Tag: John Kiely
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Analysis and criticism is fine but don’t make liars of yourselves
The amazing thing was that it took until now. May 2025. When a county manager lost the head with a member of the press corps to the point of intimidation. Yes, there are certain individuals who drove buses over some very thin ice on the same road previously, but never left a crater commensurate to…
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The real Super Sunday delivers but also highlights glaring unfairness
“I didn’t interrupt you, boy”. And there it was, Donal Og Cusack’s arrogant ignorance got in the way of meaningful analysis and reasoned debate. Worse still, he was let away with it by Joanne Cantwell. But then, how she ended up with the most prized job in Irish sports broadcasting ahead of either Jacqui Hurley,…
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Two more great examples to be ignored
On the face of it, objective analysis of a refereeing performance is probably highly difficult to arrive at. Neither of the competing teams could be expected to engage open mindedly. Neither are the whistler’s own kinfolk likely to overly critical. Furthermore, it’s difficult to escape the inclination RTE commentators and pundits are contractually forbidden from…
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Limerick quell outside noise with deafening crescendo
Aside from the obvious joy of winning, one of the great things about the Meath teams of the 1980s and ’90s was that they never knew when they were beat. Thus, we, as supporters, had that comfort too. Have any counties or their fans currently got that luxury? Well, Dublin, obviously, in football, but, from…
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Support your man by all means but be mindful of how you do it
No secret has ever been made of how grateful yours truly feels to have many who were once heroes admired from afar become treasured friends. Yes, a lot of them are, shall we say, ‘colourful’ characters but then, it would be my genuine belief that if there wasn’t a bit of a maverick in myself,…
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If the mighty hadn’t fallen ten Hag would be unemployed by now
Throughout my lifetime to date, I have been fortunate to see some of the greatest managers to ever practice their trade across several sporting codes. From Sean Boylan, Mick O’Dwyer and Jim Gavin, to Brian Cody, Liam Sheedy and John Kiely in hurling, or Six Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho in soccer. Then…
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Selections for Thurles – Oct. 19th 2023
1.40: NATURAL LOOK – EW – (SHANE FITZGERALD/DECLAN QUEALLY) 2.15: AGIRLCALLEDCHLOE – EW – (SIMON TORRENS/PHILIP ROTHWELL) 2.50: LACKANEEN MAG – EW – (DARRAGH O’KEEFFE/KEN BUDDS) 3.25: CULLENWAINE (SIMON TORRENS/PHILIP ROTHWELL) 4.00: CASH BACK (PAUL TOWNEND/WILLIE MULLINS) 4.35: WALK OUT (RACHAEL BLACKMORE/J & T KIELY) 5.10: LE COQ HARDI – EW – (JOHN GLEESON (5)/HENRY…
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Don’t try to figure it out just admire it
Limerick…0-30 Kilkenny…2-15 Any hurling aficionados among you might recognise the above headline. It has been here before. On the occasion Meath defeated Antrim for the first time in the Christy Ring Cup Final some years back before a re-fixture was ordered over some cock up with the full time score. But Meath were so good…
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Whatever plan you have, they’ll come up with a better one
Limerick… 2-24 Galway… 1-18 Evidence that good players don’t always make good managers is ample. No need to name names but there have quite a few Galacticos who’ve flopped worse than a Premier League footballer trying to con their way to a penalty. Henry Shefflin absolutely does not belong in the above category. He couldn’t…
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The best day of the sporting year
Dear Larry McCarthy, Please leave well enough alone. Thank you. The dust had hardly settled on the best day of the sporting year when the outgoing GAA President started blurting about fixing it that the Leinster and Munster SHC Finals wouldn’t be on the same day again. Utter idiocy. It’s not as if people attending…