The Official GAA thread

That is simply stunning.

 

Oh that's how it is. All the 26 county fans sticking together. (Building a siege mentality ahead of Sunday).

 

This is more stunning.

 

and beautifully named

 

As an aside I wish in future we could get more co-operation on facilities between the big sports and government so that we had more combined stadiums proving us with much better quality facilities. Towns like Derry IMHO would be so much better off if you had the GAA and soccer combing along with government to build a much better quality of stadium.

What is not happening in that regard in Louth currently is exactly what should not happen stadium wise IMHO.

 

Hey I want to see your lads knock out Kerry so I am with you on that one for sure.

 

I'd say Donegal is definitely for Derry not just as an Ulster team but if they lose then Kerry can't meet Dublin in the semi. I would think Monaghan and Cavan would also be for Derry though Cavan is kind of odd

 

Yous can't meet Kerry in the semi unless Roscommon win

 

Personally think its crazy there are restrictions on who can play who at the semi-final stage. Should be an open draw IMHO.

 

Now lads, that's some heavy backtracking right there... but I'll accept with good grace. I note your tinge of self interest though. Yes, Cavan are a strange one, never quite able to work them out. Anyway, good luck to our three teams this weekend.

 

What's happening in Louth? I have been so preoccupied with things in Derry, I haven't picked up the story.

Funnily enough, Celtic Park shares a boundary wall with the Brandywell, home of Derry City. Tbh, I am only now getting used to Celtic Park as our home venue. With us being down the divisions in the recent years, I'd got used to Owenbeg as home. With a full house, Celtic Park has a good atmosphere especially under lights. The Dublin league game in 2023 was fantastic.

 

Well as we all know Dundalk's Oriel Park is a joke of a facility and Louth GAA also were in the market for a new stadium. So instead of working together Louth GAA with the help of the government's immigrant investor programme will now get a new stadium while the soccer team is left * in the wind. I should add too that the deal for the GAA stadium involved Dundalk IT leasing land to the GAA long term which had to get government approval to go through as well. Facts are for decades governments have consistently to a greater or lesser extent given tax payer money to the GAA for stadiums and given little or nothing to soccer. This disparity is then made worse as the GAA rarely are willing to allow use of their stadiums to others. Facts are we are a small country. We have 3 major sporting organizations in Soccer, GAA and Rugby. We should be pooling the resources of the 3 and the government to build better quality facilities so that the sports can grow and so that we are the public can go to and enjoy better experiences in better stadiums. Look at the LOI in general these days the old dilapidated stadiums cannot cope with the demand never mind the appalling conditions most LOI grounds currently present to spectators.
My families home country of Wexford is a perfect example. Wexford FC and Wexford GAA both badly need a new stadium. They should be getting together and along with the government coming up with something that everyone can use and benefit from. Now it looks like Wexford FC are getting together with SETU and Wexford County Council but why not get together with the GAA as well and put together something even better for everyone together rather then having separate stadiums each of which would be inferior to a combined one.

 

I remember going to Oriel Park as a schoolboy back in 1979 to see Celtic in the second leg of a European Cup tie. Celtic had won the first leg 3-2. What a nervous 90 minutes that was. Oriel Park wasn't in great shape then. I wasn't aware of developments in Louth or Wexford tbh.

I take your point about shared grounds. However, the situation up north about shared stadia is very complex. There is still huge hostility to our games and our association. Countless members and club officials have been murdered by loyalist death squads in collision with the British state "to send a message to the catholic and nationalist community". The case of Sean Brown from my own county is a very topical one. Before the Derry v Tyrone league game in February, we marched from Free Derry Corner to Celtic Park in support of his family who still have not received any justice for the murder of their husband, father and brother. The St Enda's club in Hightown, county Antrim was targeted regularly throughout the conflict here and lost a number of members to state sponsored murder gangs. Only today in Portadown, a fella was attacked for wearing a GAA jersey. Club grounds are still being vandalised by neanderthals whose idea of culture is 120 feet high bonfires festooned with our flag and coat trailing marches through our towns and villages. Shared stadia just wouldn't work here at club or county level in many instances. As you know, the GAA is an expression of our culture and identity as Irish men and women. A large percentage of the population in the north view that as unacceptable and would happily do away with us never mind our grounds.

 

My first memory of Oriel Park was back in 1988 playing for Dublin in the first leg of the Kennedy Cup Final. The pitch although grass then and the stadium were a dump in those days as well. As an aside we were held to a 1-1 in that first leg but romped home in the second leg back in Dublin to the tune of 7-1 so I guess the state of Oriel Park did give them significant home advantage.
Sadly your no doubt correct about shared and combined financing making for better stadiums and experience for everyone at least for the foreseeable in the 6 counties. Having said that the Irish government was/is willing to put money on the table for Casement Park and have put money on the table for other projects via the Shared Island capital fund which has I think 500m euro in the kitty for 2025. That could be a route around things. But I hear what your saying. I can tell you one of the "souvenirs" I have from my 2 years living near Ballyshannon is a small piece of shrapnel from a bullet that is in the front of my left shin. I got that when I was 9 years old going across the then border to play a game of soccer and ending up walking into a riot which British soldiers opened fire on and I got hit by the pieces dug out of a nearby roof which a bullet hit close to where I was.

 

As a further aside if you have not read The Committee by Seán McPhilemy I highly recommend it in terms of the activities of the death squads and collusion etc.

 

I read that book shortly after its release. My friend was over in USA playing football in the summer and he was able to get me a copy. It was very difficult to get it here at home.
When you read about the Sean Brown and Paddy Kelly cases currently , you begin to get an understanding of the extent of Britain's dirty war here.

 

It truly is a disturbing book to put it mildly in fact disturbing is almost using a euphemism there. I will have to read about the Sean Brown and Paddy Kelly cases some more myself.

 

Sean Brown was chairman of Bellaghy and Paddy Kelly was from Trillick in county Tyrone. RTÉ did a documentary about Sean "The Killing of a Gaa Chairman".

 

I will for sure check that out thanks An Madadh Rua.

 

https://www.rte.ie/player/movie/murder-of-a-gaa-chairman/510977576357