Mixed Bag with John Fallon

Media West's John Fallon is this week's guest. Himself and Deniese chat GAA, rugby, soccer, Michael D Higgins amongst other things. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Mixbag is kindly sponsored by Refined Barbershop Main Street Granage. You can find Refined Barbershop on Instagram and a big thank you to owner Shane Devon. This is busy time of the year, but you cover both news and sports. So for news, any time of the year is busy, but obviously then with the sport thrown in the mix. And it's nearly a 12-month of the year, isn't it really sport?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

It is, and and not only that, like it's it's it's nearly a 24-7 operation at this stage, particularly if you obviously you're doing you know keeping an eye on rugby that might be you know Ireland heading down to Australia, New Zealand in the coming weeks. Uh you have the Irish under 20s are going to be playing in Georgia, you know, they're going to be playing 10 o'clock in the morning, Irish time. So it's it's almost it's almost 24-7, or you know, passing interest in things like golf, and obviously the World Cup um, as we're seeing, seems to be what seems to be on at all hours. Yeah, it's it's a busy time, but it it it always is, Denise, thankfully. I mean, while we do cover a lot of sports and some of them tend to be seasonal, you know, no sooner was rugby maybe calmed down a bit and the hurling of football takeoff or ladies getting football or there's always something it's um it's it's brilliant in that way. It really is.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Yeah, I used to love the winter soccer, like I know people would say, and yeah, and it wasn't great the weather now standing on um the sideline of some grounds or in cold press boxes, but it never clashed with now summer soccer is great, but it never clashed with the sport. But when you think of the World Cup now, even for myself to try and and get into it, the last couple of weekends, and I think since the new rules came in, um with the football that we've had, it's very hard to then watch, and I know people are gonna say, Oh, you're doing it because you're now GA head, but it is very hard to watch a soccer match after us watching the championship games that we've seen in football recently.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

It takes it takes a bit of adjusting, but I think you as well, because you cover so many different sports. You from an early stage I think we learn to appreciate the differences, and you know, we might never play tennis, you know, or not maybe to any grade ever, but you can really appreciate the skill involved and the subtlety of it. And I often find, especially if you might be involved with teams or something like that, and you get them. I remember when I was involved with Connors Rugby, when I was manager there, we would often throw out an ordinary football and just see the difficulty, particularly forwards, and particularly likes of lock forwards, you know, who are used to handling a rugby ball and moving it around. And it was like you barishop to them. It was an alien object in the whole outfit. And by doing so, they got an appreciation of what Gaelic football or soccer was capable of doing. And that's before you go to something, you know, somebody tries hurling, you know, if they've maybe played baseball or something like that, they get a grasp of it. But you know, there it's the beauty of all of these that I think you do learn to appreciate the skill in each of them, so it's just easily enough in that regard. I I just find at the moment it's just there's just too much sport.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

That's the problem, yeah. That is the problem.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

You're you know, even sometimes, you know, and the likes of GA Plus and your stuff on television and all of that, and you know, you get engrossed. I'd regularly have several screens on and watching different matches. Then it was realise, oh goodness, cork offly were on the telly, you didn't see them, or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Um Friday. Um obviously at Leinster, I was doing Pats and Sligo, the Bose game was on telly, then um you also had the minor, and it was a case of watch way. And then in the middle of everything, then I've taken a keen interest um in Leeds Rhinos, so there's weekends where my daddy'll be technically getting updates from Granard because you can't go to a granar match because you're working and you've updates in the granar match, then you're taking to see how Leeds Rhinos are. Such a thing, such a thing. It's just, but look at if we didn't like sport, then I always say that, you know, no disrespect to people who don't like sport. But you know, I I often think, what do they do? I know they'll probably find some um pastimes and something to keep them amused, having sport and loving sport, you know, you always have some interest there and there's always weekends with something on it.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Then it's the ultimate privilege to be able to make that your work and combine both of them as well. Now it's I know it's not always I often envy you know people at a match and actually engrossed in it and constantly. They're able to head off and you're facing into doing up teams and scores for some different papers.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

I'm glad you mentioned the teams and scores.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Two or three hours later you're still there. Your work is only really beginning at that stage.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Teams and scores are the bane of at least with a soccer match, okay, you kind of look and see what formation they're playing, but when you're doing Gaelic and you're getting the teams and scores, and then I've noticed, and it was especially when I was working with the local paper, that if you spelled someone's name wrong, yeah, yeah, yes, and that's why I'd always check, because I know a young lad here, Nigel Rabbit, and he spells it with no E. So and there's certain ones then that would spell it with an E, so you have to kind of or even when I worked in Cork, I would have said Cochlin, and I'm sure you would have been the same. Whereas Derek was Derek Collin. Obviously, Pat Huben, we would have called it open. And it's just those things as well, but yeah, teams and scorers. If you said to any GA journalist, you love your job, but yeah, there you're going, five and six is eleven.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

You know, you have the new rules in ingalic football now, which is actually has made it a more difficult game to cover than hurling. You know, if you're looking at you know what was the score of the last day 321 to 221, and you're trying to separate two pointers and two point threes and all the things.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

One TP, one TPF.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, but and they all have a different way of doing it. Yeah. And then but what I find and and in this day and age it's a bit unforgivable, you're given selected teams on a Friday, which is only a new departure, and just as the match is about to be start, you suddenly realize it. I think now they actually have to make those changes, you know, ten or fifteen minutes beforehand.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

But I honor Laperty likes doing that. We're down. Yeah, I I've I don't do live radio as much, but I really feel sorry for the commentators who have their homework done and suddenly they're looking at three changes on one team and two on another, and that's before all the positional stuff comes into it, and it's it's But even John, if you're on your own and you see or they don't get changes, or you're covering a local game and there's no announcer there, and lucky and my dad will come with me because I always call him my PA because then they're going, Daddy, will you tick off what numbers are out there so I'll be able to see who they're replacing? Because you nearly have to do it yourself. And that's the big thing. See, people think, My god, you've got such a glamorous job, and I do absolutely like I wanted to be manager in Liverpool, I wanted to be commentator on match of the day. That was always the dreams then. Everyone says to me, You have your dream job, and I would say I have my dream job, but it's not as glamorous as people think it is, there are those little things that you said.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, but at the same time, very few of us would swap it for anything else. So it's it it goes, it could be made a little bit easier. I think that's the the gist of it. Um teens what often what I find um NGA is actually trying to see the numbers is actually trying to.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

We had this conversation for the Longford Down game because Down's numbers were very, very small. Yeah. And uh club games in Longford we used to have that problem because you'd have a jersey and it could be blue and yellow stripes and then white numbers. Someone was saying that at the Longford Down game that there was a motion meant to be coming to Crow Park, or it did go to Crow Park or something, about being able to see the jerseys and the numbers, because it is extremely hard. When you're in a press box a good bit away from the play, and then obviously you're looking to see well, number 15 say who just says Stephen O'Hanlon. Oh, yeah, well Stephen O'Hannon's wearing white boots, then you kind of have to look if you don't see the number, you have to kind of see, and then nearly everyone has white boots on them now.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

In fairness, that's where rugby and soccer are brilliant, are a step ahead. Yeah. You know, in fairness, by and large, don't mess around with their teams. Uh I don't think it ever works. Anyway, trying to fool opposition and GA or any of that. But we have become very, very uniform. Um, you know who the replacements are going to come on for by and large, so it's not and they're all going to come on around the 60th minute, so there's nobody being shoved on trying to wear down the clock. But look at their only their only small difficulties.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

The five subs to get rid of the five subs. You mentioned rugby and um Connuct, and you look at how things are now like fantastic new stadium. There's a bit of a buzz there as well with Stuart Lancaster. If I said to you a couple of years ago about the Dexon Stadium, how things were going to change down there in the old showgrounds, you probably would have said, Yeah, well, I'd love to see it happening, but you never know. And look at it now.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

No, I I could foresee all of that, to be quite honest. Um I managed comments back, oh gosh, back at the turn of the century, around the time the IRU was trying to get rid of us. Um I was stuck in the middle of all of that. And our whole argument at that time to the late Philip Brown, who died just last week. Um, our whole point is look, if if this is discontinued, it's never going to mushroom and go. It's never it's never going to be given that opportunity. So don't take away that opportunity. Just you know, let's see if it can be if it can be done. And our whole argument around that is that you know we're you're gonna have to decentralize an awful lot of the players. They're lopsided based in in one or two small pockets at that time and give it the opportunity to grow with it.

unknown 9:41

And it will now it's taken time, and you know, in in fairness, the IRFU, not initially, but after a while, did row in behind all of that and became once they did, it has taken off into that. And if anything, I'm disappointed it's taken so long for this to happen.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

It's ten years ago this year that Comets won the Pro 12. I don't think they pushed on quick enough. I know we had COVID coming, but at that time, I remember before they'd won the Pro 12, but in when they were on that run, you know, and they got some fabulous results in the sports run. There was a great atmosphere building. They just got the timing of it right under Pat Lamb. But on one side of the ground, you had the Taoiseach uh Indy Kenny, and on the other side of the ground supporting them with the president Michael D. Higgins. And I'm thinking, gosh guys, you need to tap into these fairly, fairly quickly and and move it along.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

And there were men from conduct as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Oh, absolutely, and and big supporters. They weren't just showing up and you know their their schedules and everything didn't allow them, you know, but you you could you you always felt they had your back when you needed it. And it likes Michael D as a you to go to United supporter out of the bottom, yeah, there yeah. What enjoyable company heading to a match with him in the car. Uh he had a wonderful insight into everything. Um it was always a short journey, and it was always an entertaining journey, no matter where we're stuck going to Belfield or Palkia Park or wherever it might be. Wonderful operator on Red Sea that he now has the time again to be back there and back in A DC Park. And and um I don't know whether he made it out to Pierce Stadium last Friday night when Gold United played their first match out there against Derry City, but if he wasn't there in person, I've no doubt he was he was there in spirit.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Ah, but John, I've seen Damien O'Mara taking photographs when Damien had brought the daughter to Jalyman Park, and here you had the president of Ireland posing for pictures and selfies, no problem, like he's just one of those guys.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Oh, yeah, and he's he's ingenuive, like he's always his his soccer has always been his first love, he's always even at you know at at junior level in Galway, particularly down the west, which would be a great labour stronghold as well. So there'd be there'd be there'd be his constituents uh a lot of the time as well, but he's just genuine interest in it, and as he would in most things with interest in GA as well, and and um across all the sports and the spectrums, and as I said, just wonderful company to share a share a journey with.

unknown 11:58

But go back to college, I I think it's brilliant, it's it's come there.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

As I said, it I think it should have happened a bit sooner than this, but it it has happened, and the appointment a year ago of Stuart Lancaster was absolutely outstanding. I think we saw this season, you know, the groundwork was laid in the first half and the results came through in the second half of that.

unknown 12:19

And like I'm heading into my I think it's 42nd season offering college next year.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Um, did you start in primary school, yeah?

unknown 12:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Even earlier. But the I don't think I've looked forward to the start of a season as much because I think there's you know a huge promise there. He seems to place enormous uh faith and trust into young players. And I think I I think might be an element in it that he can train a pup and not a full-grown sheepdog. And guys like Billy Bohan and a few more like that have come through that he doesn't have to undo anything in them, he can actually move them on to the next level. And um they became a very exciting team to watch. They they played good rugby in recent years, maybe not in the last couple of years, but previously under Anti Friend, they played good rugby but didn't max stuff out of it.

unknown 13:08

So they've I think they've had a nearly 100% renewal of season tickets.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

People you know they've ironed out any issues there, you know, that you get with a new facility. So they actually have somewhere uh and it generates very much iconic supporters for like the numbers still aren't huge, and I don't think they ever will be, to be brutally honest.

unknown 13:26

Um, but they generate enormous atmosphere at a game. Um, you know, and there's a reading balls about that.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

And the facility is absolutely second to none, not just what everybody sees in terms of the stand and all of that, but the high performance centre at the back of that is as good as they've seen any where it's of an indoor pitch. Um you can stage concerts in it if you want to. There's it they just you know, certainly bringing a player there to show them, well, you know, we want to sign in, this is where you'll be training, this is where you're playing, uh, you're taking an awful lot of boxes there. So hopefully, hopefully next year they're back in the Champions Cup, they can push on from that. And and there's a bit of pressure now on them to do it as well. There's a bit of second season syndrome about it. Um but when you have a head coach who's generally in at work at 5 a.m. every morning uh and in there several hours before anyone else, prepping the whole day and stuff like that, you're you're starting on a good footing. And I think I think Khalitzka gets huge benefit from him no more than Lindster did for several years.

unknown 14:23

And I just love him.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

It's great because Pat Lamb done the same, didn't he?

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Yeah, he did. And and there always has been there always has been a good history that back to Michael Bradley in my time, Steph Nell, all of these, Andy Friend. You you've got to integrate into that because it ultimately Connect is a small community. And you know, I'd say if you put the whole lot together, you're talking about ten or twelve thousand. Is there sort of that's it, you know, that's fine if you get to a final or something, you might get more, but that's that's really your your they're your constituents. And you know, Galway is in the south of the province. There's a lot of clubs up in Rothcommon, Mayone, Lee from Sligo, and it's very important that there's a reach out to those as well from the main game.

unknown 15:11

But uh unless the top person is doing it, and that's the head coach, nothing else follows.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

And um I know with with Lancaster he brought all of the coaches of all the clubs in on various evenings to find out what they were doing and to see what way do they want to align with stuff that Collins were doing, you know, at age grade and working that out. And I know enough of the people that went to those sort of seminars and workshops came away very impressed by it. And like essentially speaking, he was doing it in his own time. I know all the the club coaches are all volunteers and that as well, but um it certainly went down well. It certainly went down well. Um like ultimately you're talking about somebody who's a former international coach who's coached at a World Cup, and um no more than Andy Farrell and Graham Roundry and all of these, all of that had that disastrous World Cup of England in 2015. They've all come to Ireland and relaunched their careers into with outstanding success.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

I think though, with with Irish people, and I was just saying it to my dad earlier on today, um was just listening to the draw for the football, and two sisters were on about you know breast cancer, both of them within a couple of months of each other were uh diagnosed with breast cancer, and about how the community came together. And I said to the dad, I said, Is there anywhere else in the world really? I know we could kind of say yes, it's the GEA community, but just the community as large. Now, where I am in Granard, we've had our fair share of tragedy, and people would say, but just how the whole area around together, and you were just on about the Grey Round Trees, Stewart, Lancaster, Andy Farland, and how they were made to feel welcome there. It is something about Ireland. We're proud of our little communities and of people once communities. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Very much so, and I think they've they've been a bit taken back by the the the response in that. I d and but you touched on something there, like we we cover a lot of news in in Media West, and uh invariably that involves an awful lot of tragedies, and you know whether it's accidents or drownings or so on and so forth.

unknown 17:04

And I see it. I I worked for 18 years in the Comet Tribune, and you know, it's a brilliant local paper, our footprint was Galway, a bit into Mayo, bit into Ross Commons.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

So you're you're covering him from Connemara, Desc, Galway, City, you know, there's a lot, a lot happening. And um I've seen over the years where guards stations closing down, post office closing down, communities losing all of those sort of pillars and so on and so forth. And increasingly now, and particularly in a rural area, if you get for the sake of example, you get a tragedy that's going to involve a huge funeral. It's the GE that runs that funeral. Um I don't mean unless you run it, but they're the ones that organise it.

unknown 17:43

They do the stewarding, they put up all the temporary lights, they open fields, they put down gravel and people in and out, they run the whole lot of it, they pull up the community centre, provide food, all of that.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

But they've stepped in to replace the bodies that are gone out of rural Ireland, not not just guards, even a lot of places don't have GPs or so on and so forth.

unknown 18:04

They don't have that sort of support.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

And it's a GA almost without exceptions. They've out of the IDs.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

They just do it straight away. I know it. Even though we're a town in Longford, um we will be the same, very much the same here in Granage, that it's a case of and even to remember during COVID, I hate mentioning the C word, it's worse than even Christmas. And we had our members WhatsApp group, and it was a case of, you know, could we pick a few elderly people in our area or people who are vulnerable in that and just check in on them and we'd a few friends, so that's what we've done. And that's what we've done in gr in uh the GA here in Granage, and I think a few other clubs around the place done the same that check in, do people need groceries, do you need different things? And that's what made it, you know, just put a few things into the WhatsApp group and away we went.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Yeah, yeah, and we see it, like I see it. I I live in Salt Hill or not the Cara and the the West of Goldwood, but just outside the room. We were down there this weekend. Yes, indeed. The um but I see it in in Baronet Church and like the the late Joe McDonald, the former GA president, my my former Irish teacher, his funeral was there. But it's the same people from the Baron and Forbacer GA Club that man all of the same positions. They're this it's the same people in the various parts of the car parts that organise the stewarding and through it, and it's as you said, it's it's not nobody needs to ask. Once once they know this is happening, they're there already and and doing it, and doing it with I won't say this to you, smile in the face, not with funeral, but doing it with good heart. You know, to help and not.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Smiling the face helps them.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah, yeah, it does actually, and and uh like that they wouldn't know the people uh of all places. I just noticed because it's a it's beautiful place, but it's on a very busy road, and uh they leave an old area there that they know for family and they know for people, you know, that might be elderly and and they know everyone, so they know who's who and who might be taking a shortcut into it or not. But um, you know, and I heaven forbid if if uh you know that ever waned. Um I think Roar Larden in particular would be would be all the worse for it.

unknown 20:07

But um it's just one of many.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

And I I see it like where I am that where you grew up or did you grow up?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

I grew up I grew up on the I grew up in a place called Clyvon Road in in Not Nakara. And it was as we were you were farmers and the city was coming out to you. So I went to school in Salt Hill beside Pierce Stadium. So amongst all my country cousins or most of my parents, my both of my parents were from farming backgrounds, my father was from Castle Gar, to all of their the extended one, we were townies and city sinkers and all that. And my schoolmates, we were countries. Countries, yeah. There might have been a cow castle that morning before you went to school. So I I got the best of both worlds, is the way I looked at it. Uh, but like Salt Hill.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

That's like the Irish salt Costa del Sol. That's where we used to go on our holidays. Mobile homes at the Costa del Sol.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

But I hope we served you well.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Leisureland the train around Leisureland.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

That's right, yes. We we would all get summer jobs in working and all of these, and we thought we were the B's and E's with the whole lot of it. Like, but I th I thought Salt Hill GA Club, I would have grown up the 70s, 80s. Um Salt Hill GA Club would have started in the late 60s, and that battle to try and develop a GA club in an urban area is extremely difficult, and especially in the new urban area. We won the Salt Hill's first minor title in 1981, epic battle against Ballons Low.

unknown 21:32

We went to three matches, a couple of them replays extra time, and we won it.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

And Tony Regan, the the former Ross Common footballer and former Galway manager, was in charge of us. And it it it was a great competition to win. We won it by the skin of our teeth, and we got back to Salt Hill that evening from June and they decided to do a parade of the parish as it were. And I think more people gave out to us with a record we were making than than Wells, to be quite honest. Um And I I often empathize and I often hear you know the arguments going on about Dublin GE and stuff like that. And I have a lot of sympathy for them because you're battling against a lot of stuff there to develop traditional sports. Whereas in a rural area it's a given. There's going to be a hurling team or a football team or both.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Um but in urban areas it's difficult. It can it is difficult to do it, even though you have the numbers. Um like when I grew up in Not Nakara, there was no parish there. There was probably several hundred people living there spread out all over the place. And there's now in Not Nakara Parish somewhere in the just short of twenty five thousand people. And that's just happened in in sort of a half a generation.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

And it can be difficult to harness all that and develop sport into because there's a lot of different attractions, a lot of difficult to get facilities, and you know it's it And you also have a lot of different people now, because years ago, as you said, in areas obviously you would have the GA, and then when you're bringing the GE in there, then a lot of which you would be taken from Irish people who would want to play. Whereas you've got a lot of nationalities now and a lot of different things down there to try and get them into the GA.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

I j I don't think that's ever been the issue, and a lot do participate as well. I think we're often it is, and and this it sounds like a a a a rich man's problem, but you actually have too many uh numbers. You've too many, and you're trying to harness uh a small amount of them to to actually play. And you see it in a lot like some I I see the likes of Monave, for example, in Galway, they're Munavet Abbey in in football, they're Abbey Nothmai in hurling, they're Munavy rugby, uh Calen Blay, the comics from half would have come through there, uh, and a good few others. But they would nearly be, I'd nearly say close to a 20 to 25% overlap in those three teams. You'd see the same fellows playing, and they'd be playing for is it Dynamo Blues or something in um soccer as well, or I can't try to think of the club that's out there. It's nearly the same people that would be there'd be about 20 or 25% of them would play hurling on Saturday, football on a Sunday, and they'd be playing soccer Friday evening. And even though there's multiple sports, it's easy enough to manage that. The difficulty I I've noticed with say with Salt Hill and Salt Nothing, and these you know tens of thousands, it's actually very difficult to to to get the groups out of that and retain them.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

But have you noticed, John, because you would cover a lot of football like myself, that in a lot of counties, now we know Longford slashers had a time when they would have um you know taken control of Longford, but you look at Cavangales, yes, they would have done it. But in a lot of counties that the the big towns or the big city clubs, it's quite hard for them to make that breakthrough. Everyone thinks, oh my gosh, you have a massive population, you're able to do something with it. Yes, it's used. Sometimes the problem of having too many, or other times you might have, yes, a great population, but to get thirty good players out of that at one time.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Yeah, and keep them all happy, and that's that's often the difficulty in it. And it's it's it amazes me. Like we like I know we'll say in Salt Hill, we generate a lot of underage success and eventually led on to senior success, and indeed an all-irel senior club title, but football didn't develop as as well in hurling and and remained at best at sort of junior level. One of our teachers in Clordain in Salt Hill, Frank Morris, saw what was happening in Salt Hill with parish leagues, you know, that developed from under eight, under ten, under twelve, under fourteen, and all the match reports appeared in the Sentinel on a Tuesday, was part of the kind of tribune group, and that fostered enormous um interest, and it also fostered enormous interest in all of us newspapers, it has to be said as well, because you make sure you got it a Tuesday to see if you were mentioned in it. But Frank Morris went away back to his home base in Corafin and developed the same model. And out of that, no, they're always a good strong team. There were always a good strong team out of that. That all of Corafin's that was the stem of that massive generation of it. Developed the parish leagues, kept them busy playing against each other if you couldn't keep them all on the team. So under 14, you could certainly put out fifteen, but you could kept them busy by playing, you know, the might of five or six different teams in the parish, and they had their own leagues. So it was almost like one tier you move on to club, and of course the other tier would be county. It was I think it was what he saw in in Salt Hill in that time and took us through. Now he did it in our school as well. You know, we won an All-Ireland B title in in 1981 with limited resources. With limited, you know, we'd we'd we'd won football, a set of jerseys, uh everyone brought your own togs and socks. But we just he harnessed that. Uh I think, if I remember correctly, um the time we won it, I think twelve of us played intercounty football that year as under 16 or minor level for Galway or Mayo or Clare. Um and he developed the whole pile of us through that. Then we're back to to Corafin, um, where his son David, who's heavily involved, Galway hurlers, Galway footballers, and indeed Corafin. And just what they've achieved. Um, and if you met Frank Morris this evening, he would deny all of it and his modesty would prevent him from claiming any of the credit of it. But um those of us who are privileged to see it at first hand, know something different. It it was just phenomenal what that man has done.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

The way Galway are going at the moment, John, are you gonna re-take over from Cork? Because they think they're the capital of sport. So you can think it's the footbrothers, commodities, commodity, and ladies gay football football, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Like Yeah, yeah, they're well put it this way, they they are genuine series contenders in all four of those race. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um they might win none of them, but they are Yeah, which is great to say, and obviously you've got Connuc as well, so you can take over from Cork with Munster because they have to share Munster with Limerick, so Yeah, it's not quite but there's there's certainly there's certainly a rich vein of form. Um as I said, across the four the four GA sports as I would call them. Galway United going fairly well, connuct was there's a lot there's a lot of of stuff. And there was a traditional sports like rowing that you know is a huge sport in Galway. I loved covering it. Uh never rode in a boat in my life, my young fella did, um, and got right through it. And it's it's brilliant sports. Like we have the corrup there as a facility for them to train and do it. But like in the 80s, 90s when I was in the College Tribune, we were covering it. There were there were there were five crew, five clubs in Galway at that time. Two of the schools, the college, tribesmen, and Galway Rowing Club, and they were all punching above their weight, not just nationally, covered European championships in Germany. Neville Maxwell was rowing in it, you know, world champions, and and to from a small pool for all of them to come through it. And we've seen it particularly with the female oars women in recent years as well, you know, Olympics and there's a lot there. There's yeah, I I don't think it's just peculiar to Galway. I think in fairness, it's right around the country. There's a sport there for everyone. They just need to maybe reach out and grab it, whether it's judo or whatever it might be, and athletics, like look at our I think I think the example being set at an elite level in Ireland uh in athletics that's the same.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Or even us, John, like we can talk here in Longford, obviously Dara Green doing the swimming, but at this moment in time, and please gods that things go well for him, we can say about Kia McPhillips, and this is like Longford, a small county like Longford, that we have people like Kia McPhillips, and then you say that, and I had McDerra Ferris on a few weeks ago. MacDarrell's very into photics and that, and he'd been to European championships and and different things, and we forget about that because obviously the big sports would be your your soccer, your gaelic football and hurling, and all the GA sports, and then rugby. And we forget about our our athletes and how we're punching forwards.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

We're forgetting about them anymore because I think I think they they've generated magnificent profiles for themselves. They're they're magnificent role models, and I think that's that's what you always need in sport. You need a role model. It worries me about the GE, they're I I We're hiding our players away. We're hiding our players away, and hiding them like you look at hurling, we'll say where you you can't visually recognize players. I see players coming off. I don't know who they are. I I know them instantly out in the pitch because they're left-handed, they're a short hurl, that it's Howard Helmet, any of that. But I I remember about two or three years ago, I was in press box in Balmaslow, Walsh Cup match, Galway against Leash. See, there were a lot of common players coming through. We'd have seen them at minor under 20, stuff like that.

unknown 30:29

And it was looked at the press box, it was John Mackieff in the Connor Tribune, a couple of the guys from Galway BFM who would know the Galway hurlan scene inside out.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

They cover the clubs, they cover the underage way more than I've been doing in in recent years. And there was a player came out, this was in the warm-up, a player ran over to the sideline, and he was a huge block of a man. It was just geez, he was like a back row forward in in rugby. And I was thinking, who is he? I didn't know him. And I asked the lads and they were looking, and none of them were able to work out who he was. Middle went back out and put his helmet on, they knew instantly who he was. And he'd been he'd been through, he'd won all Ireland Minor, he had won under 20 at this stage, and I just thought, gosh, we've a we've a problem here if such knowledgeable people that were beside me that know the scene inside out couldn't recognise the face of you know somebody who, you know, you you would know instantly, and that he's since gone on, he's since gone on playing senior with Galway. And and I just think this thing of of hiding them away, not we know nothing about our players anymore. We don't know whether they're candlestick makers or baker. Well they're not, of course, they're all teachers. It's the only way you can play GE at the moment and have the holidays. But we know nothing about them. And the then they finish and I just think I just think we're losing that. We're losing the personality in it. You know, they're shoved forward when there's the launch of a new chocolate bar or s some rice crispies or something, and they get a few quid for doing it, and they sort of and I don't think it does them justice. It doesn't make them seem very intelligent.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

It's um John, years ago, sorry for interrupting, years ago I wanted to do a piece for the people. I was working for the people, and I thought I'd ask Stephen Lynch. Stephen had scored the goal for Longford against um Kerry in uh Jack O'Connor's first stint with Kerry and uh Lynchy's from my club, Grannard. So Lynch said, Yeah, no problem, Denise, gave me a ring, whatever. So I rang him one of the evenings. He said, Sorry, Denise, counterquarts, I can't talk to you. This was back then. This was a guy that I know yet when Dar when Darren Gallery was playing, which Podgy Davis was brilliant, you know, and some of the county board were grand then. But yet I can go to a League of Ireland match, and um sometimes they do call out the you know, push out a player in that, but a lot of the times, you know, you could say to to Johnny C or I could say to Stephen Kelly, can I speak to such a one? You know, the the grand managers are grand, like your friend Brown would always say, we have highly intelligent people paying out playing our sports, and we're not trusting them.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Yeah, yeah. I mean that's f like I I I was doing a a lecture there a couple of months ago, and I was saying we were talking about that and access as they call it to players and all this, leader journalism students in in Golem, and I was saying to them and trying to explain that the biggest curse that came along in terms of locking media or access No, the mobile phone. Oh, you can video No, even that. Prior to prior to mobile phones coming into existence, if we would say that time in the Connect Tribune or anywhere else, wanted to interview a hurler or a footballer, the only way we could get to them would be to ring her home. The more you know you find out who the parents were, um, easily done. There's phone books, people probably don't remember them either, and you would ring, and invariably it would be the mother who would answer. Um she would leave a oh, yeah, I'll get Johnny to ring you when he comes in or whatever he's working or he's up the land or he's gone with his father to the mart or he'd be home at whatever time. And more often than not, the the guy would ring that evening or whenever it might be. Uh there would be times when he wouldn't, because he might he might be not inclined to do it, or would be afraid to get slagged, or maybe there was certainly no media bands or any of that malarkey at the time. But if the player didn't ring and you rang back the following day and got hold of the mother again, sh she would be mortified by as a God. Yeah, absolutely. And at this stage be thinking, like, was invariably the the piece is going to be positive anyway. It's going to be by its nature and everything. And 99 times out of a hundred, that call came once you made the second one. I often felt sorry for the lads because they might want to do it, mammy. But there was no way, there was no way that uh very rare exceptions, the mother or father, but particularly the mothers, would you go and ring the person and they're good enough to ring and talk about you, and you know, you never know if you might be looking for a job and somebody will see that, and so on and so forth, or whatever. Now, of course, the mobile phones you can't make it's harder to get everybody. You gotta text them, they all so on and so forth. They had that access part of it. There's no phone books, there's no landlines, there's no ringing mothers. But I I I cover a lot of rugby in France and spend a lot of time there. And the difference between French rugby clubs and Irish provinces or national team with regard to media is just absolutely unreal. They consider it it's part and parcel of your job. You're accessible, not actually all the time, but on most occasions. I might say we cover Colic and Monster the whole time, do all the press conferences and all of that. So you might have Monster playing Clermont Ferrand or something. Um sometimes it would go there, but even without it, you get on to them and say, Look, I want to do a piece with Damien Pinot, is that would it be possible? Is he up whatever? More often than not, they would say, I'll text you his number, um, text him to see when it's suitable. Um and that's it. And I'm thinking, geez, like you know, the hoops we have to go through with a press conference for this sort of stuff. No, it's not all the time, rental like that, but by and large, their approach is any publicity is good publicity. It's a professional sport, they need to generate, maintain interest with competing ones, you know, you s there's other sports there. Uh like rugby in Ireland still does a enormous amount of PR uh weekly press conferences. Players and coaches might even want to be there. There was a lot of back and forth with Linster there in recent weeks. But they're obliged to do it. And they're obliged to be professional about it, as indeed are the reporters as well, in it. Um sometimes it can be tense, but it's there and it's available. And as a result, you know, and I see it in I see it in Galway, I see it where Thomas rugby players, many of whom, if indeed not, most of them are not from the area, certainly more than half are not. And a lot of them, if they're not from Leinster, they're from New Zealand or elsewhere. And they have higher profiles in a lot of most Golden hurlers and footballers. And I just think, you know, I don't know. I don't I can't see where that is working, where that's given the benefit.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Um like you even look at Legal and getting the l the ladies out there and having it. But you have the few, you have the David Cliffords and that, and that's great, and that's all fine and good. But we need to know the the other players. Like I've got two little nephews, uh, six and four, and Jesus, Jack McCarran, Rory Beggan, Rory Beggan, because they're a mon and they're seeing all that. And it's great now, but we should be having that in other counties. You were on about press conferences and coaches and different things like that. Did you see Steve Clark's interview after the Morocco game? I didn't actually Yeah, he was I know it's very hard, and I've you know, like yourself, we have interviewed managers after heartbreaking defeats and controversial decisions, and myself and Eugenie McCormick after Longford lost the under 21 final in 2013. We got very emotional in Port Leash and these things happen. And I normally would say to a manager, you know, are you able to talk? or you know, and let's say but I thought Steve Clark was very cool and very aloof when I think it was Connie McLaughlin he was talking to. And I just thought, yes, no answers. And I just thought, well, you know, it's your job, you're getting paid, you know, the same way she and she wasn't being anyway pushy and saying to a manager after they lose so many games, Well, are you gonna stay or after uh you know But you have to.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

It's it's a standard question when a team is knocked out of the hurling football championship. It's a standard question. Most of them have now learned a stock answer, say this isn't the time to make that decision. But by asking that question, I remember if being asked in actually in Longford, um, when John O'Mahany stepped down the second time as they all manager. I was there. And it was because somebody asked, What about the future, John O? And it has to be asked, and they should know at this stage.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Like, well, I say I joked with the manager. Yeah, if it was a Longford manager, John, I'd say to him beforehand of the six, we look at our text, you know, one. But then they have to, you know, I remember a few times they were like, Oh, we don't know what's for another day, and then I'd get a text journal. You know, they'd let me know which was great. And I just thought, yes, there were some decisions that went against them, but I thought they were very lucky against A. But um I just thought, you know, Steve Clark, you're an international manager. You don't have to be like that. This is You can't be better than that, yeah. Yeah, you've bad.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

I thought I actually thought he was going to be better, but Yeah, even even in the likes of with C GE, which is by and large an amateur sport, not completely. Um managers and source of swallows of force are concerned, but enormous work is put into everything from dietitians right through to give yourself the edge and everything. Why isn't some work put in, proper work put in for media relationships? And but develop develop your stock answers even, even if they're as boring as be damned, this is not the night for that decision. You know, we're parked on this evening, and you know, it's not we don't feel that's reflected on us, and so on and so forth. You know, and that's that's all that's needed rather than somehow or other thinking, you know, the media are at fault for this loss. You you mentioned in terms of of legal um and the players in it. We we cover enough, let us you know, um do all the match reports and stuff like that for for Ladies Getty Football as well.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

You know, you've still come along for doing stuff sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you have um and and they have like the TG Car and Legal involvement, which are brilliant, they're not just sponsors, they're in there as partners in it as well. Um but what I found, because I uh my involvement in Ladies Getty Football would have been you know only in the last decade or less, and it's it's in that not boats on the ground part either. But what I find particularly there is like a throwback to the 1980s covering hurling and football, where players actually love emeriting having a profile, wanting to have their say, um, articulating it as well and build their profile in it for no other reason it's a hobby. They're enjoying their hobby, they want they're going to enjoy it more if they're successful. Of course they are, so you give yourself every opportunity to do that. And as you know, we do the thing, the the big interview every week that we distribute every Friday. And it's it is a wonderful backdrop to whether it's the veteran dunny goal who has to leave the phone on the sideline, somebody monitoring it, and heartfelt stories about people dealing with grief and so on. Just a lot of times just the ordinary stuff.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Yeah, we'll read.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

But it's a breath of fresh air that they want to, and it's a it's a classic example of players engaging with media and vice versa for the better of everyone in it. There's nobody well, it hasn't happened in any other sport either, where somebody, you know, has profiled or or spoken to the media and they've lost the match the following Sunday as a result of it, and people need to get over that notion in it. But what's going to happen, as my i it's a genuine concern, I hope to see it reverse, is that if it keeps going in the direction where GE hurlers and footballers are becoming more and more anonymous, that gap will be filled by other sports.

unknown 41:43

And it is already.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

And it is already Lopez at this moment in time. Pico Lopez is making shamrock rovers and it's absol and the League of Ireland, and I'm absolutely I think some guy watched the Dundalk game the other night, Dundoc and Bose, because of Pico Lopez and they heard about the League of Ireland. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

Yeah, yeah. And it just can build build from that. And if you're in the League of Ireland has always been brilliant in terms of they're crying out for publicity and crying out for the profile.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Do you know what players love being interviewed? I remember years ago they say to me, Oh, where's this going to be? Or if I'm doing stuff for extra, you're like, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Will you send me the link? Or they love that.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

You know what I mean? But I what I often find with it is where you have a player who's touchy maybe about about, or a player, a manager, or a coach is touchy about something that was said about particularly him or whatever in in that. They'll often preface it, they'll often preface it, you know, I never read anything in the media. Yeah. Just, you know, you were you were saying that you know, our discipline was a problem or something like that. And I'm thinking, well, how would you hear it if you weren't looking at that?

SPEAKER_02 42:49

You know, I had a manager years ago who came at me and said to me that I quoted him wrong. So I said, I put my phone in front of you and recorded you. I said, Do you want me to play it back? And he said, Oh, you're okay now. That's actually the current Northern Ireland manager, I suppose. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

But I remember in Cork, somebody um previous to me had a comment about some of the hurlers, and a lot of them wouldn't talk to the radio station I was working with, and then we eventually um sorted it out. But yeah, you know, if if some person they're very kind of like that, but I was like, I didn't say it, it was way before my time, but yes, some of them are like that. So we'll talk about soccer, obviously you love your your local soccer. But apart from you, I know Matt Keane. You're the only two Ipswich Town supporters I know in Ireland. I know like I'm now part of the Daro Shea Um Appreciation Club, which you were probably a member long before me. But uh what is the story? How did that come about, Ipswich Town?

SPEAKER_00 43:51

It's it's uh it's it's it's it's been m my real joy for oh gosh, fifty years, over fifty years. In national schools, when we were all nine or ten and picking teams and not knowing the first thing about it, and some had older brothers and they followed the team the older brother had, or some rare their father would have an interest. But we were all all our fathers, we're all our mothers, particularly our fathers, we're all GA heads and all that. But so you were picking teams. The guy sitting beside me in Nashville School, Sean McNeil, was born in Ipswich and grew up there for a few years. They were his team, and if they were good enough for him, they were good enough for me. And I started following them back in I think it was 1974-75 that season. And boy, did we get a roller coaster for the next 10 or 15 years. They were in Europe, I think, nearly nine out of the next ten years after that. Uh UEFA Cup 81. Didn't I start going over there?

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Um matches.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

It's it's Portman Road is in the middle of the town.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

It's probably a unique old football stadium, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 44:58

It is, yeah. It needs to be bigger. There's 2,000 on the waiting list for tickets at the moment. I went over there, I remember being over when they were in League One, which is what now about three years ago, is it? And Kevin, my young fella came with me. And because obviously work or b weekends are so busy, it's a midweek match, is all I can really go to and any of these. Uh yeah, yeah, definitely that. When you fly into Stanstead, and it's only less than an hour up the road. But it's um there that that evening we went over to the dirty winters evening. Uh we're playing Port Vale, and there was over 27,000 people at the match. And um this was in League One. Um that was the year they came out of the came and it burst under Kierden McKenna and got out. But it's the this stadium is in the middle of the town, it is the centre of the town. Everything evolves around the football club. It's a rib, you know, it's a it it's the town itself actually has gone through difficult times in in the last decade or so. But um I've I've just loved going over it. And the one thing about it is while I've had a you know, an interest call, the hurling goal, the football and then it's clear, both and underage and rugby and soccer have been involved with and all those. But all of those um are by gist of geography. That's where I'm from. So why wouldn't I support Golden United? Why wouldn't I, you know, who else could I be and either support or be work with or involved with or coach or do any of this other than Connacht or Goldberg Hurders go? Ipswich is the only team I picked off my own bat that had nothing to do with geography, that had nothing else in it. And I I continued always keeping an interest in them and would try and get over to a few matches and try and do various things in it. And um when they got promoted two years ago, when they got back up to the Premier League, which I thought I'd never see in my lifetime. And I wasn't sure, and even this year I wasn't too sure whether I wanted them to go back up because it's it's a yo-yo. It's yeah, yeah, and it can be it's impossible to get tickets once they're in the Premier League, and I can get them for plenty away matches. I have friends who are seizing tickets in Liverpool and Man United and various other places, but the um Well if you're nice to Daddy, you might see if you can get some of his nephews to get ones for Alan Road. I can do with that as well. I I did a piece for I did a piece that went up two years ago on Facebook and just thought I said, gosh, I thought I'd never see this day again. Brilliant in it. And somebody saw it in America and sent it on to Sean McNeil. Now I wouldn't have seen Sean, like we would have played football written against each other, but once we left school, we would have had no contact. And Sean got in touch. I'd say 'twas the first time in I would say 40 years.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

Did you have something like that? Yeah, yeah, I did. I remember that. Yeah, I remember that actually.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

He lives in Portland in Oregon. Um his mum still lives in Salt Hill, and he was saying he was going to be home later that year. And I said, Look, let me know, and I'll make sure I'm around and I'm not in France or somewhere else. And then about three weeks later, he we were only we didn't even have each other's phone numbers by email. And he emailed me to say, Look, I've had to come home um at short notice was something something happened. Um don't know what part of the world you're in. I'm in Tom Sheridan's pub, um having a pint if you're anywhere around. Tom Sheridan's pub is right next door to where I live.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

And we went out and we met.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

I was waiting for you to say I wasn't there.

SPEAKER_00 48:27

And then we've met a couple of times since. Um he would have at best a passing interest in Ipswich at this stage and was astonished that I was still looking up the results and heading there and doing that. But it's it's something I I've got uh you know, I've decades of enjoyment out of you know, it's been a break with no direct connection with it's a breakaway from our job.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Absolutely, yeah, and it's I know I I Liverpool would be and then Celtic and because the connection and people are like, Oh yeah, it's only a two. Well, this season it was three teams. But uh for me, you can over there, I don't have to worry about who knows me, who doesn't. My cousins I get their tickets. Normally the guy that's sitting beside me has been asking about me the last couple of games because my cousin now has her dad's season ticket, but I go there, sing the songs. I'm not Denise from I'm just Denise. The person that's over here watching it, you know, you're completely away from everything.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

It is completely, and it's it's if what it allows me to do is be a supporter, which I'm not able to in any other thing. Or was the chair of Galway United, or then I was working at them, covering them, or there was never there was never a case where I was actually a supporter, per se, or a fan, or whatever way you want to call that, where you would actually get the enjoyment of just going to a game, hoping your team does well, cheer them on, you know, shouting curse at everything and anything, and get that enjoyment out of it. That's which is what the majority of people, of course, get out of sport. So that way it's it's been it's been super. Um the fixtures came out last week and trying to plot and plan. It's difficult actually, I find, with Premier League as well, because you're not going to know until a couple of weeks before.

SPEAKER_02 50:07

Because television dictates, yeah. Dad would say that with Leeds. I would be kind of looking for games and you're there going, and then even with Leeds, Rhinos to try and get some games would be pushed back to a Thursday for Sky, and you're there going, Ah, it is awful.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

It just makes it so much more difficult in that regard. But look at first world problems at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

Look, we don't mind you've covered, as I said to you before, you're you're a jack of all trades. I once add on the rest and with all your sport. Is there some sport that you would love to cover, or some sporting event? Maybe you would like to A cover and then B just go there as a supporter?

SPEAKER_00 50:41

There would be a couple of venues. Um I don't think this are per se there would be a tournament. I I've managed to get to a lot of a lot of venues, but I covered an Irish rugby tour in Argentina one year and got to see Boca Juniors ground. Well, as only these things can happen. There's there's a there's a big Irish long-term diaspora in Argentina that went there famine times, post-famine times. Not everybody went to American Australia. And hurling was uh played there for many, many decades and still is to a degree. And the hurling club in Bonazar is mushroomed into the hockey club and a few other sports. So when I was out there, I went out to to to the hurling club and interrupted a training match, and there were shorter numbers. The hockey team was away, and I ended up going out playing a bit of it, and the guy who was marking me or whatever. Now we look at it was playing in runners and and street charts, and um guy who was supposedly marking me or vice versa, whatever. This is only 10 years ago, was the physio for Boca Juniors. He was Argentinian, he was a hockey player, played at a fairly high level, and when he retired from it, took up hurling. And he, by God, was he going to ground hurling? But we ended up chatting with a beer afterwards and all of that, and that's when he was telling me what he was doing. So he invited me in and we didn't see the ground a couple of days later, and it's one I would love to go back there to a match. Um, it's one of the most iconic and intimidating stadiums I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

But they love their soccer and all that, dear. So you do it.

SPEAKER_00 52:14

No, it's terraces are all concrete, and underneath them is where the away dressing room is. And before the game, and particularly at half time, every one of the home supporters that are in that area spend the time just jumping up and down on the concrete. And if you're underneath that in a low arched concrete ceiling above you, it looks like it's going to collapse down on top of you.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

So if I see you doing that in um Pearce Stadium, I know what you're doing, is that it?

SPEAKER_00 52:41

I would like to go straight down through it. There'd be no danger in it. But there would be stuff like that. I would love to I'd love to. I I don't have a great knowledge or a great interest in tennis, but I would love to go to Bolton at some point. I really would. During the last rugby world cup, the media centre in Paris was in it was in rolling garrison. So we used to go into work every day into rolling garrison, but it was empty, of course, at at that stage. It's just those sort of sports, they generate so much atmosphere, the skill level involved in it, just you know, mind-blowingly um high, and just that whole atmosphere in it or whatever. But they a lot of the time, and I say this to people, and I certainly said it to them back in that the French World Cup, there was uh I see it doesn't matter if you don't have tickets, just go to the cities, they have fan centres, the match is almost incidental to it, and you often, even the day of a good soccer match in an English town or anywhere, often the atmosphere, more than a GA one or anything like that, um, you don't necessarily even have to go to the match. You'll you will get the atmosphere, you'll get I know quite a lot of people now who go to Dublin the day of a rugby international and don't go to the game. They find it cost prohibitive, to be quite honest. Um you have two people heading in there and you're talking about the guts of 400 euro for for two tickets. Um but they go up and they head down to the pubs in Baggett Street or wherever and find a high stool, watch the match, and enjoy all that and spend the ticket price on food and drink and transport home.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

That's a great that is a great idea. You would never think of that. But you were saying that I remember last year doing Meath and Dublin down in Port Leach and going down on the train, I'd said, oh Beck, I'll get the train up from Edison up to Houston instead of going at Lawn Down. And it was absolutely brilliant. Dumb beside me, two for me sitting across from me, and the crack we had, and then on the way home, I absolutely loved it because that's the one thing about the GAA, whereas I was at St. Miren and Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final, and of course it was segregated, but whereas whereas you could tell on the train and the crack was just 90, and then coming back up, uh are you hiding your face now, boys? Is hiding your face? You know, and it was just because do you know what? And I'm not just saying this, but if you get a good dub at a sporting event, we'll lose our jaw. They're the best crack.

SPEAKER_00 55:06

Absolutely, totally and absolutely. And and you feel totally safe, and there's no there's no undercurrent of that. I like uh two stories to tell you. One, I remember once being in London midweek, uh, height of the hooliganism, height of all that trouble. And I just didn't even know it, but England were playing Poland in a f uh friendly inverted commas in Wembley that afternoon. It's like Wednesday afternoon. I was sitting in the tube, and what I was doing over there or where I was going to, sitting in the tube, there was probably about another dozen people scattered around it, doors open, and several hundred skinhead English supporters bundled in, full of aggression, full of just really just waiting to explode into the whole lot. It was late 80s, not a good time to be Irish or have an Irish accent in London. And um I'm thinking, oh geez, I need to get off of this, but I'm thinking, how can I get out of here without saying excuse me? And that's going to be the giveaway.

unknown 56:02

Actually, yeah, I'm too scared.

SPEAKER_00 56:04

And um the Jew pulled in a couple of minutes later at the next station, and I'm trying to think if there's any movement, I'm gonna go. And every single one of them got off. And all of us in the carriage, the dozen or so that had were totally anonymous to each other and no eye contact threatening before that nearly all looked at each other and go, God, thank God for that. In it was just so scary. But the other the other thing, the I remember one time going to I was in one of the Power Gen Cup final, the English Cup final in rugby. Uh, London Irish were playing Northampton, and very good friend of mine, late friend of mine, Willie Kiley, his brother was involved with it. So Willie and myself headed over to the match, and London Irish won it, and Colour O'Shea was playing for them. Great match, and even it was the first time in rugby I saw where all of the other participating clubs or supporters would go to the national final wearing their club year. Um now it doesn't happen in GA for the simple reason that you know counties would fill fill the place on their own, let alone share it with the second one. But it still continues to lost a Champions Cup rugby as well. I know an offer from Galway that you know they book those the Challenge Cup and Champions Cup and head to whatever city. And if you have an Irish team or your own team, it's a big bonus in it. But Willie and I were there and and um London Irish won it, and it was great, great atmosphere. And we were coming out, and it was at the time during the car park, they used to have all the Land Rovers and Jeeps with all the food and drink out the back of them and the whole lot. And um, you know, you had opposing fans and all this sort of stuff, but it was none. And whatever we were stopped, Nick we were chatting, and Willie was chatting away at this need a bottle of beer, and I was given a bottle and there was food and all out of the back of a Jeep or Land Rover or something.

SPEAKER_02 57:44

Wasn't ham sandwiches, no.

SPEAKER_00 57:46

No, there wasn't a lot. There was every sort of a thing. There was every sort of thing. It started flowing rightly from that. There were all sorts of cheeses and meats and different drinks and wine and whatnot. Like the match finished about five o'clock. At about nine o'clock, we were still there, and we're thinking, geez, we're about to get a move on here. So we did, and we were we'd been introduced to this one, and everyone and anyone and their friends who were parked next door and all this sort of stuff, and it was all fed and watered completely. We're certainly, certainly feeling all pain. And we were going away from it, and I said to Willie, I said, uh, how did you know them? Actually, they turned out they were from uh Gloucester and they'd come down, they'd no interest in either team with an interest in rugby. And um I said to Willie, I said, How did you how do you know them? Like it's oh Jesus, I thought you knew them. And we had just spent four hours in their company being fed and watered by them and introduced to everyone.

SPEAKER_02 58:39

I just thought it's a typical paddy, typical paddy.

SPEAKER_00 58:44

Absolutely, but like they've they knew what they didn't know, but I presume.

SPEAKER_02 58:48

We didn't know that they didn't know and you know what? Some of them probably didn't know each other anyway, so it does work out.

SPEAKER_00 58:53

Absolutely, and they were just delighted, and there was the interest why we were over and where they were going from there and everything, and um I just thought, well, that's what sport is and always should be about and stuff like that as well. It's uh That's what I love.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

I love chatting when and even when I go over to Glasgow and there's a place that we stay, and one of the guys that stays there a good bit, he's a Rangers fan, and the two of us have the best bit of crack. And the girls in reception be like, What? You know, you're Celtic and he's Rangers, and I was like, Well, do you know what? And I'd always say should the best Celtic manager was Doc Steen, who was a Ranger fan. Come here, I should actually support sale because um I don't know, it could be a long-lost relation of mine, Tom O'Flaherty.

SPEAKER_00 59:31

Of course, yes, yes. Yeah, and he's done the rounds in the UK.

SPEAKER_02 59:35

I know he has done the rounds.

SPEAKER_00 59:37

It's um but I've seen I d that's what really has impressed me about Scottish supporters at the World Cup, like you as you know better than anyone. It's not just the Celtic Rangers thing. There is a horrible divide amongst so many clubs up there. It is bitter, it is hostile, you know, it's and yet they can put all that aside. Now I did see two Celtic supporters being roundly booed by everyone, and I'm sure that included Celtic supporters, because there seems the unwritten rule seems to be don't wear your club colours when you're supporting Scotland. Um and it's either we're wear Scottish colours or none at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:11

That's whereas we could do it in Ireland because you know we'd have a bit of a slag and with bows or something like that, but there wouldn't be that with Irish supporters like there would be, as you said, with clubs in Scotland, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:22

Yeah, yeah. It's bitter, it's it's the the undercurrent of it. And yet they can all you know row in behind it and go and support their national team, and they've been they've been the story of well, they were until Cape Verde started going unbeaten through the city.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

Did you see the video of the Scottish guy that had nowhere to stay? And he haven't I'll send it to you, he was put up in a convent and he was teaching um the nuns no Scotland, no party, and they were singing um Flower Scotland.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:50

Wow, well they certainly they've been to this World Cup what we all thought Ireland would be if we'd be able to do that. That's exactly it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:57

Myself and my cousin in Glasgow, we had said it for her 40th that we would try and go to America. Then we didn't realise that we probably would have had to rob a bank and be caught doing it to go to America if Ireland and Scotland quite.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

I I cannot I I was there at a wedding the year before last and I hadn't been back in a while, and I was absolutely slabasted at the cost.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:20

It's just Mammy said to me while as my as my nephew calls him the ginger nut, while that's there, I don't think that we used to kind of go, you know, I'd count my pennies, my mum's from Cavan, and we'd we'd be very savvy with the money, uh going over to America and that, but I don't think I'll it'd be a while till um That's just too volatile. It's just you know you don't know at the at this moment in time you don't know what exactly like I don't even think I probably would get in because I like Jimmy Kimmel.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:48

Getting out could be the problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:51

Oh, I said it'd be mad to get rid of her, bring her back to Granar, bring it to her.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:54

Yeah, but they've the like even I we all know prices get hiked up in a World Cup or in an event like that. But this was ordinary, you know, we travelled through California into to Arizona, but it was just the ordinary stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:08

Yeah, someone said that to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:09

Ridiculously priced. It was crazy, the cost of living. And you know, I was watching, I think it was Scottish supporters there, and they were giving it a lash in the hall up and I said, geez, that's where's the money for that's exactly it, that's what myself and Nicole said.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:23

Like we'd have to rob a bank, and knowing us, we would tell someone in the bank we were gonna rob it. Like we would be caught doing it. Yeah, it would be absolutely pointless. So I said, no, I'm not going to do it. So John Fallon, um, unfortunately, this podcast will be out next week, so we won't know Mystic Meg will help her crystal ball out.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:43

Hopefully, Double will be out by then as well. And Galway will be into an All Ireland semi-finals.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:49

In all fairness, every one of those games, it's such a pity. I'm in Dublin on Saturday for um the Botcha Lencer Championship, and Dad was saying to me, Oh, it's not a pity, because we just kind of guessed it with the way the games went yesterday that Loud would be out the Sunday, and Danny was saying, Oh gosh, if Loud were there, you know, it's Monhan, because the boys we we would have went to the Monhead game, he would have gone there.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

But like there's I I just think it's brilliant the fact now, as you said, by the time this comes out we'll know it. But at the point where we're talking, either Louth or Monaghan are going to be in the Null Ireland football semi-finals. That is just and go back to at any stage and find anyone the tips that was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Um Dunny Gall and Armagh, you would have said if you said to someone at the start of the year, you know, Galway there or thereabouts, but your three would have been Armah, Dunny Gall, and Kerry in whatever order.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:37

But it just shows about this new format of game football has changed the landscape and Wicklow and the Tolkien Cup, John.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:43

Sorry, Denise. Wicklow and the Tolchen Cup final. Absolutely. Two comebacks in a row. Like Daddy was listening to Midlands three, and they were literally talking about the final awfully were going to be in. They were winning well. And then all of a sudden it's Daddy's to me, Wicklow, because my dad's mum is from um Wicklow, so Daddy had always said, Oh, me county, me county. Re real, you know, real gal man, not my county, me county.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:05

But what did it for me there was the reaction of Ushine McConville. Like here's an all-ireland winner, it's his adopted county, regardless of what way you look at it. And the man was absolutely overjoyed. You know, it was it just wow, yeah, wow, like it just it just made it, and not that event against Down, but I would love to see which two goals. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:25

Because they were so unlucky this year, like we stole it. Longford stole promotion, they were ten points up and Wicklow, and I thought, how are they going to you know lift themselves back up? And then they gave Dublin a game of it, and look at now with with the debate.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:40

One match and they're in next year's All Ireland series. Win this one and they're into it, and you know, in a year before Westmead have won Leinster and so many other things have happened John.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

In a year that I have supported Westmead and Ross Common, like I'm just waiting for the pig to fly across the sky because this is you know, I don't normally do this thing. I you know, Jerry Buckley and the lads down there you were laughing at me supporting them because I meant to just though I'm never going to support Man United, so I suppose you know there are.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

I'm delighted for people like Jerry Buckley who spent his life writing about Westminster football. I've often said it, colleagues and uh you know, working for rival papers and everything in Mayo, the likes of Sean Rice, John Melvin, guys like that, who've spent a lifetime writing about Mayo football and writing brilliantly about Mayo football and have never seen them win in all Ireland. And you know, it's probably only us within our own small community, we'll say in media and local media, can get to appreciate how wonderful it's been for the likes of Seamus Hayes and Claire that they've had such a bountiful period, you know, and so many more of those like that. And and um, you know, you you you often think of your connection to it, and Jerry Buckley was the first one I thought of. Um I was next Gary straight away. He probably put the phone flying out anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:58

Himself and um like Jerry Russell, we were coming back from actually the games that I was doing and Monaghan, the ladies' games, and um I had the phone on and I wanted and I said, you know what? No, I'm not gonna do that. I said, Daddy, go on, flick it on. And we listened to the two of them, uh the Cabin game, and we got to see extra time. But the two Jerry's, it was absolutely brilliant. It was so so good. And you wouldn't think that Jerry Russell was not from Westmead, the way he just uh takes it on his route, but yeah, I've been envious of a lot of people, and even in this county, I've been envious of Horry O'Brien, being able to report on Slash's winning a championship when I've never seen Granard doing that. So, you know, please God. Pat Flanagan. Well, uh, I think in the next year or two, Johnny, do think it's you have a busy schedule and uh you have l lots to do, but thank you so much for the challenge. We never even spoke about all the stories you probably had about Michael D, but maybe we can do that again. Michael D uncovers take care of yourself, John. Thank you so so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:54

No bother, don't at all, please, any time.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:55

Okay, talk to you later.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:57

Cheers. Bye, bye, bye,