Nov 14 2008
Oct 20 2008
links for 2008-10-20
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"Athlone town clerk John Walsh said some people had been "frightened" by the placing of names on the coffins. "We obviously wanted it terminated so we served a notice to quit and demand for possession," he said. "
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"There is an acceptance that the wealthier must pay more tax - this is simply no longer in dispute. No one is protesting about the cut in the ceiling for tax relief on private pensions or the 2% levy for higher earners. Higher earners themselves would probably support even more progressive taxation if it was clear that good public services and universal education and health care would be provided. And the entire population seems to be unified in its outrage by, not just the threat to the universality of the medical card for the over 70’s, but also the application of the 1% levy to even the lowest earners."
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Feb 09 2008
wtf?
I’m speechless. I have no idea what to say after that match. The first half was so horrible. Unless you were French[1] of course. What is with Ireland and first halves in France? Remember 2 years ago? Although this was worst, because right up to the final whistle the hope was there.
And let me tell you hope is a killer.
French fuckers.
Still, lets look at the positives; the scrum. Yes, I said the scrum, imagine that, an Ireland scrum that was going forward. That dominated the French pack! That led to a penalty try. The forward pack had a great second half. ROG too had a great game, kept us in touch, barely, in the first half. But on the wings[2] we’re a bit “who’s supposed to be playing there”. I also think that the lineout, at first, wasn’t great, but it did improve as the match went on. BOD was his usual hard-working self, but Trimble was very quiet. I don’t think he is good enough for the likes of France. Interesting to see who O’Sullivan will select for the next match against Scotland.
Sport really is a roller-coaster isn’t it?
Final score, btw, was France 26 - Ireland 21 and I officially hate Vincent Clerc.
Tags: 6nations2008, Andrew Trimble, Brian O'Driscoll, Eddie O'Sullivan, fucking french fuckers, Ireland V France, Ronan O'Gara, rugby, Six Nations, Vincent Clerc
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Oct 02 2007
It’s the hope that kills you
For those that may not know[1] ; Ireland got knocked out of the RWC at the weekend. It wasn’t unexpected. After scraping the bonus point against Namibia, not getting one against Georgia, and losing to France, it would have required a miracle to get past the pool stages. We’d have needed to win by 7 or more points, score 4 tries, and make sure that Argentina didn’t score 4 tries. And, considering the poor performances that the team had been putting in it never seemed likely.
Course you still hope.
Cause what is the point if you don’t?
But in the end Argentina won, and won well, 30 to 15. Maybe that scoreline would have been closer had we not had to chase the four tries, maybe we would have won if all we’d needed was to beat them by a single point, but that is irrelevant. We lost. We came home.
And the post-mortems will continue for many months. Why did we perform so badly? What happened to the team that could run and pass and “had a chance”? Why did we struggle to get our game going?
Some have argued that the players didn’t want to win that much, that they are all paid so much money that they didn’t have the passion of earlier and perhaps less talented teams. Pschaw I says to that. Pschaw[2] Did you see BOD when he scored that try against Argentina? I think maybe[3] he would have liked to win.
He had a good game. As did Paul O’Connell, despite some missed lineouts. And Geordan Murphy had an okay game, considering the support runners he was getting[4] and the options he was presented with[5] and the whole performance of the team was considerably better than earlier in the tournament.
But we should have started the RWC like that, and progressed. Instead we dug ourselves a huge ginormous hole by starting sluggishly.
In a way the tournament was like an extended version of our recent games. We start poorly, realise that we are in deep shit and start to play. Trouble is we just didn’t have the time or confidence to get out of that hole. And so the 2007 RWC is over for Ireland. And for many of those players this is the last RWC they’ll get to go to. Over the hill now. And what a sad way for Denis Hickie to finish his career. And possibly many others.
The debate about whether we should blame the players more or whether management should take responsibility seems to have been ignored in the rush to shout that Eddie O’Sullivan must go. I’ve always been quite supportive of Steady Eddie, but I’m back-tracking now, not that I think he should be fired in some knee-jerk reaction[6] but for the IRFU to be describing this as some sort of blip? Are they insane?
Maybe it is just that they want to get O’Sullivan back, to pick his brains, behind closed doors and try and figure out what went wrong before coming out and saying what is what, I don’t know. Maybe they’re hoping to persuade him to “agree terms” and don’t want to force their hand yet? Who can tell.
But this isn’t something that can be solved with a quick fix. I’d've had no problem[7] with us going home had we played to our potential and still been defeated. But, *shrug* we didn’t. We seemed lacking in strategy. lacking in skills. Lacking in just about anything that a rugby team needs to play. And I haven’t even mentioned the whole substitution fiasco.
Of course the RWC isn’t over yet. There are still a whole heap of teams left in the competitions. And I’ve made my decisions and I shall be supporting: France when they play[8] the All Blacks ; Argentina when they play Scotland[9] ; Fiji when they play[10] South Africa ; England[11] when they play[12] Australia.
Title was something one of the commentators said after we started so well and people began to think, hey, maybe, just maybe…
Linknotes:
Tags: 2007RWC, Argentina, Brian O'Driscoll, Denis Hickie, Eddie O'Sullivan, Geordan Murphy, Ireland, knocked out, Paul O'Connell, Pool D, rugby, sporting post-mortem- you heartless uncaring peoples ↩
- remember, repetition provides emphasis ↩
- understatement here, jic it doesn’t come across ↩
- none ↩
- very few ↩
- Wales you know what Im talking about ↩
- yeah, yeah, that is a lie. I would still be ever so slightly annoyed ↩
- lose to ↩
- Part of me will be cheering for Scotland, but there you go ↩
- you have to support the underdog ↩
- heresy, I know, but I do like to go against the popular view ↩
- again I think they will lose ↩
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Sep 26 2007
I’m a firm believer in being as positive as possible until the moment when it’s out of your hands
Okay, so I did say that it was the end of the road as far as me and optimism were concerned. But I’m so not down with the whole negativity thing that is going on in the meeja at the moment. We are all[1] disappointed. But as Emmet Byrne said on d’telly last night it is easy to be negative. Not only is it easy, it is a fairly pointless exercise.
I’m not saying that we ignore the shite play, or pretend that everything is okay with the rugby team, but we aren’t out yet, so why not hope? Why be so negative in the questions to the players? And don’t give me that “hard-hitting journalism” tosh, cause that isn’t the reason. The reason is that it is easy to hit someone when they are down and taking the easy option is, well, easy, innit?
So lets hold all post-mortems and “Alas, ochrone” wailing and keening until after the final match on Sunday. Yes, we’ll probably be going home, but this is sport, and stranger things have happened.
Title provided by BOD
Linknotes:
Tags: 2007RWC, Brian O'Driscoll, Emmet Byrne, Ireland, optimism, rugby, sporting post-mortem- for a certain value of all ↩
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Mar 22 2007
TT the ninth (yeah, it said 8th, I was wrong)
So it turns out that today is Thursday. Who’d have guessed that shocker following yesterday being Wednesday? Course yesterday was the start of my working week so part of me is busy thinking today is Tuesday. Gonna get a pleasant surprise when I wake up thinking “thursday, nother two days of work” only for it to turn out to be Sat. Course, this may then get extra confuddling when I arise feeling like a Sat[1] and then remember, that no, today is Monday. You should be at work.
The perils of taking days off work.
Right, back to the blunt end of this post[2] today is Thursday, which means Thursday Thirteens.:
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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Linknotes:
Tags: 1992sfc, 6nations2007, All-Ireland final, Barry McGuigan, Brian O'Driscoll, Cian O'Connor, Croke Park, Donegal, Dublin V Meath, Euro88, football, GAA, Ireland V England, Italia90, memory, Michelle Smith, Paul O'Connell, rugby, showjumping, Simon Geoghegan, Six Nations, soccer-mania, T13- not that I will feel that I am a Sat., more that there will be a Sat feeling in the air ↩
- there being very little by way of a point ↩
- in case you haven’t guessed by now, I appear to be rambling quite a bit today ↩
- yes, we had them back then ↩
- which is like memory, only slightly more reliable ↩
- this memory may be from the ether, or possibly from nostalgia which says that everything in the past was good and smiley ↩
- or more if there were replays ↩
- rare, I know in Ireland ↩
- ah, roller skates, more memories ↩
- backwards! ↩
- I have mentioned exaggeration for effect before, haven’t I ↩
- that spelling is probably wrong ↩
- I should have mentioned that match, against France I think, where Paul O Connell took off his shirt in order to receive some treatment, because that is a memory that can do with some repeating, only I amnt sure if it qualifies as a sporting memory ↩
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Feb 24 2007
You are my sunshine - Redux
My only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey!
What a match. What a result. Role on Scotland and Italy.
Super Saturday or what? The fun started before I went to bed on Friday[1] when B#5 texted me to say he’d gotten his hands on a ticket for the big match. Bad news was that he couldn’t get me one, his was a schoolboy one that some fella didn’t want. Don’t know why, he asked no question just grabbed it. His train got into Dublin around 3 on Sat., so I was busy texting him the insane opening scores from the Italy Scotland match. 21-0 after 7 minutes, and Scotland’s nightmare start was all down to their own sloppiness. Part of me really wanted Scotland to make a come back, I was giving out to Mr. Paterson for not taking any of the points on offer. Constantly kicking for touch and never getting near scoring a try! But a little part of me wanted Italy to win[2] Historic, seeing as they’d never won a Six Nations away match before. And if they’d lost after those early tries it would have been heartbreaking. It’ll be really interesting to see them face Wales, I’m thinking that the Wooden Spoon might be headed Wales, despite the fact that they finally managed to score some tries in this year’s competition. But I’m getting ahead of myself. After the Scotland match came the Ireland match.
And the tension was such that I had to put away the beer, couldn’t be drinking as I had to concentrate on the match. But before that came the appearances by the teams, and the crowd gave the English team a great reception. Nothing compared to the reception they gave Ireland, but still nice to see. And after all that had been written and talked about regarding GSTQ, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of trouble[3] Instead it was sung and listened to with respect, before Amhrán na bhFiann and Ireland’s Call were belted out, with so much emotion[4] that tears were shed. And then, the match itself.
The opening was a bit dodgy. England took the lead, 3-0 and a slow start from Ireland looked likely. But not this time. Not a bit of it. O’Gara evened the score up with a penalty of his own, and from there on it was all Ireland. England were totally outplayed in one of the most intense first halfs I have ever seen. O’Driscoll was back and although quiet by his usual standards was still hugely influential. Stringer was back and as game as ever. Paulie too was back, I know he hadn’t missed a game, but he hasn’t been playing as well as he can recently. But in this match he was fantastic, back to his best, and Man of the Match, although maybe O’Gara could have claimed the award as he totally dominated the match. But then again, so too could Wallace, he was immense. And with Horgan back to his preferred position, and displaying some GAA high-fielding talents to score that try.
What a day, and what a result, 43-13! Forty-three points we scored. Gwan Ireland!
Image from IrishRugby.ie
Then I had to leave the on-screen celebrations and head out and find de brudder in the seething mass of happy fans coming down Parnell St. And headed home to hope Wales would finish off a perfect day by beating France.
It was not to be however, Wales may have gotten off to a good start, but in the end France’s class showed out and they won, playing well-within themselves. Bloody French spoiling our party 
Linknotes:
Tags: 6nations2007, Amhrán na bhFiann, anthem, B#5, Brian O'Driscoll, Chris Paterson, Croke Park, England, France, GSTQ fuss, Ireland, Ireland V England, Ireland's Call, Italy, Jerry Flannery, Paul O'Connell, Peter Stringer, Ronan O'Gara, rugby, Scotland, Shane Horgan, Six Nations, w00t!, Wales, Wooden Spoon