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GAA Journalism - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Viking66: "The number of lads heading over to Oz to play AFL is a drop in the ocean compared to the number of players over there playing GAA." Absolutely
Since early 80s only 76 players have signed for AFL clubs.
Only 30 of these have played an AFL game.
conordee (National) - 25/08/2026 13:16:06
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Sligo GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
After good progress last year with improvements made on scheduling of games in advance the CCC appear to have made a return to the old days of scheduling 1 week, maybe two if lucky, in advance. I do not know why this cannot be nailed down within weeks of the championship draw been made. Life is very busy for players, be it younger lads with part time jobs, older lads with wives and families, 1 weeks notice makes it very difficult to make any sort of plans for weekends and is causing a lot of stress and consternation for players.
Why was there a full rounds of Junior B and C championship games on leaving cert results night? These are small competitions with loads of time to play off, and this is the bread and butter competition for alot of lads at leaving cert age. No need to have games on results night.
Last week the semi-final and finals of these competitions were scheduled on website for this coming weekend and next weekend respectively, they have now been removed with no communication to clubs on when they will be. Not only does this affect the second team itself, but also first teams as they plan and schedule their trainings.
We need to move to home and away championship games. I regularly attend convention and it is brought up every year by clubs. I think the vast majority of clubs support this. For me this is up to the county board to push. The usual answer at convention is 'We'll defer to the CCC who will be appointed by incoming board in January'. The county board need to listen to the clubs and mandate their CCC to make it happen. Most clubs are raising money and investing in there pitch and facilities and never get to see their own club play a championship match on it. It would be a wonderful occasion for clubs and a great opportunity to get kids and families to the games. Can start soft with one home, one away game, two neutral. But why not two home and two away? Second in groups could have home quarter final, to further incentivise finishing second as opposed to third. Semi-finals and finals in Markievicz.
Most counties have adapted this approach now, very successfully. Make the announcement early in year, make clear the minimum requirements for grounds to host. Inspect grounds in 4 weeks out from Championship, if not up to standard the club can do a deal with a neighbouring club, or alternatively play at center of excellence.
Can people who support this lobby their clubs to push the county board to bring this in? The old excuse of alot of grounds not suitable just does not stand up anymore. It's not fair on the majority of clubs who are proactive in producing the best facilities only for others to have use of them come championship and never get to play on it themselves.
shorona (National) - 25/08/2026 08:01:07
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Monaghan GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Darragh1987: "Been watching Mc Kenna for awhile. One thing you can expect out of him is that he will throw himself about int eh mixer. A great man marker too" Luke H McKenna is a terrific prospect. He was very consistent for the Monaghan U20's this year and so unlucky to miss the Ulster final. Him being available would have tightened up that Monaghan U20 defense.
Although we have yet to get to the real business end of the championships, so far Tommy Mallen has really stood out. Lad is so much potential. Dualta Honney has been impressive too. Matthew Carolan has been excellent. Magheracloone could do with 3D printing Packie Doogan-Burke.
In intermediate, Harry Hamill looks very promising.
sleater (National) - 25/08/2026 08:18:03
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International Rules - 1 Like(s)
Replying To ORIELMAN85: "Nonsense. Our GAA players deserve an International opportunity. I have yet to hear one playerwho played in the International Rules, criticize it." Read the gooches book
He absolutely hated it,and rightly so. From his viewpoint half the aussie team were only interested in inflicting injuries on our players. Id imagine the likes of Mattie Forde and Phillip Jordan,among others,wouldn't be too keen on it either after being out and out assaulted while playing.
As a sporting spectacle i enjoyed it but some of the stuff that went on was scandalous and the Aussies seemed to hae very little respect for our players as sportsmen or even as human beings.
Good riddance to it.
Seniorleague (National) - 25/08/2026 08:46:03
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Galway Hurling thread - 1 Like(s)
Tommie Larkins quietly doing their business.
WesternSeaBoard (National) - 25/08/2026 10:45:00
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GAA Journalism - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Kew: "Which is the best website or paper for GAA? Would it be the Irish independent and examiner?? I know the Irish times and the42 are mainly rugby. Any other ideas or is it balls.ie we get of information from ? If you take out the Irish independent and examiner we don't have a lot" irish times and 42 are not mainly rugby.
wouldnt be trying to get info from balls.ie its a toilet bowl of clickbait nonsense masquerading as journalism
KillingFields (National) - 25/08/2026 12:33:08
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GAA Journalism - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Kew: "Which is the best website or paper for GAA? Would it be the Irish independent and examiner?? I know the Irish times and the42 are mainly rugby. Any other ideas or is it balls.ie we get of information from ? If you take out the Irish independent and examiner we don't have a lot" In fairness to the Irish examiner, it's really upped its game the last few years. Some excellent gaa coverage. Maurice Brosnan in particular - superb. You'll often see him taking in coaching courses etc. around the country, has an authentic curiosity and enthusiasm of the game and it shows in his writing.
Social media has filled the breach a bit and there's a huge amount of podcasts now also.
donegalgael-12 (National) - 25/08/2026 13:32:19
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Wexford Hurling Thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To ElGranSenor: "If I were picking a panel for next year, I'd go for something like the following (Am assuming that Rory and Lee both commit, that Jippo retires, that the rest of the lads from this year still commit, and that Joe Barrett, AJ Redmond, Paudie Foley, and Oisín Foley have no interest in joining)
Will post what age they will be turning at some point in 2027 beside their name
Mark Fanning - 36
Lee Chin - 35
Jack O'Connor - 33
Simon Donohoe - 32
Kevin Foley - 32
Shane Reck - 30
Rory O'Connor - 29
Barry O'Connor - 29
Conor Hearne - 29
Damien Reck - 29
Rory Higgins - 29
Connal Flood - 29
James Lawlor - 27
Niall Murphy - 27
Stephen Martin - 27
Eoin Ryan - 25
Cian Molloy - 25
Richie Lawlor - 25
David Codd - 25
Tomas Kinsella - 25
Derry Mahon - 24
Cian Byrne - 24
Oisín Pepper - 24
Corey Byrne-Dunbar - 24
Conor Foley - 24
Darragh Carley - 24
Jack Redmond - 24
Diarmuid O'Leary - 24
Eoin Whelan - 23
Darragh Kehoe - 23
Éamon Wickham - 23
Luke Codd - 23
Simon Roche - 22
Cillian Byrne - 22
Seán Rowley - 22
Ciarán Doyle - 21
Charlie Mooney - 21
Charlie Roark - 21
Doran Daly O'Toole - 21
Colin Carley - 20
Jack Nolan - 20
Seán O'Brien - 19" Not a bad squad if we can get everyone to commit. Would be great to have Rory and Barry involved. Also really excited to see how Sean O Brien adapts to senior inter county from what I hear he works incredibly hard on his game.
Was listening to Pat Ryan of Doon who has had Derek McGrath as their manager for 3 years now. He said he is the best man manager he has ever worked under and said he will do everything in his power to get all the best players playing for Wexford again. He also mentioned his ability to drag every ounce of ability out of the whole panel not just the best players on the team.
Despite all the doom and gloom I think we do have good young lads coming through and with the experienced lads already there Derek McGrath and his management team can really bring us on in the next few years .
God knows Wexford hurling needs a huge shot in the arm from somewhere
Afinestick96 (National) - 25/08/2026 13:49:12
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Westmeath Hurling thread - 1 Like(s)
Well worth listening to Pat O'Brien at the beginning of last nights iarmhiabu podcast re the departure of the minor hurling management team. Reflects so so poorly on the county board. I know it's only one side of the story so it will be interesting to see if the county board come out and defend themselves.
westmeathforham (National) - 25/08/2026 14:18:01
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Wexford Club Hurling 2026 - 1 Like(s)
Replying To StoreysTash: "I 100% think the standard of club hurling in Wexford is just very very average and its a world apart from club hurling in Tipp and Kilkenny.
The final round of a 5 game group needs to be
1. Teams busting a gut to finish top two
2. Teams busting a gut to avoid relegation
3. Teams busting a gut to qualify.
Having 5 teams out of 6 going through just results in teams going through the motions once they are safe from relegation. Its just pure psychology, "we live to fight another day". I know the argument that you could be in relegation final on 4 points but so what? Its a results based game and you had 5 games to determine your fate.
A max of 4 should be coming out of the group, and would consider reducing it to 3. This is not Go-Games we're playing.
Knockout then is 1st v 2nd (Game1), 3rd v 4th (Game2), with losers of Game1's v winners of Game2 with the winners of that playing Game1 winners in county semi finals.
I just looked at the upcoming fixtures and I note Gorey, St. Martins and The Harriers playing Division 6 at U14, and Rapparees playing Division 3 at that age. You can't have a good group every year, but Division 6 is shocking for any team bar the smallest of clubs with a tiny pick. All those clubs have huge numbers, something is going wrong somewhere if that is their level?
Minor semi finalists are Rathgarogue-Cushinstown, Barntown, Monageer and Slaney Harriers. Of these 4, only Barntown were any force at underage and Bunclody on and off. There is great work going on in these clubs, but what has happened to the Martin's, Harriers, etc at this level? Oulart, Oylegate, Rapps and Gorey were the other premier competitors.
Buffers Alley have not done anything of note at underage for a very long time so its not much of a surprise to see them struggling to keep paces as other clubs have overtaken them." "Gorey, St. Martins and The Harriers playing Division 6 at U14" - That's their B teams
All are in Division 1 or Division 2 at U14 level
However Harriers are poor at U12 / U10 currently - They played their final game of the Div 1 competition and pretty much fielded their B team as quite a few of their better lads were on holidays or playing soccer. Glynn Barntown have similiar issues. I defo wouldn't see Bunclody as a force in underage at either hurling or football. Monageer have done well last few years but are starting to struggle and are siding more towards football again. There was a prominent former hurler from Rathnure involved with their underage setup for last 10/12 years and you can see the strives they made there.
MyOhMi (National) - 25/08/2026 14:21:33
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Carlow GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Carlowtothecore1: "Absolutely destroying the ethos of the GAA club, "to facilite all codes'. It is rewarding the Gaelic - soccer dual club. .
How can you make a statement like that with the number of lob sided games multiplied the fold and supporters paying good money to look at them.
the town are the one club who's players have totally supported the dual role and they look like they're slipping with the extreme demands on their players on bad pitches. And that's with limited county players who were slogged up to June.
No balance on player welfare and carlow county board needs to be held to account urgently." There was famously no lobsided games before this and dual players never had to play multiple weeks in a row…
New system has been great, nice to see lads able to go to electric picnic as well which wasn't always the case. Fair play to the county board, not often they get credit so they deserve some here.
Collio (National) - 25/08/2026 14:25:09
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International Rules - 1 Like(s)
Replying To Square_B: "This isn't the premiership, we (as in the GAA) are allowed to do things differently. The ethos is important, otherwise what exactly do we have? Just another nondescript sport with little morals or values. The organisation is not about the individual as you well know. If a player finds himself or herself in that position, the path of least resistance shouldn't the first path to take, by just leaving. It's very rare that there will be only one person in a club in this position, change only happens by talking to people & understanding what is happening to allow the conditions to effect change, not by walking away when the going gets tough." Exactly. Also the scenario mentioned would be very rare. A case where one player is determined to his best, but all around him are too lazy and hungover. That's a fair bit of a reach. Most players who move are for geographical reasons, i.e. living a long way from their original club, or in rarer cases, a row in the club.
Some of the best county players ever played for small clubs and never had a thought of leaving them for a more successful club. Winning a junior title with their own club would mean more to them than winning a senior with a club in which they didn't grow up.
The GAA wouldn't be half as popular as it is, if players were just moving around willy nilly. The GAA is disproportionately popular as sports go, mainly for the reason of attachment to club, community and county. You lose that and there's nowhere near the same passion for it.
To compare that to someone moving abroad to play a different sport professionally is nonsense. That's literally moving out of the country and taking up an actual job. In many cases, those players remain associated with their GAA clubs, as we saw with Mark O'Connor coming back to play for An Daingean.
WanPintWin (National) - 25/08/2026 15:45:52
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Donegal GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
I suppose the trick is to find the right balance.
As in, do enough to stay up, but don't put everything we have into it. And if three or four youngsters get good exposure and experience while doing it, all the better.
Lockjaw (National) - 25/08/2026 19:57:25
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