I agree on the character front and the blandnes of today, I agree on the overload of today. I disagree slightly on the who will leave lasting memories.
My 16 year old nephew will forever remember the Limerick players of today, he will remember many of the current Dublin footballers, Hoggy, Tony Kelly etc because they are the names he has grown up with. He may not associate them with the word characters as so many of the list you have here could be described. I recognise all of the names on your list because of my age, but how many outside of our age bracket would know the names of Joe McNally, Plunkett Donaghy, Noel Lane, Donie O Connell etc. Is it not all relative to age?
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I reckon youād stop at 6 and Iād give you both McEntees in that.
1985 to 1995 were Irelandās 1960s, our Wonder Years. In sport, in culture, in society.
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I was only looking at Mick Lowry on telly the other night talking about the Feile in Thurles.
Simply incredible times by all accounts.
Iād say Tipp being back in '87 played a key role in Irish peopleās new found confidence with the colour and characters and swagger that Tipp brought.
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Ah there was more to it than that. If you just take Cork for an example. The players were more likeable. They were knacky wristy hurlers who played the game with a smile on their face like they actually enjoyed what they were doing. Fellas like Seanie Leary, Jimmy Barry, Kevin Hennessy, John Fitzgibbon, Tom Cashman, John Horgan, Dermot McCurtain all the way to Seanie McGrath and Joe Deane, who was the last likeable Cork hurler. Fellas who seemed to appreciate that they were playing a game and that they werenāt on a mission to alter the universe. Fellas that could throw their hands in the air and run around with wild abandon if they scored a goal. Fellas from different backgrounds helped too, not like todays collection of students teachers.
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People talk about Jack and the soccer team leading to the Celtic Tiger, mayae it was Richie Stakelumās speech in killarney in 87 that set it in train!
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Agreed in general but Cork still do this.
ā¦
When Tipp started rocking up to League matches in the winter of '86 staying in 5 Star Hotels and wearing suits you knew Ireland was changing for the better.
And lads giving out about JP today sponsoring a few polo shirts
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Iām sure the Limerick players will be remembered in Limerick. Scarcity of success. But I donāt think many of them will endure beyond Limerick because very few stand out style wise or personality wise.
Compared to Clare or Offaly or Wexford of the 1990s or Waterford of the 2000s there isnāt much to get your teeth into personality wise. Limerick are too much of a faceless machine and people donāt like faceless machines.
Richie Bennis, Ciaran Carey, yes, these players are Limerickās equivalent to a Teddy McCarthy. Shane Dowling maybe. Not the current players. The current Limerick team doesnāt even have a Tommy Walsh, a player who almost singlehandedly covered up the other Kilkenny playersā lack of personality with the pure joy and exuberance in his play and his personality.
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Fair enough maybe, do you not agree though that who you remember depends more on your age profile?
Leaving county loyalty aside I could name the Cork football team of 1989/90, Id struggle to name 3 or 4 from their winning team of 2010. Id remember the Offaly team of 85 but would struggle more with their 98 team. As you say the memories seem to form deeper in childhood?
This was the dullest footballing side ever to win an All Ireland at that time
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Iād love to see Inter County GAA Managers start wearing suits to games.
It would bring some razzmatazz to the occasion. As Roddy Collins says it makes a difference to players too, when they look over at the sideline and in a sea of tracksuits, they see one man wearing a Ā£1,000 Louis Copeland suit. They know whoās in charge then.
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Kiely, Cahill and Lohan patrolling the sidelines suited and booted!
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I think we have found a new level of Corkness ā¦in Tipp
A lot of this has to do with the introduction of mandatory helmet wearing as well. Most people wouldnāt recognise all but a handful of intercounty hurlers now.
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A very good friend of mine was on the Waterford team that played Tipp in the league that year. He still talks about the Waterford players standing around outside the dressing rooms in Walsh Park in denim jackets and smoking and they being absolutely mesmerised when the Tipp bus (it was car shares to matches for Waterford until 1998) pulled up and the Tipp lads got off in their blazers and pants and shirts and ties and brushed arrogantly passed them. It was game over even before it began.
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Lads these days donāt have the confidence to have a gait like PJ OāConnell or Colin Lynch
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Do lads not get tired of talking about how good things used to be?
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