Hogan is only an auld shill - Brian Lohan put manners on him and the politburo nonsense he put on on behalf of the fitzs
The most unbelievable match day experience ever.
Both teams were out in their tracksuits walking the pitch/pucking around to an almost full stadium at 5.30/5.45. Throw in was 7pm.
They both then got a standing ovation from their respective supporters walking back into the dressing rooms.
Weâll ever see anything like that again.
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Sun splitting the stones too. Few rumours about Shefflin being named on the walk up but didnât think heâd come on. I was behind the loughlins end goal, ground level, so that might be influencing it but thought it was one of the best displays by a Kilkenny defence.
Found it on YouTube a few years ago. TV3 had it and the atmosphere doesnât transfer at all. Mightnât have been a great game but it was a good battle. Lar night have been blackguarded. Deffo changed the game.
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I recorded it at the time and watched it back a few times and the atmosphere never came across at all.
The Kilkenny crowd were very much prepared to do whatever it took to win that game.
What they did to Lar that night wont be forgotten.
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I was lucky to be in the covered terrace for that game, one of the most memorable GAA occasions I have attended. Had a front row seat (minus the seat) for Larâs sparkling 20 minutes up until his injury.
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JJ wasnât going to be on the losing side that night, by hook or by crook. One of his top 3 displays Iâd reckon.
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He was excellent alright. Richie Power too.
Cody whipping TJ Reid off after 19 mins was the most Cody thing of all time. It looked like the end of his Kilkenny career at the time.
Lar was shaping up to be MOTM but such is life. Bubbles scored some unreal points in what was his rookie season.
Which of ye won it out that year?
Is that supposed to be some sort of âdigâ?
I would expect more from @thelimericks.
Good article in the examiner by Tommy Martin about Robbie Keane and his new job.
Post it up there if you can
What a money hungry cunt.
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Tommy Martin: Why would Keano break ranks with footballâs code of wilful ignorance?
âThis is the last time I will say it: I do not want to get into the politics,â said Keane at his Maccabi press conference.
Tommy Martin: Why would Keano break ranks with footballâs code of wilful ignorance?
KEANE TO GO: Robbie Keane has been hired to coach Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
THU, 29 JUN, 2023 - 06:47
VMTV Tommy Martin 4.jpg
Tommy Martin
It was a shame not to hear Robbie Keaneâs thoughts on the Israeli-Palestine conflict as he spoke to the media following his appointment as Maccabi Tel Aviv manager.
After decades of bloodshed, brutality and interminable efforts from global leaders to broker peace talks, the views of the Tallaght sharpshooter would surely have added key nuance to the debate.
âThis is the last time I will say it: I do not want to get into the politics,â said Keane at his Maccabi press conference, disappointing the gathered diplomatic corps of major nations keen to hear his take on the intractable situation. âI am here as a football man and as someone who loves the game.â
As befits his trademark goal celebration, Keano has taken an inelegant tumble into geopolitical controversy. By taking up a job in Israel, he has drawn criticism back home from those who believe that country should be boycotted due its hardline policies in occupied Palestine.
The charge was led by Sinn Fein TD Chris Andrews, a prominent supporter of the Palestinian cause.
âVery very disappointing that Irish Football icon Robbie Keane would sign up with racist and apartheid Israeli club @MaccabitlvBC,â he tweeted.
âKeane is in a position to set example and Boycott Apartheid but chose not to!!â Other groups joined the chorus, with the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign saying Keaneâs move was âdeeply disappointingâ, while Gaza Action Ireland called it a âsickenerâ.
Alas, there were no words in his own defence from Irelandâs record goalscorer. Keanoâs considered take on the Palestine Authorityâs decision to boycott the joint economic committee may never be known. If he has deep concerns about unchecked Israeli settler violence directed at Palestinian communities, he is keeping mum for now.
In fact, the closest Robbie got to addressing his views on Zionism or the two-state solution was when he was asked about his cousin, Morrissey, who is playing concerts in Tel Aviv next month. âI did get a text that he is town,â said Keane.
âMaybe I can get you some tickets if you want?â Morrissey, whose late-career lurch rightwards led Billy Bragg to describe him as the âOswald Mosley of popâ, is rarely so tight-lipped when it comes to matters political. He has described the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement in response to Israelâs treatment of the Palestinians as âabsurdâ.
Former Ireland soccer great Robbie Keane poses for photographers in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Former Ireland soccer great Robbie Keane poses for photographers in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Of course, even if he did not want to go the full Morrissey, Keano could have defended himself by shrugging his shoulders and giving the stock response, saying that our governments do business with Israel and they are in the Champions League, the Europa League and the Eurovision Song Contest, so what is a kid from Tallaght to make of it all?
Or he could have reasonably claimed that itâs all very complex, not black and white and that he is looking forward to living in Tel Aviv, described by the Irish Times correspondent as âa booming, hi-tech cosmopolitan centre and somewhat of a liberal bubble of tolerance in contemporary Israel, as well as the countryâs gay capital.â
And anyway, he could have said, leaning into the microphone with feeling, how does lining up a 4-3-3 for Maccabi equate to supporting Benjamin Netanyahuâs right-wing regime with their escalating plans for new settlements in the West Bank?
But that would suggest a certain amount of thought. To express an opinion either way would have required a slight pause while dangling the fountain pen over his contract.
It would have called for brief contemplation on the millennia of tribal conflict that continues to unfold in the part of the world he now calls home: the baleful saga of exile, empire, conquest, partition and hatred that brings death and horror to innocents on a daily basis.
And why would a footballer do that?
After all, has it not become abundantly clear that people who have attained a certain proficiency at kicking a ball around are excused the requirement to consider anything about the wider world?
Has the hearty welcome the beautiful game has given to the despots who now control many of its most prominent institutions not spelled out exactly where we stand? Why would Keano break ranks with footballâs code of wilful ignorance?
This approach is, of course, now known as âthe Eddie Howe defenceâ, so called after the Newcastle managerâs response to a question about the clubâs owners executing 81 men back home in Saudi Arabia. âIâll stick to football,â Howe replied, wisely, given his employersâ demonstrably hardline HR policy.
âIâll stick to the footballâ is like one of those Harry Potter spells that, with a swish of a wand, can make all the bad stuff go away. By saying it, you can do anything, work for anyone, play anywhere and, this is the best bit, get paid loads of money for it.
Swish! Newcastle United are on a magical journey and the fans deserve it! Swish! The Saudi Premier League is where itâs at! Swish! Manchester City is the greatest story in club football historrrâŚ. Arghh, the spell is wearing off!
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John Fallon: Keane a master at playing the game on his terms
Of course, you really have to mean it, or else it wonât work. And thatâs the thing. Anyone asking an ex-footballer why he has decided, say, to become the manager of Kim Jong Unâs Pyongyang Allstars, is neglecting one key point.
They really donât care. Human rights abuses? Exploitative labour policies? Being the plaything of a bloodthirsty dictator? Donât care! Donât care! Donât care!
This is not to judge them. Why would they care? And even if they do, just a little bit, they are immersed in an industry that not only encourages political apathy, but heavily rewards it.
Which is where we find our man Robbie, taking his baby steps in management, after a backroom coaching career that has seen him spurned by his own country, sacked by Middlesbrough and relegated with Leeds but which could, if he can survive this Israeli flirtation, lead to lucrative future gigs who knows where.
It that context, his true response to questions about his views on this bloodiest, bitterest, most protracted of conflicts appears to be concise and clear: I really donât care.
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Good piece here with Tony Davis.
In all Iâd heard and read over the years about that cork team and the injustice of his sending off etc I never knew he had buried a child a few weeks beforehand. One of lifeâs good guys
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Ah stop, I would have thought that was well known, especially in Cork
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I didnât know that either, maybe I did at the time and Iâd forgotten it.
Maybe it is. I never heard of it anyway
Ah ladsâŚ.
It wasnât well known at the time of the match. Maybe locally but not nationally.
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