By the Short and Curlies

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Our team of reporters round the land shine a light into the orifices of the GAA to look at those small but insignificant details that make the GAA the world’s greatest sporting organisation.

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We try to avoid foreign games where possible, but we couldn’t help but notice how little the Manchester United players seemed to care when they were taken apart by Barcelona in the Champions League Final. After the final whistle they would have looked more concerned if they had been told the Armani shirt was available in cerise, not turquoise. Shower of overpaid twats. They wouldn’t have lasted two minutes in Celtic Park.

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The third of the O hAilpin brothers, Aisake, makes his senior Munster Hurling Championship bow for Cork on Sunday against Tipperary. Micheal O Muircheartaigh is believed to have spent the week thinking up a few witticisms to match his famour ‘mother from Fiji’ line. If Aisake can have anything like the impact Setanta had in his first season the Rebels could be onto something. And, standing at 6′5 and built like a brick shithouse after four years as a professional sportsman in Oz, Aisake will be a quare handful. Or maybe not. Maybe he’ll be just another useless big hoor thrown in at full forward to cause havoc. We’ll wait and see.

After their latest winter of discontent Rebel skipper John Gardiner claims there are many in Cork that are hoping they fail. Like it or not with Cork on a run in the Championship it makes things more competitive. Realisticaly we all know they are one of the few teams that have a chance of competing with Kilkenny. Our prediction is that come September Kilkenny will have completed four in a row. We think Setanta will be home in 2010 to lead the charge from the Rebels to stop the five in a row. You read it here first.

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Tyrone full forward-cum-midfielder-cum-wingforward-cum-GPA secretary-cum-ace-of-PUMA Sean Cavanagh believes that refs should get on with it and implement the rules that are there and not worry about old rules or new rules. Hopefully after last season’s tour de force Big Sean will also realize he is good enough to just get on with it and stop appealing to the ref, two arms out, one the same length as the other, lookin like a big ganch. Ah, tis the Championship!

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Last week at an unnamed location, at an U-8 football blitz, a bit of sideline jundeyin’ that would have put Mickey Moran and Tyrone doctor Seamus Cassidy to shame. With one team playing out of their skin, the other team were obviously told at half time to ‘up the physical ante.’

It’s not known whether the manager was originally from Monaghan, or indeed related to Banty, but anyhow after a series of tackles that would have been ruled out of order in cage fighting the manager says something along the lines: ‘Hi ref, what about a whistle.’ Whereupon not only did the ref not blow the whistle for the entire remainder of the game, but the opposing manager made his way round to the other sideline and started shoulder charging his counterpart. Talking Balls always thought Under-8 was the best craic in the GAA. Not for much longer with this sort of fella. He could only be described as a moron.

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Sunday Game pundit Joe Brolly turned out for the Derry over forties on Saturday against Dublin. By all accounts he’s still as fit as a fiddle, as ungainly as ever, still pulls the socks up and is still good for a few scores. Thankfully he didn’t bag any goals as the other happily-married family men on the field were worried he would start blowin’ kisses again. Still of course plying his trade in Antrim with St Bridgets, and credit to him for that, a member of the Creggan club told us he turned up to play them clad head to toe in Under Armour, black tights and gloves – the lot. More than ever he looked like a complete tool, this time though sheathed like a shiny black condom, they weren’t sure what to expect. Incidentally, Joe McNally played in the same veterans match. Apparently he didn’t leave the edge of the square. Not because he didn’t want to but because quite simply he couldn’t. Age certainly hasn’t withered him. . .

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And finally. . . By the Short and Curlies committed a grievous wrong. We made a reference to an Ulster Camogie website that is no longer functional. We are happy to report that the mna na hUladh can be found on the following location: www.ulstercamogie.ie. It is a well-designed site that promises a lot, so we look forward to visiting it regularly to keep up to date on the weird and wonderful world of camogie.