We in Mayo sailed blissfully through the F.B.D sposored Connacht league, winning once and losing twice. Good enough to beat a disinterested Sligo I.T team, we then got beaten by N.U.I.G and the dreaded Rossies. Of course it was'nt our fault!, Mayo being the only county that seemed to have been upset by the Colleges having first call on the students.
Johnno moaned about losing one of the Cafferkey's for our troubled full back spot. Whilst we cursed the darkness the other counties got on with it and made progress.
Roscommon, last years joke outfit, have retooled their squad despite suffering most in losing players to the Colleges. Similarily Galway, but did they moan? No, but we did enough bleating for the entire province.
Anyway the feeling being spun is that the F.B.D was a waste of time because we had'nt access to all the players. O.K, now we have an excuse for the League that starts soon. We are still trying to put a team together but because we could not experiment in the F.B.D we must try it in the league. Hence the league will probably go belly up for us as well.
Winning is a habit no matter what the competition, we are developing bad habits. Next up will be more talk about re-building etc. This is year three boys, a skyscraper would have been built in that time. Forget the league, it means nothing anyway. Last year Wexford a division three outfit got to an All-ireland semi-final , likewise Fermanagh had a good innings , also from a lower league.
Stop the yarns, pick the team and do justice to the good name of Mayo football. We have had enough talk about fireworks, players grants and excuses. Time for the pot to be gotten rid of.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Kaka, Colin Bell and the F.B.D
So the engine of an aged A.C Milan is to be transplanted into the body of team that actually meant something back in the days of genial Joe Mercer. In the mid sixties Joe motored up the road to Bury and for £60,000 bought Manchester City's best player ever...Colin Bell.
Inside the next few years, starting in 1968 ,City won the League, F.A cup, league cup and a European Cup winners cup.
Despite Joe being the brains behind City's success the swinging 60s set of Press and t.v made the flamboyant Malcolm Allison, City's coach, appear as the real guru behind the successes. Beware for what you wish for they say. Allison, cigar, fedora and champagne took over and City started a slump that has yet to finish. They bought the likes of Steve Daley and Kevin Reeves for millions when you could buy a top notch player for a £100,000. Both Daley and Reeves wound up playing in the backwaters of U.S soccer.
Kaka will arrive and we the petrol users of the West will pay for his keep. As the world melts down financially Manchester City stands as a monument to all the greed and excess that bloats the Premiership, a league rapidly starting to look like the sister league north of the border. Any team placed eighth down is in real danger of being relegated, meanwhile the big four plus this years interlopers Aston Villa play in a seperateleague.
Back at home Mayo draw with U.C.G and lose at home to Roscommon but manage to beat a disheartened Sligo Tech. No doubt O Mahony will put his political hat on and spin us a yarn about rebuilding, losing players to the colleges etc. STOP! Galway and Roscommon are as badly affected as we are by the college drain, Roscommon worse off in fact but both of those counties got on with it and reached the final of the F.B.D . No cursing the darkness in those counties, they lit the lights, we stagger on to Ballina where Derry will drill a hole in us and Johnno will spin another yarn.
Inside the next few years, starting in 1968 ,City won the League, F.A cup, league cup and a European Cup winners cup.
Despite Joe being the brains behind City's success the swinging 60s set of Press and t.v made the flamboyant Malcolm Allison, City's coach, appear as the real guru behind the successes. Beware for what you wish for they say. Allison, cigar, fedora and champagne took over and City started a slump that has yet to finish. They bought the likes of Steve Daley and Kevin Reeves for millions when you could buy a top notch player for a £100,000. Both Daley and Reeves wound up playing in the backwaters of U.S soccer.
Kaka will arrive and we the petrol users of the West will pay for his keep. As the world melts down financially Manchester City stands as a monument to all the greed and excess that bloats the Premiership, a league rapidly starting to look like the sister league north of the border. Any team placed eighth down is in real danger of being relegated, meanwhile the big four plus this years interlopers Aston Villa play in a seperateleague.
Back at home Mayo draw with U.C.G and lose at home to Roscommon but manage to beat a disheartened Sligo Tech. No doubt O Mahony will put his political hat on and spin us a yarn about rebuilding, losing players to the colleges etc. STOP! Galway and Roscommon are as badly affected as we are by the college drain, Roscommon worse off in fact but both of those counties got on with it and reached the final of the F.B.D . No cursing the darkness in those counties, they lit the lights, we stagger on to Ballina where Derry will drill a hole in us and Johnno will spin another yarn.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Saints Alive!
Just after reading the Independents full back page splurge on St Patrick's Athletic going part time. Apart from a handful of diehard supporters, does any body else care. The League of Ireland has been on a life support machine for the last thirty years, a joke really.
Players paid way above the average industrial wage but viewed by paltry gates. Athlone Town, Finn Harps and Drogheda all have financial issues of varying degrees. The sad thing about it is this, the money each owes would not repair Ronaldo's car but somehow or other the Press keep telling us all about their plight. If there was a meaningful following for Irish professional soccer domestically we would not be reading about such trivia. More than likely an average junior county G.A.A team would have better facilities, more supporters and a better cash flow than most of the L.O.I sides.
The only answer is a meaningful All-Ireland league run by a group totally free from the mess that currently persists. Two Belfast teams, two Dublin teams, one from Cork, Derry, Larne, Galway,Colraine and a midlands consortium. That would start a Premier league of ten teams. One can imagine going to see Dublin Blue's v Belfast City or Cork United V Belfast Rovers.
That would be better than the present farce wher one had until recently figure out where Shamrock Rovers were domiciled and try and figure out a league table covered in asterisks over points deducted for various infractions of the rules.
Players paid way above the average industrial wage but viewed by paltry gates. Athlone Town, Finn Harps and Drogheda all have financial issues of varying degrees. The sad thing about it is this, the money each owes would not repair Ronaldo's car but somehow or other the Press keep telling us all about their plight. If there was a meaningful following for Irish professional soccer domestically we would not be reading about such trivia. More than likely an average junior county G.A.A team would have better facilities, more supporters and a better cash flow than most of the L.O.I sides.
The only answer is a meaningful All-Ireland league run by a group totally free from the mess that currently persists. Two Belfast teams, two Dublin teams, one from Cork, Derry, Larne, Galway,Colraine and a midlands consortium. That would start a Premier league of ten teams. One can imagine going to see Dublin Blue's v Belfast City or Cork United V Belfast Rovers.
That would be better than the present farce wher one had until recently figure out where Shamrock Rovers were domiciled and try and figure out a league table covered in asterisks over points deducted for various infractions of the rules.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Doom and gloom
Sometimes I just despair at how we live our lives. Todays Irish Independent (7th Jan) carries an article about how three carpet factory workers got awards ranging from 13,000 Euro to 24,000 Euro after being dismissed for sleeping on the job. They actually admitted to sleeping but claimed that the company was aware of this over the years. The tribunal found that the workers had a case for compensation.
I hope that the Goverment and the various firms who are now in the process of shedding the jobs of hard working people take an equal generous and magnamanous approach in redundency payouts.
The same paper carries a letter from a disgruntled former public servant attacking "nice" Richard Bruton. In it, she chides him for suggesting to reduce the pay of public servants earning over 50,000 Euro. I must say I agree with her. So here are a few suggestions for Richard. Firstly, reduce all T.Ds wages to the above figure. Like wise, stop the obscene pensions ex politicians award themselves.
In my my town in East meath we have a Garda station that opens from 10 a.m to miday, after that a station 10 miles away covers it with a patrol car. We lost our commmunity Garda some time ago. However we have ex Taoisaigh who get full Garda cover, driver's and car's for life, plus free mobile phone and all paid for by Johnny gobshite on the ground.So Richard , wake up, smell the coffee and get real. The same public coffers have rewarded you and your colleagues quite well over the years. Charity starts at home, so do the cutbacks.
I hope that the Goverment and the various firms who are now in the process of shedding the jobs of hard working people take an equal generous and magnamanous approach in redundency payouts.
The same paper carries a letter from a disgruntled former public servant attacking "nice" Richard Bruton. In it, she chides him for suggesting to reduce the pay of public servants earning over 50,000 Euro. I must say I agree with her. So here are a few suggestions for Richard. Firstly, reduce all T.Ds wages to the above figure. Like wise, stop the obscene pensions ex politicians award themselves.
In my my town in East meath we have a Garda station that opens from 10 a.m to miday, after that a station 10 miles away covers it with a patrol car. We lost our commmunity Garda some time ago. However we have ex Taoisaigh who get full Garda cover, driver's and car's for life, plus free mobile phone and all paid for by Johnny gobshite on the ground.So Richard , wake up, smell the coffee and get real. The same public coffers have rewarded you and your colleagues quite well over the years. Charity starts at home, so do the cutbacks.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Premier Pastimes
I love to dip in to the 20th/21st centuries monument to excess and pomp...the Premeiership. Guys that would not be allowed to clean the muck of Tommy Smith's boots 40 years ago are now drawing salaries of £60,000 + per week. There is one man that I have a sneaky regard for amongst the hype of agents, wags, economic rights, image rights, trips to the local nick and a spot of roasting and that is Sir Alex.
He is the last of the old bosses that came down from industrial Scotland. Following in the footsteps of Sir Matt Busby, Shankly and Stein, Ferguson sees through all the excess and glitter. Unfortunatly I never liked Man U , not because of their football, its excellent actually, but because a few guys in my old school liked them and I didnt like the guys that liked United ...if you follow my drift!
Anyway Ferguson is about to ditch Tevez, apparently someone else owns Carlos's "economic rights" and deep down the old trade union rep actually hates such carry on. Add in the fact that the purchase of Berbatov is slowly turning into another Veron. Berbatov has to be bedded in , but where? Oh and what to do with Ronaldo, the golden god?At the end of the day the fetchers of water and hewer of logs like Fletcher and Carrick along with Gibson will do most of what the Argentinian can do and at an "economic cost" thats much less.
The current impasse over signing or not signing a new deal for Tevez has more to do with how badly Alex actually needs him? and methinks Tevez has read the tea leafs. At the end of the day by the time that Sheffield United and West Ham finally sort out an older deal involving the same Tevez its doubtful if the Premiership will ever forget Carlos.
He is the last of the old bosses that came down from industrial Scotland. Following in the footsteps of Sir Matt Busby, Shankly and Stein, Ferguson sees through all the excess and glitter. Unfortunatly I never liked Man U , not because of their football, its excellent actually, but because a few guys in my old school liked them and I didnt like the guys that liked United ...if you follow my drift!
Anyway Ferguson is about to ditch Tevez, apparently someone else owns Carlos's "economic rights" and deep down the old trade union rep actually hates such carry on. Add in the fact that the purchase of Berbatov is slowly turning into another Veron. Berbatov has to be bedded in , but where? Oh and what to do with Ronaldo, the golden god?At the end of the day the fetchers of water and hewer of logs like Fletcher and Carrick along with Gibson will do most of what the Argentinian can do and at an "economic cost" thats much less.
The current impasse over signing or not signing a new deal for Tevez has more to do with how badly Alex actually needs him? and methinks Tevez has read the tea leafs. At the end of the day by the time that Sheffield United and West Ham finally sort out an older deal involving the same Tevez its doubtful if the Premiership will ever forget Carlos.
Monday, January 5, 2009
New Year
We are post 2008 and its convulsive effects. Hopefully things will recover but may have a bit to travel yet before we see the green shoots of revival. Next time around I hope we handle the Celtic Tiger a bit better.
Anyway our county has started its season. Mayo lost to N.U.I.G Galway. God be with the days when we all new it as U.C.G! A defeat to the students is not the end of the world but I see Galway and Roscommon got off to solid wins despite both of them also missing a large student input.
John O Mahony has to accept such aflictions and turn them into positives. Conor, Ronaldson, Barry Moran, Cafferky and Conroy all played for their colleges yesterday, gaining valuable game time. Dublin threw out their C team and still had too much for a strong Offaly outfit. So I hope Johnno stops seeing the negitives and instead focus on what is available.
We might just need the football to keep our minds occupied if Mr Cowan hits us with more hairshirt recovery plans. I have a ton of ideas that might help him, but , as they would affect his own colleagues, I doubt if he would use them.
The season has started, where will it bring us?
Anyway our county has started its season. Mayo lost to N.U.I.G Galway. God be with the days when we all new it as U.C.G! A defeat to the students is not the end of the world but I see Galway and Roscommon got off to solid wins despite both of them also missing a large student input.
John O Mahony has to accept such aflictions and turn them into positives. Conor, Ronaldson, Barry Moran, Cafferky and Conroy all played for their colleges yesterday, gaining valuable game time. Dublin threw out their C team and still had too much for a strong Offaly outfit. So I hope Johnno stops seeing the negitives and instead focus on what is available.
We might just need the football to keep our minds occupied if Mr Cowan hits us with more hairshirt recovery plans. I have a ton of ideas that might help him, but , as they would affect his own colleagues, I doubt if he would use them.
The season has started, where will it bring us?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
New Year wishes for Mayo G.A.A team.
My New Year wishes for the Green and Red are simple.
1. No more comments from the players along the lines of "A Connacht title does'nt matter to me anymore...Its an All-Ireland or nothing". Stop saying this, it drives us mad. Mayo have won 2 Connacht titles in the last ten years, one more than Sligo and one more than Roscommon.
2.To Deputy O'Mahony. Please stop talking to us as if we were the electorate. The crap that is fed to potential voters does not wash with G.A.A followers. Gaelic football followers are not stupid and can see clearly through the bull. Less talk about building for the future. Fix the God damn team now!
3. Mr. O'Mahony once more. Stop building up everyother team as if they were direct descendents of the Kerry 1975-1985 era. It's simple in Connacht this year. Round one we play New York, round two we play Leitrim. Between them they have won TWO Connacht championships in 125 years.
3. County Board. Keep it simple, no hostages to fortune, and leave the football to the experts.
4. Smile. We are in a recession, it's only a game after all. No need to give the impression that the manager and the team are carrying the Fourth Secret of Fatima.
1. No more comments from the players along the lines of "A Connacht title does'nt matter to me anymore...Its an All-Ireland or nothing". Stop saying this, it drives us mad. Mayo have won 2 Connacht titles in the last ten years, one more than Sligo and one more than Roscommon.
2.To Deputy O'Mahony. Please stop talking to us as if we were the electorate. The crap that is fed to potential voters does not wash with G.A.A followers. Gaelic football followers are not stupid and can see clearly through the bull. Less talk about building for the future. Fix the God damn team now!
3. Mr. O'Mahony once more. Stop building up everyother team as if they were direct descendents of the Kerry 1975-1985 era. It's simple in Connacht this year. Round one we play New York, round two we play Leitrim. Between them they have won TWO Connacht championships in 125 years.
3. County Board. Keep it simple, no hostages to fortune, and leave the football to the experts.
4. Smile. We are in a recession, it's only a game after all. No need to give the impression that the manager and the team are carrying the Fourth Secret of Fatima.
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