If they had taken half their chances and still lost, it would have been more palatable.
It reminded me a lot of 2014. You canât have a lash off the ref, you canât be on about dirt. The reason for defeat lies 100% at your own door.
Terrible hard to take
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I mainly agree with this, and his newspaper stuff tends to be dreadful, but I did enjoy his books about Sligo Rovers and the 2003 championship season.
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Is Jamsie not from Galway?
Of Galway stock alright. Like the best of us Claremen 
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I think Jamsie lived in Galway until he was 11 or 12. I remember him mentioning the 1980 final in an interview a few years back, he was still living in Galway at that stage and roaring them on.
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His father is a Galwayman, canât remember exactly where.
Woodford
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Our hearts went out to them.
Ballinakill. Moved south at 11/12 but learned his skill in galway. And it showed.
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Some spot. A fella was eaten to death by fleas up that way once.
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Definite hills have eyes vibe up there alright
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The ould fella was supposed to take a job out that way before we moved to Clare. Close shave.
Youâd fit in grand.
Iâll take that in the generous spirit itâs intended.
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Woodford is Kinvara without the scenery. Crusties, cider, dope, trad music and general lawlessness.
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Ah no, it has the general lawlessness alright.
A lot of dutch crusties up that way. Very environmentally-friendly chaps by all accounts. Lots of plants and herbs planted.
Not unlike the Ballinakill in Laois so
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Agreed, two fine books. Sweeney is a grand writer when you agree with his standpoint, nice line in twee as well when he wants
The Sligo Rovers book dates from 1997. ES was trying to beome the Irish Nick Hornby, following the huge success of Fever Pitch (1992). There are dung beetles out there less adept in the opportunism stakes. Seven years later, ES had set about reinventing himself as âA GAA Fanaticâ for The Road To Croker (2004).
He is a spectacularly bad writer. The Photograph (2000) bids fair as the worst Irish novel of the last 50 years. Have a gander at the descriptions of gaelic football matches, the descriptions of the Joe Dolan type characterâs sex life. Same old story: an Irish âwriterâ trying to make himself appear âsophisticatedâ by satirizing âDe Valeraâs Irelandâ. Those people without imagination and genuine talent â George Byrne, Julian Gough, Declan Lynch, Dermot Morgan et al â go this low road. Slight credit where slight credit is due: ES at least desisted from trying to hammer a novelistic nail into the anvil of severe mediocrity.
May as well make clear that I have never met ES or had any dealings with him. A friend of mine once had the amusing experience of watching ES and Patrick McCabe fighting over a young wan in an early house on the Galway Docks, back when ES was still considered a ânovelistâ.