The Joy of Six

anon95599269 · February 21, 2010, 2:04pm

i think rocko & larryduff can back me up on this as they probably heard it from the same unquestionable source

Watch_The_Break · February 21, 2010, 5:22pm

Six Crucial Moments in Recent All-Ireland Finals:

1

Johnny Dooley stands over a 21 metre free in the ’94 final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMFUsN3OWo0#t=00m30s

The Daddy of them all. A fairly pedestrian All-Ireland final was drawing to a close when Joe O’Connor took the safe option and dragged down Billy Dooley 25 yards from Joe Quaid’s goals. Limerick had led more or less from the off and in truth, Offaly had never looked too likely to catch them. Then it all changed. Johnny Dooley seemed to ignore the advice from the line and aided by complacent organisation on the Limerick line, rifled the ball to the net.

Offaly went on to register an unanswered 1-5 before the final whistle, some would say Limerick are yet to recover.

http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/watermarked/Library/SF9/010491.jpg

2

Eamonn Taaffe makes a brief cameo appearance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRHbI9yFy40#t=03m55s

Clare had been the story of the 1995 season, winning their first Munster Championship in 63 years enroute to the final and had captured the imagination of the public in doing so. Their opposition were the 1994 version. Having destroyed Kilkenny in the Leinster championship, Offaly looked set on establishing themselves as a major power within the game. As the came neared its end, they still looked to be on track. Clare had matched them in nearly every quarter, but had been undone by a bad David Fitzgerald mistake which gifted Offaly a fluke goal, and a fantastic poacher’s goal from Johnny Pilkington which re-established Offaly’s cushion after a Clare revival.

Clare needed a break and in the hope of finding one, Ger Loughnane took a chance a gave Eamonn Taaffe his championship debut in the toughest circumstances imaginable. Taaffe duly obliged, and with his first touch of the game drilled a rebound from a long range Daly free to the roof of the net. Clare led for the first time of the game and with momentum on their side, drove on to capture their first All-Ireland in 81 years.

http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/watermarked/Library/SF6/005739.jpg

3

Gary Kirby’s ‘accident’ in 1996

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lf27H2nqcY#t=0m38s

'96 was to be Limerick’s year of redemption. The nightmare of '94 had been eased somewhat by an immensely impressive Munster campaign, the highlights including a thrilling victory over reigning champions Clare and an incredible comeback in the final against Tipperary. On the other side, Wexford were the latest side to join the hurling revolution and had earned a long deserved Leinster championship through an impressive performance against Offaly. They followed this up with a scintillating display against Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, and set up one of the most eagerly anticipated finals in living memory. The game was cast as a series of key battles between the towering figures on both sides.

One of these was between the swashbuckling duo of Martin Storey and Ciaran Carey, the other between the diminutive defensive general Liam Dunne, and Limerick’s ace marksman Gary Kirby. It was an exchange between the latter duo which was to provide one of the most enduring talking points of the game. A dropping ball between the two left Kirby with badly damaged hand, an injury which allowed him to continue only with greatly reduced effectiveness. Limerick struggled badly to fill the gap and Wexford carried the day by a narrow margin. Would a fully fit Kirby have changed the outcome? It’s a debate that won’t be settled anytime soon.

http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/watermarked/Library/SF2/001321.jpg

4

Brian McEvoy roasts an ill Brian Whelehan, forcing Michael Bond to move Whelehan to the attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZY5G1y0g3U#t=0m25s

'98 was as dramatic a year as the hurling world had seen for some time. Controversy dogged the campaigns of the two main protagonists, Clare and Offaly, and when the dust had settled it was Offaly who had found their way to their third All-Ireland final in five years. Kilkenny by contrast had slipped under the radar. A low key Leinster championship, followed by an unipressive win over Waterford was sufficient to get them to the big day in September.

As the game settled however, it looked as if they had played their hand quite well. Offaly struggled to get to the pace of the game, while Kilkenny seemed to be comfortably moving through the gears. In particular, Brian McEvoy was making hay at wing forward, where Offaly talisman Brian Whelehan seemed poweless to stop him. The flu-ridden Whelehan, was moved to the Offaly attack in the last throw of the dice by Michael Bond. Rarely in the history of hurling has any change made such a dramatic difference. Whelehan scored 1-6 as Offaly came to life and swept Kilkenny aside in a dramatic win.

http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/watermarked/Library/SF22/022450.jpg

5

John Leahy has a chance to bury Clare

The fresh faced Clare side which captured the '95 crown were a whole new animal by September of ’97. The three traditional powers had been dispatched enroute to the final, and they longer seemed to be taking it in such good spirits. A very public spat between Ger Loughnane and Tipperary PRO Liz Howard had added a whole new dimension to the rivalry, and when Tipperary steamrolled over Wexford in the semi-final, the stage was set for a classic showdown. The new backdoor system added a degree of novelty to the occasion but in truth it was just a sideshow. The real story was the old facing off against the new. No traditional power had featured in a final since 1993, and in the meantime the hurling world had been turned on its head.

Tipperary had come to Croke Park to restore order. They started like a team that meant business. John Leahy and Declan Ryan turned back the clock and repeatedly combined to split the Clare defence open. At the break Tipp had earned themselves a cushion of four points, but Clare emerged after half-time in a very different mood. An immediate score from wing back Liam Doyle set the tone, as a 0-10 to 0-06 deficit was transformed into a 0-17 to 0-12 lead. Tipp hung on through Liam Cahill and Eugene O’Neill goals, but Ollie Baker and Jamesie O’Connor had restored Clare’s lead with only minutes left.

And so the ball broke to John Leahy. Leahy symbolised lots of things about Tipperary in the eyes of the average Clare fan, not all of them good. If there was one man who was to win the All-Ireland for Tipp however, he was the most likely candidate. As Leahy bore down on goal Brian Lohan came charging from his left hand side in the hope of rushing him, and so Leahy picked his spot and went for broke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_tmYaiuiqU#t=06m26s

As dramatic a climax to a championshipseason as you are ever likely to see.

http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/watermarked/Library/SF4/003988.jpg

6

Diarmuid Kirwan intervenes in last year’s final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKm1RvmEh3w

Kilkenny’s grip on the game of hurling was as strong as ever in 2009. Valiant efforts by Galway, Dublin, and Waterford had all fallen considerably short as the Cats marched on an historic fourth consecutive All-Ireland in September. If one side had any hope of stopping them it was the one they faced. After the fiasco of Babs Keating’s second coming, Tipperary had installed a young, forward looking management team and had reaped the rewards. Tipp were hurling with an intelligence that many felt might truly put the kingpins to the test, but doubts lay in their ability to stay the course in the face of the most ruthless machine the game of hurling had ever produced. Tipp had made a habit of fading badly in championship clashes, and while at their best they could match anyone, suspicions of a soft centre hung over tem throughput the year.

With 60 minutes played, Tipp had answered all their critics. Standing toe to toe with Kilkenny, their young team had hurled at a whole new level, matching the champions in every regard and they deservedly led by two points with just ten minutes left. Most importantly, their defence had held the potent Kilkenny attack goalless, and in doing so had established a sense around the ground that the game was theirs for the taking. The man in the middle, referee Diarmuid Kirwan, had allowed for a fast paced, hard hitting game by intervening only when absolutely necessary. However, his intervention in the 62nd minute changed the face of the game. Martin Comerford latched onto a loose ball and off-loaded to Richie Power who charged at the Tipp defence. Paul Curran stood his ground, and held Power at the edge of the large square. Kirwan’s whistle sounded and Kilkenny were awarded as controversial a penalty as the All-Ireland final has ever witnessed. Henry Shefflin duly dispatched the ball to the net, and with the psychological advantage restored, the Cats powered home to their fourth title on the trot.

http://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/watermarked/Library/SF524/377431.jpg

One thing that occurred to me when I was getting the pictures for this was how incredibly uncomfortable the old gaa shorts used to be, like the ones Johnny Dooley has in that picture. They were a truly horrendous piece of sportswear and can only have been designed by someone with some fairly deep rooted issues. At this point they only show up on the odd lunatic at junior b level.

anon95599269 · February 21, 2010, 5:26pm

can you not take a hint from the fact that nobody commented on your initial post dumbo

[color="#98FB98"][color="#FFFFFF"]cue loads of comments

Watch_The_Break · February 21, 2010, 5:28pm

Ncc people can see white text in this format

anon95599269 · February 21, 2010, 5:30pm

i just put that in there so people wouldnt comment on your posts

Watch_The_Break · February 21, 2010, 5:31pm

How do you do it

Flano · February 22, 2010, 9:09am

Watch_The_Break · February 22, 2010, 12:49pm

Six favourite chocolate bars:

Yorkie
Caramel
Snickers
Mars Bar
Wispa
Kit-Kat

mickee321 · February 22, 2010, 11:03pm

six fags who got burst open by the gay queen ball ox

flano
farmer
ben shermin
west
iamthelaw
bigjohnbigbadjohn

holdingthebatsmanswillie may also have been in attendance

mickee321 · February 22, 2010, 11:39pm

6 LOI clubs who have gone bust

cork city
dublin city
londondire city
kilkenny city / EMFA
home farm everton
limerick city

Sidney · March 2, 2010, 12:34pm

Six based on the latest Guardian column:

Six great Gaelic Football matches that never were:
6. Dublin v Meath, All-Ireland Semi-Final 2001
The third part of the greatest weekend ever never happened. Still two out of three ain’t bad. If Maurice Fitzgerald’s point had never happened, if Dublin had held on against Kerry in Thurles, it would at least have been a game and maybe much more. As it was Kerry turned in a performance more limp and lifeless than Courtney Love’s hair after a week long heroin binge.

Kerry v Tyrone, All Ireland Final 2009
It could have been the most hyped final ever, with everything riding on it. A chance for Kerry to beat the team they have been waiting to beat since 2003. But Tyrone failed to turn up against Cork and Kerry once again had to content themselves with doing what they do best - beating Cork.
Down v Derry, Ulster Final 1995
Derry had the best group of footballers in their history at this time and are always marked down as a team who underachieved. After winning Sam in ’93 they lost one of the games of the decade to Down in ’94. No shame in that. The Derry county board thought otherwise and inexplicably sacked Eamonn Coleman. Derry were never the same again. Following the first ever players strike, a devastating league victory under Mickey Moran in reality only papered over the wounds which had been opened and the team disintegrated against 13 man Tyrone despite being three up at half time. Down went out to Donegal with a whimper in 1995, utterly unable to recapture their hunger from the previous year.
Kerry v Meath, All-Ireland Final 1997
Leinster in 1997 was a minefield. Meath just got over Dublin in a cliffhanger but then entered another saga, this time against Kildare, including one of the best games of football ever played. They struggled through where they met an unrated Offaly in another superb match. But injuries, suspensions fatigue and some great football were to beat them. But a full strength Meath would more than likely have come through that test and probably beaten Mayo (another classic rematch that never happened) and Kerry, who they almost always had the measure of at that time. 1997 was an excellent championship, loads of brilliant games, the irony was that it produced the softest All-Ireland in living memory as Kerry took advantage of most of the other big guns annihilting each other.
Dublin v Meath, Leinster Semi Final 1992
The ultimate last stand that never was, and the ultimate rematch that never happened. Meath lost to Laois in the first round at Navan and Dublin waltzed through untested into an All-Ireland final against Donegal. Their easy route didn’t help them. Meath had lost a good five or six of the ’91 team by the time the teams met again in ’93. O’Rourke and Stafford were still there, but Lyons, Ferguson, Harnan, Hayes, McEntee and Flynn (injury) were gone. Dublin won by a point, but it wasn’t quite the same without beating those boys.
Kerry v Armagh, All-Ireland Final 2004
These teams played four times in championship football in the noughties and every one of the games was a classic. Armagh were rampant against Donegal in the Ulster Final played at Croke Park and would have had a 50/50 chance of repeating their 2002 final win against Kerry. But they sleepwalked through their quarter final against Fermanagh and lost by a point. An out of their depth Mayo put up scant resistance against Kerry, although that defeat had nothing on their 2006 humiliation. You just know this one would have been a cracker.

myboyblue · March 2, 2010, 1:14pm

Ah thats a great 6 there Sid, well done. I was at that Laois Meath game in Navan, it was a stormer, where a young curly headed leaving cert student called Hughie Emerson made his debut for Laois and fucked Liam Hayes among others out of it for the 70 minutes. The best thing to happen Laois that day was having Joe Nolan sent off if I recall correctly. Leo Turley ran riot and Tony McMahon came the length of the field to bury a penalty and Meath were gone. Typical of Laois in the 90’s though, we went and fucking lost to Louth of all people in the next match where a heartbroken MBB stodd on the Canal End and began to realise that being a Laois supporter would fucking suck for all time. 2003 cleared that up a bit, but we’re worse than ever now unfortunately.

Sidney · March 2, 2010, 1:18pm

Refreshing honesty MBB. I think you might just be the man to clean up Fianna Fail.

caoimhaoin · March 2, 2010, 1:25pm

Six based on the latest Guardian column:

Six great Gaelic Football matches that never were:
6. Dublin v Meath, All-Ireland Semi-Final 2001
The third part of the greatest weekend ever never happened. Still two out of three ain’t bad. If Maurice Fitzgerald’s point had never happened, if Dublin had held on against Kerry in Thurles, it would at least have been a game and maybe much more. As it was Kerry turned in a performance more limp and lifeless than Courtney Love’s hair after a week long heroin binge.

Kerry v Tyrone, All Ireland Final 2009
It could have been the most hyped final ever, with everything riding on it. A chance for Kerry to beat the team they have been waiting to beat since 2003. But Tyrone failed to turn up against Cork and Kerry once again had to content themselves with doing what they do best - beating Cork.

Down v Derry, Ulster Final 1995
Derry had the best group of footballers in their history at this time and are always marked down as a team who underachieved. After winning Sam in ’93 they lost one of the games of the decade to Down in ’94. No shame in that. The Derry county board thought otherwise and inexplicably sacked Eamonn Coleman. Derry were never the same again. Following the first ever players strike, a devastating league victory under Mickey Moran in reality only papered over the wounds which had been opened and the team disintegrated against 13 man Tyrone despite being three up at half time. Down went out to Donegal with a whimper in 1995, utterly unable to recapture their hunger from the previous year.

Kerry v Meath, All-Ireland Final 1997
Leinster in 1997 was a minefield. Meath just got over Dublin in a cliffhanger but then entered another saga, this time against Kildare, including one of the best games of football ever played. They struggled through where they met an unrated Offaly in another superb match. But injuries, suspensions fatigue and some great football were to beat them. But a full strength Meath would more than likely have come through that test and probably beaten Mayo (another classic rematch that never happened) and Kerry, who they almost always had the measure of at that time. 1997 was an excellent championship, loads of brilliant games, the irony was that it produced the softest All-Ireland in living memory as Kerry took advantage of most of the other big guns annihilting each other.

Dublin v Meath, Leinster Semi Final 1992
The ultimate last stand that never was, and the ultimate rematch that never happened. Meath lost to Laois in the first round at Navan and Dublin waltzed through untested into an All-Ireland final against Donegal. Their easy route didn’t help them. Meath had lost a good five or six of the ’91 team by the time the teams met again in ’93. O’Rourke and Stafford were still there, but Lyons, Ferguson, Harnan, Hayes, McEntee and Flynn (injury) were gone. Dublin won by a point, but it wasn’t quite the same without beating those boys.

Kerry v Armagh, All-Ireland Final 2004
These teams played four times in championship football in the noughties and every one of the games was a classic. Armagh were rampant against Donegal in the Ulster Final played at Croke Park and would have had a 50/50 chance of repeating their 2002 final win against Kerry. But they sleepwalked through their quarter final against Fermanagh and lost by a point. An out of their depth Mayo put up scant resistance against Kerry, although that defeat had nothing on their 2006 humiliation. You just know this one would have been a cracker.

Strange list.

Flano · March 2, 2010, 1:29pm

Mickee321. Hm.

Hm.

Sidney · March 2, 2010, 1:30pm

As I said it’s based on the latest Guardian Joy of Six column which features six association football matches that never happened - ie what if Brazil had played West Germany rather than Italy in the 1970 World Cup Final.

myboyblue · March 2, 2010, 1:33pm

Yea I read that list, impressive work, not sure I’d have the recall to come up with something similar to be frankly honest. Not really a list kinda fella.

Watch_The_Break · March 2, 2010, 1:35pm

That’s a pretty cool idea.

Good work.

Sidney · March 2, 2010, 1:35pm

And still on that topic here’s six great hurling matches that never happened:

6 Tipperary v Kilkenny, All-Ireland Final, 1993
5 Kilkenny v Waterford, All-Ireland Final 2007
4 Cork v Kilkenny, All-Ireland Final 1976
3 Dublin v Wexford, Leinster Final 1991
2 Cork v Waterford, All-Ireland Final 2004
1 Wexford v Clare, All-Ireland Final, 1997 - “The People’s Final” (squirm)

Watch_The_Break · March 2, 2010, 1:38pm

I’d have Kilkenny-Waterford 2007 at number one on that list.

We’d only have hammered Wexford.