(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post
Don't worry lad it will be 50 years before Cork win Sam the way yer reversing at high speed these past 8 years! As for Liam, all I hear is Cork being a coming force and all I see is them flopping in Semi-finals ;D TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 16/11/2018 12:27:56 2151306 Link 0 |
God that is some long paragraph, taking one point from it, for Clare and say Galway to come in 1995 and 1980 respectively to win All Irelands after years, generally the "big guns" will be in decline also at this time, Kilkenny lost 1980 Leinster Final to Offaly, Cork and Tipp were not strong at those times either (Limerick were in AI in 1994 granted) but no more than my own Offaly winning, when we did in the day, it was Galway we won our 1st 2 AI SH against, in 81 and 85..Limerick was the first "Munster" county we beat in 1994 (it wasn't Cork or Tipp is the point Ime making) Cork beat us 1984 which at the time was a novel final pairing, but Cork were not going to loose 3 AI's in a row having lost in 82 & 83 to Kilkenny, who Wexford beat by a late Tony Doran goal in LSF, only for Offaly to topple Wexford in the LF (Wexford led that game 0-08 to no score in the 1st half, Offaly went on to win by 1-15 to 2-11)...Offaly beat Kilkenny fair enough in 1998 but that was a jaded team in my view and the back door had just come in and there were games left right and centre and no one knew who was playing who until draws were made, unlike the old system where you could predict the games right up to the AI itself..your right, you need a good manager, an exceptional group of players, and I reckon the big gun to be "slumbering" and a bit of luck...
Fairplayalways (Offaly) - Posts: 1034 - 16/11/2018 13:07:17 2151311 Link 0 |
Thats a fair point. Tipp particularly were struggling in 70s and early 80s. But I do think ur downplaying ur own counties achievements a bit. For me Offalys 7 All Irelands in hurling and football in 30 years is possibly the greatest achievement in modern GAA. Offaly had never won a football leinster title before 1960 or an hurling leinster title before 1980. Offaly had a population under 10000. But for me was so impressive was how Offaly took on the superpowers and won and actually became a sort of bogey team for kerry and kilkenny . In ten years Offaly beat kerry in two finals in football. The first win 1972 is the biggest defeat kerry ever suffered in a final losing by 8 points. Also Dublins worst defeat in a leinster final ever was at the hands of Offaly also in 1982 leinster final with Offaly beating the Dubs by 9 points. Then of course Offaly beat kerry in 82 in the greatest final ever with the most famous goal of all time. Offaly won their first All Ireland in 1971 and did the double a year after . A great achievement. The 71 72 team is one of the greatest teams ever to come from leinster. And is the most underated great team in history. It had great players like Tony McTeague Willie Bryan and Paddy Iron man from Rhodes McCormack. Paddy must have been some man he was only 5ft 9. And yet he had a nickname that sounded like a superhero. The 80s Offaly football team also was a brilliant team..With the lowrys The Connors Liam Cummins and the most talented naturally gifted forward of all time. Gooch was class. But Matt Connor was the greatest. His career ended tragically in mid 20s but his scoring numbers in every season are staggering. For many Matt Connor, me included , Matt Connor is the best forward of all , definatly the most talented. And of course one of the greatest goalkeeper's of all.time Offaly had also in Martin Furlong. Furlong is one of the most sucessful players in leinster football history. Since 1920s outside Dublin only 3 leinster men have won 3 All Ireland medals. They are Meaths Martin O Connell and Colm Coyle. The third person is Offalys Martin Furlong. In hurling to win 4 liams in 18 years is staggering. The first team 81 and 85 was a tough hard ground hurling team. With great men like Pat Carroll Pat Fleury Padraig Horan Pat Delaney Joachim kelly Ger Coughlan Danny Owens Pat Cleary Liam.Cummins and Joe Dooley. The 90s was a brilllant skilful team full of classy players like John Troy Jim Troy The Pilkingstons The Dooley Martin Hamney Daithi Regan and of course one of the greatest defenders of all.time Brian Whelehan. Along with Matt Connor Whelehan was another Offaly genius. But Offaly not only took on kerry and won they took on kilkenny and won. Offaly defeated kilkenny in the championship in 1981 1985 1989 1990 1995 1998. kilkenny were no mugs then Kilkenny had two brilllant teams winning two two in a rows first ibn 1982 1983 ( Richie Power Liam Fennelly Christy Heffernan Ger Henderson Frank Cummins Harry Ryan Joe Hennessey Ger Fennelly Nicky Brennan Noel Skehan and Brian Cody ) and 1992 1993 Team ( DJ Carey Adrain Ronan John Power Pat O Neill Willie Connor Eddie Connor and Eamon Morrissey). Look at all those brillant players kilkenny had in 80s and 90s. Also Cork had a brillant team in 80s with players like John Fenton Jimmy Barry Murphy. Galway had their greatest team ever with Joe Cooney and Pete Finnerty. Clare had their greatest team ever led by Ger Loughnane, there was also two brillant limerick teams in early 80s and early 90s , the best Wexford team of last 50 years eg 1996 , best Antrim team of last 50 years eg 1989. And the greatest Tippearey team of last 50 years eg 1989 1991. It was a very competitive era. In those 20 years Tipp Cork and kilkenny won 10 All Irelands between them. Cork had a brillant 80s team which the current team wouldnt be anywhere close to. Two brilllant kilkenny teams and one of the great Tippearey team , the best Tipp team of modern era. And still Offaly won 4 Liam Mcarthys. As I said Offalys 7 All Irelands in hurling and football is possibly the greatest achievement in modern GAA. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 16/11/2018 14:50:57 2151324 Link 2 |
I never thought of that. Great point. The loss to Simontown was colossal. Imagine if Conor Nash and a full fit Shane O Rourke at centre field and Colm O Rourke stayed as manager. Simontown gaels woud have a really dominated Meath football and a leinster club title wud have been on the cards and maybe even the big one on St Patricks..Still.Colm O Rourke did well.at Simontown. The only team along with Navan O Mahonys to put back to back senior Meath club titles in 15 years. Regards the comment the county should be able to take the loss of so many inter county midfielders. No county in Ireland could afford to lose their first choice midfield partnership ( Gillespie and O Rourke) a young talent like Nash and actually be down 5 inter county midfielders in last year 2 years eg Conor Gillespie ( retired at 25) , Shane O Rourke ( retired at 27), Conor Nash ( Auzzie rules) , Harry Rooney ( travelling and left panel) and Ronan Jones ( USA college). Even the Dubs would struggle. If Dublin lost the first team partnership of Bastick and McAuley to early retirement and Fenton their great young star to Auzzie Rules. Dublin wud feel the loss. There r only so many high standard midfielders in every county. Lose 4 or 5 and then it starts to be a issue. Look at Meath we were down all those players in last 2 years. So we had to turn Menton ( half back into midfielder). We played Conlon ( another half back ) at midfield at 19 in his first game. We tryed to turn James Toher ( a wing forward and hurler) into midfielder also. We have had a different midfield partnership every 3 games. If you lose so many players in such an important part of the field. It hurts a teams development and leads to issues such as inconsistency. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 16/11/2018 15:18:02 2151331 Link 1 |
realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8571 - 16/11/2018 19:36:05 2151353 Link 4 |