Heâs an nasty bit of stuff this lad
https://twitter.com/craicoftheash/status/1672178354206695426?s=46&t=YOfhVM10W0bcyIiYSLI3Wg
Harsh calling Breen nasty, more of a klutz to be fair.
The Blaaa stamped on him first in fairness.
2 Likes
That @craicoftheash fella is a pure fanny sure.
1 Like
Tipperary in an All-Ireland quarter-final has never sat that easily. Thurles is the natural venue for All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals. That dynamic is disturbed when Tipperary are involved. Tipperary in an All-Ireland quarter-final has generally meant Croke Park.
Tipperary v Down in Clones is a bizarre footnote in history. You then had Tipp v Galway in 2000 in a building site Croke Park, Tipp v Antrim in 2002 in Croke Park, Tipp v Offaly in 2003 in Croke Park.
Then there was the 2005-2007 period where every team of note played a quarter-final in Croke Park, when Wexford would turn up to be pummelled by Clare, yet Wexford could beat Tipp. Everybody could beat Tipp in Croke Park in this period.
Tipp v Galway in 2010 was a great game, but you could feel the cavernous expanses of the empty upper tiers.
Tipp v Dublin in 2014 was a demonstration by Dublin hurling that it knew its place. You will play Tipp in Thurles, and you will lose. Your few supporters will have a good time and enjoy the day out, and not be very upset at all that you have lost. No other county would have agreed to this, even Waterford.
Tipp v Clare in 2017 was a far cry from the Pairc Ui Chaoimh days of legend of 1997-2001. Tipp v Laois in 2019 another footnote.
From a hurling point of view, Tipp v Galway 2020 was perhaps the most interesting quarter-final Tipp have ever been involved in. I enjoyed that match.
Limerick doesnât feel like a good place for an exceedingly attractive double header. Itâs too utilitarian. Limerick needs to be full for it to work as a venue. Can you imagine the Mackey Stand and the open stand with that airport type atmosphere? Grim. Thurles doesnât need to be full. Thereâs something about Thurles which suits a double header, there is a festival air about the place, a generosity and a happiness.
Iâm trying to think what my favourite All-Ireland quarter-final double header was. Limerick v Clare followed by Waterford v Cork at Croke Park in 2007 probably wins on an objective level. But I really liked the 2014 and 2015 double headers in Thurles when Dublin were involved. There was a lovely quarter-final-y air to them.
2014 I got the train down. Then back in a van, stopping in Borrisoleigh on the way. Then Ned Reaâs. At half-time in the 2015 Waterford-Dublin match I got talking to Dublin Hurling Man while having a smoke behind the Town End. Dublin Hurling Man spoke in a firm but very squeaky voice. He was certain that Dublin would win in the second half. I told him I admired his confidence but that I thought Dublin would probably be edged out in the end. No, no, no, thatâs where youâre wrong, said he, Dublin will definitely win. I said to him that I hoped he was right. No sooner had I gone back up the steps to the terrace than Waterford had scored a goal, and that was that. Later on in the smoking area of Noel Ryanâs, I got cornered by somebody Iâm pretty sure was @carryharry to buy a Lattin-Cullen lotto ticket. I never found out if my ticket won. One of the great things about Thurles double headers is the train confusion. Cork supporters going to Cork. Limerick supporters going to Limerick. Dublin supporters going to Dublin. Cork, Limerick and Galway supporters going to Dublin. Itâs a lovely mix and match. Then into Ned Reaâs on the way back. The McGowanâs. Itâs the little things like that that make an All-Ireland quarter-final double header. And only Thurles can provide them.
4 Likes
2014 was a dreadfully dull affair. The first game was an absolute cakewalk for Limerick and I remember coming to the conclusion fairly early in the second game that I had little interest in watching a Dublin team that had already capitulated to Kilkenny repeat the exercise against Tipp. I could be wrong but I think the bar under the Old Stand was introduced around then and I ended up being more interested in that than the game.
2009 was probably my favourite quarter-final double-header. We snuck past Dublin to book a semi-final berth we werenât fit for. Galway were cruising then in the second game before coming undone at the sight of Big Dan Shanahan sent in to the edge of the square.
1 Like
You omitted 2005 quarter final between them which was a great game. Damien Hayes with a late goal. Peter Lawlor was excellent for Limerick v KK same day
I suppose I omitted it because I had no tale to tell around it. I watched on the telly at home is a crap anecdote.
Hayesâs goal was one for the highlights reel alright. There was an anger in it. 2005 was one of Galwayâs periodic years where they were able to work up enough anger from people ridiculing them as soft and apathetic to actually do something.
The way I recall that game, they did their best to beat themselves for about 55 or 60 minutes, then finally realised about Tipp, âthese are actually shitâ and kicked on.
Cathal Mannion not playing tomorrow Iâm hearing
Larry is a bit simple
Sad to see Tipp go from embracing the hatred to taking the Mayo âwhy do people hate us?â route. Skehill really hurt some feelings this week.
8 Likes
I was talking about the capacity of portlaoise
1 Like
Incredible weakness from Irelandâs self branded âHome of Hurlingâ 
Some fall from grace
Theyâre quite a deluded bunch of muldoons who think they are big news. They try to act arrogant without having anything to be arrogant about .I think thatâs what irks people.
I genuinely cannot recall a single negative experience Iâve had with a Tipperary person over the years. Theyâre a wonderfully sound people. Tipp people have a tremendous sense of themselves, but not in an overbearing way. They have a deep security in themselves.
Despite not having a coastline, Tipp is a stunningly beautiful county too, with a rich and varied landscape. I think the worst experience Iâve had as regards Tipperary is a loo without water either in the toiler bowl or in the tap, at the side of the Killinan End in Thurles in 2001.
If thatâs the worst experience you could have with a county, it has to be a great county.
4 Likes
When you say to someone that you you are from Tipperary, thereâs an almost instant respect there I find, particularly when you talk to Catholics from Ulster. Thereâs a sense from them that Tipperary is the âreal thingâ when it comes to the South of Ireland.
When Tipperary travelled to Crossmaglen for a National Football League game in 2010, the welcome they got from the locals was something else. Mrs. McConville making the tea was almost bowing down at the Tipperary Supporters in attendance.
When Tyrone and Armagh came to Thurles for Football Qualifiers in 2015 and 2017 they all mingled on the pitch with Supporters for an hour afterwards taking pictures and saying what an honour it was to play on the hallowed turf.
3 Likes
There was a brilliant atmosphere before the first game in 2014. Chants of âyou can shove your Munster hurling up your arseâ in the pubs beforehand. The terraces in Thurles were heaving. There was a mass exodus of Wexford fans at the conclusion of the first game. Iâm fairly sure I was back in Wexford just as Tipp v Dublin was finishing up.
1 Like
There was a brilliant atmosphere before the first game in 2014. Chants of âyou can shove your Munster hurling up your arseâ in the pubs beforehand.
[/quote]
How did the two Leinster teams get on that day?
3 Likes
Myself and the oulâ fella had a good experience in Crossmaglen when we went up for an Armagh v Dublin league game in 2008. The game was postponed half an hour before throw in with the whole of the crowd already in Crossmaglen.
I didnât meet Mrs. McConville but we did go to Paddy Shortâs pub. The lads from Ballyhegan we were talking to couldnât have been sounder and refused to let us pay for a drink.
We went back for the rearranged fixture a couple of weeks later when the welcome wasnât as hospitable - Armagh thumped the shite out of Dublin, they banged in four goals and won by 12 or 13 points.
One of the things I like about going down to Thurles is the easy banter with Tipp people. Like say for the under-21 hurling final in 2011, they were winding us up in good natured fashion about the following weekâs minor football final, saying that they werenât going up just to turn up - that theyâd win. We laughed. We werenât laughing the following week when Tipp sucker punched the best Dublin minor team in my lifetime to pull off a famous win. Luckily we had the consolation of winning the senior game that day.
1 Like