In my oh so brief round up of the weekend I never mentioned the GAA action. Poor Laois were well beaten by Armagh in the football, but the match of the weekend was definitely the hurling[1] between Galway and Kilkenny.
for context and excitement and sheer wonder, Croke Park yesterday was the place to be. The centre of the universe. There were just under 40,000 there but in years to come at least five times that amount will claim to have breathed the same northside air through these 70 minutes of hurling
What we saw was a Galway team who were humiliated to the tune of a 19-point margin by Kilkenny last summer come to Croke Park on a big day and drive five goals past Kilkenny. The last time that was done to Kilkenny was 33 years ago (an 80-minute game and they managed a draw) and it’s something which one could go a hurling lifetime without witnessing.
The final score was Galway 5-18 Kilkenny 4-18 [2] and seeing as we were cheering on Galway it was an even better result. I’m just wondering how many heart attacks fans out there had, considering the way the game was played.
The rebels or the tribesmen, who’ll win the final?
Oooh, not being in Dublin I've been missing the hurling this year. I was taken to one of the All-Ireland semi's the first year I was in Dublin in 2000, Cork vs Offaly with Offaly winning (unexpectedly) and was hooked. Good to see Kilkenny knocked out, it gets altogether too predictable when they win all the time. I'll be cheering Galway for the final then (because Corkmen are way too smug when they win things), but I suspect the rebels will win it.
I'll be cheering for Galway too. I did live there for three years and have no connection at all to Cork. Still, if the match is anything like last weekend's it'll be worth watching.
I don't think I have ever seen a hurling match before…so this is all interesting!
Well, if you want you can see a clip here on rte's website. But only if you are interested :)
Fence, I got this message In agreement with the GAA, RTE.ie can only provide video highlights of Championship Games on the Web to residents of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Regrettably the service is not available to residents overseas.
So, I still have never seen a hurling match before!
:-(
Thats a bit crap isn't it. You could try the rebel's fan site.
Fence, thanks! That was thrilling…I am quite the rebel now!
You'll have to call people langers when insulting them so :)
And as your hero you can have Michael Collins (not the space-dude, the Irish revolutionary). He was from Cork, course he was also killed there, but they are rebels down there you know.