Cork hurlers not able to count their medals, Kilkenny criticism and what’s in a GAA nickname

Seven years and waiting for Cork hurling medals, Kilkenny philosophical about criticism and GAA nicknames.

Cork hurlers waiting on Munster medals seven years after victory

Limerick hurlers have a Munster title firmly in their sights after their win over Tipp last weekend, but the last side that John Allen led to provincial success have yet to see their medals, seven years after winning the Munster title. The Examiner has followed up on a tweet from Conor Cusack during the week that he, along with the other members of the Cork panel of 2006, never received a medal for their provincial success over Tipperary. Cork have not won a Munster senior title since and why they never received the medals seems to be a mystery. The standard practice is that the Munster Council get the medals made and it is then up to the County board to issues the medals, something that never transpired for the Rebels. “This only came to my attention on Sunday night, when I saw a tweet which said that players were waiting on their medals,” Cork PRO Tracey Kennedy told the paper. “The matter is now being looked into, and it will be discussed at the next meeting of the county board executive, next Tuesday night.” We doubt the Treaty men would mind too much about a medal if they were to land their first Munster title since 1996.

Kilkenny takes criticism on the chin

Ever since Jack O’Shea likened Dublin dual star Ciaran Kilkenny to a junior player, there has been plenty of debate over the merits of the criticism of the young GAA player. One man who isn’t critical of the criticism is the player himself. Kilkenny, of course, plays for Castleknock who are an intermediate club (they contested the All-Ireland Junior club semi-final earlier this year), but the comments of the Kerry legend were viewed as rather disparaging, though the player himself is philosophical over the comments. “As a Gaelic footballer and hurler in Ireland, you have to be able to take criticism,” he told The Irish Times. “Every player is going to get criticism down the line. You just have to take it in your stride. I suppose he hadn't seen me play much, really. But he's a legend of the game and if he could come back and tell me, I'd like to listen to him, what he thinks I can improve on.” Seems like water off a duck’s back to the man who is poised to have one hectic summer with all his commitments.

The GAA name game

It seems like no team is complete without at least a few players with some catchy, or frankly bizarre nicknames. Gaelic Life decided to ask their readers to send in some of the best nicknames they had heard from within the GAA world and they were inundated with replies, and unlike the Premier League world, it isn’t a case of simply sticking a ‘y’ at the end of a name. Patrick 'Bonner' Maher This scribe has heard the nickname ‘banjo string’ being used among an opposing team before, though we doubt the owner of that moniker was hoping it would catch on. Gaelic Life had a list of more than 600 names and some more which were unprintable, all of which you can see here, and if you have any more to add, be sure to let us know.