In today’s Hospital Pass: strange goings-on as a game from the far side of the Shannon turns into a classic, and a few new additions to our GAA knowledge.
All-time GAA classics generally occur, at most, once every five years. And then only in hurling. And then only in Munster.
But 30-plus ladies footballers in Connacht seem to have served up a right belter last weekend.
We hadn’t heard about this before today, although as you’ll see below our knowledge falls a bit short when it comes to the senior inter-county championship, never mind the Connacht ladies intermediate version…
It turns out that last Sunday in Castlebar an incredible contest took place. No, not Mayo’s massacre of Leitrim, nor Mayo’s win over Sligo in the minors. We’re talking about the curtain-raiser to the curtain-raiser, the meeting of Sligo and Leitrim in the Connacht ladies intermediate semi-final.
The outcome? Sligo came out on top by a whisker, 4-14 to 3-16. The scoreline doesn’t even tell the half of it. According to the Leitrim Observer report today, referee Seamus Regan did his best “Jimmy Cooney 1998” impersonation by blowing the final whistle fully 90 seconds from the end.
The long blast came straight after Emma Hansberry had put Sligo a point in front. And the controversy didn’t end there either, as Regan had moments earlier denied Leitrim a penalty after Aine Tighe – who had scored 2-8 before that point – was felled inside the large square.
In addition to all this, the Sligo goalkeeper Emma Cullen was stretchered off after one fairly robust challenge.
Not your average GAA day out in Connacht then, although Mayo-Leitrim did its bit to redress that particular balance later in the day.
From the mists of time
The JOE office has come over all GAA historical today. Not to mention Alpha male competitive.
We’ve been trying our luck – and in many cases it is blind, blind luck – at the new GAA Championship Challenge from eircom, whereby you can take part in a GAA quiz against the clock in a bid to answer enough questions in the quickest possible manner and possibly win some tickets for a range of Championship games this summer.
The prizes also include three-ticket corporate box passes for the All-Ireland football final in September for one brainbox in each province.
So what kind of things do you need to know? Well, anything goes, it seems, once it’s in relation to (a) Gaelic football and (b) the Championship. So I now know that Tony Hanahoe was Dublin’s player-manager in 1977, and that Kerry were fortunate to avoid a five-year Championship ban after refusing to turn up for an All-Ireland final in 1910.
Armed with a wealth of new knowledge (you get five chances, and some of the questions, very occasionally, get repeated) I can boast that a massive 46-point haul saw me top the Leinster leaderboard earlier today.
To put that achievement in some sort of perspective, the Challenge had been live for less than a day. And my tally wouldn’t have got me into the top 10 from Munster.
But still, it was nice while it lasted. And it didn’t last for very long, as I was quickly overtaken by several eager clickers. Better luck next week, eh?
