John Ó'Ríordáns Blog

A few minutes before the end of the Cork v Waterford Munster Final yesterday the ball was sent wide by Waterford’s Dan Shanahan. For some unknown reason the umpire gives a 65. It goes over and now (after a Ben point at the other end) there is just a goal between the teams. Waterford attack once more with only seconds left and the ball goes wide. Me and all of the other Cork Supporters go crazy. That has to be it.

However at this stage the ref looks around at the poor attendance and probably realises the Munster Council haven’t made the money they would have expected to on this match. So he decides to give Waterford a free in. Seconds later the ball is in the back of the net. And the game is over. Replay! A joke!

Looking at the analysis after the match in the Sunday game in the Greyhound Track Bar across from Semple even the RTÉ analysts can’t figure out what the free was for. But I can. It’s widely believedthat statistically there are far more plays in GAA inter-county games than there should be for a game with such varied and high scores. Referee’s must be given incentives to play for replays in big matches.

In fairness to the Munster Council the game will be on next Saturday night which is a great time for a Final to be on. It should be some craic in Thurles that night. But I won’t be there. For the first time in year’s I’m not going to the Munster Hurling Final. Maybe the first time ever as far as I can remember. I don’t appreciate being taken for a fool. And I won’t be fooled twice.

Jump to 4 minutes and 20 seconds for the info on the UFC’s return to Ireland.

I read a very funny article in the Independent today about Sport in Ireland over the summer. Check out the link to the article after the little excerpt below on “Culchies on TV”

“If it wasn’t for the GAA, you’d hardly ever see culchies on the TV. You’ll get the odd glimpse on Ear to the Ground and Nationwide, but that’s mainly for sensible culchies who have their own artisan cheese business. Things are different from June to September.

This is where you get to see the true culchie: cute, cranky and up for a fight. And that’s just the football panel on The Sunday Game. Pat Spillane, Joe Brolly and Colm O’Rourke have the classic culchie dynamic: slagging the crap out of each other for laughs until somebody gets the hump over nothing, and suddenly there’s a chance Spillane will break a chair over Brolly’s head while telling him he’s brillunt at d’aul analysis, but it doesn’t happen because Michael Lyster has the look of a Guard.

It’s never like that with the hurling panel. Men who grew up playing a sport that involves hitting and being hit with a lump of ash are very good at keeping their cool. This is why The Sunday Game hurling panel has the polite feel of a staff-room meeting at a minor boarding school.”

Read the full article here.

I found out today that Chuck Liddell is coming to Cork on July 20th. He’s coming to the Boxing Clinic up by the airport. Check out their Facebook page here.

I just ran up to them there and threw down my €60. I was shocked to hear he was coming here. Cork isn’t exactly a hub of MMA. I wonder why he’s coming. Maybe he’s here on his Holidays. He does have some Irish in him. Nice to see he’s visiting the old country.

Still what an opportunity. I’ve only been training MMA for a few months but I hope to pick up a lot from him.

Harden the fuck up!

How was Paul Galvin left on the field against Cork this weekend? He blatantly stuck his fingers into Eoin Cadogans mouth metres in front of the ref and got away with it. The amount of crap that fella get’s away with is unbelievable.  Let’s hope he get’s a couple of months ban out of it. If they’d played Noel O’Leary on Galvin in extra time he would’ve sorted him out. I can’t understand why they didn’t.

I’m into Mixed Martial Arts. A sport where you can knee someone as many times in the head until they go unconscious or choke them until they pass out. But if you fish-hooked some one like Galvin did you’d be disqualified. He can’t be left get away with it. But sadly because he is Paul Galvin I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

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The UFC is coming back to Ireland. I want to start the ball rolling for a Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy rematch. I’m definitely going to go anyway. My first Live UFC!

From  MMAJunkie.com

“During a Wednesday press conference for this weekend’s “UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy” event, UFC president Dana White told the gathered crowd that the promotion would return to Ireland before the end of the year.

“We’re going back to Dublin this year for sure,” White said.

White didn’t offer any further specifics on the promotion’s plans for an Irish show.

The UFC has visited the Republic of Ireland just once before. In January 2009, the promotion visited The O2 in Dublin where 9,369 boisterous fans turned out for UFC 93, a card that featured a Dan Henderson split-decision win over Rich Franklin in the evening’s main event.

The night was also marked by a pair of “Fight of the Night” awards as Marcus Davis’ win over Chris Lytle and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s third-round stoppage of Mark Coleman were each awarded with a bonus.

I was at MMA training this morning at 12. I’d say it was my first time training on a Saturday since I was 16. Great craic though.

I was reading this great article explaining why people enjoy fighting so much. Maybe that’s why I don’t mind making the effort.