Best opposition supporters?

[Jo90]

I'd have to say Longford. They had the longest journey of any opposition supporters and yet brought over 5,000 supporters with them to Killarney which is a huge amount for the 2nd least populous County in Ireland. They brought huge colour with them as virtually every one of them was wearing a Longford jersey and carrying a flag. They kept cheering on their team when down 9 points and went ballistic when they scored their second half goal. Afterwards they were great craic in the pubs and extremely knowledgeable about Kerry Gaelic Football. All in all 10/10.

[Owenabue]

The Fermanagh crowd seemed nice the few times I met them, very friendly altogether. Jo, I thought with your grá for Cork you would have included us.

[FatTom]

I have to say I always had great time for the Armagh supporters.

[homerj]

best = mayo, not question, they aint won anything in 55 years and still turn out, no matter how many times they fail.

worst = cork( there attendance at the donegal match was a disgrace)

[kerrygold]

you would have to admire the mayo crowd,we've beaten them in three finals in the last 10 seasons and still you would never hear a bad word from them directed in kerrys direction.
Thats takes a lot of class in my opinion.

[gruaigcatach]

homerj said:

worst = cork( there attendance at the donegal match was a disgrace)

what about the kerry fans attendance in cork?

ill be the first to admit that the numbers following the footballers to games have been bad the last few years due to the lack of fair weather supporters. the hurling semi final had a massive impact on the numbers for the cork football support that day. All the bandwagon supporters were up for the hurling and that game ended up with a huge attendance (71,000)

[isfearliomstar]

i would also have to say mayo were probably the best over the last few years. as homer said 55 years of misery and a few big hammerings of late and they still travel well and when they are defeated they accept it like men and get on with it. a bit like billy this year. ha ha

[peig]

I have to say that the Armagh supporters before and after the 2002 game were fantastic. The banter we had with them on the Saturday night and Sunday morning was immense. The heartbreak (for me) at the final whistle turned into tears of joy when I witnessed the tsunami of saffron and white flow onto the pitch. On the way down from Crokers, there were no jibes or sardonic remarks; just the shaking of hands and the offers of condolence. Kerry jerseys were swapped for Armagh ones (and indeed a lot of bodily fluids swapped later on that night between members of both camps!).

I was somewhat disappointed with the Tyrone gang the following year. A lot of them (and I'm solely speaking from my own experience) didn't want to mix with the Kerry gang. Even when congrats were offered, dirty looks were thrown and there wasn't a whiff of a 'thanks' or 'youz'll be back next year'. Anyway, I'm sure the majority of Tyrone supporters ain't like so.

You have to give the Mayo fans credit in all fairness.

We are consistently dismal as fans (especially in the League) and the bulk of us tend to only travel to semi-finals and finals. In saying that, the colour we produced in the semi-final and the final was fantastic.

I thought the Laois and Westmeath fans for the last couple of years were also tremendous.

As for Corcaigh...

[Jo90]

owenabue said:

The Fermanagh crowd seemed nice the few times I met them, very friendly altogether. Jo, I thought with your grá for Cork you would have included us.

Cork people are a bit like English people for Kerry. As a general group you're basically reared to hate them, but any individual ones you meet are nearly always nice.
Familiarity definitely breeded contempt this year. 5 meetings was a few too many.

I'd give a lot of credit to the 10,000 or so Cork fans who travelled to Killarney for the Munster Final. They had seen their team lose to Kerry by 13 points in their previous c'ship meeting and 7 players were playing their first Munster final and Cork were completely written off with everyone predicting a trashing to Cork, so fair dues to those Cork fans for still going. They're the real "through thick and thin" type of fans.

[Owenabue]

Thanks Jo!
I really don’t think Kerry supporters can question the Cork numbers when most of them didn’t show up until the All Ireland. The problem in Cork is most of the bandwagon brigade only go to the hurling; hence the small numbers at the football. (As a Kilkenny man said to me, football is only for young lads who can’t play hurling) To be honest I thought there were about the same number of Cork supporters at the quarter finals as Kerry, taking into account there was also the hurling the next day, that’s a pretty good turn out.
As for league games, the Northern teams are much better at travelling. I was up in Mayo this year and I did not meet another Cork supporter. (I’m not saying I was the only one, I just didn’t see any other one) Mayo showed up in great numbers that day. The Dublin crowd seem to be getting better at travelling, but judging by some of them that I’ve met, I’d prefer if they didn’t.
Kerry…. In general ye are a nice bunch, but after the tenth time of ye bringing up some smart-ass comment about Billy Morgan, it gets a bit boring.

[ciarrai33]

Must admit meeting tyrone fans after last years all ireland, and they were fantastic. Very good craic, tried to hop ball off us, saw they were getting no rise so bought us drinks. Armagh have always been very good, Mayo were good this year, but were totally demoralised. They still had a bit of belief in themselvs in 2004. Cork fans disown football when they lose, galway fans dont seem to care, Limerick seem to be getting more bitter with every year. Longford were unbelievable this year, as were Laois this year in the League semi final. I think Meath could be the worst. They have no respect for kerry unlike Ulster people, just seem to be wannabe dubs, minus the humour. Met some really genuine dubs in thurlas in 2001. They were back in the same pub looking for us after the replay. Also very good in the 2004 1/4 final. Cannot remember the Derry fans in 2004 being very friendly though.

[ciarrai33]

owenabue said:

Kerry…. In general ye are a nice bunch, but after the tenth time of ye bringing up some smart-ass comment about Billy Morgan, it gets a bit boring.

Well after Billy coming out with the same "cynical" speach for the "tenth" time we are finding it kinda repeatitive also.

[peig]

Will you be changing your user name any time soon?

[isfearliomstar]

well owenabue kerry fans are sick of cork supporters saying football is a game for bad hurlers so you quoteing a killkenny man is only a cover up to what you wanna say yourself. also by saying the cork fans only travel for the hurling. are you forgetting the late eighties early ninties when cork had a great football team the tens of thousands of rebels that followed it then. so with respect if you look at it honestly the fact that cork have had no success in years is a reflection on the lack of support, not that there following the hurling. by saying they prefer following the hurling is an injustice to the thousands of fans that were good dedicated supportes back in the glory years of cork football. cork is the biggest county in ireland. there are as many people in togher as there are in the whole of tralee. when cork had back to back success i didnt here the bad hurlers comment once in that period. also the fact that billy morgan is giving out about the tactics of some of the kerry players he should take a look back. a certain niall wasnt the nicest of individuals on a pitch. all this with respect to you

[peig]

isfearliomstar said:

well owenabue kerry fans are sick of cork supporters saying football is a game for bad hurlers so you quoteing a killkenny man is only a cover up to what you wanna say yourself. also by saying the cork fans only travel for the hurling. are you forgetting the late eighties early ninties when cork had a great football team the tens of thousands of rebels that followed it then. so with respect if you look at it honestly the fact that cork have had no success in years is a reflection on the lack of support, not that there following the hurling. by saying they prefer following the hurling is an injustice to the thousands of fans that were good dedicated supportes back in the glory years of cork football. cork is the biggest county in ireland. there are as many people in togher as there are in the whole of tralee. with respect

There is an average of 500,000 people living in Cork between city and county. In Kerry, the population is, on average, 130,000.

[Owenabue]

isfearliomstar said:

well owenabue kerry fans are sick of cork supporters saying football is a game for bad hurlers so you quoteing a killkenny man is only a cover up to what you wanna say yourself. also by saying the cork fans only travel for the hurling. are you forgetting the late eighties early ninties when cork had a great football team the tens of thousands of rebels that followed it then. so with respect if you look at it honestly the fact that cork have had no success in years is a reflection on the lack of support, not that there following the hurling. by saying they prefer following the hurling is an injustice to the thousands of fans that were good dedicated supportes back in the glory years of cork football. cork is the biggest county in ireland. there are as many people in togher as there are in the whole of tralee. when cork had back to back success i didnt here the bad hurlers comment once in that period. also the fact that billy morgan is giving out about the tactics of some of the kerry players he should take a look back. a certain niall wasnt the nicest of individuals on a pitch. all this with respect to you

Infearliomstar, you’ve got me totally wrong. Sorry for any offence caused. I prefer football myself (good West Cork blood in me!) and it annoys me when people say things like “ah shur we always have the hurlers” etc etc. You have all heard those comments from Cork supporters. Do you think I’d be travelling the country to see Cork play football or hanging around the Kerry website if I actually was a hurling snob? Supporters in general will follow a winning team, those are the facts and in Cork at present that is the hurlers. Same reason why Dublin and Kerry don’t get huge numbers at there hurling games.

[Owenabue]

ciarrai33 said:

owenabue said:

Kerry…. In general ye are a nice bunch, but after the tenth time of ye bringing up some smart-ass comment about Billy Morgan, it gets a bit boring.

Well after Billy coming out with the same "cynical" speach for the "tenth" time we are finding it kinda repeatitive also.

I can't pick the manager or be responsible for what he says now can I?

[FatTom]

owenabue said:

isfearliomstar said:

well owenabue kerry fans are sick of cork supporters saying football is a game for bad hurlers so you quoteing a killkenny man is only a cover up to what you wanna say yourself. also by saying the cork fans only travel for the hurling. are you forgetting the late eighties early ninties when cork had a great football team the tens of thousands of rebels that followed it then. so with respect if you look at it honestly the fact that cork have had no success in years is a reflection on the lack of support, not that there following the hurling. by saying they prefer following the hurling is an injustice to the thousands of fans that were good dedicated supportes back in the glory years of cork football. cork is the biggest county in ireland. there are as many people in togher as there are in the whole of tralee. when cork had back to back success i didnt here the bad hurlers comment once in that period. also the fact that billy morgan is giving out about the tactics of some of the kerry players he should take a look back. a certain niall wasnt the nicest of individuals on a pitch. all this with respect to you

Infearliomstar, you’ve got me totally wrong. Sorry for any offence caused. I prefer football myself (good West Cork blood in me!) and it annoys me when people say things like “ah shur we always have the hurlers” etc etc. You have all heard those comments from Cork supporters. Do you think I’d be travelling the country to see Cork play football or hanging around the Kerry website if I actually was a hurling snob? Supporters in general will follow a winning team, those are the facts and in Cork at present that is the hurlers. Same reason why Dublin and Kerry don’t get huge numbers at there hurling games.

The reason we don't have big crowds at Hurling has more to do with tradition than team success, although that is a part.
I'd still follow Kerry even if we were losing all the time at football. Due to tradition Kerry Hurling doesn't interest me as much.

[gruaigcatach]

owenabue said:

Thanks Jo!
I really don’t think Kerry supporters can question the Cork numbers when most of them didn’t show up until the All Ireland. The problem in Cork is most of the bandwagon brigade only go to the hurling; hence the small numbers at the football. (As a Kilkenny man said to me, football is only for young lads who can’t play hurling) To be honest I thought there were about the same number of Cork supporters at the quarter finals as Kerry, taking into account there was also the hurling the next day, that’s a pretty good turn out.

In general ye are a nice bunch, but after the tenth time of ye bringing up some smart-ass comment about Billy Morgan, it gets a bit boring.

in owenabue's defence i think he is right on the button saying that the cork bandwagon brigade only go to the hurling. and football first fans like myself are vastly outnumbered by hurling first fans and hurling bandwagoners. there arent many football bandwagon fans in cork. the reason the cork hurlers have great support numerically is due to their success. where were these people when the hurlers won nothing pre-1999 and played in front of 15,000 championship crowds? until the hurlers are crap again im afraid that the footballers will be stuck with the smaller support in terms of numbers.

and on the point of the constant bringing up of Billy's comments - Get over it. He said a few things ye mightnt like, but none of it was in cold blood, it was in the heat of the moment, and he did admit that ye were the better team. i'm sure a lot of kerry people had a lot worse to say after the 2005 final. time everyone moved on.

[isfearliomstar]

fair play owenabue, im glad i joined this forum now :0








;

[ciarrai33]

ah to back owenabue up, i know plenty of Cork people. I work here after all. And i do have a nice little click of west cork people that I do have the banter with. really knowlegable people (who love to see us beat, but shure thats only healthy).
The attitude of a lot of the city folk has all the hallmarks of the bandwagon. and id rarely give them the time of day when discussing gaelic football or Gaa for that matter.

[isfearliomstar]

but in fairness gruaig billy is in the heat of the moment when he is asleep )

[gruaigcatach]

owenabue said:

ciarrai33 said:

Well after Billy coming out with the same "cynical" speach for the "tenth" time we are finding it kinda repeatitive also.

I can't pick the manager or be responsible for what he says now can I?

the west cork blood you refer to wouldnt be responsible for your opinion of Billy now would it! ;D ;D

[isfearliomstar]

gruaig thats suppose to be a joke now. cant get these smilies rite so bare with me

[Jo90]

owenabue said:

Supporters in general will follow a winning team, those are the facts and in Cork at present that is the hurlers. Same reason why Dublin and Kerry don’t get huge numbers at there hurling games.

If by some miracle a few Eoin Kellys, Ben and Jerrys and Tommy Walshs were born in Kerry and we started winning All-Irelands in hurling, I think there'd still be a lot more at the football games.

[gruaigcatach]

ciarrai33 said:

ah to back owenabue up, i know plenty of Cork people. I work here after all. And i do have a nice little click of west cork people that I do have the banter with. really knowlegable people (who love to see us beat, but shure thats only healthy).
The attitude of a lot of the city folk has all the hallmarks of the bandwagon. and id rarely give them the time of day when discussing gaelic football or Gaa for that matter.

in the city hurling rules the roost, and id agree totally that thats where the bandwagon supporters come from. a lot of those fans dont know much about hurling or football, and a lot dont even belong to clubs, wouldnt go to watch club games or league matches.
the club i belong to is one of the few predominantly football clubs in the city, most of the footballers support comes from clubs in the county not the city.

[isfearliomstar]

i love hurling too, living in cork you have no choice really. but as jo said if kerry suddenly was hit by lightning and developed a hurling team nothing would compare to going to croker for the latter all ireland.

[gruaigcatach]

no bother isfearrliomstar, i was that of asking owenabue. a lot of football fans from west cork mightnt like billy because of his club allegiance

[Jo90]

gruaigcatach said:

most of the footballers support comes from clubs in the county not the city.

And you can understand why as well, when you see how soft their city/suburb players like Nicholas Murphy and James Masters are compared to the tough country lads like Noel O'Leary, Graham Canty and Donncha O'Connor.

[gruaigcatach]

jo90 said:

gruaigcatach said:

most of the footballers support comes from clubs in the county not the city.

And you can understand why as well, when you see how soft their city/suburb players like Nicholas Murphy and James Masters are compared to the tough country lads like Noel O'Leary, Graham Canty and Donncha O'Connor.

an excellent generalisation there! well done