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Post by kerrygold on Mar 29, 2015 10:17:15 GMT
Now that official summer time has arrived, the League Final and Augusta Masters are around the corner..............
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Post by kerrygold on Mar 29, 2015 10:18:17 GMT
Joe Brolly: Players must reclaim their lives
29/03/2015
‘On any objective analysis, this deliberate humiliation of a fellow human being is outrageous, demanding a swift and forceful response. Yet, the Clare County Board turned a blind eye’
I was a boarding school boy in St Pat’s Armagh. When I was about 13, Fr Fergus Kelly, Dean of Discipline, presided over a solemn ceremony where me and my classmates signed contracts agreeing not to drink alcohol. When we got out of the room, Finbar McGrath, me and a few others tore up the enforced pledges and dropped them into the bin.
At around 9.0 that night, after study, I was called to the dean’s office. A few of the lads came up with me and waited round the corner. I knocked the door. Fr Kelly opened it and I followed him in, feeling sick.
“Do you know why you’re here child?” he said.
“No father.”
He held out the scraps of my pledge in one hand and hit me hard in the face with the other, knocking me to the ground. On my hands and knees, I could see the blood spurting from my nose onto the floor.
“Look what you’ve made me do child,” he said.
I haven’t been a fan of drink bans since.
For a culture of oppression to flourish, isolation and control are essential. Since both of these elements are present in modern senior inter-county squads, it can be easy for coaches to cross the line, unless there is a strong player protection system in place. Yet the GPA, who are specifically entrusted with player welfare by the GAA, are doing nothing to tackle the problem.
After an article I wrote some time ago on this issue, one player, who was suspected of having given me inside information, was targeted for special treatment at county training. He was hit hard and late and subjected to verbal abuse. The following week he was wheeled out to do a press interview where he praised the training and his manager. Like the American hostage in Iraq lauding his captors.
In the wake of that column, several current county footballers contacted me. They described a culture within their county squads of control and fear. As footballers, they are being micro-managed. They described how rehearsal and repetition has made the game joyless. Worse, their lives are being micro-managed. They are constantly tired. They suffer from dreadful boredom. One said that he would feel guilty if he socialised. It was easier not to.
Every one of them talked about the pressure to win and the fact that their real lives were deemed to be irrelevant. In each case, I asked whether they wanted to go public. In each case, they declined. They did not want to appear disloyal or provoke the hostility of team-mates or management.
Servile contracts are rapidly becoming the norm. A month ago, when Clare senior hurlers Davy O’Halloran and Nicky O’Connell were “caught” socialising in the town (not drinking) four days before a National League game, they were deemed by management to have breached their “behaviour contracts”. They were given a three-week punishment. They were denied access to the team changing rooms and forced to tog out elsewhere. They were banned from wearing the panel’s gear to training. They were barred from being involved in matches or travelling to them. They were segregated from their team-mates at training and forced to undergo intensive physical training in a corner of the pitch. They were barred from talking with other team-mates at sessions.
On any objective analysis, this deliberate humiliation of a fellow human being is outrageous, demanding a swift and forceful response. If it happened in a workplace or a school, the culprit would be summarily sacked. Yet, the Clare County Board, underlining the power of the modern manager, turned a blind eye. The GPA announced an “urgent investigation”, then two weeks later announced that they were not launching an investigation. They are, as my father is wont to say, as useless as tits on a goose.
Many commentators, among them Kilkenny legend and RTé pundit Eddie Brennan, have expressed disappointment that Fitzgerald, who revealed a few years ago he was the victim of prolonged bullying as a boy, could be running such an oppressive regime. Yet there is a large body of psychological evidence that people who have themselves been victims can often become trapped in a cycle. In his landmark paper ‘Coaching abuse — the dirty not so little secret in sport’, the eminent American sports psychologist Alan Goldberg defines an “abusive coach” as (amongst other things), “one who regularly uses public embarrassment and humiliation on his/her athletes, demeans his players, is a ‘yeller’, uses intensive training as a punishment, is rigid, over-controlling, defensive and often angry.”
When Davy O’Halloran wrote a letter of complaint and asked that it be read out by the team captain at training, Davy Fitz ripped it up in front of the squad.
When Jim McGuinness met the Donegal squad for the first time in 2011 in Downings, they were bemused when each man was presented with a typed behavioural contract, which had obviously been drafted by a solicitor. The agreement was described as “legally binding” and contained penalty clauses. It was the beginning of a dictatorial masterclass. Players’ phones were collected after team talks on the morning of big games. An atmosphere of paranoia surrounded the squad.
I sneaked into a session once at Letterkenny’s pitch. A local photographer snapped me with his long lens. After that, it was lock-down. In future, the gates would be guarded and no one allowed in. The players received texts at 5.0pm on training days telling them where training was that night. When Kevin Cassidy, a great servant of Donegal football, gave some very innocuous details about the squad to a journalist, he was dropped. There was no mutiny. He got apologetic texts from his embarrassed team-mates. That was the height of it. A few summers ago, Donegal had a training camp in Downings. I happened to call into the local Spar and caught Anthony Thompson and a few of the others filling a bag with sweets, chocolate bars, choc ices. “Does Jimmy know about this?” I asked. “Jesus Joe,” said Thompson. “There’s no women, no drink, no socialising. If we didn’t have chocolate, we’d go mad.”
Just last week, Newstalk’s Colm Parkinson was given a copy of a behaviour contract for a senior inter-county football squad. One of the clauses contains a drink ban. The exception is disturbingly weird. A panel consisting of three players (two of whom are teetotallers) and the manager can decide, upon application, to allow the squad to have a social drink once in the season. There is the usual confidentiality clause. The contract also specifies that football boots must be predominantly black and “a designated player will decide whether boots are acceptable”.
Managers now have unprecedented control over our county players. The foul win-at-all-costs philosophy is prioritised over life experience. And when winning is more important than the needs of the players, the squad can and often does become a breeding ground for controlling and oppressive behaviour.
Looking in from the outside, what is happening in some counties appears bizarre and unwholesome. They are infected islands, where healthy norms have become subverted. So, instead of a mutiny, the remainder of the Clare hurling team, 30 grown men, signed up to a cringeworthy management statement saying everything was great.
Neither the GPA nor craven county boards are going to help, so it is time for players all over Ireland to take back their lives. Have a drink now and again if you feel like it. Go out with your friends. Tell them a bit of crack from training. If the mood takes you, wear green white and gold goddamn boots. If one of your number is singled out, stand with him. Show some real loyalty.
I never regretted ripping up that drink ban. Not even when I was punched to the ground. When I came out of that study and the boys gathered round me, I thought, “* him”, and smiled. Even today, I smile when I think of it. It was a taste of freedom in an oppressive regime. I recommend you do the same.
Sunday Independent Supplement
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Post by southward on Mar 29, 2015 11:23:56 GMT
Disturbing stuff.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Mar 29, 2015 11:30:13 GMT
Sure doesn't feel like summer.
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kerryexile
Fanatical Member
Whether you believe that you can, or that you can't, you are right anyway.
Posts: 1,108
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Post by kerryexile on Mar 29, 2015 12:38:36 GMT
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Post by MrRasherstoyou on Mar 29, 2015 13:03:37 GMT
Official summer, wha? Official spring maybe.
I see the drama teacher Joe is at it again, and the end of the world is still nigh. Back in 'the good old days' meanwhile, there were coaches who were also known as tyrants and who drove their players with maniacal zeal.
Joe is always fond of telling you every year that he has uncovered some new and incredible thing and that the wheel has been reinvented and alls changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty and all that and so on. Most of the so-called 'humiliations' he outlines there are standard statements of intent, outlines of ideals in any team endeavour that involves a high degree of physicality and mental pressure, and also very often suggested and decided by players themselves in order to put boundaries on what they have identified as what helps and hinders their mental and physical levels of prep.
Yes there is bullying, people step over the line, things can be taken too far. But to suggest this is either new or widespread or getting seriously/radically worse is like saying "Gaelic games have become more professional and the end of the world is nigh". These things go hand-in-hand, that is, increased preparation and more stringent codes of behaviour etc.
But it is also well-known that common-sense and flexibility do reign as regards players being allowed to let off steam, and regulate their own behaviours. Have JMG, Geeser and the likes brought it to new levels? How much of it is merely just 'mystique' that gives an aura of fearsomeness.
"I am unbeatable therefore I am". I recall hearing similar stuff about Meath in the late 80s/early 90s, on a low-key level, people didn't talk about it. Like Joe says about todays players being 'joyless', well, did he not see that Meath team? Grim would be a nice way of describing them, mind you Dublin were a bit grim in those days too but then we weren't having the success they were.
Transgressions of the abusive sort need to be sorted out on a case by case nature as ever. Davy may have stepped over the line but if his overall behaviour is accepted by his group of players and by his CB then we must assume that overall he is not part of some widespread abuse regime, and that put simply, they accept the plans for the present.
If Clare lose today, that more than anything will be added to the ledger as consideration is given, as it should regularly be, as to whether Davy and Clare Snr hurlers are worth persisting with each other.
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Post by sullyschoice on Mar 29, 2015 13:34:07 GMT
Meanwhile Anthony Daly is dusting down his clip board
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Post by MrRasherstoyou on Mar 29, 2015 13:56:34 GMT
Meanwhile Anthony Daly is dusting down his clip board Would seem a likely outcome! Still might be a chapter or two in the Crazy Davy story with Clare yet though................
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Post by Mickmack on Mar 30, 2015 10:25:12 GMT
THE popular TG4 GAA documentary series, Loachra Gael, will feature one of Kerry’s most decorated footballers, Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran, on Tuesday.
Ogie holds a unique record in Gaelic Football. Alongside his former teammates, Paidí Ó Sé, Pat Spillane, Ger Power and Mikey Sheehy, he is the proud holder of eight All-Ireland medals but he stands apart in that he played every single minute of all eight finals, and in the same position – at centre half forward.
In the programme Ogie recalls 1975 when newly appointed county manager Mick O’Dwyer brought on several youngsters onto the county panel and how they went from match to match that same year all the way to the All-Ireland Final against reigning champions, and hot favourites, Dublin.
He also recalls the darker days of the defeats to the Dubs 1976 final and in the ’77 semi-final.
But the best was yet to come as he reflects on the Golden Years of 1978 to 1986 when Kerry won seven All-Irelands.
The other contributors on this programme are Sean Walsh, Tommy Drumm from Dublin, Offaly’s Sean Lowry, and Dara Ó Cinnéide.
The programme airs at 8pm on Tuesday and it will be repeated on Sunday, April 5 at 6pm.
It’s gonna be a good one.
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seamus
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,741
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Post by seamus on Mar 30, 2015 15:09:43 GMT
Official summer, wha? Official spring maybe. Transgressions of the abusive sort need to be sorted out on a case by case nature as ever. Davy may have stepped over the line but if his overall behaviour is accepted by his group of players and by his CB then we must assume that overall he is not part of some widespread abuse regime, and that put simply, they accept the plans for the present. If Clare lose today, that more than anything will be added to the ledger as consideration is given, as it should regularly be, as to whether Davy and Clare Snr hurlers are worth persisting with each other. Hard to see how refusing to let players wear Clare gear, put them through beasting training in a corner and not let them talk to other players really achieves anything? Tearing up their response to the punishment adds to the mix - even convicted criminals have a right to appeal! Looking at the bigger picture, driving the daylights out of players may give short term gain but also long term pain. Cody, Kerry, Mayo and the Tipp hurlers appear to be working on sustainable models that give players the correct balance and long wholesome careers. Players playing well into their 30's is as good an indicator as any, coupled with improving basic skill levels. Also, realising that individual decision making and flair are two vital ingredients to winning trophies is something a lot of management teams have ignored. Players can wear white boots, hairbands and barbie dresses as long as they deliver on the field of play. Its a childish way of trying to instill respect, humility and unity in a team environment.
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Post by donegalman on Mar 30, 2015 16:06:46 GMT
He is full of it. Never believe all he prints. Some stuff maybe.
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Post by Mickmack on Apr 3, 2015 23:02:36 GMT
Thursday, April 02, 2015
By Colm O’Connor
Tragedy was averted at a Cork club game on Tuesday night when a defibrillator was used to revive a young gaelic footballer.
The frightening incident occurred after the City Division U21 football championship semi-final between Nemo Rangers and Bishopstown in Ballinlough.
Nemo Rangers secretary Bernadette Allen last night confirmed that the player is recovering in hospital and she praised the clubs’ medical staff.
She said: “One of our players collapsed after the U21 game in the dressing room on Tuesday.
“Thankfully, there was a defibrillator at the venue and both our team doctor Conall Hurley, along with the Bishopstown physiotherapist, Ciarán O’Shaughnessy, worked on the player. Their actions, we reckon, saved his life.
“The ambulance took 30 minutes to arrive and only for the fact we had a defibrillator there, and the people trained to use it, the outcome is too frightening to think about.
“The defibrillator is there three years in Ballinlough and that was the first time it was used, but, even if it is only ever used once, that will have been enough. Something like this brings home the importance of having proper equipment in place and properly- trained people to use it.
“Our player is currently being treated in Cork University Hospital and we wish him a speedy recovery.”
City Division secretary Sean McCarthy hopes that Tuesday night’s incident will highlight the importance of defibrillators for clubs in Cork and nationally.
“Thankfully, we had a defibrillator at the venue in Ballinlough. We had a board meeting last night and I stressed to all the clubs in the division that this incident highlights the vital importance of having defibrillators in place at all grounds in our division and, more importantly, people who have undertaken the training to use them properly. What happened on Tuesday night was very frightening for everyone involved. I would have to compliment the medics from both clubs for their efforts. No words of mine can praise them enough and, on behalf of the board, we would like to wish the young player from Nemo Rangers the very best in his recovery.”
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
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Post by sullyschoice on Apr 3, 2015 23:45:22 GMT
The defib course in my club was oversubscribed. Vital piece of kit in all clubs. It is also great to see it rolled out to rural communities with local residents trained in its use.
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Post by kerrygold on Apr 4, 2015 9:54:34 GMT
Joe Brolly's mythical idea that teams should play to entertain is pie in the sky Tomás Ó Se
I've been thinking lately about that line from a Meath supporter when asked if he had recorded the 2001 All-Ireland final. "I did" he said "but I'm going to tape the Angelus over it!"
There must have been more than a few people inclined to do the same with last Saturday's Dublin-Derry game. For crimes against fashion, it seems it was a bit of a beauty, serving a purpose for those who depict Gaelic football as staggering towards death's door. The miracle of the GAA, I often think, is how it works its way through so many of these kind of crises.
What was the vibe about Gaelic football last August? The All-Ireland semi-finals were as good as anything seen in years and, if the final was a little too tactical for some tastes, it wasn't exactly a grim eye-sore.
So I don't know what Jarlath Burns was thinking last Saturday night when he tweeted that he was "seeing the death of Gaelic football". Now don't get me wrong. I was following the game myself on Twitter and, on seeing the half-time score (0-3 to 0-2), I tweeted "That's not football".
The difference is I'm not the Standing Rules Committee chairman.
Guilty
But maybe we're all a little guilty in this regard of making sweeping statements about a game that, like every other, has its good days and its bad.
Let's get something straight here. The game is largely fine. It needs tweaking, not reconstructive surgery. Make it too open and, trust me, given more space, the likes of Kerry, Dublin and Mayo would stretch well clear of the rest.
The history of the game is a history of changing the terms of engagement. Good teams adjust. I was on the Kerry team that played Donegal in the 2012 Championship. We set up to play in an orthodox way and got beaten. So how would it have made sense for Eamonn Fitzmaurice to set up Kerry the same way two years later?
That said, I would be completely against the defence-orientated game, with its over-emphasis on hand-passing and the retention of possession, being coached at club and under-age level. I don't blame senior inter-county managers for setting up defensively, but I worry that a lot of the drills our young players are being exposed to now are almost anti-football.
So if the game generally needs adjustment, maybe there should be some restriction on the number of consecutive handpasses allowed - and what about looking into awarding double points for any score kicked from outside a designated area?
If Burns' group looked into those two areas, I would welcome it. Just do something to encourage teams to take more risks.
I have often argued that, whatever people thought of the style Jim McGuinness brought to Donegal football, no-one should be under any illusions that it took really good footballers to make it work. And it strikes me that a lot of the people waxing lyrical about that achievement back then are the same ones now belly-aching over teams trying to follow the McGuinness model.
I hear all these sweeping statements about who is playing defensive football, and most of it is horse manure.
In my experience, Dublin always had the likes of Michael Darragh Macauley or Cian O'Sullivan drifting back all the time. I marked Bryan Cullen a fair bit and he spent a lot of the time down the far end of the field. So I don't buy into this pigeon-holing of different teams.
True, you will always get a copycat syndrome. Teams see an All-Ireland won one way and try to set themselves up with that format, thinking they can do what, say, Donegal did in 2012. The reality is that they won't be able.
That said, Dublin were naive last year to think that the same style of play would work, no matter the opposition. Even now, I'd still be slightly worried about them defensively.
What Kerry did last September was they just kept their six defenders back. Yes, when they lost possession, their two midfielders came back helping out, and maybe a forward as well. That's a big change from my time in the Kerry jersey when you'd very rarely see a wing-forward back, or even a midfielder. The only time in the very early stages of my career that you'd have seen my brother Darragh back would have been to catch a '45'.
But we were lucky in that we had four of the best defenders I've ever seen, in Mike McCarthy, Tom Sullivan, Seamus Moynihan and, later, my other brother Marc.
In my time, I'd say Galway were the first team whose forwards really tackled back. Then we had the emergence of Tyrone, who defended even deeper than anyone had done before. Yet could you describe a team that won All-Irelands in '03, '05 and '08 as 'parking the bus'? Not a chance.
Tyrone were a swarming team and the important thing is they had great, great footballers to do it. Their counter-attacking was done at pace and that, I believe, is the difference between good teams and bad teams playing to this format. Pace.
Look, if you parachuted Kerry, Dublin, Mayo and Cork into the semi-finals this year, you'd get two cracking games. So this idea that our game is in crisis, I just don't get.
Coughing
If one thing has crept into the game I think it's a collective lack of confidence. Teams are afraid to play a 40-yard raking pass in case it leads to them coughing up possession. So we have a lot of handpassing and this kind of rugby-style running with the ball.
Joe Brolly argues that it goes against the ethos of the game to play that way. But if you're a team that's being pummelled all the time, what choice have you got?
Even Dublin, if they could play last year's semi-final again, would they do it differently? Of course they would. Yet Kerry were abused for playing the way they did in the All-Ireland final. You can't win.
The Kerry team I played in was never a defensive team. We didn't know how to do it. You have to spend time on it and that's why I would give Fitzmaurice great kudos. In 2012, we emptied our half-back line forward and, when Donegal broke at pace, we were out of position.
Last year, Donegal had six players to deal with because the Kerry half-backs held their line. That meant they slowed up Donegal for that crucial few seconds to get support back. I'd call that intelligent, not negative.
I've good time for Brolly, but this mythical idea that teams should play to entertain is pie in the sky. And football is nowhere near as bad as is being made out.
With a plan, the reality is that the best team will still win. But it's worth remembering too that a bit of humility goes a long way.
Indo Sport
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Post by kerrygold on Apr 4, 2015 9:58:25 GMT
Kerry have learned to adapt in GAA Saturday, April 04, 2015By John Fogarty In a social context, a Kerryman has always been a chameleon. Because of Eamonn Fitzmaurice, they have become the very same as footballers. The said Kerryman would regard such a comment about himself as a compliment but when it’s attributed to his team, it takes on a different connotation completely.
Almost seven months on from their shape-shifting success over Donegal, there’s a body of supporters who refuse to believe they’ve abandoned their tried and trusted ways. Luxuriating in that against-most-odds glory, they have conveniently neglected how it was achieved.
If Sean Walsh was Kerry chairman now and claimed, like he did in 2004, that last year Kerry’s triumph marked “a return to a free-flowing game as opposed to suffocating, blanket defensive football”, he would be laughed at. But he wouldn’t dare.
Since Jack O’Connor met a prominent Ulster figure to learn the tricks of the “dark” trade, Kerry’s innocence has been whittled. To paraphrase one of O’Connor’s favourite lines, they have long since burned their boats. Heck, it might be more appropriate to say Kerry aren’t facing Tyrone tomorrow in Omagh, but rather joining them.
“It’d be amazing to think people still believe Kerry play traditional football,” says Peter Canavan. “Far from it. They can be very quick to get bodies back and into position for the blanket defence. But they are the one team capable of varying their game-plan, I’m not sure other teams can.
“It’s the versatility of the players they have. There are big men in midfield and target men up front if Eamonn Fitzmaurice so chooses. Having an abundance of good footballers helps in devising various game-plans. You’ve seen them experiment this year with open, attacking football. For example, against Cork. Fitzmaurice is not stupid; he realised the risks. But he’s not tying himself down to one style. Don’t be surprised if you see a very defensive-minded Kerry side in the championship.”
To illustrate his point, Canavan cites how the half-back line operates under Fitzmaurice’s watch compared to O’Connor’s and Páidí Ó Sé’s times. Granted, Tomás Ó Sé’s retirement curbed that propensity to move forward but he was an exception in Fitzmaurice’s first year in 2013.
“They have changed, from the point of view they are more aware of their defensive aspects. The very nature of the Kerry teams I played against and those that went before was attack-driven. You had attack-minded wing backs and any of their defenders were that comfortable on the ball they could go forward with it.
“It was obvious from the number of games they played last year that they worked to have a presence in the half-backs at all times. There were numerous times you could see two men perched in the half-back positions. That wasn’t always the case. They were more off the cuff. I’m not saying they do it all of the time but when it was needed, Donegal found themselves in difficulty.”
Canavan’s admiration fo Fitzmaurice is clear, as it is across Ulster, where he is held in the same esteem, if not more, than predecessor O’Connor. The Dromid Pearses man may have tasted glory thrice but on none of those occasions did he have to dig his own well like Fitzmaurice.
“He’s very highly respected and regarded and was as a player too,” says Canavan. “He was very much a man who did his talking on the pitch. He was never vocal, just hard and strong. Off it, he keeps his counsel. He just ticks all the boxes.”
Listen to Fitzmaurice speak and you’d know he’s not a conventional thinker. In three league campaigns, Kerry have beaten the likes of Tyrone, Kildare and Derry away only to be beaten by Derry and most recently Monaghan at home. Asked to explain it, he said: “Away from home, where the group are together for the weekend, it’s a tight group, there are no outside distractions. You can have a chat in the hotel the night before; you can have a chat before you get on the bus going for the game on the Sunday.
“Nothing is left to chance; every detail in regard to food and everything is looked after for the lads. In many ways, it is actually easier to have the team more tuned in and focused, whereas when you playing at home, and lads are staying at home on Saturday night, there can be other distractions in their lives maybe.”
It’s a different tune this piper is playing. Some in Kerry mightn’t like it but they know better not to follow.
KEYWORDS: Kerry, GAA, Tyrone
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Post by MrRasherstoyou on Apr 4, 2015 11:10:12 GMT
What's that, it's an advantage to be playing away from home? Be interesting to see many taking up that evidence and then the same people's contradictory opinions in the usual carping season ahead, it's certainly angling another way.
Fitzmaurice has overseen one of the greatest "transition periods" in the history of any county. If he manages to produce a stronger team this year (if Colm Cooper & Tommy Walsh gets back to something like their best, and some of the younger lads continue to improve) then his achievement will have been even more great.
Tomás's piece doesn't say alot, I was hoping for more of an insight from him, even though I agree with almost all of what he says, it still reads like 'saying all the right things'
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Post by kerrygold on Apr 5, 2015 10:15:11 GMT
Brolly having a pop at Harte and JMG again today in the Indo. Funny old world.
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Post by kerrygold on Apr 7, 2015 22:18:40 GMT
Kildare board set to resist pressure to sack Jason Ryan Colm Keys Twitter
07/04/2015
Kildare manager Jason Ryan is committed to seeing out his second year and trying to arrest his side's slide, and board officers are prepared to stick with him for now
Jason Ryan's immediate future as Kildare football manager looks secure despite growing disgruntlement over their fall to Division 3.
Back-to-back relegations for a county that reached five straight All-Ireland quarter-finals between 2008 and 2012 have caused alarm over the direction they are heading.
A county board meeting tonight is expected to discuss the collapse but board officers are likely to resist any pressure to seek a change of management at this stage of the season.
Morale has dipped in the county and in the dressing-room on the back of successive relegations, and with a likely Leinster semi-final date with Dublin at the end of June the summer challenge is steep.
But Ryan is committed to seeing out his second year and trying to arrest the slide, and board officers are prepared to stick with him for now.
Just over 18 months ago the board effectively sacked Kieran McGeeney as manager when clubs rejected a recommendation to approve him for a seventh year in charge by just one vote. Very few boards have moved against a manager in mid-season.
The most recent heave in 2012 failed spectacularly when Meath County Board's management committee recommendation to remove Seamus McEnaney backfired on them.
Irish Independent
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Post by kerrygold on Apr 7, 2015 22:19:46 GMT
Good to see that the 30 Kildare delegates got this one spot on.
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Post by glengael on Apr 9, 2015 12:26:31 GMT
The GAAUSA series on TG4 was excellent. The last programme went out last night and is repeated this Sunday. Puts RTE to shame with their "cut and paste" cliches and lazy narratives.
Well done to all involved.
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keane
Fanatical Member
Posts: 1,267
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Post by keane on Apr 9, 2015 14:24:44 GMT
Anyone know what the craic is with Donnchadh Walsh this year?
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Post by buck02 on Apr 9, 2015 19:42:08 GMT
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Post by kerrygold on Apr 9, 2015 21:42:45 GMT
The big perception in that article is that Heaney amusingly put Dublin in the same class as Kerry.
Seems the nordies only retort to the optics of the defensive game they invented, is that everyone is at it.
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Post by wayupnorth on Apr 10, 2015 7:02:22 GMT
The exact same article appeared in the Irish News earlier this week with the heading "How many Dubs does it take to win the ball back?" The answer: "The same amount as these evil Northerners". Very strange that the Examiner chose to run with a different heading and packaged it as "great sports writing"! Move over Joe Brolly It is also strange in a week where so many positives emerged in Ulster football - Fermanagh, Down and Armagh promoted, Tyrone rallying after a heavy defeat to nearly consign Kerry to Division 2, Derry hammering Cork, and Donegal knocking Mayo out of a semi-final slot - that Paddy Heaney had to focus on such negative bile that is probably great for local rabble rousing but of no use whatsoever to the cause of Gaelic Football either in Ulster or anywhere else.
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Post by skybluezone on Apr 10, 2015 13:24:11 GMT
that is guff of the highest order from Heaney. I shouldn't dignify it with a response but here goes. From memory, Dublin scored the most and conceded the least of any team in Div 1. This is despite playing an "experimental" team for at least half the competition, playing 4 away fixtures, and are having big trouble trying to figure out how to play against the blanket. Derry were 3 pts to 1 up after about 15 mins at Croke Park, they scored 1 point in 55 mins. That reminds me of Dublins approach for sure. The stuff about Dublin and Kerry now being sick of their northern brethren taking home cartloads of all irelands is beneath contempt. The Tyrone team of the last decade has received due kudos for their great achievements, because they were a seriously good team. The current crew aren't fit to lace their boots, which is why they resort to the rubbish that Heaney is trying to defend, sorry, tar Dublin with the same stick. Where the majority of your players loiter on the pitch is not really an indicator, Donegal had 13 players behind the ball in last years semi, yet still managed 3-14. Thats light years away from what Derry were at, and credit to Donegal. Heaney telling us to lose the anti northern vibe is some insult. You couldn't write this stuff, but he seemingly can.
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Jigz84
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,017
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Post by Jigz84 on Apr 10, 2015 14:19:06 GMT
Heaney had no answer to Parkinson, was a waste of 10 minutes of radio.
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Post by Mickmack on Apr 10, 2015 18:04:38 GMT
If not for collins, why is it called the rebel county?
Joe O'Shea
04/08/2013
In what is surely a very Corkonian twist, the city was judged to be rebellious because of its loyalty to (one version of) the British Crown and the dispossessed House of York in the English War of the Roses.
When a young and handsome Flemish man called Perkin Warbeck arrived in Cork in 1491, he was proclaimed to be one of the princes in the Tower, the two sons of King Edward IV who had mysteriously disappeared after they were locked up in the Tower of London by Richard III. The merchants and burghers of Cork supported Warbeck (or Richard, Duke of York as he claimed to be) in what became a futile effort to reclaim the throne for the Yorkists.
And Cork was thus declared a Rebel county by King Henry VII (who later pardoned Warbeck's Irish supporters, remarking: "I suppose they will crown an ape, next.")
Irish Independent
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Post by Mickmack on Apr 10, 2015 18:05:11 GMT
Maybe someone could post that up on PROC......
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Post by Mickmack on Apr 10, 2015 18:32:42 GMT
A reminder of what's in store when hurling’s rule changes come into effect this weekend
Thursday, April 09, 2015
Ammendments to the rulebook approved at this year’s congress will apply to all games played on or after Saturday, April 11.
A recap of the new rules
- A yellow card does not carry into extra time.
- Referee may consult with a neutral linesman concerning the validity of a score.
- Penalty: One defending player on the goal-line who may not move towards the 20m line until the ball has actually been struck. The player taking the penalty may place it up to 7m back from the 20m line and within the arc but must strike the ball on or outside the 20m line.
- For free pucks for Technical Fouls committed inside the large rectangle and awarded on the centre point of the 20m line, a maximum of five players may stand on the goal-line and may not move forward until the ball has been struck. The player taking the free puck may place the ball up to 7m back from the 20m line and within the arc but must strike it on or outside the 20m line.
- For a 20m free puck awarded for a foul committed outside the large rectangle, all players shall stand a minimum of 20m from the point of award of the free and may not move closer to that point until the ball has been struck.
- Rule 2.4 and 4.16 – If a defending player(s) fouls before the ball is struck and a goal does not result, the referee shall give the penalty taker/free taker the option of re-taking the Penalty Puck/Free Puck or of having a point scored to stand.
- If a player taking a Penalty Puck or other Free Puck awarded on the 20m line fails to lift the ball at the first attempt or fails to strike it with the hurley, even if the action causes it to marginally cross the 20m line, he shall be allowed to strike the ball on the ground without delay.
- Advantage – Referee may allow the play to continue for up to 5 seconds after a foul; if no advantage accrues during that 5 seconds he may subsequently award a free puck for the foul.
(This is the same rule that has been in place in football for the past year; no advantage accruing would include such instances of a pass going astray, another player moving in to tackle as soon as the fouled player gets away from the initial foul, a shot taken within the five seconds which goes wide, a shot taken within the 5 seconds which is saved by the goalkeeper etc; in these instances the referee should come back and award the original free.
If a player/team who had been awarded an advantage commits a foul within the 5 second period then the free shall be awarded against him for the subsequent foul)
New Gaelic Football Rules
- A Yellow Card does not carry into extra time.
- Referee may consult with a neutral linesman concerning the validity of a score.
- Rule 2.3 and 4.16 – If a defending player(s) fouls at a Penalty Kick situation before the ball is kicked and a goal does not result, the referee shall give the penalty taker the option of re-taking the Penalty Kick or of having a point scored to stand. Issued by Siobhan Brady, GAA Media Relations
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Post by southward on Apr 10, 2015 19:15:49 GMT
If not for collins, why is it called the rebel county? Joe O'Shea 04/08/2013 In what is surely a very Corkonian twist, the city was judged to be rebellious because of its loyalty to (one version of) the British Crown and the dispossessed House of York in the English War of the Roses. When a young and handsome Flemish man called Perkin Warbeck arrived in Cork in 1491, he was proclaimed to be one of the princes in the Tower, the two sons of King Edward IV who had mysteriously disappeared after they were locked up in the Tower of London by Richard III. The merchants and burghers of Cork supported Warbeck (or Richard, Duke of York as he claimed to be) in what became a futile effort to reclaim the throne for the Yorkists. And Cork was thus declared a Rebel county by King Henry VII (who later pardoned Warbeck's Irish supporters, remarking: "I suppose they will crown an ape, next.") Irish Independent tis true. Gave Elizabeth Windsor a fine welcome too a couple of years back. Rebel County my h*le
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