Cork are always getting snubbed, we are only a small football county, being poorly treated by the GAA.
Poor us
Ah the individual awards are especially nice for lads who realise that they’ll probably never win an all-ireland or provincial title in some cases
The individual awards are massive for all players and its bullshit to say they’re not. Obviously especially big for the likes of Tony Griffin who can never be dismissed even by lads who don’t like him as he can always point to his All Star to prove he was a good player. The amount of times All Stars are mentioned is huge.
I’d nearly say some fellas for a weaker county would rather be one of the only All Stars from that county than say win a provincial title as a journeyman corner back or the like. Far more likely to be remembered that way, and its hard to underestimate some lads’ egos.
I think people should remember that Cork only really played one good game all summer and they were poor for one half of that.
That is reflected in the team.
Thats quite a ridiculous statement, when i’m fairly sure you didn’t see them in every game. They destroyed a couple of teams and had 2 cracking games with Kerry. They won an excellent semi final and final, albeit without giving 70 minute performances. But neither did Tyrone in 08 or Kerry in 09. Corks shooting was poor in the first half, but much of their play was excellent, as was Downs, but Down were more clinical. They gave one of the best 35 minutes of football since Kerry in '06 to win it while winning it.
What reflected really is that Cork won with an outstanding squad, and only a handful stood out all the time. Aidan Walsh still had a better year than John Galvin, and had him in trouble when the teams met, but Galvin gets an award for service more than this year. To be honest, i have no problem with it, and Walsh is 19 so he’ll get plenty awards.
If you said Cork were not at their absolute best i wuld accept that, to say they were poor all year is simple ridiculous for a double winning team.
A few things:
First of all I never said they were poor in the summer. I said they played one really good game, and called into question a half of it. But you’re right, they did well in other areas of the pitch in that half, Walsh, Shields and O’Leary especially.
I saw all their games in the Championship bar Cavan and Wexford. Cork would expect to beat the two of those, but going on the reports of the Wexford lads on here, they certainly didn’t excel against the Yellowbellies.
I thought they were really poor against Limerick and were lucky to get over the line.
A poor Roscommon team frightened them for a half until they pulled away. Did enough.
Arguably, you can thank Ross McConnell for the victory over Dublin.
As for the final, fair dues they rose to the occassion in the second half and brought it home. The Kerry games were nothing to write home about. I can recall Kissane being particulaly good in them but I wouldnt have said they were cracking games, or great Cork performances.
Was Aidan Walsh not very poor in a couple of the games this year?
I didn’t see every Cork game, but I remember it being commented on.
He kicked 3 awful balls against Kerry the first day, and one in the replay, and i believe one against Wexford as well. He was nearly MOTM though in Killarney only for that kicking, and won an obscene amount of ball.
Cruicially himself and Kavanagh got on top of Galvin at different periods against Limerick, which should have been an easy win only for going to sleep, and after that he was good against Rosscommon, very good against Dublin and awesome in the final.
People seem to only remember the wild kicks though and forget he’s 19, and for all the giving out about the loss of high fielding and this fella comes along and gives an exhibition of it over and over and people forget it.
Farmer the replay in Cork of Cork-Kerry was one of the best games of the past 10 years, the standard was unbelievable. Not just saying that cos i’m from Cork, it was the highest standard of football all summer by a nice bit. Cork easily beat the same standard teams that Kerry struggled with last year, yet they get lambasted for it. Teams are never going to go into over drive if they are cruising in games. Rosscommon gave Cork plenty of it in the first half, but were still losing.
And in the final, some of Corks first half forward play was scintillating all the way up to the final kick. The 2 goal chances were brilliant moves, stopped by super goal keeping. The last 2 points kicked of that half are also as good as anything you’ll ever see from anyone, they were from Goulding and O’ Connor. Cork were not getting into those positions last year against Kerry, so while it was frustrating watching it, i knew we were on the right track.
Look i know Cork will have to win again next year, beat Kerry and hammer a few teams for others to be satisfied with them, but you have no idea what a relief this All-Ireland is to Cork football people, nobody really gives a toss about awards, not beating Kerry etc etc. They really really don’t.
No.
I didn’t see every Cork game, but I remember it being commented on.
Christ. :rolleyes:
His kicking was atrocius he did well in other areas of the game.
About time Galvin got some recognition.
The reality is the Cork team that won the all Ireland this year was worse than last year. Not that it matters.
Beaten by what was later shown to be a poor Kerry team and Limerick had plenty chances to finish them off only for a complete lack of ability to kick the ball over the bar.
Their backs were good all year in fairness their forwards very hot and cold.
Canning looks to have a fair bit of timber in this photo
Someone pointed me towards Joe Canning’s facebook page recently and it showed he liked a page poking fun at Ireland’s leading goalscorer and sporting great Robbie Keane. An amateur ‘sportsman’ having a laugh at the expense of the captain of Ireland and world famous Robbie Keane, what sort of world do these vagabonds live in?
you are giving that fat hideous oaf way too much credit
Michéal Quirke clamping the fuck out of the GPA here
[SIZE=6]Micheal Quirke: Let’s help broken GAA stars ease their bodies into retirement[/SIZE]
Friday, March 06, 2015
By Micheal Quirke
Reading Paul Keane’s article in this paper last week about the massive surge in hamstring injuries in the GAA and how the effects of all these injuries accumulate and last much longer than one week, a month or a season got me thinking.
I’m 34, a relatively young man, but in GAA playing years — a veritable dinosaur. When I wake in the morning now, my first thought is to not sit up.
I have to consciously roll onto my left side and ease myself up to a sitting position, then I must slowly swing my feet out of the bed and while leaning against the wardrobe, help myself up so the protruding disk in my lumbar spine won’t get annoyed and force my whole lower back into spasm for a minute or so. All wear and tear apparently.
Years of a big body jumping, landing, running, falling, getting battered and abused. It’s to be expected, don’t you know. Oh yeah, the mornings are great fun.
Eventually, after X-rays and MRI’s and a number of injections into the facet joints of my back, and restarting a long term strengthening programme for the core and glutes, I can at least get back to playing on the floor with my kids again. Small steps. I still wouldn’t dare to try and swing a golf club mind, that was to be my retirement game. It will have to wait.
But if anything, the worsening state of my back took my attention off my right knee for a while. A knee that is in rapidly growing need of another cartilage clean up job by the overworked Dr Ray Moran in the clinic in Santry. And I won’t even start about my hip, or somebody will organise to have me put down.
But look at Declan O’Sullivan’s knees, they haven’t seen a shred of cartilage in years. Dermot Early retired with an Argos catalogue size list of injuries. How will Henry Shefflin’s knees be looking in a decade or so down the line? Darran O’Sullivan has already had both hips operated on.
I mean, most of the players of ‘Kerry’s Golden Years’ can’t get out of the country anymore because metal detectors don’t believe that humans should be carrying that amount of hardware in their bodies. It’s not so much the games but the huge amount of training that takes the degenerative toll on the player’s body.
My point is this, I’m not aware of any meaningful mechanism, either by the GPA or GAA to support players when they finish their playing careers in terms of creating a plan to assist them in the maintenance of accumulated injuries gathered over the course of training and playing inter-county football or hurling.
To contrast, in the AFL, their player association launched the AFL Players’ Trust in 2013. Their president Luke Ball said: “Players put their bodies on the line each week and will pay the cost for the rest of their lives. 64% of past players remain affected in their current daily life from a previous AFL injury, with 60% of these requiring medical treatment”.
It would be intriguing to see the corresponding GAA data into retirement.
And I’m not talking about fellas getting money for jam here. I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford health insurance, which alleviates a lot of financial burden, but many guys who finish up playing are not in that position, and suddenly when you are outside the bubble of the inter-county dressing room; the countless free physio and massages sessions are gone, doctors, MRI’s all have to be paid for.
We are talking now about inter-county teams who are training more than ever before and at a higher intensity than ever before.
Eventually that is going to take a savage toll.
Then you’re done. Thanks for the memories. Best of luck with the aches and pains.
I find the GPA, as the player’s representative body, progressive in everything they do. They are doing incredible work raising the awareness of issues surrounding mental health, and removing the stigma attached to it.
But somebody up there needs to take a real look at the issues surrounding the physical health also, and how we can put a programme in place to support players who give years of service to their county, and who are left with broken bodies and a poorer quality of life as a result.
Particularly for those players in the initial two-to-three years out of the game, when it is still a shock to the system that your medical support has disappeared.
Looking back, you ask any player would they change a day of what they did? Absolutely no chance.
But we as an association can do a better job of helping future generations of inter-county footballers and hurlers ease their bodies into retirement.
I would say most club players end up with all those injuries mentioned…I would also say there is a time in every players career where a doctor or physio tells them what’s going to happen down the line if they keep playing and most just ignore it…
MRI’s. For fuck sake.
[QUOTE=“myboyblue, post: 1102089, member: 180”]Michéal Quirke clamping the fuck out of the GPA here
[SIZE=6]Micheal Quirke: Let’s help broken GAA stars ease their bodies into retirement[/SIZE]
Friday, March 06, 2015
By Micheal Quirke
Reading Paul Keane’s article in this paper last week about the massive surge in hamstring injuries in the GAA and how the effects of all these injuries accumulate and last much longer than one week, a month or a season got me thinking.
I’m 34, a relatively young man, but in GAA playing years — a veritable dinosaur. When I wake in the morning now, my first thought is to not sit up.
I have to consciously roll onto my left side and ease myself up to a sitting position, then I must slowly swing my feet out of the bed and while leaning against the wardrobe, help myself up so the protruding disk in my lumbar spine won’t get annoyed and force my whole lower back into spasm for a minute or so. All wear and tear apparently.
Years of a big body jumping, landing, running, falling, getting battered and abused. It’s to be expected, don’t you know. Oh yeah, the mornings are great fun.
Eventually, after X-rays and MRI’s and a number of injections into the facet joints of my back, and restarting a long term strengthening programme for the core and glutes, I can at least get back to playing on the floor with my kids again. Small steps. I still wouldn’t dare to try and swing a golf club mind, that was to be my retirement game. It will have to wait.
But if anything, the worsening state of my back took my attention off my right knee for a while. A knee that is in rapidly growing need of another cartilage clean up job by the overworked Dr Ray Moran in the clinic in Santry. And I won’t even start about my hip, or somebody will organise to have me put down.
But look at Declan O’Sullivan’s knees, they haven’t seen a shred of cartilage in years. Dermot Early retired with an Argos catalogue size list of injuries. How will Henry Shefflin’s knees be looking in a decade or so down the line? Darran O’Sullivan has already had both hips operated on.
I mean, most of the players of ‘Kerry’s Golden Years’ can’t get out of the country anymore because metal detectors don’t believe that humans should be carrying that amount of hardware in their bodies. It’s not so much the games but the huge amount of training that takes the degenerative toll on the player’s body.
My point is this, I’m not aware of any meaningful mechanism, either by the GPA or GAA to support players when they finish their playing careers in terms of creating a plan to assist them in the maintenance of accumulated injuries gathered over the course of training and playing inter-county football or hurling.
To contrast, in the AFL, their player association launched the AFL Players’ Trust in 2013. Their president Luke Ball said: “Players put their bodies on the line each week and will pay the cost for the rest of their lives. 64% of past players remain affected in their current daily life from a previous AFL injury, with 60% of these requiring medical treatment”.
It would be intriguing to see the corresponding GAA data into retirement.
And I’m not talking about fellas getting money for jam here. I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford health insurance, which alleviates a lot of financial burden, but many guys who finish up playing are not in that position, and suddenly when you are outside the bubble of the inter-county dressing room; the countless free physio and massages sessions are gone, doctors, MRI’s all have to be paid for.
We are talking now about inter-county teams who are training more than ever before and at a higher intensity than ever before.
Eventually that is going to take a savage toll.
Then you’re done. Thanks for the memories. Best of luck with the aches and pains.
I find the GPA, as the player’s representative body, progressive in everything they do. They are doing incredible work raising the awareness of issues surrounding mental health, and removing the stigma attached to it.
But somebody up there needs to take a real look at the issues surrounding the physical health also, and how we can put a programme in place to support players who give years of service to their county, and who are left with broken bodies and a poorer quality of life as a result.
Particularly for those players in the initial two-to-three years out of the game, when it is still a shock to the system that your medical support has disappeared.
Looking back, you ask any player would they change a day of what they did? Absolutely no chance.
But we as an association can do a better job of helping future generations of inter-county footballers and hurlers ease their bodies into retirement.[/QUOTE]
He’s clamped fuck all.
And coming in 5, 4, 3, 2…
+1. How many more of these simpletons are going to come out with guff like this? It’s a hobby. It’s voluntary. Stop doing it if you think you might be unable to walk when you’re 40 because of it.
Agreed. When sedentary lads are getting hip operations in their 20s I wonder if it is the fluoride.