It is a bit chilly out this morning. But sunny so far, so its all good, plus, I suppose it is really and truly Autumn now, so I can’t complain.
I know, I know, talking about the weather, not exactly a gripping start to a post, and after I’ve been a tad lackadaisical about updating, but what do you expect? Do you really want me to moan about the RWC again? I can. It’d be easy. After all we did almost lose against Georgia. And as Roy Keane might say, all credit to Georgia, but, at the end of the day, we did win. And that is what is important. Never mind the shocking display. Never mind the lack of skills on display. Never mind that if it hadn’t been for Leamy getting under that ball they would have scored another try.
And now, now we have Eddie O’Sullivan dropping Stringer in favour of Reddan. Georgian Murphy out of the 22, Duffy on the bench. Trimble in for Hickie. I’m not sure I want to watch the game on Friday.
But you know what, I’m staying optimistic. Or deluded. Either way that good feeling I had before the RWC began, it is still here, and I’m sticking with it. Clinging desperately may be slightly more accurate, but whatever.
And of course the rumours are floating around about trouble in the camp. So dilemma. Do I repeat them and feed what may just be lies? Of course not. Because if the rumours of bust-ups at training are true then at least it shows some bit of passion. And while I don’t believe that it has gone totally Saipan on us, rumours of Geordan Murphy walking out may just breathe a bit of life back into the team.
Or maybe I really am totally deluded.
In other news have you heard the story about the body found on a Kerry beach, and taken away in a hearse? You know, the one that turned out to be a fish.
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.
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
Hopefully BOD and Stringer will be back in two weeks for our match against England. Which we really really really have to win. But, horror or horrors, O’Gara has picked up an ankle injury. Eddie expects him to be fit for the next match, but you never know, and all credit to Paddy Wallace, but we would miss ROG. Just like we missed BOD yesterday.
Stringer too, although Boss was good, he is just that fraction slower on his passes than Stringer. Then again, maybe the French would’ve countered him. What ifs are no use after the match is lost.
But what a sickner.
In happier news it turns out that despite not really mentioning the Blog Awards, I’ve been nominated[1] in the Best Designed Blog section. I guess all my messing about with the template paid off
So off you pop and Vote, although that is a considerable long list.
Well, obviously enough, with the weekend just gone my first topic of this post has to be… the role of the Catholic Church in the political life of Ireland.
Or maybe not.
I’d much prefer to ramble on about the rugby. I didn’t catch any of the England-Scotland match, though I hear Wilko was fabtastic, but his try wasn’t one. I am a fan of Wilkinson, and in one way I do hope his road to recovery is straightforward, but then again, we play England fairly soon and I really want to win.
I didn’t see much of the France-Italy game either. Was at the aunt’s having lunch. But I’m very disappointed in Italy. This was to be their year to win a game, but they played horrendous rugby[1] and it’ll be the Wooden Spoon if they continue on like that.
And so on to our match, and could you get much more intense than that? And yes Ireland were lucky not to have O’Callaghan penalised, but there were more than a few occasions when I saw Wales not releasing the ball when tackled. Turns and roundabouts. Three tries to nil means we finished better on the day. And on a day when O’Gara had a horrible first 40 minutes that says a lot.
Injuries now are the big worry for Sunday against France. Darcy is supposed to be fine, O’Driscoll may make it. Although that might just be talk to keep the French guessing. The big worry is Stringer, who has a hairline fracture in his hand.
We’ll see what happens.
In today’s weather update it looks like winter has finally arrived now that it is spring. Bloody freezing out this morning so it it. And the last half an hour or so on the drive home on Saturday was through freezing fog so dense that you couldn’t see nuttin’.
Still the trip home meant I was finally able to stick all the music on the mp3 player. Only around 2,500 songs or so, but while I was adding them I also spent a few hours[2] deleting all the duplicates from the PC. I’m not really sure why we needed ten copies of some songs on the hard drive, though I’m sure there was a very good reason for it.
And you’ll all be pleased to know that the newest cat is still alive. And as stupid as any cat. Put out by the mutt leaping about the sitting room chasing a ball she decided to leave the room, but as she jumped down from the chair she slipped on the wooden floor and smashed into the ironing board, but instead of realising that she was the cause of her collision she promptly turned and blamed the innocent hound. Spitting at him until he nosed her out of the way.
The gasúr had his birthday while I was away. He is a whole year old now[3] and taking a few steps, though he prefers to crawl.
Although I’m a little worried about Argentina[1] maybe one of the Leinster boys can take out Contempomi in a “training accident” a little closer to the World Cup?[2]
Anyways, moving away from sport at the moment, I’ve discovered that I have too many books I want to read. I’ve taken a break from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall cause the group isn’t discussing it for a while yet, but I still don’t seem to be able to get stuck in to either Kafka on the Shore or One Thousand White Women, despite the fact that I’m enjoying them both. Kafka on the Shore is especially intriguing. Maybe my brain has been fried from all this time online and watching the likes of America’s Next Top Model?
Although I continue to be delighra and exi’ra[1] over Munster’s win, it has had a negative impact on my life. Well, a positive and negative. See publicity for Munster means that people are searching for Munster related stuff on the net, so some find their way here. Which is good, although they do all seem to be the silent type. But it means that my stats are so boring. All they say is search strings for Paul O’Connell[2] or Peter Stringer[3] although I did get one mildly amusing one which was, and I quote “Ronan O’Gara what does he do”
He plays rugby.
What, you were expecting more? If so go to wikipedia for a look at their definition of a Fly-half, although seeing as he plays in Ireland Ronan is actually an Out-half. Don’t worry, its the same position, just a different name. Basically that means he does all the kicking. And organising. And he scores many many points. He is the highest scorer in the European Cup as well. Which is nice.
Linknotes:
I’ve no idea how that should be spelt. Dublin pronunciation of delighted and excited ↩
Crap. I forgot that the server peeps were upgrading yesterday. That’s why yesterday’s post has been eradicated, and Peter is missing from the header. There is no hope of me remembering exactly what I said, so I’ll just ramble on again about how great Saturday was. And there is always the possibility that it’ll show up again, then again it may not. But first, Luna Nina says:
Yours ::
Charcoal ::
Platitude ::
Graduation ::
Hungry ::
Somewhere ::
Nurse ::
Freak ::
Unbelievable ::
Walk ::
and mine will be after the rugby rambles and the cut.
If you read the post yesterday there will be similarities here, but you’ll just have to deal with that
Now where to begin? Oh yes, with the site of ultra-focused Ronan O’Gara being prodded with an umbrella as he and some of the other rugby lads fought over a red cowboy hat.
See, yesterday saw the Munster team arrive in Limerick for a homecoming celebration. They’d landed in Shannon around 1.00 that morning and after a stay in a hotel began the bus journey to O’Connell St, Limerick. That’d be the street that was flashed up on the big screen in the middle of the match on Sat. And that youtube video is the scenes from Limerick in the final minutes of the match.
Can you picture this, a bus load of semi-drunk fella on an open top bus, in the rain, drinking cans of Bulmers and bottles of Heineken. What a sight Being cheered on by around 40,000 supporters according to some newspapers
It didn’t have any hint of professionalism about it, but that is what made it so great. It was just so honest. And plenty of it was obviously very unplanned. Like Marty Morrissey being summoned on to the stage. Marty, you see, is a GAA commentator, not a rugby man. but he was on duty for RTE covering this event, but well away from the stage. Obviously though he got spotted, and as we’ve all heard this Munster rugby team are not so serious when off the pitch[1] And it ended up with Marty after trying to make his escape being hoisted onto the rugby team’s shoulders. That’s something you don’t see everyday.
I think Marty Morrissey is the nearest thing to O Muirceartaigh that TV has. Though Marty should carry a health warning as he is not good for those of us with even the slightest of cardiac problems! Sometimes you are left thinking that Marty is either going to swallow the microphone whole or jump out of the telly and land beside you.
Who will ever forget ‘There won’t be a cow milked in Clare for a week’ (Munster SFC Final 1992) or ‘By God these Wexford boys mean business’ (Marty, complete with lump in throat, Leinster SHC Final, 1996).
It was a great day, and I’m sure all those who waited frrom 10 in the morning[2] felt it was worth it when they were there to cheer on the team at around 5 that afternoon. It was a long wait in the rain, but after losing 2 previous finals, not to mention a few semi’s, it was one way of showing their appreciation.
Although to the few fans who are now expecting three in a row! Come on, I know that you have to be hungry in order to win at sport, but wanting something and expecting it are two very different things.
Still, they showed up in that rain yesterday, they spent fortunes following the team around Europe. Maybe the fans deserve to have some expectations.
In other sporting news in Ireland most matches were called off because of the rain, including the Sligo v galway one, which means that Galway’s Padraig Joyce will probably be fit for next weekend. The boring golf was also hit, meaning it’ll go into a fifth day today. Although I did like that Darren Clarke[3] excused his bad play on Sat by saying he was too busy watching the rugby to think about his golf game.
And surprise of surprises New york actually won a GAA match. They beat Derry in the opening round of the hurling, although visa issues mean they might not play in the next round. Well, thems the breaks for illegal immigrants. or at least I assume that is the problem they’ll have trying to re-enter the States afterwards if they leave.
Now, is there anything else I mentioned yesterday? Oh yes, the Eurovision. Which, fantastically, was won by Finland, in the form of Monster Rock band Lordi. And I’m proud to report that Irish viewers, clearly taking the competition very seriously, awarded Lordi 10 points. With our 12 going to the weird Lithuanian “We Are the Winners” song[4]
Now, is there anything else I mentioned yesterday? Oh yes, the 
