the key scores to win the game.

Different times back then - blackguards not black cards were the order of the day.

Laois had been knocking on the door for a few years - lost Leinster Final to Offaly in '81. In '85 they beat Meath by 10 points before losing by 3 to Dublin in Leinster Final (might have been different had our best forward Tom Prendergast been available). A good few of that team were reaching the end of their careers at that stage. It was our best team in my time following the county (better that 2003 Leinster-winning team in my opinion).

That defeat to Wicklow knocked the stuffing out of Laois - no backdoor back them. To lose in such a manner after winning the National League was pure heartbreak.

You will always get fellas who can't help sneering - doesn't matter that they don't have an inkling of how a game went. A number of years ago an Armagh poster was sneering at Sligo on the evening of a shock defeat in Connacht - the Sligo man responded by calling the offender "a steaming pile of horeshite".

[Jinxy]

Good man Don't Matter, u sound exactly like Willie Brennan, bitter as f**k

Bad cess to you Mayo4Sam - Willie Brennan told it was it was. A quote from another forum :
"I was on the opposite side of the stand where Willie Brennan and Christy Maguire were playing and the treatment they were receiving was unbelievable. Willie was being targeted from the start for special treatment and the linesman was just looking at it happening.
At one stage his marker, Nick O'Neill spat the full contents of his nostrils straight into Willie's face as he went up for a ball straight in front of the linesman. A short time later another ball came in and as soon a Willie caught it Nick O'Neill pinned him to the ground, a scuffle broke out and both men were sent off."

I was there that day and my blood still boils at the memories of the off the ball stuff from a handful of Wicklow players that went unpunished. Laois were 6 up at half-time but then got sucked into retaliation and 3 forwards were sent off and another carried off after been taken out with a disgraceful tackle. Wicklow did have some fine footballers, notably Kevin O'Brien, who were able to get the key scores to win the game.

Different times back then - blackguards not black cards were the order of the day.

Laois had been knocking on the door for a few years - lost Leinster Final to Offaly in '81. In '85 they beat Meath by 10 points before losing by 3 to Dublin in Leinster Final (might have been different had our best forward Tom Prendergast been available). A good few of that team were reaching the end of their careers at that stage. It was our best team in my time following the county (better that 2003 Leinster-winning team in my opinion).

That defeat to Wicklow knocked the stuffing out of Laois - no backdoor back them. To lose in such a manner after winning the National League was pure heartbreak.

You will always get fellas who can't help sneering - doesn't matter that they don't have an inkling of how a game went. A number of years ago an Armagh poster was sneering at Sligo on the evening of a shock defeat in Connacht - the Sligo man responded by calling the offender "a steaming pile of horeshite".

[magpie seanie]

Sounds familiar!

[Bord na Mona man]

Carthage Buckley also gave an account of this on RTE.
The first set of sendings off was a player from both sides for 'knocking lumps out of one another' in a fight - Nick O'Neill of Wicklow and Willie Brennan of Laois.
For the 2nd one, he said that the Wicklow corner back was spitting his teeth into his palm after being hit.
He reckoned the 3rd one (Tom Prendergast) was too near the end of the game to make much difference.

Obviously there was provocation and these skirmishes escalate, but when you have a Wicklow player losing teeth, it's hard to square this with the view that Laois were the innocent lambs in all of this.
Also, this game fed the wild Wicklow, Aughrim bearpit reputation, when ironically it was the away supporters who took to the field to have their go at the ref afterwards.

[AZOffaly]

fed the reputation, but didn't cause it!