Iāve got inside MBBās head. 
He constantly has to quote everything I say, comment on it, mention me in his own posts etc. Prime example being the post two above.
Iāve got to you. Iāve beaten you. 
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āThe Tullow Tank was in full beast mode as he destroyed this laundry basketā
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Given how you donāt answer my questions I find that unlikely. It might be time to bump your Munster Final post again.
FFS,he got drunk
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and to even make your comment more embarrassing you have a Tipp clown liking it.
Rugby player gets drunk, INTERNET goes apeshit.
BOX OFFICE.
You lot just canāt ignore it.
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I think it more shows the kind of clingers on he hangs around with.
Sean needs a good friend. @myboyblue heās from down your side. Send him on an invite xoxox
Plans are in place to annex Carlow entirely. I can say no more at this time.
Apologies if this has already been postedā¦
Thereās nothing heroic about Irelandās World Cup failure
by Ewan McKenna
Four years ago, in the bowels of Eden Park in Auckland, Brian OāDriscoll skipped down the tunnel and announced that, because of the hype created around his team, theyād needed to deliver and had just done exactly that. Shortly afterwards, he was joined by Ronan OāGara, who was reduced to tears by that same victory over Australia as he described the side as āgreatā.
Ten days ago, under the roof of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Ian Madigan was the latest Irishman reduced to tears by a win, while around him, players and fans whooped, hugged and hollered at the result achieved against France.
What both games had in common was that they were no more than pool ties, there to
essentially decide the seedings before the real rugby began in the knockĀout stages. What both teams had in common was a belief that theyād made an important statement when ultimately it was smallĀtime excitement before some bigĀtime failure.
To an extent, those two sides built up a fair amount of goodwill, with a Grand Slam in 2009 and RBS Six Nations Championship victories in each of the last two seasons. But those accomplishments should also set the standards by which the players must be held to. On the smaller scale of European rugby ā and even in the November Tests of a year ago ā theyāve shown themselves to be hugely capable, but ask any player of such talent what his aspirations are and itās to perform on the biggest stage.
Getting to the last eight of a tournament where there are nine teams playing to a relatively high level isnāt an accomplishment, itās a probability. Getting to the final four was the aim this year and not getting there wasnāt a blip, it was a failure.
Yet, on Monday morning even the most basic ramble through Irelandās media proved to be disheartening. Repeatedly pockmarking pages were words such as āheroicā, ābraveā and āprideā to the extent that if had you been out the previous day, youād be forgiven for thinking Joe Schmidtās side had done what was expected of them.
On one occasion, a 43Ā20 annihilation was chalked down as a narrow loss but it yet again set the tone for a nation all too accepting of coming up short. It all led to the question is there a more mollycoddled, pampered and bubbleĀwrapped team in our sporting spectrum? Simply put, no.
This isnāt about kicking a group when they are down, but it is about being allowed to comment on an obvious reality without being accused of some form of bitter negativity. After all, you canāt have an important autopsy if you convince yourself that the corpse is alive and well. And with the national rugby team, itās what we do so often as a country.
Just contrast the reaction to the World Cup performance with that for similar performances in other sports by other Irish sportspeople. Should an Irish soccer team limited by an abject system of player production fail to get past a technically superior BosniaĀHerzegovina side next month, will they be brave? Are amateur GAA players who fall well below their potential when it matters most talked of as heroes? And at next yearās Olympics, if Irish track and field athletes in what are truly global sports donāt make semiĀfinals, will the nation exude a similar pride?
Before the off in Cardiff at the weekend, there were hurdles placed before Ireland, but they shouldnāt be seen as excuses, rather challenges for top teams overcome. The injuries to Paul OāConnell, Peter OāMahony and Jonny Sexton were cruel but others like Wales were flattened by bigger crises. The loss of SeĆ”n OāBrien hurt but punching a player in the gut resulting in suspension for the biggest game isnāt some cruel twist of fate. Meanwhile the idea that the French encounter took its toll is scraping the barrel for hindsight shows that Ireland came through the easiest group of the tournament and yet treated it as an achievement. What Ireland had was a far greater chance than any other European quarterĀfinalists, yet others outdid and outshone us.
Thatās eight World Cups now and still no semiĀfinal. And while early editions can be treated as a mediocre team simply not being good enough, that canāt be the case here. Instead, just like 2011, this was a massive choke. The lack of intensity for the opening try, the lack of tackling for the second try, forwards covering pace players out wide, the kicking game ā all these elements showed a mental collapse much greater than the physical issues borne of a lack of depth. By the opening exchanges of the second half, Irelandās quality had them just three points back but with momentum going their way and the real possibility of an unlikely comeback, they choked all over again. What exactly is brave and heroic about that? And why exactly does that deserve a reaction of any pride?
This wasnāt the āFields of Athenryā ringing around Gdansk as a ramshackle group were 4Ā0 down to perhaps the best international team to ever play the game. This was far more
embarrassingĶ¾ this was our hugely talented rugby team collapsing yet again when the safety net had been removed and it was time for them to step up and perform to their potential.
Marketing still says that this is a rugby country, maybe itās about time we stopped believing the hype.
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There is some element of a point there from Ewan but it also has to be tempered by his fairly skewed and consistent anti-rugby perspective on it.
The rugby team get an easier media treatment than some other Irish teams but itās probably on the back of success in recent years (all be it in the 6 n and at club level) rather than just the sport itself. When Leinster were performing poorly they were regularly called āladyboysā etc in the press which is hardly fawning treatment. Similarly, I donāt remember the crap rugby teams of the late 90ās getting much positive press. When Ireland had poor six nations in recent years, the knives were quickly sharpened for previous media darlings such as Eddie OāSullivan, Declan Kidney, Ronan OāGara etc.
As for other sports, the media is regularly taken to task for criticising GAA players because theyāre amateur, ignoring the significant personal benefits that top players receive. Hurling seems to get far more of a kid-glove treatment than football for some reason. Similarly, every olympics, there is usually a debate when some of our athletes under-perform as to the level of criticism they should be subjected to. How often did Sonia underwhelm but the media rolled out the excuses rather than get stuck in?
The main team who seem to get a rough media treatment is the Irish soccer team. Itās hard to know if its due to fearless hacks such as Ewan or just a stream of mostly crap results over the last 20 years. . The unavailability of the players when compared against rugby/gaa prob doesnāt help them either - most of the players arenāt well know to the general public and itās noticeable that despite awful displays at time from the higher profile figures such as Given or Keane, the media is much more reticent at sticking the boot in on these āheroesā than other lesser known players.
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I like Ewan, but thatās a really crap article.
Why?
But the rugby teamās results are even more crap than the football sideās.
When Ireland were playing shite football in 1990 the only journalist to call it out was Eamon Dunphy and he was told to shut up by everyone. The criticism of the Irish rugby team has come from another troll, Hook, but there has also been criticism from the newspapers of the style of rugby Schmidt was playing (from rugby journalists).
The team got an easier ride under Declan Kidney. Itās all about a bank of credit, you win a few trophies like Kidney and it will take years for that to go away.
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Because itās merely a sub-INTERNET forum-style whinge and gloat coloured by the obvious fact that he hates rugby and the people who play and follow it.
He implies that the Irish team lost the quarter-finals in 2011 and 2015 due to celebrating their pool victories over Australia and France, which is arrant nonsense.
Itās about as cogent a point as saying that Eire flopped in the rest of the 1994 World Cup because the team and supporters over-celebrated the win against Italy in their first match.
Link pleaseā¦
Or Ireland lost in the 94 World Cup as they werenāt one of the best 8 teams in the worldā¦
No he doesnāt, he points out the absurdity of the celebration of meaningless wins as opposed to the failure in meaningful matches.
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In world cups - arguably. But theyāve won tournaments and trophies.
So have the football team.