By the Short and Curlies
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The hard drinkin’ set up in the Holyland in Belfast are doing their bit to promote the good name of the GAA. St Patrick’s Day is synonymous with the All Ireland Club Finals in Croke Park and nothin’ better than a monumental siege of drink in Belfast. On one side you have fans pulling on their GAA tops to head off to Croker to see all that is great about our games. On the other side you have headers pulling on their GAA tops to fan criticisms that the association is nothing more than a catch all for bog- strollers and muck savages that love nothin’ better than to drink until their livers are the size of a size three sliotar and then start a hanlin’ with the boys in blue. Lads, we’re not judgemental but the next time you decide to do this, leave the GAA jerseys at home – they don’t deserve you. We’ll tell you what happens next tho’. A goodly number of the same fellas will be booted out of the Universities as an example to others and the smug Powers That Be will feel they’ve solved the problem.
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The Derry senior camogie squad are the latest inter-county panel to feel the pinch of the credit crunch. They have apparently been told they can no longer access the physio or the food at Derry’s ‘Centre of Excellence’ at Owenbeg for training. And in the latest twist they have been told they can only use the facility one night a week as the County’s minor footballers have switched their session and now need the slot used by the camogie team, banishing them to training in non-camogie clubs in recent weeks. This is a Derry squad, albeit under new management, that won an All Ireland Junior title in Croker in September ‘07. According to some of the players, a member of the Derry Co. Board is responsible for these decisions. Interestingly the recently published Derry GAA Strategy 2007-2012 Fís Feasa goes on at length about the integration of camogie and features images of the County’s camogie squad. Lest the Derry Co Board forget, this is the last minor, senior or U-21 team from the county to have won an All Ireland title.
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Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald attributed his side’s surprise NHL loss to Dublin to the late night they had before when they attended boxer Bernard Dunne’s world title fight.??Fitzgerald revealed that he brought his players to the capital on Saturday and that his players watched the Ireland-Wales rugby match on television before attending the boxing match in the O2.??”I certainly wouldn’t make the same arrangements again,” he said.?Shades of former mentor Loughnane perhaps from the boul Davy Fitz?
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Legendary Kerry manager Jack O’Connor has become the latest manger to criticize the new rules. Whacko Jacko predicts ‘pandaemonium’ if the rules are passed at next month’s annual Congress. He has cited the yellow-carding of Westmeath midfielder David Duffy during last Sunday’s NFL clash in Tralee as an example of the adverse effects the experiment can have. Not that we disagree but we can’t help but notice the Jacko seems to have a thing about demons, the divil and hell. Last year he said Kerry skipper Paul Galvin was being demonized for ‘that incident’, whilst all ye scholars will know that Pandaemonium was the capital of Hell in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Certainly if the Kingdom miss out on a shot at Sam this summer, O’Connor will have plenty to write about in his next bestseller.
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Antrim prodigy CJ McGourty has been axed from the panel by manager Liam ‘Baker’ Bradley allegedly for disciplinary reasons. Apparently a number of the Antrim U-21 squad went on the piss after they were defeated by Tyrone last week and subsequently missed training. The players each received a dressing down and had to apologise to their teammates. CJ was then asked to leave according to press reports as it was not his first indiscretion. A former minor hurler of some repute, he is apparently keeping his options in relation to the small ball game open and might be interested should Sambo and Woody come a-calling. We’re not sure but we think we’ve heard a story very like this somewhere before involving Antrim and someone with a very similar name. Incidentally we saw CJ’s name amongst those that received a Club Energise Ambassador’s Award last week. Now that, strictly speaking, he’s no longer a county player will he have his diplomatic status revoked?
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Watchers or the MacRory Cup Final on BBC Northern Ireland will have noticed with alarm the strange spikes emanating from Sean Cavanagh’s head as he got all punditish at half-time. We are reassured that there was nothing remiss about the ‘do’, rather younger brother Colm had just slapped on a bit of extra gloop when the big lad was sleeping to make him look a right tool in front of the camera. Brand Cavanagh taking a battering!
