GAA 2017

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http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaki...of-the-all-ireland-football-final-806412.html

Sky's Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara have been discovering GAA Football up close over the past few weeks with the climax at last Sunday's final. Their journey is on youtube - search Jeff and Kammy Journey to Croker.

Interesting to see how impressed they are but they get the HT summary completely wrong in the clip when they agree that Mayo would be happiest to be leading by a point after conceding the early goal.

All Dubs were extremely relieved that the Dubs were only a point behind because Mayo should have been 5/6 points in front at least.
 

Brilliant day in Croker on Sunday, amazing to do three in a row, absilutly over the moon and never thought I would see these days.

Hard not to feel for Mayo there was nothing in it.

As a Dub we were beaten in finals by Donegal, Derry and Down before getting there in 95 and a 16 year wait from then until 2011, so we have an understanding of the pain and hunger being almost there can cause.

When they eventually do get over the line it will be a day to savour and remember out west, best of luck to them.
 
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PIECE ABOUT JACKIE TYRELL FROM ANOTHER SOURCE.



I consider myself somewhat of an expert on hard men.

You see I was never the bravest player and felt I never got the credit that being a "bit yellow" deserved. Being a ‘bit yellow” is a skill in itself and takes years of practice to perfect and is only appreciated by fellow yellow bellies who are real students of the game.

I would study our keepers puck outs and if he constantly hit it 80 yards, I would position myself 70 yards away to ensure I wouldn’t be under the dropping ball. I became such a good judge of the effects of the wind on the distance a ball would travel that a career as a professional golf caddy would have been a cert only for a fear of flying.

I also copped early on that becoming the long range free taker was essential for the “yellow player”. Far better to be hitting in the dropping ball than to be standing in under it.

But the real skill for the ‘yellow player” lies in the 50/50 ball. For example, a ball comes down between yourself and your opponent. You both have 10 yards to run to get to it. As physical contact is not an option, you are faced with a number of choices.

You can go hammer and tongs at the ball and hope you get there quicker that your opponent. This of course is a big risk as you are gambling that you are faster over 10 yards than the opponent who is coming from the other direction. Unless you are very familiar with your opponent and absolutely guaranteed victory in the sprint, the “yellow player” will never choose this option.

You can make a move towards the ball and then stop dead in your tracks after about 7 yards. This is an option that many of us grow out of as we get older but not everyone. The lads that are described as having “good hands but a bit shy” sometimes struggle to get past this stage as they can rely on their “good hands” forgiving all sins later in the game. However, for lads like myself, who hadn’t hands to wipe his arse, abuse from the side-lines, stands, teammates and family quickly taught you that the option of stopping dead in your tracks was a no no and so the experienced “yellow player” who didn’t have the get out of jail card of having “good hands” will never choose this option after the age of 16. It is better not to move at all rather than to move and stop.

Then you had the nuclear option or the Upperchuch Option as I used to call it because I generally reserved it for games against D’Church. This is where you “pull the hamstring” mid sprint and have to come off. Now the trick here is not to overdo the pain. The next round of the championship is against a team that doesn’t eat their young for breakfast and that will be your chance to shine so you don’t want to rule yourself out of that. When asked to stretch the leg by the physio you grimace rather that roar with the “pain”. The physio cant take the chance of you doing further “damage” so you’ll be taken off. Be sure to text the physio the next day to tell him/her that the leg is feeling better, that the “ice pack” really did the trick and maybe with a few days rest and a rub before the next training session you’ll be fine. This is a bollix of a thing to do to your teammates so should only be used in emergency.

You’re final option takes years to perfect but is a vital part of your armoury and will extend not only your career but your life……… You learn to how not to run in a straight line while looking like you are actually running in a straight line!!! ……In the 10 yard scenario above, the eyes of the crowd are on the ball so you have a short time frame before their focus comes onto you. So your first two steps should be to your left before you straighten up your run to come back into a straight line with the ball. The early move to the left should slow you down just enough to arrive a fraction of a second after your opponent has cleared the ball but you still put in a token effort of trying to block him down. Only the real experts will spot what you have done but 99% of the crowd will shout “hard luck Big John, keep it going and you’ll get the next one”.

So having put that much thought into avoiding the hard men, I can assure you that the real hard men where the men who didn’t talk about what they would do or what they did on the field. These were the lads that had perfected the dark arts long before Kevin Sharkey ever bought an easel. These boys would get honorary membership of Fight Club. If you ran into these lads later on in life they would always be complimentary about you and your team and half give you the impression that they dreaded playing you but of course you knew they relished every minute of it.

Then there are the lads who thought they were hard men but in truth they really weren’t. These lads would be mouthing at you all through the game, give you a sly dig off the ball, stand on your toes and in extreme cases might start messing with your socks or helmet. They were also capable of hitting you a cowardly shoulder into the chest when you were wide open after hitting a ball. Fight Club wouldn’t accept these as members because they couldn’t wait to tell the world what they had done in a desperate attempt to convince people they were a hard man.

I'll leave it to yourselves to decide what category Jackie fits in to.
 
Enjoying the club games at the moment, cracking final in the Senior Dublin Championship, Ballymun Kickhams Vs Vinnies.

Ballymun look very good this year the two Smalls picked up what looked like bad injuries yesterday, John's looked like his hamstring, Paddy I'm not so sure but didn't look great. A pity he has been shooting the light out in the club championship this year and I thought he could be a break out player for Dublin in the league in the spring, could even be Bernards successor, hopefully it's not to bad.

League fixtures out we have two plumb away ones in Mayo and Galway on Paddys weekend, accomadatiin already booked, it was scarce on the ground even at this stage.
 
Neiler said:
Enjoying the club games at the moment, cracking final in the Senior Dublin Championship, Ballymun Kickhams Vs Vinnies.

Ballymun look very good this year the two Smalls picked up what looked like bad injuries yesterday, John's looked like his hamstring, Paddy I'm not so sure but didn't look great. A pity he has been shooting the light out in the club championship this year and I thought he could be a break out player for Dublin in the league in the spring, could even be Bernards successor, hopefully it's not to bad.

League fixtures out we have two plumb away ones in Mayo and Galway on Paddys weekend, accomadatiin already booked, it was scarce on the ground even at this stage.
Click to expand...
You a kickhams or vinnies man neiler?
 
bluebrotha77 said:
You a kickhams or vinnies man neiler?
Click to expand...

Neither mate, i would be Towers same club as Jim Gavin but we haven't been competitive in the latter stages of the championship for beards, but i would follow the progress of the Dublin championship quite keenly and was up in Parnell Park for the games at the weekend. When it gets to this stage im fairly neutral but am looking forward to The Vinnies, Ballymun game. Should be a cracker, id have a slight leaning toward Ballymun as i think they have been unlucky not to win a club all ireland. I think they could go all the way this year if they got by Vinnies. Might not be the best for the county team in the league but i dont think is a priority personally.

Sad to see this year that league games are being played on St Patricks day, we are away in Galway while a brilliant trip, will be tough if a Dublin Club got to the club finals in Croker.
 
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