took you long enough to take your head out of the plate of crubeens and come out fighting for the honour of Cork Carter…
I reckon Colm Cooper is the best gaelic footballer I’ve seen. Certainly the most skillful and natural on the ball. All the better cos he’s such as little skinny (and ugly) bastard in an era dominated by creatine eating athletes.
Unbelievable ability to make space, win ball, bring others into the play and take his own scores. He’s a brilliant player to watch and while he can be a narky enough little cunt at times, he is at the top of the game relying exclusively on skill.
His achievements so far in his career are as good as anyone at his age surely.
He’s only 25 and already has four or five All Stars and has played in six All Ireland finals winning three.
He’s also a serious big game player. He was man of the match in two of those wins and scored 1-2 in the other. He was also brilliant on the losing team both times against Tyrone, easily his team’s best player both days. I’d say his man of the match awards from other big championship games are nearly in double figures too. Destroying Cork on numerous occasions and also getting MOM against Dublin in the semi a couple of years ago spring to mind.
He’s only had one bad season so far in his career and I think that was the year his aul fella died. I reckon by the time he’s finished barring injury there won’t even be an argument about his brilliance and he’ll be an absolute cert for any best teams of all time etc named.
In short he’s great.
[quote=“gola”]I reckon Colm Cooper is the best gaelic footballer I’ve seen. Certainly the most skillful and natural on the ball. All the better cos he’s such as little skinny (and ugly) bastard in an era dominated by creatine eating athletes.
Unbelievable ability to make space, win ball, bring others into the play and take his own scores. He’s a brilliant player to watch and while he can be a narky enough little cunt at times, he is at the top of the game relying exclusively on skill.
His achievements so far in his career are as good as anyone at his age surely.
He’s only 25 and already has four or five All Stars and has played in six All Ireland finals winning three.
He’s also a serious big game player. He was man of the match in two of those wins and scored 1-2 in the other. He was also brilliant on the losing team both times against Tyrone, easily his team’s best player both days. I’d say his man of the match awards from other big championship games are nearly in double figures too. Destroying Cork on numerous occasions and also getting MOM against Dublin in the semi a couple of years ago spring to mind.
He’s only had one bad season so far in his career and I think that was the year his aul fella died. I reckon by the time he’s finished barring injury there won’t even be an argument about his brilliance and he’ll be an absolute cert for any best teams of all time etc named.
In short he’s great.[/quote]
he bottled it too many times against the dogfighters
He was Kerry’s best player in both the final defeats to the caninescrappers. Scored 0-3 from play the first time and 0-6 last year. Would have been man of the match both times had Kerry won and they weren’t too far away especially last year.
Had a stinker when they lost in the 2003 semi but that’s about the only big game bottle I can think of from the aesthetically challenged ginger genius.
[ame="
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[ame="
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST2L9ObKLI4
eature=related"]YouTube - Laochra Gael - Colm O’Rourke Part 3/3[/ame]
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[quote=“gola”]He was Kerry’s best player in both the final defeats to the caninescrappers. Scored 0-3 from play the first time and 0-6 last year. Would have been man of the match both times had Kerry won and they weren’t too far away especially last year.
Had a stinker when they lost in the 2003 semi but that’s about the only big game bottle I can think of from the aesthetically challenged ginger genius.[/quote]
Also got 0-3 from play when losing to Armagh in 02 I think.
Declan Browne, for me, is up there with the best of them. Saw alot of him in club matches and some of the scores he got were unbelievable. The fact that he won 2 All-Stars while playing for Tipperary speaks volumes. A really superb footballer.
My auld lad’s from Cork and I was at those Meath-Cork finals as a kid - those were the days you could bring small children in without a ticket.
Strangely enough, I got taken by the Meath team despite his support for Cork and I absolutely loved them. I was overjoyed when they beat Dublin in 1991 and I liked Meath for years after that. I was delighted too in 1999 when Ollie Murphy destroyed Dublin in the Leinster Final.
As Gman says, they retain the swagger of champions despite their lack of success now but their arrogance and dismissive attitude has actually suited Wexford in our recent games against them.
I rate Canavan as the greatest player I’ve seen and I’ve been saying for a while that Sean Cavanagh will go down as one of the greatest players of all time when he retires. I have an incredible amount of respect for Tyrone and I think they’re an incredible team too.
[quote=“Bandage”]My auld lad’s from Cork and I was at those Meath-Cork finals as a kid - those were the days you could bring small children in without a ticket.
Strangely enough, I got taken by the Meath team despite his support for Cork and I absolutely loved them. I was overjoyed when they beat Dublin in 1991 and I liked Meath for years after that. I was delighted too in 1999 when Ollie Murphy destroyed Dublin in the Leinster Final.
As Gman says, they retain the swagger of champions despite their lack of success now but their arrogance and dismissive attitude has actually suited Wexford in our recent games against them.
I rate Canavan as the greatest player I’ve seen and I’ve been saying for a while that Sean Cavanagh will go down as one of the greatest players of all time when he retires. I have an incredible amount of respect for Tyrone and I think they’re an incredible team too.[/quote]
I would have great time for that Meath team. O’ Rourke is hard to like sometimes, but he was a super player. His % of taken scorin chances must be very high, as he wouldn’t have gone looking for much ball.
The only moaning Cork done was about the ref in the drawn 1988 final, and i think even the anti-cork brigade would agree it wasn’t a free.
Cork realised after '87 that they needed to toughen up, they duly did, and that toughness won them 2 All-Irelands. At least they learn, unlike Mayo for example.
[quote=“Mairegangaire”]It was Cork v Meath.
But War has rules.
There are no rules when it comes to Cork v Meath
And for those who weren’t there - O’Rourke was one filthy fucker. Even if I saw him now I’d still give him a dig.[/quote]
At the risk oo being verbally attacked, let me state that I have had the height of admiration for Colm O’Rourke as a footballer.
His ability to win and retain possession before making or taking a score was quite exemplary.
He could give and take a belt with the best of them and could do this without ever collapsing in a heap.
He put a fair few Cork lads on their arses in his time as well.
[quote=“Boxtyeater”]At the risk oo being verbally attacked, let me state that I have had the height of admiration for Colm O’Rourke as a footballer.
His ability to win and retain possession before making or taking a score was quite exemplary.
He could give and take a belt with the best of them and could do this without ever collapsing in a heap.
He put a fair few Cork lads on their arses in his time as well.[/quote]
Leitrim’s best ever player?
[quote=“Boxtyeater”]At the risk oo being verbally attacked, let me state that I have had the height of admiration for Colm O’Rourke as a footballer.
His ability to win and retain possession before making or taking a score was quite exemplary.
He could give and take a belt with the best of them and could do this without ever collapsing in a heap.
He put a fair few Cork lads on their arses in his time as well.[/quote]
I remember one such incident, Cahalane (who probably deserved it). Who else?
Was meaning to post about this earlier and I alluded to it last night (which was nothing more than a hunch) when I said the differences in Offaly may possibly be a ‘generational’ thing.
Richie Connor’s clearly a hugely decorated player but I wonder if he’s come in with an old school, my way or the high way mentality.
As you say Kev, players are much more aware of what’s going on elsewhere in terms of coaching, fitness, conditioning, diet and all the rest.
They’re also seeing high profile examples of player power and players demanding professional set ups and there’s less inclination to accept perceived bad practice by management.
Looking from the outside at modern inter-county set ups, there primarily seems to be two successful modes of operating:
-
autocratic/authorative but backed up by absolute best practice in terms of preparation, e.g. Brian Cody.
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consultation/player centred but backed up by absolute best practice in terms of preparation, e.g. Micky Harte.
For example, John Meyler was autocratic but was bereft of man management skills and didn’t do any work with Wexford in terms of coaching/tactics/gameplan. As a result, the players didn’t support him.
Cody’s a tough man but, whether the players like him or not doesn’t matter, it’s clear they respect his hunger/desire/refusal to accept second best and he’s stamped his style on Kilkenny and his tactics overcame Cork’s running game a couple of years ago.
In the latter category, you have the likes of O’Grady and Allen facilitating the players and giving the Cork lads the freedom to play that Newtownshandrum style game. You have Harte going to the players last year and deciding together whether to get Stephen O’Neill back. It’s based on clear dialogue and open communication between management and players so everyone’s aware of his role.
When players see these excellent set-ups yet are met with their own manager deriding such ‘fancy’ modern practices and instead getting them to do a load of laps before playing a game amongst themselves then they get pissed off.
Not quite gola - the legendary Packy McGarty will always have that title.
Nice bit of analysis there bandage.
Going back to the Gooch-he is some player alright. For the size of him, he’s well able to hold lads off possession. Right or left no problem either. Have been at a few Kerry matches now and to watch the amount of runs he makes off the ball is fantastic-creating space for himself and those around him.
I think he’s actually had 2 bad seasons-the one where his father died obviously and also last year. 2008 he got an All-Star (for the Galway game I reckon.) All the other matches, he was poor. His name came before him when they decided to give him the award-no bad thing either in a way for a lad of just 25.
That was the replay in 1988 - Cahalane was waltzing out on a solo when O’Rourke flattened him with a shoulder and Cahalane was blown for overholding.
I think most of the Cork backs felt his presence that day - quite a robust affair.
[quote=“Bandage”]
When players see these excellent set-ups yet are met with their own manager deriding such ‘fancy’ modern practices and instead getting them to do a load of laps before playing a game amongst themselves then they get pissed off.[/quote]
Good post Bandage.
Mick O’Dwyer seems to still get away with the old-school approach, but that’s obviously bcause he won so much with Kerry in the past. He said a few years ago when he was with Laois that he didn’t even believe in stretching before a training session. Crazy. His limitations have really been shown up in recent years IMO.
Offaly have fallen some way from where Tommy Lyons had them around 97/98, although before he came in they were as bad as they are now. They’ve had some turnover of managers since about 2002 when Padraig Nolan left. I would imagine the whole problem stems from the county board’s attitude. Fairly sure that both Paul O’Kelly (think that was his name) and Gerry Fahy were both sacked against the players wishes. Seems to be a real half-assed attitude amongst the officials down there. Meath are in a similar enough scenario at the moment from what I can see. They won’t be back for a while either.
Maybe if Offaly got Biffo to come in and broker a resolution it might give him his self-confidence back and he’ll stop running the country so incompetently.
[quote=“Pikeman”]Nice bit of analysis there bandage.
Going back to the Gooch-he is some player alright. For the size of him, he’s well able to hold lads off possession. Right or left no problem either. Have been at a few Kerry matches now and to watch the amount of runs he makes off the ball is fantastic-creating space for himself and those around him.
I think he’s actually had 2 bad seasons-the one where his father died obviously and also last year. 2008 he got an All-Star (for the Galway game I reckon.) All the other matches, he was poor. His name came before him when they decided to give him the award-no bad thing either in a way for a lad of just 25.[/quote]
Have to disagree with ya there pikeman. He was man of the match in the semi-final against Cork. Think it was the replay and remember him getting it on the Sunday Game. He was class on the day set up an unbelievable amount of scores and scored the winning goal in the last minute.
He also gave Conor Gormley a bit of a roasting in the All Ireland final scoring 0-6, four from play I think.
I was at the Monaghan game too and he played out around the half forward line pulling all the strings and laying off loads of ball even though he didn’t score that much. He has a serious football brain.
I actually think the opposite of you and think his performances last year were underrated by a lot of people because of the standards he’s set himself. He was playing a new role in most games and not racking up the huge scores people expect of him.
[quote=“sid waddell”]Good post Bandage.
Mick O’Dwyer seems to still get away with the old-school approach, but that’s obviously bcause he won so much with Kerry in the past. He said a few years ago when he was with Laois that he didn’t even believe in stretching before a training session. Crazy. His limitations have really been shown up in recent years IMO.
Offaly have fallen some way from where Tommy Lyons had them around 97/98, although before he came in they were as bad as they are now. They’ve had some turnover of managers since about 2002 when Padraig Nolan left. I would imagine the whole problem stems from the county board’s attitude. Fairly sure that both Paul O’Kelly (think that was his name) and Gerry Fahy were both sacked against the players wishes. Seems to be a real half-assed attitude amongst the officials down there. Meath are in a similar enough scenario at the moment from what I can see. They won’t be back for a while either.
Maybe if Offaly got Biffo to come in and broker a resolution it might give him his self-confidence back and he’ll stop running the country so incompetently.[/quote]
The Offaly boys are meant to be serious for the booze too. The MacNamee brothers are meant to be among the worst/best for it. I’d say you’ll find they’re at the centre of any row here.
Nope thought he was poor last year and got an undeserved All-Star. Maybe by his own standards alright.