Mike's Blog

Love Is In the Air

Saint Bridget’s day has come and gone and the Irish Spring is with us. The mornings are still on the dark side but the evenings are a bit brighter. My Mother had a saying that St Bridget herself was supposed to have said  “from my day to Paddy’s day you get a hop step and a leap in the days” in other words from St Bridget’s day to Paddy’s day the brightness of the days take a hop a step and a big leap coming up to Paddy’s day. With the coming of the bright nights we all should make an effort to get out and about. We will have Junior and Schoolboy games taking place during the week. So forget about Man Utd or Liverpool go along and cheer on your local club. This time of the year see’s the start of the league of Ireland season. I was once an ever present supporter of Limerick when they were in Rathbane. However I just cannot generate the interest to go to their games now. They have spent big money on new players. Mr Scully must produce promotion. My views on the Manager are well known. I don’t know him personally and I believe his a nice guy but I feel we have more them capable people locally who could manage Limerick successfully. I am reading a great book at the moment “Who’s side are you on”. It’s a book about sport in the North through the troubles. It covers all sports. The chapter about Derry City Football club is brilliant. Derry were allowed into the League Of Ireland in the 1984/85 , They brought excitement and thousands of supporters to League of Ireland grounds all over Ireland. They were the Man Utd of the LOI. I remember their first visit to Rathbane. It was in Billy Hamilton’s time in Limerick. My young fellow Ciaran was a big fan of Derry. He looked for their results even before the Limerick results. He was so excited that day. I think the result was 2- 2 draw. After the game we went into the bar for a drink. There was a Bar in Rathbane at that time and the players from both sides would come in for a drink after the game. When the Derry players found out the Ciaran was a fan they took him back out on the field and the some of the players who had already played in the game had a 5 a side game with the kids. Those were the days. Different times.Some things you never forget. Tuesday is Valentine’s Day so don’t forget the card and the flowers. Love is in the air. We wish Seanie Ryan and his bride to be Jennifer our best wishes on their upcoming wedding. Seanie is a great footballing man with Lightning and Aisling. Seanie is a teak tough defender but can be see at the end of games shaking hands with opponents irrespective of the result.Best of luck Seanie and Jennifer .Keep the faith. God Bless
   

There All Again Us

I went on the Captains run on Saturday. The Captains run takes the form of a visit to the Milk Market then onto the Augustian and St Michaels Churches. The tradition has built up over the years before big Munster games. It’s always very exciting on match days in Thomond. I remember I played there a few times. I played for my local club Thomond and we were very successful. We never won anything in the early days as we were up against a Richmond team powered by the great Colm Tucker. I remember two finals in Thomond under 12 and 14 City Cup. We were beaten by at least thirty points in each game thanks to Tucker. I played in the centre and to be honest I must have been sick when the lads in Thomond were telling us how to tackle. I remember vividly Colm with the ball under his arm running at me. While I wouldn’t mind being buried in Thomond Park now, in those days I had a long life in front of me. So I decided to slip accidently. Come on boys it was a very bad day and I just couldn’t hold my feet (that’s my Story). Well after three or four of those slips (the studs were bad as well) and Tucker scoring all the tries the Thomond mentors decided to banish Mikey to Sibera, the wing far away from harms way and well away of Tucker. Colm Tucker past away during the week after a long illness. He faught his illness just as he battled for his beloved Shannon, Munster and Ireland. He played very successfully for the Lions but only received a few Irish caps. The Irish rugby team at the time was full of Ulster and Leinster players irrespective of ability or so it seemed to Munster folk. That fact used to get all the Munster lads dander up. They had the attitude that they were all again us. The lads continue to bring this attitude onto the pitch every time they play. There all again us. Come On Munster.God Bless Colm. Keep the faith
   

New Year

The New Year has come and we are all looking forward to the rest of 2012. It’s popular around this time of year to make resolutions. I never make new years resolution as I have found that I never keep them and it’s not good to start a New Year on a negative (That’s my story).Around this time of the year people like to consult astrologers, the stars and tarot readings to try and find out what’s in store for them in the New Year.  I met a man this morning and we were talking about the New Year and he said that if we knew what was in store for us some days we would never get out of the bed. This starting me thinking that maybe we are better off not knowing what the future holds. It would be a dull old place to be if you knew everything that was going to happen.  So despite our best efforts we will have to wait and see what comes along during 2012. My wish would be that we all stick together through the good times and the bad times that lie ahead. Best wishes to all our players and their families. Keep the Faith
   

Happy Christmas

This time of the year can be a sad time for families. We think of all the lads who are now working overseas and hope they are home for Christmas. I especially think of this year all the lads from Rowanbridge who had to leave Ireland to find work. They were the backbone of the league for years. I hope they are all keeping well. I know they are following the league on the NET. To all the lads that take part each Friday  I wish you and your families a happy Christmas. Hopefully the New Year will bring jobs,a new sense of hope in our communities and above all peace to you all.  God bless. Keep the faith     Mike C

   

Like Ronan We Must Believe

His done it again. Just when we settled for two points up stepped Ronan O Gara to repeat his great drop kick of last week. Believe we must believe. When everyone around you is beginning to shake you must believe. Ireland at the moment is not a place that people can believe in. Huge salaries and not just for Bankers but from the leader of the football association in Ireland. John Delaney’s salary is reported to be €400,000. It’s difficult to square this salary with the fact that most Football clubs are finding it difficult to field Schoolboy and Junior teams due to lack of finance. The lack of sponsorship is a major problem. Membership fees are difficult to collect because of unemployment. This man who should know better continues to collect €400,000 without any apology. That’s today’s Ireland. Money for the Bankers Ex Government ministers, developers, for those at the top while they tell us to cut back. They tell us we have been living beyond our means. New VAT rates along with cutbacks in child benefit are on the way in the budget. On Saturday I was listening to a talk show about poverty and homelessness. It was sad to hear the various stories people had. The programme went for an ad break. Next came an advertisement for an elite golf club in Dublin at a rate of €4,000 a year. Who is buying these memberships? See above. Despite everything we cannot let the elite break us. We Irish have always hung together in difficult times we must believe in ourselves. We must believe that we are good enough to overcome anything they can throw at us. The Rugby and Football teams are doing their bit. It’s up to us. Just like Ronan we must continue to believe. Keep the faith.
   

Common Sense Is What We Need

I was really worried as I spotted the fog rise and start drifting across the pitches. I thought that we would have to call the final two games off. Fortunately the fog drifted up and down the pitch and eventually went off towards Clonlara. Talking about Clonlara I was very sad to hear of two young lads from the Clonlara area who play for Stonecutters who are off to Australia this week. Senan Nihill and Tommy Lynch played for the past few years with the Cutters and it’s a sign of the times that young lads have to emigrate to earn a living. We wish them the best of luck and sincerely hope that we see them returning to Ireland and the LWL in the near future. During the week we all heard that we are in for a tough budget. Its almost like as if the the Government are taking pleasure out of telling us that they are going to whip us and if we are goods boys they will whip us again and harder for the next four years. In the 80’s we had a programme called Halls Pictorial weekly. They used to send up the Government of the time. They had a character called The Minister for Hardship (it was Minister For Finance Richie Ryan at the time) who used to sit in a room with a candle and finger less gloves. I think Michael Noonan is fast moving towards the title of Minister for Hardship. Income tax is down VAT is down it doesn’t take a genius to understand that we need to encourage people to spend. If we spend in the shops the shops will take on more staff. They in turn will buy more supplies and the suppliers will take on more people. All these extra people at work will pay more income tax and in turn their purchases will mean more VAT. Rocket science No. Common sense Yes. Keep the Faith  
   

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