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Post by mickmack on Mar 11, 2007 13:05:07 GMT
Attendance was 6500........... not bad for four small gaa clubs.
Was talking to an Eoin Ruadh supporter........... they are a small catholic enclave surrounded by protestant areas and tis a struggle to keep going ...............
We dont realise how easy we have it sometimes
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joan
Full Member
Posts: 261
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Post by joan on Mar 11, 2007 21:03:09 GMT
Congrats to Ardfert great win and to Duagh what a game they were robbed of the draw but they can be well proud of the way they played. well done to all involved
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Post by tadhgeen on Mar 13, 2007 22:09:04 GMT
I was also at Croke Park and thought that the Duagh game was more entertaining with better football played than the Ardfert match.
I thought the ref favoured Greencastle throughout the game and capped off his bias by blowing the final whistle during a good move and just as Duagh were poised to pull the trigger. No one knows whether they would have pointed or even goaled in that few seconds. A minute extra was put on the board and when the ref blew the ball was in play and the clock read 61 mins and 12 seconds. I can't understand why he did it. He scarpered from th pitch pretty quickly in any event.
Also I would have thought that there should have been more than 1minute extar played particularly as there were a host of subs introduced in the second half and also I'm sure a Duagh player was down for atleast a coupleof minutes with cramp.
Duagh were gracious losers but I felt that they would have won this game had they a capable forward. They were on top at midfield but didn't win enough ball inside in the forward line. Ardfert game was brutal with 7 backs against 5 forwards from the very beginning. Eoghan Ruadh missed at least 4 scoreable frees and had they let the corner forward take them , things may have been different. Ardfert looked a bit over confident at times with fancy flicks and over elaboration coming out of the backs. However they did score a very good goal and tactically were the better side. Best was used to good effect to win ball at midfield and once they got in front they defended in numbers.
Great celebrations at final whistle although no encroachment on to the pitch (unlike Greencastle supporters in previous game).
Celebrations continued well into the next morning at City West and I for one am only getting back to normal today.
I think Ardfert will be competetive in championship and will rattle a few cages - I can't see Pat O'DriscolL and Co. sitting back and relaxing now. They have a young squad and success breeds success.
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Post by mickmack on Mar 13, 2007 22:30:56 GMT
The Duagh full forward line was poor. That cost them.
Ardfert missed a few handy frees too.........
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Post by tadhgeen on Mar 13, 2007 22:51:40 GMT
Was at the hurling also the following day. Robert Emmets from London had a fully deserved win over Kilimordaly in the Intermediate final. An historic occasion and a super achievement which shouldn't go unnoticed.
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Post by mickmack on Mar 13, 2007 22:53:28 GMT
Are Robert Emmets the club that is run by Irish stockbrokers and professionals in the city?
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Post by tadhgeen on Mar 13, 2007 23:04:21 GMT
No Mickmack that's Fulham Irish that you refer to and they are a football club only.
Emetts are a senior hurling club in London and I believe that they were formed in the 1940's. Their players are from all counties of Ireland with the captain coming from Dublin.
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Post by austinstacksabu on Mar 13, 2007 23:52:23 GMT
For those of us who weren't there.....how did Stephen Wallace play? Was there a big banner in the crowd calling for him to be brought into the senior panel??
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Post by mickmack on Mar 14, 2007 8:11:20 GMT
No banners........ the reality is dawning that the best full forward kerry never had wont get his chance.......... the trevor brennan of gaa
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Post by austinstacksabu on Mar 14, 2007 18:57:41 GMT
But he did get his chance a few years back under Paudi and didn't make it.....
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Post by tadhgeen on Mar 14, 2007 22:26:21 GMT
Stephen Wallace was fairly anonymous - not one of his better games. He hasn't had as many chances for Kerry as Quill although this may be because he is not deemed county standard.
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Post by Lolly Valance on Mar 16, 2007 11:07:41 GMT
Id like to see him get called in for a trial. I think his brother francis wil definitely don the county jersey at some stage
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Post by mickmack on Mar 28, 2007 7:24:15 GMT
GAA: Amazing Ardfert are the pride of Ireland By: Kieran McCarthy
All-Ireland Club Intermediate Football Championship Final Ardfert 1-4 Eoghan Rua 0-5
ARDFRT are All-Ireland champions. Now, where have we heard that before?
For the second time in the space of 12 months, the close-knit North Kerry parish was evacuated as a sea of black and white flowed all the way from the Kingdom right to the Lower Hogan Stand in Croke Park on Saturday night.
And, just like in 2006, the trip home was made memorable - soon to be folklore - with the presence of the guest of honour in the form of the All-Ireland intermediate football cup.
No doubt the silverware will be made feel at home in its new place of abode. just like the junior crown the previous year.
The amazing fairytale that is the Ardfert success story is showing no signs of abating. Indeed they will be asking for extra copies to be printed, including the latest glorious chapter, following the events on Saturday night, under the lights of Croker.
In defeating Derry side, Eoghan Rua, by just two points, 1-4 to 0-5, Pat O'Driscoll's side completed a unique All-Ireland double, adding the intermediate crown to the junior title they picked up on their last trip to the capital. It's been an amazing journey a real turn-up for the record books.
If ever there was a game that shows that the result counts more than the performance then this was it.
It wasn’t a good game, and that’s being kind. Too many wides (over 20), too many fouls (over
50), too many stoppages and too many stray passes meant that this game won’t live long in the memory for the neutrals but, for Ardfert, all of that is secondary.
On second thoughts, it's not even secondary because the game itself doesn't even matter. Why? It's simple really - because Ardfert are All-Ireland intermediate champions. Sounds good, doesn't it?
The joyous scenes of celebration that greeted the final whistle said it all, as did Johnaton Best's speech after he climbed those hallowed steps before GAA President, Nickey Brennan, presented him with the cup. Another Kodak moment for Ardfert in the capital.
As stated already, the game itself was mediocre and it failed to match the passion, intensity and closeness of the opening game that saw Greencastle succeed Ardfert as All-Ireland junior kingpins but at the expense of dynamic Duagh.
So it's quite ironic that one sublime moment of magic should decide the contest.
The game was only nine minutes old when John Egan, who gave a superb all-round display, cut in from the Cusack Stand side as Ardfert attacked the Hill 16 end, before unleashing a quality strike that would have been fit to grace any All-Ireland final, be it club or inter-county.
It seemed like the angle was too small, verging on impossible, but the wing forward's rasper zipped across the goal, all the way to the back of the net. It was a class moment that further lit up the bright sky over Croke Park.
Not alone did that goal give Ardfert a welcomed fillip as they struggled early on in the game but it also gave them the lead, more than cancelling out Barry McGoldrick’s fourth minute free.
While we are on the subject of McGoldrick, what an eventful night he was to have from placed balls? Did I say eventful? I meant terrible. In the second half alone he squandered free after free, finding the corner flags before he found the posts.
But Ardfert weren’t any great shakes themselves from frees, with Stephen Wallace not enjoying his best run out though that, just like the game itself, doesn’t count for much now. Wallace has another All-Ireland medal in his back pocket. Debate over.
All that said, it was the Kerry junior - yet another All-Ireland medal that he holds - who tapped over two frees in a three minute spell just after the midway point of the opening half, frees that gave Ardfert a four-point lead, 1-2 to 0-1.
Eoghan Rua had the best of the remaining 10 minutes of the half, reducing the lead to just two points as Sean Leo McGoldrick was one of only five players on the night to find where the umpires kept their white flags.
Leading by just two points at the break, 1-2 to 0-3, the next score in the game was going to be vital, considering that it was such a low-scoring affair. Up stepped Shane Griffin with an absolute peach, in front of the 6,131 attendance, to stretch his side’s lead.
Then the Barry McGoldrick free taking sideshow rolled into Croker. To be fair, he did score from a free in the 16th minute but he missed at least three more in the space of five minutes, all but gift-wrapping Ardfert the cup.
And when Griffin popped up with a gem of a free for Ardfert, with just seven minutes left, it was to be a crucial score. McGoldrick did pull a point back late on but it wasn’t enough to stop Ardfert winning, 1-4 to 0-5.
It mightn’t have been pretty but, as Pat O’Driscoll said after, that doesn’t matter. And he was right, because 10 years from now everyone will know the Ardfert were the All-Ireland intermediate football champions of 2007. That’s enough in itself.
Ardfert: D Dineen, M Moloney, C Flaherty, B Moloney, S Flaherty, E Corridan, F Wallace, B O’Flaherty, M Ferris, J Egan (1-0), E Ferris, J Best, S Griffin (0-2, 0-1 free), S Wallace (0-2, 0-1 free), D Wallace.
Subs used: D Dineen for J Best (52 mins), J Dowling for M Ferris (60 mins).
Eoghan Rua: R McGeough, N Holly, C Mullan, F Diamond, C Trolan, M Mearns, A Rafferty, C Lagan, S Henry, M McGonigle, B McColdrick (0-3 frees), R Carey, S McGoldrick (0-2), M McTaggart, C McGoldrick.
Subs used: none. Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)
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