Proof, if any was required, that you can embarrass yourself by posting when drunk.
This clown thinks Brian Lohan was better than Tom Feeney.
Philip Wallace wonāt be involved on Sunday either as heās still not returned to training and it remains uncertain as to whether heāll commit for next year yet. Shane Roche and Brendan Doyle are also injured and Paddy Colferās unavailable too so itās definitely going to be experimental.
Lyng on Wexfords fairytale year
Wexfords Ciaran Lyng heads goalwards against Louth at Croke Park
03 January 2009
Wexford football scaled new heights in 2008 by winning the NFL Division 3 title and reaching the All-Ireland semi-final for the first time since 1945. One of the stars of a memorable campaign was corner forward Ciaran Lyng, who is convinced the best has yet to come from this Wexford side.
When Pat McEnaney sounded his whistle for the last time in the second of this years All-Ireland football semi-finals, it marked the end of a remarkable journey for a Wexford team that illuminated the championship with a series of outstanding and odds-defying displays.
Underdogs for most of the season, and never more so than before their magnificent All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Armagh, the plucky Slaneysiders confounded the doubters time and again to go where not even their most ardent supporters had thought was possible. Their success has given tremendous hope to all the so-called weaker counties who are striving to break into the big league, and shows what can be achieved with the right attitude and application.
āIts something as a group were very proud of,ā Ciaran Lyng says of Wexfords achievements in 2008.
āOur target at the start of the year was to finally reach a Leinster final after losing at the semi-final stage in each of the previous four years. But to end up playing in an All-Ireland semi-final surpassed all our expectations. It was a brilliant year and the aim for next year has to be to build on it and to prove that were not a flash in the pan,ā the young corner forward adds.
Wexfords progress this year was nothing short of astounding. They started the year by winning Division 3 of the National League, beating Fermanagh in a high-scoring final after extra-time. They then produced the comeback of the year to down Meath in the Leinster championship quarter-final before making light work of Laois to qualify for their first provincial final in 52 years.
Sadly, the final against Dublin at a packed Croke Park turned out to be a nightmare for Wexford who crashed to a record 23-point defeat and lost their unbeaten record in 2008 in the process. Few expected them to recover from such a chastening experience, but they showed amazing powers of recovery to beat Down and Armagh before their fairytale run was finally ended by Tyrone in the All-Ireland semi-final.
The Slaneysiders pulled off their finest result of the past half a century when they overcome Ulster champions Armagh by 1-14 to 0-12 in their first ever All-Ireland quarter-final appearance. It was all a far cry from a few short years ago when they were languishing in Division 4 of the National League and couldnt buy a win in the Leinster championship.
Although steady progress had been made under Pat Roe and Paul Bealin in previous years, no one could have predicted the dramatic impact Jason Ryan would have in his first season as manager. The affable Waterford man transformed Wexford from also-rans in Leinster into one of top teams in the country. Not bad going for the 31-year-old rookie boss who would have been lining out for the Waterford footballers had the Wexford county board not come knocking late last year.
āJason won a county senior championship with Clongeen last year and he brought that winning mentality to the Wexford set-up. From day one, there was a great buzz in the camp. He was the driving force behind our success,ā says Lyng, whose brother Diarmuid plays half back on the Wexford hurling team.
When it was put to the 23-year-old St. Martins clubman that Ryan had been well down the Wexford county boards wish-list when they were looking for a successor to Paul Bealin, he cheekily replied: āSure Liam Griffin wasnt their first choice for the hurling job in 1995 and look what he achieved!ā
Wexford showed they meant business by going through their National League Division 3 campaign unbeaten. They registered wins over Down, Louth, Longford, Leitrim and Sligo, and drew with Limerick and Fermanagh before defeating the latter by 3-15 to 0-20 after extra-time in the final at Parnell Park. The Division 3 title was the first major trophy to come Wexfords way in 63 years and was long overdue reward for the likes of team captain Colm Morris, Matty Forde and Paddy Colfer who have been on the panel for 10 years or more.
In their National League game against Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds, Wexford came from eight points down with 25 minutes to earn a draw. But even that was surpassed on an unforgettable day in Carlow when they recovered from a 10-point deficit with 18 minutes remaining to beat Meath by 2-14 to 2-13 in one of the greatest comebacks the Leinster championship has ever seen.
The Slaneysiders looked dead and buried when they trailed by 2-8 to 0-4 at half-time. That gap still separated the sides as the match entered its final quarter, but inspired by a Redmond Barry goal, Jason Ryans charges steamrolled their Royal opponents from there to the finish, outscoring them by 2-6 to 0-1.
Buoyed by that sensational victory, Wexford bridged a 52-year gap when they eased past Laois on a 0-18 to 0-12 scoreline to reach the Leinster final. In what was the first of five championship appearances at Croke Park, Wexfords superior teamwork was clear for all to see as they finally breached their semi-final barrier.
The Leinster final witnessed a spectacular second half collapse by Wexford who had trailed Dublin by just three points at half-time, 0-7 to 0-10. Dublin could do no wrong in a breathtaking second half display which saw them run out emphatic 3-23 to 0-9 winners and crowned Leinster champions for the fourth year in succession.
It was hard to see a way back for Jason Ryans men but, against all the odds, they defeated Down by 2-13 to 0-12 with first half goals from Lyng and PJ Banville paving the way for their victory.
āAs you could imagine, we were very hurt after the Leinster final and we wanted to put that right. We had beaten Down in the league and we knew we could beat them again,ā remembers Lyng.
Wexford were completely written off before their All-Ireland quarter-final against Armagh, but showing tremendous character once again, the underdogs produced a strong finish to pull off a famous victory. The Ulster champions had no answer to the brilliant Matty Forde who scored 1-3 when the game was in the melting pot in the final quarter.
Tyrone ended Wexfords great adventure with a 0-23 to 1-14 All-Ireland semi-final victory. At half-time, Wexford trailed the vastly experienced Red Hands by eight points and faced into a second period which the injured Matty Forde would be watching from the sideline with a set of crutches.
But within 16 minutes of the restart, Ciaran Lyngs goal had brought the underdogs to within two points. However, there was to be no repeat of Wexfords heroic comeback against Meath as the 2003 and 2005 All-Ireland champions reeled off the next four points to quell the rebellion and set up a final showdown with Kerry.
For Lyng, who posted 1-6 against Tyrone, 2008 will live long in his memory. In just his second season as a Wexford senior, the predominantly left-footed attacker was one of the top five highest scorers in the championship with a tally of 2-22, one point more than his illustrious team-mate Matty Forde, who racked up 1-24. Now studying Arts in UCD, he had his heart set on a professional soccer career as a teenager and had spells with Preston North End and Shrewsbury Town over a three-year period before returning home in 2006. He has also represented Wexford in hurling, but has no regrets about concentrating on football.
Equalling, not to mention surpassing this years achievements, will be a stern test for the Yellowbellies in 2009, but their new scoring sensation insists they are here to stay.
āThe element of surprise may be gone, but we dont intend resting on our laurels. Wexford reached a Leinster under 21 final this year as well, so there is plenty of young talent around. I think this team can only get better and our main objectives for the coming year are to get promotion to Division 1 and win a Leinster title,ā he concludes.
just heard on southradio jason ryan saying it would be a very experimental side picked from players who played in the district tournaments as he wouldnt risk players who havnt trained yet for case of injuryā¦ also as far as i know redmond barry got married in the past few days yesterday possibly in which im sure most of the senior squad would have been in attendanceā¦
finally i would like to congratulate to St.Jamesā- Horeswood mix U-21 football team on their victory against Duffry Rovers today in a cold patricks park
Good article there alright. As far as I can recall though, Lyng and Matty ended up scoring the same amount in the championship.
Those inter-district hurling games are also taking place this weekend. There was a report on South East Radio saying that Kevin Kavanagh either collapsed or got a bad knock and subsequently collapsed and one of the games was delayed and was possibly going to be abandoned. Hopefully, heās alright - he collapsed during a Leinster Minor Final against Kilkenny some years back. Not sure if he has epilepsy (spelling?) or something like that.
A senior club and an intermediate club joining forces to win the lower of the two U-21 grade championships. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I would presume this has to do with numbers Bandage. I know Senior clubs in Cork whoās Minor team play 12-a-side āCā hurling and football(thats equivilant of Div. 4). If you donāt have the numbers what can you do.
Bride Rovers lost the Minor C hurling final this year to Skibbereen. Bride Rovers got to Senior hurling final, Skibereen lost the Junior āBā West Cork Final at adult level.
of course it has to do with numbers as the team today contained a number of players who are still minor next year evenā¦if both teams were to have to line out there own teams they would of been fielding alot of minor playersā¦ as it was both clubs were in minor championships till last weekendā¦ both setups have good groups coming up the ranks but id say the amalgamation could be the, the same group today lost the county final in hurling from 2 weak hurling clubs
Iām not sure if weāre going to have any Sarsfields GFC members playing with Wexford tomorrow. Mikey Hanrahan was scheduled to start but he was forced to withdraw today (food poisoning from battered sausage purchased in Waldoās take-away). Meanwhile, Andrew Moore was invited along with the panel but has apparently turned the invitation down as heās playing in a snooker tournament in Carlow! Jason āSpotā Murphy is travelling with the experimental party though. 'Mon the Sars.
Thatās bullshit. The clubs that these 2 clubs beat en route to this epic victory also fielded teams that were made up of many fellas that are minor next year also.
Apparently one of the clubs (not the intermediate one) only had 6 lads that were actually u21. So therefore they had 6 lads between 19 and 21 in the parish. Fooking hardly. Why must the other clubs, like the Duffry for example, be punished for keeping lads interested in playing football while those 2 couldnāt be arsed doing so and then circumvent(spelling could be tricky) the grading system so as they play in the lower grade.
Another example of the sick parish pump politics that has Wexford GGA on its knees.
Did you ever think of a job in diplomacy Appendage?
Where did you get the team info bandage? Any other (non sarsfield) player news?
[quote=āAppendageā]Thatās bullshit. The clubs that these 2 clubs beat en route to this epic victory also fielded teams that were made up of many fellas that are minor next year also.
Apparently one of the clubs (not the intermediate one) only had 6 lads that were actually u21. So therefore they had 6 lads between 19 and 21 in the parish. Fooking hardly. Why must the other clubs, like the Duffry for example, be punished for keeping lads interested in playing football while those 2 couldnāt be arsed doing so and then circumvent(spelling could be tricky) the grading system so as they play in the lower grade.
Another example of the sick parish pump politics that has Wexford GGA on its knees.[/quote]
I agree. Medal hungry bastards.
[quote=āAppendageā]Thatās bullshit. The clubs that these 2 clubs beat en route to this epic victory also fielded teams that were made up of many fellas that are minor next year also.
Apparently one of the clubs (not the intermediate one) only had 6 lads that were actually u21. So therefore they had 6 lads between 19 and 21 in the parish. Fooking hardly. Why must the other clubs, like the Duffry for example, be punished for keeping lads interested in playing football while those 2 couldnāt be arsed doing so and then circumvent(spelling could be tricky) the grading system so as they play in the lower grade.
Another example of the sick parish pump politics that has Wexford GGA on its knees.[/quote]
possibly only 6 lads who were interested in playin between ages of 21-19 yesterday for horeswood the following lads started im not sure of ages of some so ill add them later when i in contact with someone who will
Ivan Kehoe ( 20-21 my sources have him at)
Paddy McMahon (between 19-20 id say )
Darwyn Hart ( 20-21 not sure)
Barry Hearne ( was 21 during the summer)
Declan Murphy ( 17)
Conor Breen (18 )
Michael O Hanlon should of Started but was injured (18 max as played minor hurling for county this year)
Eoin Mythen came on as sub (17)
otherwise on bench for horeswood was:
Eddie Breen (17)
and Mark O Hanlon ( no clue)
so that would have 4 players that were actually u-21 and 5 players who played minor grade in 2008 also from horeswoord on the panel
An experimental Wexford team lost to Kildare in OāByrne cup. Any diehards make it to the match?
Kildare 1-12 Wexford 0-9
[quote=ācailinlochgarmanā]possibly only 6 lads who were interested in playin between ages of 21-19 yesterday for horeswood the following lads started im not sure of ages of some so ill add them later when i in contact with someone who will
Ivan Kehoe ( 20-21 my sources have him at)
Paddy McMahon (between 19-20 id say )
Darwyn Hart ( 20-21 not sure)
Barry Hearne ( was 21 during the summer)
Declan Murphy ( 17)
Conor Breen (18 )
Michael O Hanlon should of Started but was injured (18 max as played minor hurling for county this year)
Eoin Mythen came on as sub (17)
otherwise on bench for horeswood was:
Eddie Breen (17)
and Mark O Hanlon ( no clue)
so that would have 4 players that were actually u-21 and 5 players who played minor grade in 2008 also from horeswoord on the panel[/quote]
Their ages are not really relevant, if they had a minor team then they shouldāve been able to field an u 21 team. If they want to join with another football club then they should in the premier grade and even at that the medal won is not worth the effort of throwing into the Slaney.
CG you should scratch the surface and see why these clowns are in the Roinn 1 grade. A disgrace really.
And for all their amalgamating (again spelling could be tricky) they struggled past a team in the semis that my sources tell me had many minors (even a couple of 17 yr olds)and only a few lads around 20-21. Like wise the Duffry. Give the trophy back boys.
You really seem like you havenāt a clue what your talking about, to be fair.
A bit unfair Kevin, Iām hurt at that really.
Iāve no objection to teams amalgamating but they should do it in a fair way and not a medal grabbing way as was the case in this instance.
[quote=āAppendageā] If they want to join with another football club then they should in the premier grade and even at that the medal won is not worth the effort of throwing into the Slaney.
.[/quote]
caoimhaoin when you see a fella make a statement like the one quoted above you know exactly how much he knows about GAA, in fact making a statement like that I would say that he never played any sport at any half decent level:rolleyes:ā¦