Tipp beat Waterford 3-13 to 0-13

A tale of two Kellys then at Templemore, as Tipperary retained their Waterford Crystal title with a 3-13 to 0-13 hammering of Waterford.

Eoin Kelly hit ten points for Waterford, while his opposing namesake shone for the victors.

Tipperary's forward Eoin Kelly tore through the Waterford defence, scoring 2-5 as his side won their first trophy under new manager Liam Sheedy.

Tipp made a flying start, with a first minute goal from Kelly and a Lar Corbett strike seven minutes in helping them to a 2-8 to 0-5 half-time lead. Four of Waterford's points had come from frees at that point.

Kelly grabbed another goal in the second half to put the game firmly beyond Waterford, whose much improved second half failed to close the gap. They lined out with an experimental team behind an experienced forward line.

Cork Players "Strike" Again

It all started before Christmas when the Cork County Board passed a motion that the football and hurling managers could not pick their own selectors, but that a special 7 man committee would. Due to media coverage and the threat of strike action from Cork players, the County Board met again to discuss the motion and it was passed again emphatically. That should have been the end of it as this was a democratic decision by the County Board which included representives from all clubs.What happened next - both the football and hurling panels went on stike and that is the situation that remains today. The hurling panel rowed in behind the football, even though the motion would not effect the hurling manager Gerald McCarthy, as his selectors are already in place.
The new football manager Teddy Holland, who had his selectors ratified by the new sub-committee, has now said he will not resign following calls from hurler Ben O'Connor. I never realised that Ben O'Connor (in picture)was on the football panel!!
The situation at present is that both the football and hurling panels will remain on strike until the system is changed.
This strike action is a disgrace to the GAA. The decision taken to change the system was taken democratically not once but twice. Teddy Holland and his selectors were appointed democratically. Will we pass all county board decisions to players for review and ratification?
All Cork Players should be given notification of training this weekend. If they do not turn up they should be told that they will never play for Cork again. The county board and selectors should then be given the task of drafting up new panels.
If Cork do not turn out for the start of the football and hurling league they should then be demoted in both.
It's time to stand up to this Bulls**t and not be letting inter county players trying to run the show. It will hit Cork in the short term, but in the long term it is in the interest of the GAA as a whole.

McGeeney must quit his post with the GPA

Kieran McGeeney, the former Armagh footballer and All Ireland winning captain, is of course now manager of the Kildare football team. He is still, however, secretary of the Gaelic Players Association. Surely there is a conflict of interest here?
Kieran, it's time to quit your post with the GPA.
You can't run with the hare and hunt with the hound!!

Bill Clinton Falls Asleep

You got to hand it to Bill - his falling asleep during a Martin Luther King service did brighten up my day. What is so funny about someone falling asleep? Check it out - http://independentsources.com/2008/01/21/funny-clinton-falls-asleep-during-mlk-service/

President Mary McAleese Criticised

President Mary McAleese has been criticised by the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Europe - http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0122/mcaleesem.html - over comments she made at the Hunt Museum in Limerick yesterday. The Simon Wiesenthal Center claimed that the Hunts who founded the museum, had had Nazi links and that they had done business with dealers in art looted by Nazis. Following an investigation, US expert Dr Lynn Nicholas said last year that there was no proof that these allegations were true, a verdict welcomed by the museum.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center was best known in the past for bringing former members of the Nazi regime to justice. Its aims now are to confront antisemitism, hate and terrorism, promote human rights and dignity, defend the safety of Jews worldwide and teach the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations.
All these aims are noble causes without a doubt and any antisemitism is to be condemned. While the scale of the holocaust has not been repeated since, there have been many examples of similar barbarity in our so-called modern world: namely the Balkans and Rwanda to name 2. The world stood idly by while all these happened.
If the Simon Wiesenthal Center is serious about fully confronting antisemitism, hate and terrorism, and promoting human rights and dignity, it should first look within, at its own state of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians and all Arabs. For example the following lists the UN resolutions against Israel between 1955-1992 alone: http://www.middleeastnews.com/unresolutionslist.html

Big Dan Shanahan

Congratulations to Big Dan on winning the sports star of the year award in Waterford last Saturday. It was well deserved after the tremendous year that he had last year.
It was a double celebration for him also as he got engaged as well on Saturday.
Pitch in a goal against Limerick IT on Sunday and it was a satisfactory weekend for the Big Man!

Waterford beat Limerick IT

Waterford Crystal Cup Semi-Final: Waterford 3-12 LIT 2-13

Waterford advanced into the final of the Waterford Crystal tournament following a hard-fought but deserving two-point victory over Limerick IT at a very soft Fraher Field, Dungarvan, on Sunday and now meet Tipperary in the final next weekend.
Limerick IT, who will shortly set out in defence of their Fitzgibbon Cup, got off to a flying start and impressively eased into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead midway through the opening half. But it was Waterford who finished that first moiety on a high and Eoin Kelly’s goal from a 20 metre free in the 30th minute enabled to retire at the break leading by 2-5 to 1-6.
Waterford’s opening goalwas scored by Dan Shanahan on twenty four minutes, and though Joe Canning replied with a cracker of a goal for the losers four minutes later he was unusually wayward in his freetaking and wasted three gilt edged chances from placed balls that would ultimately cost them dearly.
Waterford never again surrendered their interval advantage and looked to be firmly in control when they opened up a six point advantage at the three quarter when Kelly brilliantly kicked the ball to the net.
Try as they might Limerick IT could never quite manage to erase their deficit. Cyril Donnellan and Canning worked hardest to do so with Donnellan having a particularly fine game, but despite the concession of that injury time goal the Waterford defence, powerfully marshalled by the half back trio of Wayne Hutchinson, Brian Phelan and Jack Kennedy, stood firm.
For Waterford manager Justin McCarthy the game threw up a number of pluses notwithstanding the absence of a number of regulars including the experienced Mount Sion duo of Ken McGrath and Tony Browne. Up front Eoin Kelly emerged as top scorer with an impressive tally of 2-3, but the one to really catch the eye in the sector was corner forward Shane Walsh. He may have accounted for only one point of his side’s total but he was probably the hardest grafter on view and set up several scores for colleagues.
Scorers for Waterford: E. Kelly(2-3); D. Bennett(0-4); D. Shanahan(1-0); J. Mullane(0-2); S. Prenergast, S. Casey, S. Walsh (0-1).
Scorers for Limerick I.T: J. Canning(1-6); P. O’Brien(1-0); C. Donnellan (0-3); S. Herlihy, B. Gaffney, J. Clancy, G. O’Mahony(0-1) each.
Waterford: C. Hennessy; T. Feeney. D. Prendergast. E. Murphy; W. Hutchinson. B.Phelan. J. Kennedy; M. Walsh. D. Bennett; J. Mullane. S. Prendergast. E. Kelly; S. Walsh. D. Shanahan. S. Casey. Sub: P. Kearney for Kelly(inj).
Limerick IT: M. Ryan; M. Walsh. A. Byrne. M. O’Bren; W. Hyland. S. Maher. G. O’Connell; J. McInerney. J. Clancy; N. Healy. C. Donnellan. S. Herlihy; B. Gaffney. J. Canning. S. Tobin.
Subs: P. O’Brien for Tobin; I. White or Herlihy; G. O’Mahony for McInerney.
Referee: Ambrose Heaney, Clare

Waterford demolish Tralee IT

Wednesday, January 16.
Waterford claimed an easy win over Tralee IT in the Waterford Crystal Cup at St. Molleran's on Wednesday night.The Deise ran out 5-14 to 2-5 victors against the Kerry college in their first competitive outing of the season.The Munster champions led by 2-6 to 2-2 at half time and consolidated their advantage to run out convincing winners.Eoin Kelly was the star of the show for last year's beaten All-Ireland semi-finalists, scoring 1-6 of the Deise's massive total.

First Post

This is hopefully the first of many!!