Something @Big_Dan_Campbell said in the Limerick thread about a Paul Flanagan getting an utter roasting from John Joe Farrell in the league gave me an idea for this thread. We can log instances of roastings here and also write tales of times when some of us were on the receiving end of roastings. I’ll start.
I retired from competitive sports when I finished the leaving and went off to college. However someone was harping at me to come back and play for the Junior B football team, it may have been the manager at the time. So I agreed anyway to come back for this match. There was no such thing as training now or anything with these. I did no physical exercise in college apart from lifting my arm. No gym work, no sports, no 5 a side, no squash, no running, nothing. I was in my fourth year of this cycle.
I was 22 when I made my return out of retirement. I had played all my career up to this point in the forwards. I played every forward position in my time. The manager in his wisdom decided to put me in starting at wing back, a position I’d never played in my life and having my first game in four years having not kicked a ball in that time and been drinking like a fish every week. I was marking a young fella of about 18 who was a real speed merchant. I was gassed about ten minutes in. Well he gave me an utter roasting. I was somehow left on him for the entire first half. He must have scored maybe 1-04 from play. I was mercifully hauled ashore at half time and never played the game again. Never heard from the manager again either after that, he wasn’t long leaving me alone.
Was marking a fella from Ballindereen in the first half who I marshalled quite well, second half I see Eugene Cloonan moving out to CF and I was told to switch corners and mark him.
He was a great bit of stuff. Was he a bit younger than you too? I’ll bet that added to the roastingness.
I had a similar instance of getting roasted by Adrian Cullinane, who was 3 years younger than me. It was at the back lawn (Kenny Park), and I was chasing shadows. I couldn’t even get close enough to get a good crack at him.
@KinvarasPassion - I should clarify, Cullinane was good, but he was no Cloonan.
They knew 90% of their panel from the U16 squad the previous
year.
There were 60 at the trial, the leading 30 played their own
game and the other 30 had a separate game in an adjacent pitch.
At HT they pulled a few like Cloonan over to our game to
‘sort’ out the boys from the men. It worked.
Looking back you know, its all in the top 3 inches. I always
played my hurling on the front foot, out in front of the forward but when
Cloonan came over I remember thinking I have to stay goal side of this fella. Naive.
Ended up marking Kevin Doyle in training games almost every weekend for a good 3 or 4 months. He was never bothered in them so I regularly made him look like shit even though I was only average. When he was bothered he’d make an utter fool out of me.
Ya I would have gotten that a bit when I was younger as well playing corner or wing back and if I knew I was better than the lad I was marking I would just come out in front and get the ball every time but then if I was marking a lad who was around county teams or was well known I’d nearly forget everything about what I was good at and give them too much respect
You’re telling us you roasted Kevin Doyle a few times, Mac?
If the chips had fallen another way it would have been Mac that ended up at Reading and with all those Ireland caps, not Doyle. If only there had been scouts at those training sessions.
I marked Mick Holden from Cuala in a Senior Hurling League match in the mid 90’s. He was about 45, smelled of cigarettes and was missing a finger. He still hurled the shite out of me.
I roasted Doyle when he wasn’t bothered. When he was bothered he made me look like a fool. He was that good at that age that training for him was pointless and he’d usually only bother in actual competitive games.
In an FAI minor cup match(or maybe Munster minor cup), probably 1990, either way I was a few years underage at the time, played centre of midfield against Cobh Ramblers, got a good roasting off my opposite number, picked him up for a corner and I never saw a fellas feet so far in the air, nearly broke the crossbar with his header, he didn’t score the same day though,
Roy Keane obviously.
Seamus Moynihan got an unmerciful roasting off myself in a Corn ui mhuiri match down in Ballineen in 92, not sure if he ever got over it, I’m waiting for the biography.
