National Forum

Happy New Year

(Oldest Posts First)

Hi all fellow posters
Like to wish ye all a happy and healthy new year
Surely 2021 has to be a better year for us all
We have all been through a tough 12 months
But a new year and the vaccine gives us all hope
Maybe someone might take down those pesky Dubs lol
No offence to our Dublin friends
But its up to the rest of us in Kerry Tyrone Donegal Mayo and Galway
To take the next step and meet the standaards and hunger the Dubs have
As regards the hurling Limerick reign supreme but hurling is in a good place
Im very sure Galway Tipp and others will put it up to them in 2021
And we might be able be able to go to a game again before the 2021 ends
Anyways best wishes to all for 2021

rhudson (Galway) - Posts: 1478 - 02/01/2021 09:22:41    2325770

Link

Replying To rhudson:  "Hi all fellow posters
Like to wish ye all a happy and healthy new year
Surely 2021 has to be a better year for us all
We have all been through a tough 12 months
But a new year and the vaccine gives us all hope
Maybe someone might take down those pesky Dubs lol
No offence to our Dublin friends
But its up to the rest of us in Kerry Tyrone Donegal Mayo and Galway
To take the next step and meet the standaards and hunger the Dubs have
As regards the hurling Limerick reign supreme but hurling is in a good place
Im very sure Galway Tipp and others will put it up to them in 2021
And we might be able be able to go to a game again before the 2021 ends
Anyways best wishes to all for 2021"
Happy new year to you also. As regards Dublin and Limerick being the top teams, there is no way Limerick are ever going to dominate hurling like the Dubs are doing and are liable to do in football. The simple fact is it could be said we have had three brilliant teams in Limerick, otherwise we have been located down the pack, I am referring to the '18 to 24, 34 to about 45 teams and the present one. We simply have not the playing population in hurling to dominate the game almost eternally that the Dubs have to do so in football. I would also fear that if they really put their minds to it they could do the same in hurling.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4318 - 02/01/2021 10:08:50    2325771

Link

Replying To Oldtourman:  "Happy new year to you also. As regards Dublin and Limerick being the top teams, there is no way Limerick are ever going to dominate hurling like the Dubs are doing and are liable to do in football. The simple fact is it could be said we have had three brilliant teams in Limerick, otherwise we have been located down the pack, I am referring to the '18 to 24, 34 to about 45 teams and the present one. We simply have not the playing population in hurling to dominate the game almost eternally that the Dubs have to do so in football. I would also fear that if they really put their minds to it they could do the same in hurling."
That's right.There's no way Limerick will do a 6 in a row in hurling.Kilkenny and Tipp will be back before long and Waterford,Galway,Clare,Cork and Wexford aren't far away .I'm interested in what you say about Limerick's hurling population.The population of Limerick city and county at the last census was just under 195,000 with 94,000 of that in the city.The population of Limerick therefore is nearly twice that of Kilkenny.Where in Limerick is hurling not being played.Is West Limerick more Gaelic football than hurling or are both codes played there.I think east Limerick is a strong hurling area.What's the position in Limerick city.Is rugby the most popular sport in the city and how strong is hurling in Limerick city.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2160 - 02/01/2021 10:34:48    2325773

Link

Happy new year. A new year a new beginning. P. G.this year is much better and we can beat the covid. Best wishes to all.

CiarraiMick (Dublin) - Posts: 3675 - 02/01/2021 11:24:08    2325775

Link

Happy New Year lads. Good to have this back.

I hope you all are good right now and that whilst it could be tough year ahead it'll be progressive and we can look back at this thread this time next year and see how far we've come.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4215 - 02/01/2021 12:16:53    2325777

Link

Replying To endgame:  "That's right.There's no way Limerick will do a 6 in a row in hurling.Kilkenny and Tipp will be back before long and Waterford,Galway,Clare,Cork and Wexford aren't far away .I'm interested in what you say about Limerick's hurling population.The population of Limerick city and county at the last census was just under 195,000 with 94,000 of that in the city.The population of Limerick therefore is nearly twice that of Kilkenny.Where in Limerick is hurling not being played.Is West Limerick more Gaelic football than hurling or are both codes played there.I think east Limerick is a strong hurling area.What's the position in Limerick city.Is rugby the most popular sport in the city and how strong is hurling in Limerick city."
I am glad you brought the population issue up. You say the city has 94,000. The vast majority can be taken out of of the equation for hurling. All the main towns, which are all small enough anyway are football first towns. When the a Lions B and I travelled about 10 years ago there was a panel of of 42 players. Ireland had its largest number on the panel ever-12, 5 of these were from Limerick. So in a area with a catchment of seventy million people limerick with a population of of about 190,000 had slightly shy of one in eight players, which shows the sheer strength of rugby in the county. The last Kilkenny player to gain a rugby international cap was Willie Duggan and that was forty years ago. Limerick may be long down in football but they contested about five Munster finals in the past two decades and were dreadfully unlucky not to be in this years final and even as late as last January they beat Cork in the McGrath Cup Final- by contrast Kilkenny won their last Leinster Championship game in 1929 and show no interest whatsoever in promoting the game. Soccer at all levels is played in Limerick and KK have no team for many years in the premier grade. Other codes have also had high points in Limerick. When the 1912 games were completed somebody wrote that more Olympic medals were won by men born in County Limerick than were won by the entire German Nation up to then, so athletics were also a competitor hurling had to compete with in the county in the early days.
In effect through most of the city and towns and in about half of West limerick, the biggest division in area, hurling is hardly played at all. Many of the present team are also dual players. William O'Donoghue and Ger Hegarty were easily the best midfield pair in Munster as u21 footballers, and indeed Ger first made his name as a senior county footballer, and Ritchie English and DOD, the son of James O'Donovan an ex Limerick Footballer, are also accomplished at the big ball game. Limerick were dual U21 Munster Champions in 2000 and many would contend that the dual player issue probably cost us an All Ireland in the oughties. By contrast Kilkenny have no such problems ever.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4318 - 02/01/2021 14:34:51    2325784

Link

Replying To Oldtourman:  "I am glad you brought the population issue up. You say the city has 94,000. The vast majority can be taken out of of the equation for hurling. All the main towns, which are all small enough anyway are football first towns. When the a Lions B and I travelled about 10 years ago there was a panel of of 42 players. Ireland had its largest number on the panel ever-12, 5 of these were from Limerick. So in a area with a catchment of seventy million people limerick with a population of of about 190,000 had slightly shy of one in eight players, which shows the sheer strength of rugby in the county. The last Kilkenny player to gain a rugby international cap was Willie Duggan and that was forty years ago. Limerick may be long down in football but they contested about five Munster finals in the past two decades and were dreadfully unlucky not to be in this years final and even as late as last January they beat Cork in the McGrath Cup Final- by contrast Kilkenny won their last Leinster Championship game in 1929 and show no interest whatsoever in promoting the game. Soccer at all levels is played in Limerick and KK have no team for many years in the premier grade. Other codes have also had high points in Limerick. When the 1912 games were completed somebody wrote that more Olympic medals were won by men born in County Limerick than were won by the entire German Nation up to then, so athletics were also a competitor hurling had to compete with in the county in the early days.
In effect through most of the city and towns and in about half of West limerick, the biggest division in area, hurling is hardly played at all. Many of the present team are also dual players. William O'Donoghue and Ger Hegarty were easily the best midfield pair in Munster as u21 footballers, and indeed Ger first made his name as a senior county footballer, and Ritchie English and DOD, the son of James O'Donovan an ex Limerick Footballer, are also accomplished at the big ball game. Limerick were dual U21 Munster Champions in 2000 and many would contend that the dual player issue probably cost us an All Ireland in the oughties. By contrast Kilkenny have no such problems ever."
Okay.That"s interesting to know.Limerick only won one All-Ireland senior hurling title in 78 years between 1940 and 2018 (1973) so I suppose it all adds up.Limerick though have a brilliant hurling team now.While they won't do a six in a row like Dublin footballers, Limerick should win a couple of more All Ireland's with this talented current team.That will surely grow the popularity of hurling throughout the County of Limerick and encourage more young players to take up the game.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2160 - 02/01/2021 15:42:30    2325789

Link

Replying To rhudson:  "Hi all fellow posters
Like to wish ye all a happy and healthy new year
Surely 2021 has to be a better year for us all
We have all been through a tough 12 months
But a new year and the vaccine gives us all hope
Maybe someone might take down those pesky Dubs lol
No offence to our Dublin friends
But its up to the rest of us in Kerry Tyrone Donegal Mayo and Galway
To take the next step and meet the standaards and hunger the Dubs have
As regards the hurling Limerick reign supreme but hurling is in a good place
Im very sure Galway Tipp and others will put it up to them in 2021
And we might be able be able to go to a game again before the 2021 ends
Anyways best wishes to all for 2021"
Happy new year! I'm hopeful 2021 is going to be a much better year with some crowds at the latter stages of the inter county championship and full crowds at the clubs games - I live in hope :)

Lets all forget about the football All Ireland; the final is a week over 6 months away; it's hard to see Dublin having any retirements for a final that is in a way just around the corner. However the new league format makes for a very intense competition, especially with teams having only 3 extrembly competitive games to survive in their division before they even consider promotion.

The Ulster championship as we seen is now back to being very competitive; we now have a situation where the winner could come from 5 or 6 teams. Roscommon keep making hundreds of thousands in fundraising :) so must be ready to make an impact, rssulting in a great Conn championship.

Can Tipp do two in a row?

Hurling.....sorry Limerick has learnt their lesson from 2019 and are so far ahead it's scary. They'll easily add another Liam but hurling will have it's moments -Antrim back in the Leinster championship being one.

A lot to look forward to in 2021 even if we know where Sam and Liam will be going in July before we enjoy the club championships through the late summer/autumn.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 02/01/2021 16:14:42    2325791

Link

Replying To endgame:  "Okay.That"s interesting to know.Limerick only won one All-Ireland senior hurling title in 78 years between 1940 and 2018 (1973) so I suppose it all adds up.Limerick though have a brilliant hurling team now.While they won't do a six in a row like Dublin footballers, Limerick should win a couple of more All Ireland's with this talented current team.That will surely grow the popularity of hurling throughout the County of Limerick and encourage more young players to take up the game."
Hopefully you are right. Thanks for the reply. I knew a good few Roscommon men working in Dublin fifty years ago. They almost seemed to be fierce football men and great Rossie supporters. I was very sorry to see them lose the 1980 final. I think that team would have won an All Ireland if they had come ten years earlier or later.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4318 - 02/01/2021 17:04:12    2325794

Link

Replying To Oldtourman:  "I am glad you brought the population issue up. You say the city has 94,000. The vast majority can be taken out of of the equation for hurling. All the main towns, which are all small enough anyway are football first towns. When the a Lions B and I travelled about 10 years ago there was a panel of of 42 players. Ireland had its largest number on the panel ever-12, 5 of these were from Limerick. So in a area with a catchment of seventy million people limerick with a population of of about 190,000 had slightly shy of one in eight players, which shows the sheer strength of rugby in the county. The last Kilkenny player to gain a rugby international cap was Willie Duggan and that was forty years ago. Limerick may be long down in football but they contested about five Munster finals in the past two decades and were dreadfully unlucky not to be in this years final and even as late as last January they beat Cork in the McGrath Cup Final- by contrast Kilkenny won their last Leinster Championship game in 1929 and show no interest whatsoever in promoting the game. Soccer at all levels is played in Limerick and KK have no team for many years in the premier grade. Other codes have also had high points in Limerick. When the 1912 games were completed somebody wrote that more Olympic medals were won by men born in County Limerick than were won by the entire German Nation up to then, so athletics were also a competitor hurling had to compete with in the county in the early days.
In effect through most of the city and towns and in about half of West limerick, the biggest division in area, hurling is hardly played at all. Many of the present team are also dual players. William O'Donoghue and Ger Hegarty were easily the best midfield pair in Munster as u21 footballers, and indeed Ger first made his name as a senior county footballer, and Ritchie English and DOD, the son of James O'Donovan an ex Limerick Footballer, are also accomplished at the big ball game. Limerick were dual U21 Munster Champions in 2000 and many would contend that the dual player issue probably cost us an All Ireland in the oughties. By contrast Kilkenny have no such problems ever."
"When the 1912 games were completed somebody wrote that more Olympic medals were won by men born in County Limerick than were won by the entire German Nation up to then["/b]

Nonsense. Somebody wrote? Germany won 25 medals at the 1912 Olympics. 13 in 1908, 13 in 1904, 9 in 1900, and 13 in 1896. Who are these 73 plus 'Limerick men' that won more medals than Germany 'up to then'?

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2454 - 02/01/2021 17:46:51    2325796

Link

Replying To Oldtourman:  "Hopefully you are right. Thanks for the reply. I knew a good few Roscommon men working in Dublin fifty years ago. They almost seemed to be fierce football men and great Rossie supporters. I was very sorry to see them lose the 1980 final. I think that team would have won an All Ireland if they had come ten years earlier or later."
Yes.The 1980 team won 4 Connacht titles in a row and the 1979 National League.The '80 Ros side also had players from the 1978 U21 All Ireland winning team.We lost AllI Ireland semi finals by 1 point in 1977 and in 1979.The 1980 Final was very tight on a horribly wet day.Roscommon lost by 3 points to a great Kerry team.We have't been back in a Senior Final since.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2160 - 02/01/2021 17:54:29    2325798

Link

Replying To Cockney_Cat:  ""When the 1912 games were completed somebody wrote that more Olympic medals were won by men born in County Limerick than were won by the entire German Nation up to then["/b


Nonsense. Somebody wrote? Germany won 25 medals at the 1912 Olympics. 13 in 1908, 13 in 1904, 9 in 1900, and 13 in 1896. Who are these 73 plus 'Limerick men' that won more medals than Germany 'up to then'?"]Right oh and as you say I read wrongly. However, off hand John Flanagan from Kilbreedy won three Gold medals, two Leahy brothers from Creggane Colmanswell won three medals between them. Tim Aherne from Athea won 1, Patrick Ryan from Pallas won a gold medal and William Russell lane -Joyne also won a medal. How many did Kilkenny born men win.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4318 - 02/01/2021 19:16:00    2325806

Link

Replying To Cockney_Cat:  ""When the 1912 games were completed somebody wrote that more Olympic medals were won by men born in County Limerick than were won by the entire German Nation up to then["/b


Nonsense. Somebody wrote? Germany won 25 medals at the 1912 Olympics. 13 in 1908, 13 in 1904, 9 in 1900, and 13 in 1896. Who are these 73 plus 'Limerick men' that won more medals than Germany 'up to then'?"]Just an addition to above- Paddy Ryan actually won two.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4318 - 02/01/2021 19:38:00    2325808

Link

Happy new year folks, it's starting off bad, Covid numbers are going through the roof, but the vaccines are on the way and hopefully it will be a case of bad start-good finish for 2021.
Football will be back before we know it, a happy and healthy 2021 to all.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2745 - 02/01/2021 21:40:01    2325817

Link

HNY! Think we are in for a rough covid affected county calendar this year and any teams with cases will be badly affected. The soccer team I follow over the water had 8 cases in the squad and had its 2 Xmas games postponed as a result. It dominated in its previous 2 games winning 1 and drawing 1. 5 of the lads who tested positive in the run up to Xmas started the game yesterday. The team didnt manage a single shot in the entire 1st half at home to team which was below them in the table. That's not a shot on target. That's no shot whatsoever.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11806 - 03/01/2021 10:05:53    2325837

Link

Happy New Year, but what a start to 2021. But it will get better we have to believe that.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4896 - 03/01/2021 12:40:18    2325851

Link

Replying To Cockney_Cat:  ""When the 1912 games were completed somebody wrote that more Olympic medals were won by men born in County Limerick than were won by the entire German Nation up to then["/b


Nonsense. Somebody wrote? Germany won 25 medals at the 1912 Olympics. 13 in 1908, 13 in 1904, 9 in 1900, and 13 in 1896. Who are these 73 plus 'Limerick men' that won more medals than Germany 'up to then'?"]Well the comparison may have come from the fact, that as your numbers show, that Germany had forty eight medals going into the 1912 Games, while the county of Limerick had by then one in every six that Germany had and they had over 400 times the population of Limerick.
John Flanagan was probably one of the greatest Olympiads of all Time. He was born in 1868 and did not compete in the 1896 Games, won a Gold medal at the 1900 games, a Gold and Silver in 1904 and a Gold in 1908, when he was over forty years of age.. He was also the first competitor to win a Gold Medal at three successive games and broke the current World record in doing so in both '04 and '04. Pat Ryan also won a gold and Silver in 1920, bringing the counties total to at least 10
BTW, apart from Michael Dowling, did any Medals from the Olympics ever rest in Kilkenny? I have tried to find out but since I could find no site even acknowledging Mick's achievement, I can't get any further.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4318 - 03/01/2021 15:43:51    2325871

Link

Roll on the start of the inter county season Oldtourman. You are wasted on the Olympics! HNY!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11806 - 03/01/2021 16:48:11    2325874

Link