The word 'Genius' gets thrown around in sport a lot these days...

Had a recent Hill chat where my mate was talking about Henry Shefflin being the greatest hurler ever,
I asked, would you describe him as a Genius?
He said, No.

Question is does GAA lend itself to Geniuses/Genii?
In other sports surely the likes of Lionel Messi or Ronnie O'Sullivan could be described as such.

i would say what ive seen with my own eyes, dj carey or colm cooper have shown some magic.

Can anyone suggest GAA playing Geniuses??

HenryHill16 (Dublin) - Posts: 249 - 19/02/2016 13:34:14    1826613

I have been saying to my friends and family for over 10 years that,for me anyway,the only two sporting genius' on the planet are the two you mentioned;Messi & Ronnie.These two men have given me more pleasure than any other sports person' and it has been a privilage to be alive to witness them.
The closest i've seen in GAA terms would be DJ ,JJ and J Canning in hurling & P Canavan,D Connolly & Gooch in football,but none of the above stirred my emotions more than Messi & Ronnie.I've been a massive fan of snooker all my life and Ronnie is my sporting hero.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 19/02/2016 14:32:43    1826630

Genius is a term that in all sports is attributed more to score getters/playmakers than defenders.
Harsh as it may seem, if your not in the scoring business you dont qualify as a genius.
I think it should be a lot broader mind
For me Steven Cluxton is a genius for the way he transformed the role of the goalkeeper and with his kickout strategy has kinda changed the game when u see goalies of all levels now trying to run games from their own line the way it wasnt seen before.
But if i am to fall into the playmaker/forwards trap, the players off the top of my head that I would class as "geniuses" are
Maurice Fitz, Gooch, Peter Canavan, Declan Browne, Alan Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly, Ciaran McDonald and laugh all ye want, Jason Sherlock. People chronically underestimate how clever and how "glic" Jayo was in possesion. His ability to find the right pass was sheer class.

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8170 - 19/02/2016 14:34:26    1826633

Dermo! And I hope I don't need to explain why!

DUBJOHN (Dublin) - Posts: 943 - 19/02/2016 14:41:08    1826635

Joe Canning?

KerryKillers (Dublin) - Posts: 711 - 19/02/2016 14:50:14    1826638

Shefflin's genius was his amazing consistency of performance and his endurance.There are different types of genius.For individual moments of genius that remain in the memory long after the result I would be more inclined to think of JBM, Joe Cooney,Nicky English, DJ Carey, Eoin Kelly (Tipp) and yes the much maligned Joe Canning.
In football Mikey Sheehy, Matt Connor, Ciaran McDonald,Peter Canavan, Ja Fallon, Diarmuid Connolly and Colm Cooper are jus some names that come to mind. Oh yeah JBM in football too.

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 19/02/2016 15:19:23    1826651

Hey cue, what did you think of Ronnie's 146 antics the other day?

KerryKillers (Dublin) - Posts: 711 - 19/02/2016 15:33:30    1826659

I'm still getting over Ding's maxi today!

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 19/02/2016 15:49:35    1826664

I was disappointed Ronnie didn't go for his 14th maximum to put him three ahead of his old nemesis Stephen Hendry.He used to get 147K for this "special" snooker feat,and now he feels it is derisory to only receive 10K for the maximum.He was trying to embarrass World Snooker and Barry Hearn,who he has had a volatile relationship with down through the years,but maybe he would have been better in winning the 10K and giving the money to charity.Who am i to argue with the Rocket though?Snooker will be all the poorer when he departs.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 19/02/2016 15:59:21    1826668

Liam I definitely agree with you about Jayo, never really got the credit he deserved, such an underrated player,brilliant football brain, just imagine if he was part of the current panel and him playing in that forward line with players of that quality around him, I'm salivating just thinking about it!

DUBJOHN (Dublin) - Posts: 943 - 19/02/2016 16:51:15    1826684

If Jayo was on the 40 playing passes into the Connollys, Brogans, Andrews and Mannions of this world as opposed to Dotsy, Keaney, Mossy, Bastick and Senan he would look an absolute superstar
and that is with no disrespect atall to the lads named who were/are fine players in their own right

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8170 - 19/02/2016 16:59:09    1826688

Agreed Liam! Unfortunately for most of Jayos playing year's with the Dubs we just didn't have the quality of player to get the best out of him,but still he gave us some magic moments!

DUBJOHN (Dublin) - Posts: 943 - 19/02/2016 17:25:57    1826694

Colm O'Rourke, Padraig Joyce, Martin O'Connell, Trevor Giles, Darren Fay, Sean Cavanagh.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8193 - 19/02/2016 17:34:48    1826696

Yep you're right there cue, he is a freak of nature. Had the pleasure of meeting him at the Crucible :)

KerryKillers (Dublin) - Posts: 711 - 19/02/2016 18:23:11    1826707

Green and red for a mayo man your very fond of the Meath men. All great players with many qualifies but I wouldn't say they were genius. My 2 pennies worth - gouch ( before injury ) Canaan , knocking on door - Maurice Fitzgerald and diarmiud Connolly.

theduke66 (Dublin) - Posts: 339 - 19/02/2016 20:31:47    1826724

Excellent KK,i'd love to spend a couple of hours shooting the breeze with him.His book "Running" is a good read.He has been in some form this week in the Welsh Open.He destroyed World Num 1 Selby 5-1 today and his long potting was unreal.You know he's a freak of nature when all his fellow players and ex players can't find the words to describe his talent.A maximum in 5 mins 20 seconds??It took Terry Griffiths that long to break off!Simply a Genius.The best.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 19/02/2016 21:03:26    1826729

From what I can see "genius" tends to be applied most to a player who gives good/unexpected passes that lead to a score. As has been mentioned above, that means defenders are nearly never referred to as geniuses, and even if they do give a great long pass into the forwards, the forward would get the credit for fielding it.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1695 - 19/02/2016 21:45:26    1826738

Ha ha, Griffiths, throw in Thorburn for good measure!

KerryKillers (Dublin) - Posts: 711 - 19/02/2016 21:54:13    1826744

Agree with Cue. The rocket is immense. He is incredible.

Nadal in 10 years (when fit) lost one match on clay in the French open (to Roger Soderling). Add in victories in Wimbledon, New York and Melbourne and did it all with his first and only coach - his uncle. A brilliant, incredible athlete. Ravaged with injury now.

In GAA terms Mike Sheehy looked like a footballer that was 10 years ahead of his time. He brought a certain elegance to the game well before it became common.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 20/02/2016 08:32:20    1826749

Duke, even if we lost an All Ireland to them Meath had some great players around Boylan's time. He won many's a game by a never-give-in spirit and getting great displays in big games from so-called lesser lights like Jody Devine and Brendan Reilly. It's hard to know what people mean by GAA genius. Come to think of it Boylan was a GAA genius. Most reference attacking players but there have been genius defenders. Fay for me is the best full back of the last 30 years. O'Connell was on the team of the millennium. I put O'Rourke in there, not just because I think he was very good but my dad often tells me that in his prime he was considered an All time great. Not sure if he was or not. Connolly is on the way to genius but needs to have a longer career to be classed a genius. Cluxton is definitely a GAA genius. Class.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8193 - 21/02/2016 16:44:53    1826987