Neilstown has of course produced a Senior All-Ireland Football medalist in the last 5 years in football.

First with his name wins 10 'cool' points!

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13796 - 24/06/2014 20:07:38    1608502

Crued it means that gaa is the dominent sport in the county with not much competition from other sports.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 24/06/2014 20:09:17    1608504

Ollie would that not mean nearly every county bar say Dublin,Louth,Wicklow,Sligo maybe?

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 24/06/2014 20:13:35    1608507

There are of course a lot of areas in Dublin that are not GAA strong holds but it isn't as bad as it once was from what I can see.

GAA may be perceived as "weak" or "non-existant" in the North inner city but it isn't all doom and gloom. A lot of Dublin support comes from these areas and people from these areas do travel out from town to play football/hurling. Soccer is of course the stonger sport but GAA is a decent second in my experience.

The group of lads I knocked around with growing up all played sport. We ALL played GAA and soccer, at some stage, and most of us dabbled with the boxing. The unfortunate thing is that we were in the minority around the way. When I look back I see how important playing sport is and the help it was to keep us occupied and outta trouble as others didn't get that.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13796 - 24/06/2014 20:14:21    1608509

Cavan is the most GAA county. And Dublin is the most soccer.

Hurling don't get me started.

Limerick the most rugby.

Kildare the most horsey.

So now we all have that out of the way.

Split Dublin in 4........take all their money and make them play home games in Donegal.

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 24/06/2014 20:16:16    1608514

Tipperary the most horsey.
Kilkenny for cricket.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 24/06/2014 20:23:10    1608525

Would the answer be Bernard Dunne mes?

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 24/06/2014 21:36:14    1608605

cuederocket
County: Dublin
Posts: 552

1608605
Would the answer be Bernard Dunne mes?

On the field of play I should have added.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13796 - 24/06/2014 21:38:23    1608606

Hit me with it Mes.U cant let me agonise overnight with it.Ill never nod off.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 24/06/2014 21:44:43    1608616

Im fierce thirsty and ur offering up 10 cool pints.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 24/06/2014 21:47:01    1608620

Alan O'Connor with Cork in 2010.

Originally from Neilstown and played his early club football with Lucan Sarsfields.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13796 - 24/06/2014 21:51:20    1608624

Very good.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 24/06/2014 21:59:28    1608634

Donegalman
County: All
Posts: 1362

1608420
It is an interesting topic.

In county donegal, there is a roughly 50/50 split between the popularity of soccer and gaa, basing this on the number of soccer clubs, and soccer leagues in the county. There are some places that are obviously more one than the other. West donegal is probably the most traditionally gaa, ie Glenties, Ardara, Glen, Carrick and Kilcar.

On the other hand, there are areas where you would expect gaa to be the big sport, ie aranmore island, but isnt. They have a soccer club but no gaa team or pitch on the island. Fanad, and innisowen are still more soccer than gaa, but that is not to say that there is not a big interest in gaa in those regions either.

Westport in mayo have a soccer team, and it is a puzzle why they have tried to break the mould in mayo in terms of another game, as it is probably the most gaa county in ireland in terms of other sports not having the same monopoly.

Soccer has always been the biggest sport in Westport, going back to the 1940s when an Everton selection came over to open the local soccer pitch (maybe going back before that, some say that British soldiers introduced the game to the town, and Westport reached an Irish Junior Cup semi in 1912, but couldn't afford to travel to Dublin for the game). Westport United have been very successful at provincial level (and competitive at national level) consistently over the decades, whereas Westport GAA were often playing in the intermediate grade, only being promoted to senior about 8-9 years back.

Castlebar has always had strong soccer teams too, and particularly during the period when the GAA club, Castlebar Mitchels, were going through a drought (they went 20 years without winning a county senior title, 93-2013, and even suffered the indignity of getting relegated to the intermediate grade for the first time in their history in 2001, where they stayed for five years). Castlebar Celtic are equally popular, especially as they have been relatively successful in that timeframe.

Seems like West Mayo is fairly democratic in its sporting allegiances!

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 25/06/2014 08:53:17    1608648

Inner City - won't/can't be a stronghold in anything simply because it is an inner city!
The potential and strenght of clubs should really only be measured by its membership and the size of a Juvenile section as that is ultimately every clubs potential. Some clubs mentioned here in Dublin have still very poor representation, living off a reputation, some still persist in playing single codes, some are unbelieably single gender/single codes and they actually wonder why they are in decline!!
For me the clubs on the up offer the full monty, but still for cities/towns or large urban areas, player drop out is huge, too many distractions, good and bad.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4953 - 25/06/2014 10:53:38    1608727

Inner City on both sides of the Liffey is quite strong in soccer arock.Boxing too.GAA in Cork and Waterford city is and always has been strong.This is about Non GAA strongholds and unfortunately for Dublin the Inner city,which has a sizeable population,comes under this bracket.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 25/06/2014 11:30:04    1608759

inner city Dublin is huge soccer territory lots of big clubs, Sherrif YC, Odevveny Gardens etc. In wicklow Bray, Greystones and Arklow our 3 biggest towns are non-GAA strongholds. Rugby and soccer in total control

Victorious87 (Wicklow) - Posts: 601 - 25/06/2014 11:35:07    1608769

OLLIE
County: Louth
Posts: 6665

1608457
Donegalman would Cavan not be the most gaa county?

Yes you could argue that. I would have added kerry but rugby has improved down there over the past decade no end.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 25/06/2014 11:40:35    1608773

I believe Wellingtonbridge and the parishs surrounding it are a stronghold for tug o'war. Id say horseshoes is going to make a big comeback in Wexford aswell.
Also bobsledding, but thats mainly over the border in Carlow, on the western slopes of the blackstairs.

extranjero (Wexford) - Posts: 375 - 25/06/2014 11:50:44    1608786

Donegalman i was down travelling through Kerry in 2007 and the amount of Munster flags I seen down there was unreal.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 25/06/2014 12:01:45    1608794

Soccer is strong in Westport, but in fairness, they are by no means anti-gaa. They play both football and hurling to a relatively high level. I think they have just had some very good soccer players over the years, and the success has bred interest. I always thought of castlebar of more of a 'soccer town', despite the success Westport have had.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 25/06/2014 12:14:56    1608809