Lads/ladies/etc, is it me or is there a real lack of quality hard as nails scary lads around, the never say die put the fear of god in ya type. They are a dead breed. The Liam Harnans, Mick Lyons', Keith Barrs, Martin Gavigans, Brian McGilligans. Real men and real footballers. Football is gone soft. Give me a rattle every bone in your body belt over a pair of white boots and a bleached head anyday. Top Hard men 1. Lyons - Strong, tough,fearless, ruthless and tough too. Got knocked cold by the aussies one week. came back against doctors orders the next week for the second test to (in his own words) "put things right"..... 2. Harnan - Seriously hard man. If he didnt get you Lyons would. Silent type. First cousin of Lyons so explains all. 3. Niall Cahalane - Put fear of god into you. One of the only men to tighten Spillane, and done it a several times. Played for Cork the weekend after having a knee operation. 4. Martin Gavigan - Not called Rambo for nothin 5. McGilligan - Strong as a bear. the battering ram for Tohill

Nineholebar (Offaly) - Posts: 39 - 22/05/2008 15:07:44    22337

Gerry Flanagan - Leitrim

Leitrim Lad (Leitrim) - Posts: 264 - 22/05/2008 16:36:12    22444

Most of the Armagh 2002 team
Darragh O se, Aidan O Mahony, Tom O Sullivan and Paul Galvin
Fergal Doherty

ChungLad (Longford) - Posts: 351 - 22/05/2008 16:43:15    22454

Chung Lad - I presume you're not refering to Tom O'Sullivan from Kerry!

Tomás Tralee (Kerry) - Posts: 391 - 22/05/2008 17:03:10    22483

Kevin Mc Cloy

Niamh (Derry) - Posts: 2397 - 22/05/2008 17:04:55    22486

"Tom O Sullivan"

Does houlding onto Canavans jersey for 10 minutes in an All Ireland make you tough these days ;)

Flanders (Galway) - Posts: 604 - 22/05/2008 17:10:47    22492

the hardest of them all is now a manager - geezer

whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 22/05/2008 17:26:38    22525

The great Con Houlihan once wrote of Mick Lyons - "I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there are small boys in Dublin who believe that Mick Lyons is kept in a cage above in Summerhill and fed with raw meat."

Brilliant line and summed up Mick - truly one of the hardest and most respected!

JayoCluxton (Dublin) - Posts: 2688 - 22/05/2008 17:37:36    22547

I think Kevin Cassidy is a good tough competitor and an example of a "hardman" (in the positive sense).

RMDrive (Donegal) - Posts: 2202 - 22/05/2008 17:43:18    22555

eamon mgee

Legend92 (Donegal) - Posts: 752 - 22/05/2008 17:50:29    22558

sean donnelly,ex tyrone corner back from trillick.terrorised many a corner forward in the 80s

orange and blue (Tyrone) - Posts: 1080 - 22/05/2008 17:51:34    22559

Paddy McCormack, aka "The Iron Man of Rhode"

Marooned_East (Galway) - Posts: 133 - 22/05/2008 18:04:07    22564

Conor Mortimer.........hands down.

Seriously though Francie Bellew

Crash Bang Wallop (None) - Posts: 268 - 22/05/2008 18:38:20    22572

I cant remember who it was...Think it was Con who wrote that if he was ever goin to meet the abdominable snowman he'd bring Mick Lyons with him..!

paddym123 (Meath) - Posts: 367 - 22/05/2008 19:42:12    22590

John McDermott and Colm Coyle have to get a mention. Keith Barr was also a fairly hardy buck! Pat O´Neill, Lar Foley...
Ya tend to find more in Hurling though, just look some of the waterford team! Animals...

Kingroyal (Meath) - Posts: 62 - 22/05/2008 22:39:18    22629

Brian Mullins has to get a mention. He was tough as nails on the pitch and when you take into account he survived a car crash that would've killed most people, Learned to walk again and STILL came back to win his fourth All Ireland medal in 1983! He was a gentleman off the field and a good coach to our school team (he was our PE teacher). Other men you wouldn't want to fall out with would include Mick Lyons , Paidi O'Se , David Hickey , Liam Harnan , Geezer , Francie Bellew , Teddy McCarthy and Peter Forde.

dubupnorth (Dublin) - Posts: 1897 - 23/05/2008 07:27:04    22673

Definitely Francie Bellew of Armagh plus Geoffrey McGonnigle of Derry the man was a horse.

North Side Gael (None) - Posts: 1076 - 23/05/2008 07:49:46    22678

Definitely Paddy McCormack....When i was a child i was in the butchers in Rhode and the butcher asked me would i hit Paddy Mc a box to which i replied "Yeh if you give me something to hit him with"!

paddym123 (Meath) - Posts: 367 - 23/05/2008 08:09:52    22684

yea paddy mcCormack from the village here,seen his videos,pure hard. at the moment,gerathy is still the hardiest player around.never backs down

Rhodejim (Offaly) - Posts: 2888 - 23/05/2008 08:47:37    22695

Re Legend92

Eamon is a buck alright but Neil is a total animal. I once witnessed an arm-wrestling competition between the two in Seán óg's, no contest!

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9972 - 23/05/2008 08:50:27    22696