Con have a long list of junior Cup winners that went onto international honours. Did POM win one in 08?
Thereâs no need to feign outrage. You were the one who decided to play the race card once you find yourself on the backfoot and question whether I was been xenophobic.
I wouldnât have thought so⌠He wasnât one of lads I was thinking of anyway⌠It was 03 final I was talking bout
Who was that now?
TomĂĄs Leary, one of the Fogartys and I think Kenny Murphy played!! Brian Walsh was playing too but he was never capped
Serious team so. Brian walsh is a genius tbf
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James (Jim) Galvin won rakes of trophies for Shannon, kicked a winning drop goal against Australia and⌠he has won at least two West Limerick Junior A hurling championships, and those trump everything
James Galvin = Shannonâs greatest ever
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who did he puck ball for?
Stephen Kelly of ncw played football for limerick and won a few AILs woth shannon
I vaugely remember Jim Galvin as a rugby player, who did he play hurling for?
Feenagh/Kilmeedy
The AIL was a terrific competition in its early days from its inaugural season in 1990/91. It probably peaked in the few years between the Young Munster title win over St Maryâs on the last day of the 1992/93 season and the early years of the Shannon 4 in a row 1995/98. The advent of professionalism in 1995 and the European Cup from 1995/96 onwards really hastened the demise of the AIL.
The other problem for the AIL was the 1990âs was quite possibly the decade that the Ireland international team was at its lowest ever ebb. You could say really, the decade and a half after the 1985 triple crown all the way up to 2000. In 56 five nations games across the 14 seasons 1986-99, Ireland won just 12, drew 2 and lost 42. 8 of those 14 wins and 1 of the draws were against Wales, who were also at their lowest ever ebb, largely as a consequence of the player drain north to rugby league in their case. Pretty much every meeting against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in 1998 also resulted in a hiding.
Rightly or wrongly, the IRFU took the view that the club game wasnât of sufficiently high standard to make the transition up from club to international level in the professional era. The loss to Argentina in the 1999 World Cup and the failure to make the quarter final saw the start of the real drift from club to province. Ulster had won the 1999 European Cup (albeit a weakened competition that year in the absence of the English club), Keith Wood came back to Munster for 1999/2000 and Munster really took off that season making the 1999/2000 final.
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And what have Ireland done at a WC since the introduction of the pro game?
The guys were brave and went on out on their shields
Canât ask for more in fairness
Quarter Finalists.
So no improvement.
The Ireland international team has made huge advances over the last 20 years. By 2000, the international team was in a pitiful state where the only traditional Tier 1 opposition, they could beat were Wales and that was really down to the fact that Wales were losing all their best players. The following decade saw Triple Crown wins in 2004, 06, 07, and a Grand Slam in 2009 (for the first time since 1948). The last decade saw Championship wins in 2014 and 15 and a Grand Slam in 2018.
The IRFU didnât ask for professionalism, in fact they were quite trenchantly opposed to the sport turning professional in 1995. The IRFU opposed the advent of the World Cup in 1987 as everybody knew that made professionalism all but inevitable. The reality though was that the sport had been professional in all but name in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France from the early 1980âs, which first became really apparent on the British Lions tour to New Zealand in 1983. Ultimately though, the IRFU came to the conclusion that the structures of the domestic game had to be change if the sport was to survive in Ireland in the era of professionalism and if Ireland were to compete on the international stage.
Thatâs British & Irish Lions, Pommy
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I had a chat with our local rugby historian here this evening at a BBQ, he had a good chuckle at the idea of The Bull being Shannonâs most decorated player. Apparently Bruff gained senior status in 2004 and The Bull went back to them that summer, someone else might be able verify but this fella is rarely wrong. That being the case, almost every honour you mentioned for The Bull was gained as a Bruff clubman, he has to be ruled out of the running completely in this conversation.