Its actually very difficult to respond to such badly jaundiced commentary. We are all entitled to an opinion, a few hundreds years ago you'd have been put in the stocks for displaying such silly comments. Local athletic sports clubs get funding like everyone else, be they swimming clubs, soccer, rugby, cricket et all. But what Kiernan of course is talking about is not on spending our money on greater involvement, but using tax payers money to indulge the odd kid who shows "star" quality. Money can't make some of the donkeys that wear Irish shirts run faster, even he must know that. Clonliffe Harriers in Santry are a well funded sports club with wonderful facillittes, but as I said that's not what Kiernan has in mind. Silly stuff

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4956 - 25/03/2014 17:47:03    1564957

This is the famous Jerry Kiernan famous for telling everybody else how fit Irish athletes are,who was once called by David Gillick as "only a cross country slogger with no talent",he never won anything of merit so obviously he was not as fit as his rivals.He was a nobody in his chosen sport and remains the same.

bistokid69 (Dublin) - Posts: 20 - 25/03/2014 17:51:37    1564961

He was eighth in the Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984.That is not the running of a nobody. I have no time for his bitter comments but at least he makes his comments on a very public forum and for that he is to be commended. You on the other hand make silly comments from the privacy of your own home.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6182 - 25/03/2014 18:58:55    1564990

GAA (Inter County Footballers / Hurlers) bring 200 million a year into the Irish economy

That's a Billion Euro every 5 years

Purely from Inter County players...

I reckon we don't get near enough funding...

Those that deserve the most get the most

As such the GAA has every right and deserve every cent of funding

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 25/03/2014 19:26:43    1565000

His hatred of the GAA is well known , he is a big fan of soccer..Shamrock Rovers and barca..and something must have happened in his youth in Kerry because he never stops knowing gaelic games at every opportunity.

hurler32 (Limerick) - Posts: 871 - 25/03/2014 19:26:56    1565001

Jerry...

Take a run & jump!!!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8812 - 25/03/2014 19:34:44    1565006

hurler32
County: Limerick
Posts: 473

1565001
His hatred of the GAA is well known , he is a big fan of soccer..Shamrock Rovers and barca..and something must have happened in his youth in Kerry because he never stops knowing gaelic games at every opportunity.

He's bitter about the lack of recognition in his day in Kerry . 9th in the Olympics was an incredible achievement for the marathon but he didn't get enough credit for that.
His comments re the GAA are always bitter. The problem with that is it does nothing for his arguement so his point gets lost

Superglue (Kerry) - Posts: 1283 - 25/03/2014 20:44:46    1565034

He was eighth in the Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984.That is not the running of a nobody. I have no time for his bitter comments but at least he makes his comments on a very public forum and for that he is to be commended. You on the other hand make silly comments from the privacy of your own home.

Completely agree, this man has a heart of a lion. It takes some guts to openly mock amateur athletes who've done more for this country in 70 minutes than he's done in his whole life without using any source other than your own bitter,false and jealous opinions. There's no commendation this brave man doesn't deserve.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 25/03/2014 20:52:22    1565039

He probably has a point considering the amount of money the GAA waste on frivolous things while leaving players out of pocket. Also 8th in the Olympic marathon is a phenomenal achievement

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4656 - 25/03/2014 21:05:25    1565047

Jerry is aiming his ire at the wrong people here,its the governments lack of investment in the sporting infrastructure that's the real issue here. Jimbo rightly outlined the many benefits that the GAA brings, know your enemy Jerry and it ain't the GAA.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 25/03/2014 21:13:47    1565050

RebelCork
County: Cork
Posts: 581

1565039
He was eighth in the Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984.That is not the running of a nobody. I have no time for his bitter comments but at least he makes his comments on a very public forum and for that he is to be commended. You on the other hand make silly comments from the privacy of your own home.

Completely agree, this man has a heart of a lion. It takes some guts to openly mock amateur athletes who've done more for this country in 70 minutes than he's done in his whole life without using any source other than your own bitter,false and jealous opinions. There's no commendation this brave man doesn't deserve.

I said his comments were bitter and that I had no time for them. Making them in public doesn't make them any less bitter. However at least he had the cojones to comment in public. To mock the man and his achievements in the wrong anonymously from the comfort of your own home is ignorant. Takes a fair amount of application and ability to finish in the top ten of an Olympic marathon. When was the last time you managed anything approaching that ? Have you done as much as he has ?

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6182 - 25/03/2014 21:19:54    1565059

Spot on brend. Kiernan is allowing his hatred of the GAA to cloud his judgement. The cuts in sports funding - which also affects us and the Ruislip money is Foreign Affairs budget NOT sport- have nothing to do with the GAA.

Besides if he is a Rovers supporter perhaps he might question the fact they got a free Dublin County Council site. Not to mention the fact that policing a Bohs/Rovers game costs as much as policing most big games in Croke Park with less than 10% of the attendance!

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 25/03/2014 21:20:33    1565060

Trust me, the last thing he wants to see is GAA players getting anything in their pockets. He's made that clear many times. Being 8th in the Olympics is great for an individual, but by my count that means he's about (at most) the 25th best Olympian Ireland has produced. I know Jerry won't count half of those because the sports (in his eyes) aren't terribly hard to do. He's done nothing more than a GAA player has done for this country yet he thinks he can talk down on them like he's Ali or Pele .He has no right to tell the government where to put the money, he has no right to mock a sports skill level and most importantly he has no right to mock GAA players in public for no reason other than he doesn't like them.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 25/03/2014 21:23:21    1565065

Should the Government be spending 600k on a sports ground in London? Seems ridiculous considering lack of sports facilities in many parts of Ireland

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4656 - 25/03/2014 21:29:21    1565068

Greengrass
County: Louth
Posts: 2995

When did i say i'eve managed anything approaching that? When did i mock his achievements? It's something called reality my friend. To say he's done anything near to the country what a GAA player has done is ludicrous i'm afraid.

RebelCork (Cork) - Posts: 789 - 25/03/2014 21:32:23    1565071

bad.monkey
County: USA
He probably has a point considering the amount of money the GAA waste on frivolous things while leaving players out of pocket. Also 8th in the Olympic marathon is a phenomenal achievement

He has a point about what? About there not being not alot of standards to be met to play inter-county hurling/football? Whats the point of that? With regard to the government financing the building of sporting infrastructure in another country, I'm not so sure about that myself. But rationalizing opposition to that by diminishing the requirements of GAA players, is there a point to that?

And 8th in a marathon is really good achievement, winning a marathon would be phenomenal

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 25/03/2014 21:46:12    1565078

Kiernan reckons that inter county players are no fitter than weekend runners! Given that Ciaran Whelan and other county players were among fastest runners in the country as teenagers he does not have much of a leg to stand on. I like him as an athletics pundit but he is obsessed with his hatred of 'the gah.' I reckon he has been hanging around the Rovers crowd for too long. You can taste their jealously of us :-)

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 25/03/2014 21:56:47    1565087

Jog on Gerry!

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 25/03/2014 21:59:43    1565088

London team and supporters left close to 200,000 euro around castlebar and other places in connaught enough said.

daveslad62 (Galway) - Posts: 37 - 26/03/2014 08:29:50    1565096

http://www.thescore.ie/down-mickey-linden-972709-Jun2013/

Tom1916 (Armagh) - Posts: 2001 - 26/03/2014 10:02:29    1565122