News

Sarsfields Weekly Newsletter

November 8, 2018

THE SASH  July 15th 2008

 

The Weekly Online Newsletter of Sarsfields GAA Club.

 

Leinster Leader League Round 15 Sarsfields 2-8 St. Laurence’s 0-16

 

In a second half that was played with championship like fervour and intensity, St Laurence’s, came from behind to score 3 unanswered points in the last five minutes to edge out Sarsfields by 2 points in Sarsfields Park on Saturday night. In a game that was effectively a challenge, the only thing at stake in this final round of the Leinster Leader league was final league placements. By virtue of their win St. Laurence’s finish in 3rd place with Sarsfields one place behind in 4th.

St Laurence’s sprinted into an early 4 points lead with points from Dom Grufferty (2) and one each from Sean Higgins and Barry Mackey. Sarsfields inexperienced fullback line of Ciaran Carey, David Duggan and John Kavanagh found it difficult initally to deal with the attacking flair of St. Laurence’s full forward trio of Shaun Fahy, Dom Grufferty and Tommy O’Neill but grew in confidence and stature as the game progressed.

 Sarsfields midfielder Martin Dunne opened the scoring for a lacklustre Sash on 10 minutes before Sean Higgins almost immediately stretched the Larrie’s lead to 4 points again; 5-1. A trademark 45 metre free by Gary White reduced the deficit to 3 points before Martin Dunne having received a pass from Pauric Brennan appeared to let the ball slip from his grasp but instead of retrieving it he elected to kick it from the ground from 20 metres where it sailed to the top right hand corner of the net to bring the sides level 1-2 to 0-5 midway through the opening half.

This was Sarsfields last score until injury time as St. Laurence’s upped a gear and scored four points without reply, two excellent points from Tommy O’Neill and one apiece from Centre half forward Barry Mackay and Midfielder Mossie Doyle to leave them four clear as halftime approached, 0-9 to 1-2. Pauric Brennan replied for Sarsfields with two points within a minute to reduce the deficit to two points at the break.

On the resumption the game increased in tempo as Sarsfields began with an urgency to their play that was missing in the first half. Within a minute Sarsfields industrious midfielder Martin Dunne and top scorer with a personal tally of 2-2, scored a point and five minutes later he put Sarsfields ahead for the first time in the game, 2-5 to 0-9 when he soled through the heart of the St. Laurence’s defence to score a great goal. The game continued at a crackling pace as both teams attempted to stamp their authority on the game. Pauric Brennan put Sarsfields  2 points ahead before  Shaun Fahey replied for St. Laurences  a minute later. When Gary White scored from a free with 15 minutes gone in the second half from a similar distance to his first half effort to leave Sarsfields once again 2 points ahead 2-7 to 0-11 it appeared that the game was finally swinging in Sarsfields favour especially as St. Laurence’s had missed two easy scoring chances before Gary White’s free and one immediately after.  Despite some concern from their mentors, the missed opportunities didn’t cause St. Laurence’s to drop their heads  and they continued to forage for scores and were rewarded by two points within a minute from Sean Higgins and Dom Grufferty to equalise the game with ten minutes remaining. With six minutes remaining the impressive Pauric Brennan again edged Sarsfields in front with a fine point that was to be Sarsfields final score of the game. St. Laurence’s however refused to yield and again found that little extra within themselves when the game appeared to be drifting from their grasp and scored three points in the last five minutes, one each from Tommy O’Neill, Sean Higgins and Shaun Fahey to finish the stronger and seal a rare but deserving win over Sarsfields.     

 

 

Sarsfields: Patrick O’Sullivan, Ciaran Carey, David Duggan, John Kavanagh, Niall Hedderman, Gary White (0-2), Robert Murphy, Alan Barry, Martin Dunne (2-2) Conor Walsh, Pauric Brennan (0-4) Eoin O’Sullivan, John Geraghty, Paddy Cambell, Keith Harvey. Subs: Rickie Deegan  for Conor Walsh, Enda Freeney for Keith Harvey (ht)

St. Laurence’s: Shane Connelly, Brendan Gorman, Mark Byrne Cormac Roche, Paddy O’Conner, Karl O’Brien, Arraon Flood, Mossie Doyle(0-1), Pauric Kearney, Sean Higgins(0-3) Barry Mackay (0-3), J P Byrne, Shaun Fahey (0-2) Dom Grufferty (0-3) Tommy O’Neill (0-4)

Referee Mick Monahan Caragh.

 

 

 Christy Ring Cup:Armagh 0-13 Kildare 5-16

Michael Divilly was the star of the show at Keady as he smashed in two
goals to help Andy Comerford’s Kildare claim a much deserved victory and
a place in next weekend’s quarter-final.

The Lilywhites controlled the match for the majority of the time with
Richie Hoban and Tony Murphy chipping in with five points between them,
and Colm Buggy was also in fine form with one point from play.

Every attempt Armagh made to equal the balance was knocked off by the
power and pace of Comerford’s men, who sealed the win with a David
Harney penalty.

Kildare have been drawn against Westmeath in The Christy Ring Cup and will play at 5pm in St.Conleth’s Park as a curtain raiser to  the Kildare/Cavan Qualifier

Kildare v Cavan

Two sides for whom the qualifiers haven’t proved very fruitful clash in
Newbridge for the second time in three seasons. Kildare won by five
points in 2006 on a day when John Doyle (Kildare) and Seanie Johnston
(Cavan) scored 0-6 each.
Last Championship clash: Kildare 1-18 Cavan 1-13 (2006 Round 1
qualifier)
2008 Provincial Championships
Cavan 1-14 Antrim 1-9; Armagh 0-17 Cavan 0-13.
Wicklow 0-13 Kildare 0-9.

Kildare’s Record in the Qualifiers: Played 9: won 3 and lost 6. 2002 v Donegal (won Newbridge) v Kerry (lost Thurles) 2003 v Roscommon (lost Portlaoise) 2004 v Offaly (lost Newbridge) 2005 v Sligo (lost Sligo) 2006 v Cavan (won Newbridge) v Derry (lost Celtic Park) 2007 v Roscommon (won Hyde Park) v Louth (lost Newbridge)

 

 

 

Coaches Corner

The importance of hydration
“I know hydration is important, but what exactly should my players be drinking and when?” – Intermediate hurling team manager.

 

The Importance of Hydration

 

 

Mary McNicholas, accredited sports dietician based in Westport, who has worked with county teams in the past replies to this question:

 

“As with everything else, players have to train themselves into good habits and keeping hydrated is one of those. You have to develop a tolerance for taking fluids on board and train your system to retain these fluids.

Muscles have to be hydrated to perform to their ability. But the amount of fluids a player can take is very much an individual thing. Some people naturally sweat a lot during games or exercise, and others are low sweaters. It is not unusual for someone to lose as much as 2kg in weight after a heavy training session.

So obviously individual needs would be different.

Drinking litres of water is not necessarily the right thing to do before a match. Water immediately stimulates you to urinate and therefore the water may not actually get the chance to hydrate your muscles before leaving your system while it may also cause a broken night’s sleep. And, as you can imagine, sleep is also a very important part of preparation.

That is why most teams use some form of energy drink or isotonic solution. Isotonic solutions are closer to the consistency of blood and therefore slip into the bloodstream more easily and hydrate you better than water can.

External factors are also a huge thing to look out for. For example, if a player is sleeping in a room that is too warm in, say, the team hotel, he can be completely dehydrated the next morning when he wakes up. This means his body doesn’t recover as quickly as it should and is more prone to injury.

A 2 per cent drop in hydration can lead to a 10 per cent drop in performance. That can make a huge difference on the day. So taking fluids on board regularly is vital if your team is going to perform to their optimum level.”      

 

TV3 GAA Fixtures

19/7/2008 Round 1 Qualifiers AIFC
20/7/2008 Ulster Football Final USFC
26/7/2008 Round 2 Qualifiers AIFC
2/8/2008 Round 3 Qualifiers AIFC

 

On RTE: The Sunday Game Live Fixtures

July 19 All Ireland Qualifier: Derry V Monaghan at 3pm.

July 20 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final

July 26 All Ireland Qualifiers

July 27 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Finals

Aug 2/3/4 All Ireland Qualifiers

Aug 9 All Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Finals

Aug 10 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and Minor Hurling

Championship Semi-Finals

Aug 17 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and Minor Hurling

Championship Semi-Finals

Aug 24 All Ireland Senior Football Championship and Minor Football

Championship Semi-Finals

Aug 31 All Ireland Senior Football Championship and Minor Football

Championship Semi-Finals

Sept 7 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and Minor Hurling

Championship Finals

Sept 14 All Ireland Senior Camogie Final

Sept 21 All Ireland Senior Football Championship and Minor Football

Championship Finals

 

Sarsfields Fixtures for the coming week.

 The 2nd Round draw for the Kildare Nationalist Senior Football Championship is due to take place after the Kildare /Cavan game on Saturday night. However it has yet to be officially confirmed. See the sports sections in the local papers tomorrow. 

Wednesday 16th July. Roadstone Minor Football Championship at 7.30

 At Moorefield: Sarsfields V Round Towers            Tony Doyle

 Thursday 17th July Liffey Champion Craobh Iomana Soisir B 2008  at 7.30PM

At Moorefield               Na Sáirsealaigh V Saileáin Liam Carthy

Saturday 19th July All Ireland Football Qualifiers R 1 at 7.00PM

At St Conleths Park     Kildare V Cavan.

 

Saturday 19th At Milltown. Reddy Cup: Milltown v Sarsfields B at 3.00pm

 

 

 

League Tables: Final Placings. Moorefield and Celbridge will play in the final on Sunday 20th July at 7pm in St. Conleth’s Park. Clane already relegated will be joined by Athy.  Maynooth and St.Kevin’s have been promoted from Division 2 and will contest the Division 2 final also on Sunday in Rathcoffey. Unfortunately Sarsfields Sarsfields Senior B team along with Leixlip have been relegated to Division 4

Leinster Leader Senior Football League Division 1 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Played

Won

Drew

Lost

Points

For

Against

Diff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celbridge

15

10

2

1

25

 10 -136

 5 – 109

42

Moorefield

15

9

1

3

25

 10 -136

 9 -102

37

St Laurence’s

15

8

2

1

23

 7 -120

 5 – 79

47

Sarsfields

15

8

1

4

19

 13 – 123

 7 – 121

20

Monasterevin

14

6

3

4

15

 11 -126

 6 – 114

27

Leixlip

14

6

2

5

14

 5 – 127

 9 – 105

10

Carbury

14

5

2

6

12

 9 -132

 12 -124

-1

Allenwood

14

4

3

6

11

 9 -127

 14 – 118

-6

Ellistown

14

5

1

7

11

 10 -115

 8- 132

-11

Johnstownbridge

13

5

1

6

11

 12 – 103

 9 -116

-4

Rathangan

13

5

1

6

11

 11 – 101

 6 – 131

-15

Kilcock

13

4

2

6

10

 8 – 103

 9 – 104

-4

Round Towers

13

3

4

6

10

 7 – 99

 10 – 105

-15

Athy

13

4

1

8

9

 8 -122

 8 – 138

-16

Kilcullen

13

3

3

7

9

 6 – 125

 16 -154

-59

Clane

12

1

1

10

3

 9 -89

 13 – 132

-55

 

 

 


 GAA and other Quotes.

When Joe Brolly is winning, he’s objectionable. When he’s blowing kisses, he’s highly objectionable. – Cavan fan

‘What a way to win an All-Ireland Final. Ten amtches, beating the Ulster champions, the Leinster champions, the Munster champions, and also the current All-Ireland winners. So maybe those people that critised our style of football will think otherwise now and give the county a bit of respect.’
Peter Canavan after Tyrone’s marathon championship ended with visctory over Kerry in the final.
‘There might have been one or two Irishmen tap-dancing on some of my players’ feet and that might have got them a bit angry.’
Australian coach Kevin Sheedy tries to find a reason for some of his plaers losing the plot in the International Rules Series.

”He wouldn’t see a foul in a henhouse”. Frustrated Sligo fan’s judgment of the ref after the 2002 Connacht final.

“How could you be expected to win a championship match when you have two corner forwards that are not big enough to post a letter.” The late John Keogh father of “The Rubber”

“A good umpire is better than a corner forward” Pat Buckley who celebrated his birthday at the weekend.

That’s bread and butter straight down the goalkeeper’s throat.’
‘I watched the game and I saw an awful lot of it.’
‘It’s what I call one of those ‘indefensible ones’ – you can’t defend against them.’
‘The one thing that tackle wasn’t was high and dangerous’
‘For my money, Duff servicing people from the left with his balls in there, is the best option.’
‘People say footballers have terrible taste in music but I would dispute that. In the car at the moment I’ve got The Corrs, Cher, Phil Collins, Shania Twain and Rod Stewart.’

Andy Grey Sky Soccer Pundit.

The Bill and Giles Double Act
 
Billo: ‘This [UEFA Cup Final] is something of a local derby between Holland and Germany.’
Gilesy:
‘Er…yeah, they’ve been close to each other for years…’

Billo:
‘We’ll draw the winners out of a hat a little later in the programme.’
Gilesy (Rare moment of frivolity):
‘A top hat, Bill?’
Billo (quick as you like):
‘Yes, a top hat, John. We got it out of your wardrobe.’

Billo (pre-2002 World Cup): ‘Sixteen days from now we’ll all walk a little taller. Won’t we, John?’
Gilesy:
‘Well, er, I don’t think we’ll be any taller, Bill.’

 Billo:
‘So you think they (Arsenal) can score, even in Spain?’
Gilesy
‘Well I don’t know what you mean by ‘even in Spain’, I mean the goals there are the same size and all that…’

 

More Stupid Quotes.

‘You can’t just let nature run wild.’
– Wally Hickel, former Alaska governor

‘Do Not Place Hand In Fan While Fan Is Running.’
– Warning label on central air conditioning unit

‘My lord, we find the man who stole the mare not guilty.’
– Welsh Jury Verdict

‘Well, that was a cliff-dweller.’
– Wes Westrum, Baseball coach, about a close game

‘We’d like to avoid problems, because when we have problems, we can have troubles.’
– Wesley Bolin, Governor

‘I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.’
– Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball   forward.

 ‘It was not my class of people. There was not a producer, a press agent, a director, an actor.’
– Zsa Zsa Gabor, on the jury used for her assault trial

‘Outside consultants sought for test of gas chamber.’
– Ad in Arizona Republic

‘Golden, Ripe, Boneless Bananas, 39 Cents A Pound.’
– Ad in the ‘Missoulian’ by Orange Street Food Farm

‘FOR RENT: CONDOM… ONLY US$650.’
– Ad in Jakarta Post, should have read Condo

‘I didn’t know Onward Christian Soldiers was a Christian song.’
– Aggie Pate, at a non-denominational mayor’s breakfast, Fort Worth, Texas

‘I didn’t realize I was in a Buddhist temple.’
– Al Gore, former U.S. Vice President when asked about his illegal fundraising activities that took place in a Buddhist temple.

Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing – but none of them serious.’
– Alan Minter, Boxer

‘I think that the film Clueless was very deep. I think it was deep in the way that it was very light. I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it’s true lightness.’
– Alicia Silverstone, Actress

‘How to store your baby walker: First, remove baby.’
– Anonymous Manufacturer

‘Traffic is very heavy at the moment, so if you are thinking of leaving now, you’d better set off a few minutes earlier.’
– Anonymous Traffic Report

‘This is no longer a slum neighbourhood. I haven’t heard of a Cubs fan being shot in a long time.’
– Anonymous Wrigley Field Neighbor, Chicago, IL

 

Humour

Stopping by the Office

Resolving to surprise her husband, an executive’s wife stopped by his office. She found him with his secretary sitting in his lap.

Without hesitating, he dictated, ‘…and in conclusion, gentlemen, shortage or no shortage, I cannot continue to operate this office with just one chair.

Prostitute Parrots

A woman approaches her priest and tells him “Father, I have a problem. I have two female talking parrots, but they only know how to say one thing.”

“What do they say?” the priest inquired.

“They only know how to say, ‘Hi, we’re prostitutes. Want to have some fun?’”

“That’s terrible!” the priest exclaimed, “but I have a solution to your problem. Bring your two female parrots over to my house and I will put them with my two male talking parrots whom I have taught to pray and read the bible. My parrots will teach your parrots to stop saying that terrible phrase and your female parrots will learn to praise and worship the Lord.”

“Thank you!” the woman responded.

The next day the woman brings her female parrots to the priest’s house. His two male parrots are holding the rosary beads and praying in their cage. The woman puts her two female parrots in with the male parrots and the female parrots say “Hi we’re prostitutes, want to have some fun?”

One male parrot looks over at the other male parrot and exclaims, “Put the beads away, brother. Our prayers have been answered!”

The Pope vs the Jewish community, the unspoken debate

About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Jews had to leave Rome. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Jewish community. So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community. If the Jew won, the Jews could stay. If the Pope won, the Jews would leave.

The Jews realized that they had no choice. So they picked a learned scholar  named Moishe to represent them. Moishe asked for one addition to the debate. To make it more interesting, neither side would be allowed to talk. The Pope agreed.

The day of the great debate came. Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised one finger. The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Moishe pulled out an apple. The Pope stood up and said, ” I give up. This man is too good. The Jews can stay.”

An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what had happened. The Pope said, “First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?”

Meanwhile, the Jewish community had crowded around Moishe. ” What happened?” they asked. ” Well,” said Moishe, ” First he said to me that the Jews had three days to get out of here. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Jews. I let him know that we were staying right here.”

” Yes, yes,.. and then???” asked the crowd.

” I don’t know,” said Moishe, ” He took out his lunch, and I took out mine.”

 

A Certain Kerrymans Diary
Extracts from a GAA Pundits Diary (this is an entirely fictional character and any similarities with any individual, living or dead, are completely coincidental).

Day 1

Another Monday, another cheque in the back pocket from RTE thanks to my witty, outrageous and controversial ‘Monday Feedback’ corner on the Monday Game. The money is good but it would want to be – dragging me up to this shitheap every week away from my beautiful Kingdom. On the upside though, I was backstage in ‘makeup’ this evening, when who should walk in but Sharon Ni Bheoilan, the dishy chick from the News. I wouldn’t mind going up for a 50/50ball with her-if you catch my meaning. I think I’ll give her a signed copy of my excellent autobiography that usually has the babes begging for some Kingdom-Love.

I don’t know why I have to go into makeup anyway-they usually sit me beside those gobshites O’Rourke and Lyster in the studio – sure no makeup could clean those two  up -especially O’Rourke, the fuckwit looks like some horrible genetic experiment gone wrong. I read through my emails, phonecalls and letters – you know I don’t like Clare feckers but that psycho Loughnane made one good point in his life – its only nutters that bother ringing into these programs they should get a life – in fact I think I’ll bring that into my rant this evening.

Joe Brolly is the other guest tonight, the nordy b****x. Thinks he’s as outspoken as me, what the hell would he know – with only one All-Ireland to his name. Lyster that smarmy Galway ponce seems to like him though I don’t trust that him. Apparently Brolly is a barrister . What kind of nordy Catholic is a barrister? An orange one I’d say. He’ll take some watching. But back to Lyster for a sec. Just because Galway have won a couple of All-Irelands recently what gives him the right to act like some sort of GAA guru. I mean it’s not as if he played in any of them. And yet here he is the hurler or in his casr the failed footballer on the ditch pontificating about the game in front of me the real expert on Gaelic football. I tell you it makes me puke. It makes me want to puke all over Lyster the blister.  For the sake of me few bob from those Westbrits in Dublin 4 I have to control meself. Still it doesn’t stop me getting in a few sly ascerbic digs into him now and then though he’s so thick that he doesn’t notice half the time and when he does he hasn’t the brains to get me back, he just sits here with his stupid poncy smile glued to his ugly Galway gob while tries to get Brolly to bait me. There’s a bit of a double act between them although it wouldn’t surprise me if there was more to it. Disgusting pair.

Day 2:

 Its great being a GAA pundit – spout some shite a couple of times a week and laugh all the way to the bank. Take today for instance, I was sitting in the jacks  when all of a sudden I remember ‘shit I have to have my Sunday Worst column submitted by this evening’. It’s  demeaning to have to write for that rag, what do they know about the beautiful sport of Gaelic Football anyway the shower of jackeen retards?

Anyway, back to the column – I write a splendid piece of prose about how great the Munster Final is when  Cork and and  Kerry are competing and those inbreds from Clare and Tipp are knocked out. I suppose I’ll be getting death threats from the Clare feckers again – they’re so  touchy. They know they have no right to be even on the same pitch as the mighty,  the majestic, my beloved Kingdom . They should put them along the with Biffo’s permanently into the Tommy Murphy Cup.

Day Number 3 Back on the Monday Game for the ‘Feedback’ slot. No sign of Sharon in makeup, pity. God she’s a fine thing. Brolly comes into the studio – he’s becoming a bit of a fixture around here. I think the cocky nordy fecker thinks he has a chance with Sharon. I hope she watchin cos I’ll blow Brolly away with me brilliant analysis. I start whistling ‘The Sash’ – I think it throws him off his stride a bit. Lyster brought up the subject of Offaly football. Offaly -those cheating bastards – I’ll never forgive them for ’82,  Babs was right. sheep in a heap – thats all they are. I could say something else about their close relationship to sheep but out of decency I’ll refrain from and seeing that the other Biffo shagger is now the Taoiseach. 

I tell the nation what I feel – shoot from the hip. Brolly tries to cut across me,  I tell him to shut up, he hasn’t got enough All-Ireland medals to interrupt me. After the show, he won’t talk to me – what would you expect from an Orange bastard?

Day 4 I met Micko the other day. Kildare are out (not  suprising really that he left the shower of wilted lilies)and he’s contemplating his future. I might go for the job meself although its rumoured that I went for it and was turned down and that why they say I’m against them . They hate me in Kildare cos I’m always criticising them. One thing though once I make up my mind that’s it. I’ll never praise that shower of preening ballerina’s  who couldn’t beat that other shower of preening ballerina’s from the West. The West is best they say. If that’s what they think why don’t  feck off back to the West. If I had my way I’d make a border at the Shannon and throw Clare in with them and then deport the ponce Lyster back to the backwoods of Tuam. I’m sick of them coming to Croke Park with their ‘hang’ sambos and their hankies tied to their heads as if they just walked out of the bogs or marshes or what wildlife reserve they live on.

 Anyway that’s enough of a rant  for the moment. All the papers were saying Micko  was the greatest football manager of all time. In fairness its easy to be a good manager when you have the greatest player ever to grace a sports pitch of any description on your side: Mise the boy wonder from  my beloved beautiful Kingdom of Kerry.

 

Eric Thorpe’s New Revolutionary Training Regime for Sarsfields

 

Mr Sarsfields, the man who knows everybody, Eric Thorpe, Sarsfields Senior self appointed Strategist, Sarsfields Security Specialist and Greyhound Trainer extraordinaire has announced to the media through his publicist (himself) that he will be implementing a new training regime for the team. Eric who appointed himself earlier this year to the senior management team has come up with a novel idea for getting the best out of the team.  “I am introducing a new training method for the team this week. Paul asked me to come up with a new strategy. So I brought my enormous experience in Greyhound training to the matter. I had a trial last week and it worked very well. I started with the new full back line of Ciaran Carey, David Duggan and John Kavanagh. Did you see them on Saturday night against St. Laurence’s? They were magnificent. They ran like greyhounds. That’s because I trained them with the greyhounds. Paul was very happy with the results so from Tuesday the whole team will be training with the greyhounds. I’ll be building a couple of kennels at the club so players can come up any time and train with them. We will also be using the Greyhound Stadium for training sessions as well although I don’t think that there will be any need to put the lads into the traps. Kevin Brennan Greyhound supplier is going to put them on a special greyhound diet. It’s that combination of greyhound training and diet that will give them the physical edge over other teams”.

When asked if there was any precedent for training footballers with greyhounds he replied, “I know that people might think it’s daft to have footballers training with my greyhounds but people thought Sean Boylan was mad when he started introducing weeds and herbs and wild plants to the Meath team over 20 years ago and look at the results he got. No it’s a fact that every new radical idea is treated with scepticism at first, every new invention is laughed at. If you told a man a hundred years ago that big machines would fly through the air carrying people from one place to the next he’d have thought you should have been committed to the madhouse. It’s the same with my invention. Unfortunately in time other teams will start to use my program but I’ve got a head start and can refine it as I go along. There is a wonderful saying and I’ve been instilling it into the players and it’s this: No army can stop an idea whose time has come. Well it’s time now for my idea and I don’t see an army marching up the road to the Clubhouse”, says Eric with passion and whose commitment to his beloved Sash was questioned earlier this year when he went on holiday with the arch enemy Moorefield to the Canaries amidst Sunday World style headlines of drunken poolside frolics and debauchery with senorita’s of the night.

“Yes that was a very painful time for me as I had to contend with jibes of a personal nature and rumours of my defection to the Moors.  I suppose when you’re in the public eye and when like me your practically running the club single-handed you have to expect this sort of thing. Just look at what my friend Bertie had to put up with from the media while he was Taoiseach”. Eric and the former Taoiseach became personally acquainted when Bertie asked Eric’s advice on an important piece of legislation that the then Taoiseach was bringing before the Dail a few years ago. “I still meet Bertie up in Fagan’s for a few scoops every now and then. Now that he has more time on his hands since he resigned we often head into Temple Bar on the lash and try to pick up a couple of birds. I won’t however have much time for socialising for the next few months as I implement my new training methods”. Asked how the scheme would work, Eric was reluctant to go into detail. “Well for obvious reasons I can’t get into too much detail. But what I can say is that each player will have his own greyhound to train with; a bit like having their own personal trainer. Of course I will have to buy more greyhounds. I had a meeting with Marie last week and she is fully supportive and conveyed to me the thanks of the executive committee for my wonderful innovation and so I have an open cheque. My greyhounds are looking forward to the challenge as like me they are committed to the Sash cause. One of them will be appointed head trainer and will be with me on the sideline at all matches to monitor and assess the players”.  

 

 

Contributors Required

If anyone would like to contribute to this Newsletter please send info to tonyr06@eircom.net. Articles, news, anecdotes etc would be very welcome. If you know anyone who would like to be added to the e-mail mailing list for the Newsletter then please ask them to forward their e-mail addresses to the above.

Please note as part of Sarsfields online privacy policy your E-mail address will not be given to any third parties. Sarsfields online privacy policy can be read in full on the Sarsfields website at www.sarsfieldsgaanewbridge.ie/page8.htm