23/08/2012 10:45:00
Snufalufagus
County: Dublin
Posts: 5069

1250346
In Lucan Sarsfields which is a top tier Dual Club 'at everything' when a kid joins the club they just 'automatically' play both football and hurling and it has always been like that!

A kid in Lucan doesnt join football or hurling, a kid in Lucan joins the 'GAA'!

Regards,

Snufalufagus....Laochra Gael

I was watching Eoin Mulligan on Seo Spoirt the other night talking about his famous goal against Dublin. The two Dublin lads he sold dummies to were Lucan Sarsfields lads. Is that what you're teaching them up there in that club of yours?

Superglue (Kerry) - Posts: 1283 - 26/08/2012 10:49:34    1251902

Hurling is a game for ugly footballers

Superglue (Kerry) - Posts: 1283 - 26/08/2012 10:50:32    1251904

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 5443

Have you still not gotten over the 89 final, Sambo is a fine one to talk,he wasn't afraid of slagging lads off,giving them the hurl off the ball etc,I also think there was a lot of talk from Antrim players going into that final and don't forget it was Tipp's first win in nearly 20 years so lads are bound to get carried away.I have witnessed plenty of idiots from every county at matches over the years so we all have them,I recall plenty of occasions when Tipp fans have been very graceful in defeat or towards an opposition player(sheflin injury 10 springs to mind where every Tipp fan stood up and clapped him off the pitch)but of course that would not be mentioned,I also recall a certain Tipp man making a round trip to Antrim 4-5 times a week to coach your Senior side and had great passion for hurling in Antrim,underage teams have been travelling down to Tipp etc for years and have been made very welcome so give it a rest for Gods sake!!

Re this debate,I live in the UK and most lads are solely Gaelic but they will always comment on the skill level in hurling,I think its great that we have 2 such great sports,having played both I think hurling takes a lot more time to master but I have to say that Gaelic has a higher fitness level and is actually more physical.Some good points have been made re County boards attitude and I think that needs to be addressed first,there should be an equal emphasis on promoting both codes and any County board not doing this should either be fined or have grants withheld.In Tipp football was ignored for years but I am happy to say that things have changed at last so it can be done,Dublin hurling is also a very good example and other counties have been doing this for years so the likes of Cork(yes Cork Ulsterman,the other so called snobs) and Galway should be praised for this especially.

NaComini1848 (Tipperary) - Posts: 22 - 26/08/2012 11:51:47    1251927

If football is so skillful then how come every year, a bunch of Australian meat heads, most of whom have never kicked a round ball in their life, can master the skills of the game in one week flat and more often than not bate the living s**** out of the best Gaelic footballers this country has to offer? I'm also of the strong belief that most inter county defenders in football go through an entire season kicking a ball in open play no more than perhaps a dozen times, if indeed that, such is the obsession with the hand pass and "retaining possession at all costs". So one of the most difficult but fundamental skills in football, kicking the bloody thing, is being actively forbidden by modern managers because they don't even trust their players, the best their county has to offer, to have the requisite skill set to execute it properly. Imagine Brian Cody telling tommy Walsh, "I don't want to see you pucking that ball cos you'll only make a hash of it, just hand pass it to the nearest team mate." wouldn't happen, but happens in football the whole time. PS I enjoy good football matches, I don't think every hurling match is a classic and every football match is terrible, but don't tell me that a sport which is actively abandoning it's most fundamental skill because it's too "risky" is the more skillful game.

ballydalane (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1258 - 26/08/2012 13:00:59    1251969

'If football is so skillful then how come every year, a bunch of Australian meat heads, most of whom have never kicked a round ball in their life, can master the skills of the game in one week flat and more often than not bate the living s**** out of the best Gaelic footballers this country has to offer?'

Have you seen how the Shinty lads (no more than 1000 registered players) beat our best hurlers EVERY TIME????

Eddie the Exile (Monaghan) - Posts: 1267 - 28/08/2012 13:01:55    1253901

NaComini, I hope for Tipp sake there aren't many dual players or dual clubs cause just wait till the Tipp Senior footballers start challenging for Munster titles & having dual players or requesting hurling matches involving the footballers postponed before important championship football matches - then you will see how even the county board is.

county man (Limerick) - Posts: 1156 - 28/08/2012 13:29:44    1253928

So one of the most difficult but fundamental skills in football, kicking the bloody thing, is being actively forbidden by modern managers because they don't even trust their players, the best their county has to offer, to have the requisite skill set to execute it properly. Imagine Brian Cody telling tommy Walsh, "I don't want to see you pucking that ball cos you'll only make a hash of it, just hand pass it to the nearest team mate." wouldn't happen, but happens in football the whole time.

So basically what you are saying is it is harder to master kicking a football than pucking a sliotar...

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 28/08/2012 13:42:52    1253943

Have been at compromise rules games between IRL and Alban alright.

Those Scots boys are some hurlers and tough as nails too!

Would recommend it to anyone to watch ie Shinty.

But,of course,shinty has it's own Camanaiocht Assoc'n which is'nt simultaneously promoting another sport that's in direct competition with it.

Should be separate associations for Hurling & Football and then we would'nt have threads like this one!

Muilleann (Tipperary) - Posts: 114 - 28/08/2012 13:59:55    1253959

Muilleann
County: Tipperary
Posts: 9


I agree with you, each to their own.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4958 - 28/08/2012 14:36:37    1254007

Eddie the Exile
County: Monaghan
Posts: 198

1253901 'If football is so skillful then how come every year, a bunch of Australian meat heads, most of whom have never kicked a round ball in their life, can master the skills of the game in one week flat and more often than not bate the living s**** out of the best Gaelic footballers this country has to offer?'

"Have you seen how the Shinty lads (no more than 1000 registered players) beat our best hurlers EVERY TIME????"

Eddie the Exile - what are you exiling yourself from, reality?

If you knew your facts you'd know the Ireland hurling/shinty team consists of hurlers from Christy Ring/Nicky Rackard/Lory Meagher counties (not the elite Liam McCarthy counties, so its not by a million miles "our best hurlers").

You'd also know Ireland have beaten Scotland the last 2 times it's been played (even though the Irish lads aren't allowed touch the ball with their hands).

(Plus if the Irish lads do lose they don't go crying to the papers about how the big bad Scots are too rough.......)!

ballydalane (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1258 - 28/08/2012 16:20:08    1254118

Ballydalane.....what was Tommy Walsh doing on the panel last year so? And Joe Canning? And Eoin Kelly a few years back....and Joe Bergin???
You havent a feckin clue !!

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8170 - 28/08/2012 16:27:47    1254127

To be fair ballydalane is almost right. The captain each year has normally been someone from the All Ireland champions or one of the top teams anyway but they'll on;y be about 3 max on the panel.. Not sure what year the decision was made but it is normally 90% lower tier players. Been realistic if our lower tier players are beating the shinty top players then I wouldn't see the point in sending the 15 best hurlers in the country just to hammer them. In fairness to the footballers they are playing against professional athletics who are paid to play sport and train every day. I still think hurling is the more skillful sport as people can start playing it at 18 and still be decent or effective at least, whereas if you're not hurling in primary school then the chances of you been good at it are pretty slim unless you're a very talanted individual. I play both and outside kicking points I don't see where the "skill" comes into it. Obviously skill means perfecting a technique through practise, I think the argument here is which technique or skill is more difficult to master to which I would suggest hurling. Football definitely comes more natural to hurlers than hurling does to footballers. Correct me if i'm wrong but if the football men still believe football is more skillful I'd like to know in what way?

Faithfull (Offaly) - Posts: 573 - 28/08/2012 16:55:47    1254155

And don't forget, Seanie Johnston could only last 2 minutes in a hurling match.

ballydalane (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1258 - 28/08/2012 17:30:56    1254204

A skangy enough lookin fella said ta me one night in eyre square.."Football is only a fannypad sport,ya wanna play the shtickball if your able for it"..But in general no,I think hurling people are not anti football

Take_em_off (Mayo) - Posts: 212 - 28/08/2012 17:38:47    1254208

ballydalane, could you address my point please.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 28/08/2012 18:08:35    1254249

It is surprising then that a team like Donegal who rely on their fitness and work ethic can get to the All-Ireland final in a sport where the skill level is so high!!!! ;)

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4676 - 28/08/2012 19:01:14    1254327

Being from Longford I'm probably open to accusations of knowing little about either code (though we had a good year this year). However, one thing has to be said is that hurling as a sport requires one to have a 'first touch' in a way that Gaelic football really doesn't. In both soccer and hurling, having a first touch requires finesse, in Gaelic football it clearly doesn't.
Catching a size 5 is a basic enough skill when set alongside having to control a sliotar coming at you. What Donegal and countless football teams have shown is that manic hard work, conditioning and defensive organisation will often easily stifle skillful or 'flair' players. In hurling, by contrast, skill will usually assert its supremacy and the consequent gap between counties that immerse their kids in the skills of the game from an early age and counties that don't is unbridgeable regardless of 'conditioning'.

tomas_mannion (Longford) - Posts: 1 - 28/08/2012 20:34:51    1254412

TheMaster
County: Mayo
Posts: 4611

1254249 "ballydalane, could you address my point please."

Sorry Master, I only dip in and out of the site when I can.

No, my point was that it's a sad state of affairs that most inter-county footballers are forbidden (I don't think that's too strong a word) by their managers from kicking the ball, and many footballers could conceivably go through a whole season without kicking a ball in open play (and still be said to have had a good year).

So in football you could have a competitive, successful team where up to 7, 8, 9 or more players couldn't kick the ball out of their way.

Every player on a top level inter county hurling team has to have all the skills of the game honed to near perfection (or at least be proficient in the skills he's weaker on). There's no way you could put out a team in the hurling championship with 8 lads who couldn't puck the ball, they'd be killed.

As to which is the more difficult skill, kicking a football or pucking a sliotar. Honestly, I'd put them on a par and that's the best you're going to get from a Kilkenny man!

ballydalane (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1258 - 29/08/2012 11:02:45    1254604

Bottom line is that every sportsperson thinks their sport is the best one.

But in GAA people are often playing two competing sports,a cracked situation!

But that won't change 'cos,as much as the hurling crowd hate to hear it,it's the gate receipts from football (the majority game by a mile) which keeps the show on the road.

Muilleann (Tipperary) - Posts: 114 - 29/08/2012 12:56:22    1254753

ballydalane, what does that tell you about the skills in hurling and the skills in football? Hurlers dont train any more than footballers do, they have put the same amount of time in, yet one set is so hard to master that even the guys at the very pinnicle of the sport cannot guarantee getting it right. Now as you point out about hurling, 1-15 of all the half-decent teams have a firm grasp on their skillset. Now unless there is some sort of physiological difference between hurlers and footballers, the above would indicate that football is harder to master than hurling. Furthermore, you have a top hurler like eoin cadogan being unable to guarantee his kicks any more than any other footballer around him. Shouldnt these dual players be superstar footballers? After all they are hurlers and therefore more skillful by nature...

Do you want to keep digging or will I throw you a rope?

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 29/08/2012 14:32:35    1254884