23. You start every month of September by planning a Sunday trip to Dublin…
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
22. …And all going to plan, you’re back to celebrate the return of Liam to the Marble City on the Monday
You’re out on the streets after a well-done steak in Langton’s.
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
21. You remember the rare bad days of course like when the 5-in-a-row bid came unstuck in 2010
Seamus Quigley from Knockbrack, Thomastown.
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
Paul Stapleton from Knockbrack, Thomastown.
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
20. But you’ll always make the effort to have the colours out at the front of the house
Miles ‘Elvis’ Kavanagh at his home in ‘Graceland’, Kilkenny City.
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
19. You can’t decide which of the current backs you’d hate most to mark in a match?
JJ?
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
Or Jackie?
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
Or Tommy?
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
18. When Cork people go on about the O’Connor’s, you point out that these are the greatest twins in the history of the GAA
Angela and Ann Downey won 24 All-Ireland senior medals between them with Kilkenny.
Pic: INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan
17. At this point you’d like to stress that you have sampled other sports and for example were delighted when Ian Dowling won the Heineken Cup
Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland
16. You’ve gone golfing on occasion in Mount Juliet and spotted this fella once
Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland
15. You roared on Darren O’Neill in London last summer
Even if he was wearing blue.
Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan
And you know where his heart lies.
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
14. You spent time in Buckley Park shouting on Kilkenny City
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
13. You’ve always kept an eye out for Gary Murphy’s European Tour results
Pic: INPHO/Tom Honan
12. You’re adamant that Kilkenny’s Adrian O’Dwyer is the coolest athlete Ireland has ever had in the Olympics
He was in the high jump in Athens in 2004.
11. You’ve pointed out that it was a Kilkenny man from Slieverue who was always right about Lance
David Walsh with his book – “Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong”.
Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland
10. You insist that the Mullins clan from Kilkenny are Ireland’s greatest horse-racing family
Pic: INPHO/Patrick Bolger
9. And you’ve even gone to see a Kilkenny team play this strange sport
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
8. But whether you’re young or old, you know no sport other than hurling makes a Kilkenny person react like this
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
7. You ensure the youth on Noreside are aware of the rivalry with Tipperary from a very young age
Pupils from Bunscoil McAuley Rice in Callan.
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
6. You’ve been amongst the thousands watching training sessions in Nowlan Park
The hard-hitting combat is legendary.
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
5. You’ve debated many times about who is the greatest forward out of this trio
Eddie Keher?
6 All-Ireland senior medals and 5 Allstar awards.
DJ Carey?
5 All-Ireland senior medals and 9 Allstar awards.
Pic: INPHO/Patrick Bolger
Or Henry Shefflin?
9 All-Ireland senior medals and 11 Allstar awards.
YouTube: HurlingGoals
4. But you reckon this young lad will be better than them all
YouTube: attheendoftheday2011
3. You offer up vigils for the health of Henry every winter
Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan
2. But you’re confident in September he will be photographed in poses like this
Pic: INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan
1. And finally you know that this man is the boss
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
I’ve been saying it for a while, rugby football is in very bad shape in Limerick.
Clubs and schools really struggling. Cork is the rugby football powerhouse in Munster, led by the two big fee paying schools.
@Treaty Bhoy: How do you fix it? What needs to change?
6 city Clubs fielded at under 18.5 level this season and 2 qualified for Munster Cup, 2 for the Plate and 2 for Bowl while only Young Munster fielded at under 16 level
Thats because of the schools.
Adult level different reasons but struggling.
@Treaty Bhoy: I dont think there “big fee paying” schools any more.
CBC hurlers are drawn from rank and file GAA clubs in Cork city and county.
I think CBC are a bit more like Ard Scoil nowadays
@Treaty Bhoy: Cork City only has 2 rugby schools though so obviously they’re going to be good. Limerick has 5 or 6 and is smaller than Cork so will naturally be more diluted.
@Ormond: The first thing would be for the people involved in Limerick rugby (both school and club) to admit there is a problem within Limerick rugby.
Whether Limerick rugby wants to recognise it or not, St. Michaels (in particular) and Leinster schools in general have raised the standard of underage coaching. Limerick schools (with the possible exception of Glenstal) don’t seem to have embraced that level of coaching and their players are being left behind as a result. Investing sparse school money in an underage rugby programme probably isn’t the best use of resources so I can see why the schools have made that decision but it does leave the players at a disadvantage.
Limerick clubs will never have the amount of time with their players that schools have. A better relationship between the schools and clubs needs to be developed.
Keith Wood (rightly to some extent) was lauding St. Munchins amateur ethos in the Guardian recently. He’s right, but he’s also praising a system that ensures Munchins will win very little from here on out. A school that can afford pro coaches, pro nutritionists, pro video analysis is always likely to beat a school without those advantages.
Limerick schools/clubs haven’t produced a forward for Munster in over a decade (Kilcoyne is the last senior forward to play for a Limerick club in the current squad, and he’s 30 now). That’s a crisis by any measure but you never hear it mentioned.
@hlymrekr: underage club scene from u19 down is a shambles. best players are playing exclusively for their schools. at that level money talks e.g.Glenstals. schools and club rugby are pulling against each other. can’t see why the kids cannot play with their clubs and still compete in school competitions. competitive schools rugby doesn’t provide that many games. clubs are dying a death and the standard is pretty poor. at adult level ….economic / 3rd level education factors play a part so not much you can do about that outside of regional economic growth – which is a far bigger issue. per playing population, Limerick has too many clubs …..either numbers grow or clubs will fold / need to amalgamate…..easier said than done given the long history or clubs in Limerick. no easy answers
@hlymrekr: Limerick schools by and large cant be compared to others in terms of support as theyre not fee paying and dont have resources of many other schools countrywide.
Clubs can get access to players if the schools and clubs work together but that isnt the case in Limerick and many other areas.
Bandon Grammar and Bandon RFC are working very well together and it shows in results and improvement in both club and school.
Ard Scoil weren’t that bad CBC were just immense all over the park.All credit to Ard Scoil they scored 2 very well worked tried and deserved to be in Semi final today.Congrats CBC roll on 17th March.