Ach go háirithe

[youtube]VnZ6o3Z6Rqg[/youtube]It appears that there’s a bit of fuss over this take on the Haka apparently advertising a bakery of the year competition in New Zealand. Rumors that a second ad depicting two Gingerbread men spear tackling a mince pie had to be pulled are as yet unsubstantiated!

Nuff said!

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Every September, hundreds (sometimes thousands but this is rare) of Kerry Animals form a mega-herd and make their way northwards to the metropolis of Dublin. Each year when the mega herd arrives on the outskirts and in the centre of Dublin city, visitors and locals alike look on in astonishment at the their backward ways and struggle to understand their thick unintelligible accents. Scientists have long studied the migratory habits of the Kerry Animal but the details of this remarkable transeprovincial migration are only now emerging from a study using electronic tracking tags to follow individual Kerry Animals.

The Kerry Animal’s Migratory Path

The migration period can last up to 2 days but many make the migratory round trip in one day (the shortest know cycle for any migratory mammal). The reasons behind this are varied but fear of built up areas, a dislike for spending money and a distinct fear of modern appliances are the main reasons behind the Ryanair-esque turnaround time.

Of course the journey is not without its dangers. One scientist recounts the scene last year as part of the mega-herd traverses the Blackwater River. “..this morning, we witnessed up to 5000 Kerry Animals of all shapes and sizes at the same crossing, however, six of them became breakfast for the hungry crocodiles and another 15 drowned in the chaotic crossing. The majority of the herds are now on the eastern side of the Blackwater River, but there are several herds that are still enjoying the lush green grasses on the western side of the river and will need to soon make the fearsome crossing as well.” Out of an estimated 20,000 strong herd, last year only 15,000 actually made it to the intended destination of Dublin.

Dublin authorities have set-up a new unit especially trained in Animal control techniques to deal with this almost yearly invasion. Each unit member has been issued with bear mace and trained in special negotiation tactics as well as the latest crowd/herd control techniques.

A Dublin Garda struggles to control a Kerry native (2005)

The herd leaves just as quickly as it arrived, leaving a trail of tinfoil and tae bags in their wake. But be warned, approach these animals with caution. They have been know to bite, buck and spit when they get confused or feel threatened.

A Kerry Animal Viciously Bites Cork Footballing Great Brendan Jer O Sullivan’s Finger

Seems its been on youtube for over 3 months now but RTE aired Tall, Dark and Ó hAilpín again this week; the third time in the space of a year. The show in full can be seen in six segments via the Youtube playlist below.

Ó hAilpín related posts prevously on AGH:
Tall, Dark and Ó hAilpín
Mysterious Flash Floods Hit Ireland
Sean Og O’Hailpin – Pitch Man
Is fada an turas é ó Fiji go Corcaigh agus ó Corcaigh go Pairc an Chrocaigh!

Old as the hills i know but it’s the first time ive seen this classic stuff since school. Finally the Eddie Moroney tape in its entirety is up on Youtube. Maybe its been there a while but I’ve only seen it now. A quick Google has revealed that there’s even an Effin’ Eddie website effineddie.com. You can also find an Eddie sound board here.

I wonder if Eddie or Aherlow GAA have made any money out of all this?

A topical FCC this week. Leave your captions by clicking the comment link below.

Ever get that feeling the of Deja Vu? The opposition might be different but the feeling of getting shat on from them upon high in the GAA seems strangely familiar! Don’t get me wrong, this aint a whinge. Same as Roy Keane wasn’t whingeing when he spoke out about conditions in Saipan. The Dublin media likes to trot out this label any time a Corkman speaks up for himself. It is not in a Corkmans nature to stay quiet when he thinks something is not right. In the long run Roy was proved right and once the dust is settled on this years championship we too will be.

Last Weekend
Train Cork-Dublin return: €56.50
Cork V Waterford: €35
Gatts: €??
Munch: €??

This Weekend
Train Cork-Dublin return: €56.50
Cork V Sligo : €20 & €30
Accommodation: One night: €150 Two nights:€300
Cork V Waterford (Replay): €45
Gatts: €??
Munch: €??

Last Weekend + This Weekend = €€€€€€ for Dublin and the GAA

My verdict? Worth it! Because after this weekend we will be the only county in the country to have teams in the semi finals of both codes….so you can stick that up yer bollix Dublin…..for free.

P.S.
Brennan Out!

There’s been a lot of hoo-haa about this new Hurling manager game recently released by Tailteann Games called Bainisteoir – Hurling©. Ill hold off on my own judgement for now as i have only just received a copy of the game, but the existence of the game at all goes to show the growing popularity of Hurling and the GAA in particular. In light of this and I’m sure all you GAA fans out there will be delighted to hear that i can exclusively reveal that a well known PC games manufacturer with years of experience in producing high quality, realistic sports manager games, is in the advance stages of producing what is provisionally being named ‘GAA Manager 2008′. I can also reveal that for the last 5 months that i have been employed by the games manufacturer as an advisor and Beta tester on GAA Manager 2008. I cannot reveal too much here and now, for obvious reasons, but imagine football and hurling versions of Football Manager or Championship Manager!

There are two modes to the the game, Career mode and Championship mode. In championship mode you can go straight in and manage one of the top (or not) teams in either the Football or Hurling championships. Career mode, and this is what makes the game stand out IMHO, allows you to start off you managerial career with a club and work you way up through the ranks until you finally (hopefully) get offered the job of managing your county, or God forbid another county comes in trying to lure you away with promises of a free holiday and a generous expenses package!

The detail and accuracy in Career mode is quite astonishing. While in the club phase of your career, you can manage anything from the girls U14 Camogie team to the lads Junior B or even Junior C team! Player, public, press and club interaction has a uniquely Irish/GAA slant as these exclusive screen shots reveal.

These are all the details and screen shots i can reveal for now but i hope this much has got you as excited as i am about this ground breaking game. Ill publish more details and screen shots as the games development progresses.

This really bate all. An Australian Rugby player, Ben Czislowski, failed to notice that he had an opposition players tooth lodged in his head for over 3 months!! Yikes! Must…. resist…..temptation….to rattle off tooth related…puns…..

Link

“I’ve got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table,” he said. “If he (Austin) wants it back he can have it. I’m keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened.”

In other news: Lindsay Gilbee is STILL a girls name.

I for one am glad the GAA decided to ban Sean Og for four weeks. I mean what kind of an example is he setting for the youth of today! Kids should be looking up to true sportsmen like Graham Geraghty and John Mullane, whose sportsmanship is only surpassed by their humility and good nature.

If you want to know more about this Cork scoundrel, have a read of this Forbes article.

Pitch Man
Ben Cramer 04.23.07

Ireland’s most beloved hurling champion hails from County Cork–by way of Fiji.

Sean Og O’Hailpin and his two-time defending national champion Cork County hurling team have just taken the field. In distinct swaths of red and blue, 53,286 screaming fans erupt as a marching band parades the Cork and Tipperary squads. Today, the population of the tiny town of Thurles in Tipperary County–Ireland’s traditional “Home of Hurling”–has multiplied by 700 percent for the Munster Senior Final, the match that crowns the champs of Ireland’s most dominant hurling province. Another half a million have tuned in nationwide. That’s the rough equivalent of 30 million Americans watching a regional lacrosse game.

And Sean Og–Irish for Young Sean or Sean Jr.–is the most recognizable hurler in all of Ireland, and probably the best athlete in the sport. In 2004, O’Hailpin was voted by hurling’s players’ union as the national “Hurler of the Year.” In 2005, he won Ireland’s “Sports Personality of the Year,” bestowed by national public broadcaster RTE.

He’s easy to spot, just back of the marching band, seventh in the line of Cork players, the one with the dark, curly hair, the rugged jaw, the one that doesn’t look…Irish. Sean Og’s the one with, well, the dark skin, and is the only non-Irish-born hurler at this top level of play.
(more…)

For the weekend thats in in…..download your rebel desktop wallpaper here

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[youtube]DnvciXlsKJU[/youtube]

Have a look at this video and see if you can figure out what’s going on!

The English ‘B’ cricket team go forward into the second round of the Cricket World Cup ‘The Super 8′ despite losing to hosts West Indies in their final pool game yesterday. The good work had been done earlier in the tournament with a shock win over Pakistan and a draw with Zimbabwe.

This sets up the mouth-watering prospect of England ‘A’ playing England ‘B’ in the next round of the world cup. Rumours that such a game would have to be moved to Croke Park in order to accommodate the huge crowd interest such a game would naturally generate, are as yet unconfirmed.

Port Láirge 0-16 Corcaigh 0-12 (Réamh-caint)
The less said about this weekend of sport the better….as far as Cork are concerned anyway; 0 for 3 in the soccer, football and hurling.

I didn’t make it down to Walsh Park for our rearranged Division 1A meeting with Eoin Kelly…sorry with Waterford, but with the likes of the O’Connor twins plus Seán Óg and Pat Mull out it was hard to see how Cork were ever going to come out of this with a win. I was delighted to hear that Mickey O’Connell made an appearance on the day (on 45mins for Kenny). His introduction failed to have the necessary impact but it was good to hear that the hero of ’99 is back wearing the red.

Páidí O’Sullivan, Diarmuids brother, was also brought on and slotted over a free in the 66th minute. He was unfortunate to have picked up an injury late in the game and had to be stretchered off.

R Curran (0-01);
P Cronin (0-03);
N McCarthy (0-03);
N Ronan (0-01);
D O’Sullivan (0-01);
J Deane (0-02, 2f);

Fir-Ionaid :
M O’Connell for Kenny (45 mins);
P O’Sullivan (0-01, f) for Deane (50);
T McCarthy for Canty (59);
J O’Callaghan for P O’Sullivan (68).

I did however make it to Parnell Park to see Cork take on the Dubs on Saturday night. One of the worst performances I’ve seen from a Cork team in long long time; and that’s saying something given our history. The game ended 1-13 to 0-7 to the Dubs but in all fairness the score line flatters to deceive. Cork scored 4 points in the last few minuets and by that stage most of the Dublin players were more interested in making it in to the showers before all the hot water was gone! An awful awful display from Cork, they looked like a team that had trained 3 or 4 times already that day, second to every ball, the backs were abysmal and the forwards were barely Junior standard. The only player that stood out as being up for the challenge was Antony Lynch, who ran and ran all night.

The video is of Donnnacha O’Connor missed penalty in the second half.
[youtube]YdPhQOJEEMI[/youtube]

Update 09.03.07: Rearranged for Walsh Park (10.03.07 / 2:30), chips and orange available outside stadium.

Update 04.03.07: Match cancelled due to waterlogged pitch! May be moved to Dungarvan but that’s not been confirmed yet.

Tá Corcaigh ag taisteal go Port Láirge an deire seachtain seo chun aghaidh a thabhairt ar fir na Deise agus ba comhair go mbeadh teannas sa bhreis sa cluiche seo tareis a bhí le rá Brian Corcoran ina leabhar ‘Every Single Ball‘ a foilsíodh i dtreo deire 2006.

Cork make three changes from the side which beat Offaly in the previous round with Cloyne man Killian Cronin coming in at full-back, while John Gardiner and Kevin Canty come in at right half back and left half forward respectively.

Tá clú ar Killian Cronin mar ceann dós na lán-cúlaí is fear sa contae le fada. Go dti seo níl sé tareis na heachtai ceanna a dheannan se don club a dheanamh don contae, ach táim dóchasach go dtiocfaidh sé i gceart i mblianna.

Walsh Park
Port Láirge v Corcaigh
Réiteoir : Brian Gavin, Uíbh Fhailí
CI: @ 2.30pm

“Possibly the greatest performance by any team wearing green in any sport ever?â€? was the text I got off a friend at the weekend.

At first I thought he was talking about Macroom’s great win over Muskerry in the 1962 Cork Senior Football Championship final (Macroom’s 10th and last senior county football title incidentally) but of course that was just me being silly, because there was only one performance he could have been referring to…and that performance was that of that great Macroom team who trashed Avondhu 3-7 to 0-3, four years earlier in the 1958 Cork Senior Football Championship decider. A great performance indeed, especially when you take into account how dominant the Avondhu side of the late fifties early sixties were. In the eight finals from 1955 to 1962, Macroom or Avondhu competed in six, with Macroom just shading it with two titles to Avondhu’s one.

1955: Lees 3 – 4 Macroom 0 – 9
1956: St.Finbarrs 3 – 5 Midleton 0 – 4
1957: St.Finbarrs 2 – 4 Lees 2 – 4
- R: St.Finbarrs 0 – 8 Lees 0 – 5
1958: Macroom 3 – 7 Avondhu 0 – 3
1959: St.Finbarrs 1 – 5 Macroom 0 – 6
1960: U.C.C. 1 – 7 Avondhu 0 – 9
1961: Avondhu 1 – 7 Clonakilty 1 – 5
1962: Macroom 3 – 4 Muskerry 1 – 4

This raises another question, why was a Sligo man texting me about the glory days of Macroom football, 50+ years after the fact? Hmmmmmmm….i must ask him.