Team Profile: Ireland Warriors

[clarkey]

Team Profile: Ireland Warriors
By Chelsea Roffey
AFL website
26 July, 2008

Country snapshot
IRELAND is a small nation occupying most of the island of Ireland (one-sixth is Northern Island), west of Great Britain.

Slightly larger than Tasmania, Ireland consists of 26 counties and has a population of around four million people. The Irish are known to love horse-racing, rugby, Gaelic football, and hurling – all washed down with a several pints of Guinness (which leads to another type of hurling).

Famous for: U2, drinking, leprechauns, potatoes, the Blarney Stone, the shamrock, Jimmy Stynes, Riverdance, The Cranberries, Danny Boy, Peter O’Toole, Sinead O’Connor, Oscar Wilde, luck and Shane MacGowan's teeth..

Australian football history
The Australian Rules Football League of Ireland was formed in October, 2000, a year after footy sides formed in Dublin and Belfast. The league has expanded to seven clubs.

The first national Irish team was fielded in 2001 for the Atlantic Alliance Cup in London, where the side took out the championship after convincingly beating teams from Great Britain, the United States, Denmark and Canada.

In 2002 Ireland won the inaugural International Cup, defeating Papua New Guinea in the final. They finished fourth in 2005.

National jumper
Green and white.

Secret weapon
Warrnambool. Apparently many great Aussie players have landed in Dublin from Warrnambool, taking up footy with the Ireland league. The Irish Warriors are hoping to have a barrage of support at their home-away-from-home in the 2008 International Cup.

Irish are naturals at footy because…
Many of the positions in Australian football are similar to those in Gaelic Football. You say ‘back pocket’, they say ‘corner back’. Martin Clark, Colm Begley, Tadhg Kennelly, the O’hAilpins – there must be something in it.

Meet the team
James ‘Rambo’ O’ Byrne is the one in headgear. Brian ‘Stretch’ O’ Connell – well, you won’t miss him. Sean ‘Terrior’ Fallon is a compact little package, but is also known as the hardest player on the team who will, quote: “bite your ankles”.

James ‘Goose’ Flavin, is the dependable one, a great wingman – like Goose from Top Gun. Mick ‘Plugger’ Currane just likes to score goals. And move over Placedo Domingo – David ‘Mingo’ Walsh sang all day on the tube as the team travelled from Dublin to London for a match. There’s always one!

Ireland’s Mr Football
Dublin Demons star Michael ‘Plugger’ Currane set up and ran the Irish league in the beginning. He’s been playing since the first season, was pivotal in setting up the Atlantic Alliance Cup and gaining sponsorship for the league, including assisting with funds for the 2002 International Cup win.

The hardest thing about playing footy in Ireland is…
Getting access to playing fields, which can be a real stretch for small clubs with limited funds and resources.

Then there’s the blasted rain!

Source: http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsid=64211

 

[Over The Post]

Watched the Irish bhoys at training tonight, some of them were up to a good suburban standard and some were simply outstanding. The pace of two or three of their smaller blokes has to be seen to be believed. You'd be silly to write off these blokes - if anyone has - they will do very well!

 

[krudmonk]

Should that really be shocking? The island of Ireland is the top international pipeline, no? I hope it legitimizes the international rules competition, while still keeping each code distinct.

 

[The Passenger]

played against most of these lads in the irish comp, and then played a game with my dublin based club team against them in late july early august.... some very good players out there in that team.

theres a fella playing for htem cliff, but i don't know he's last name. he is so hard to match up on. he's about 6'3, quick and fit as all hell.

they would have to be in the best 2 or 3 teams there surely.

 

[Real Insight]

WERE ROBBED of 3rd place today.

 

[waldo]

A case of deja vu and premature celebration. My uncle never went back to waverley again after that match!

For those not aware:

http://150years.com.au/150Moments/Vote/tabid/11389/Default.aspx?page116446=14

Moment #89: A ‘big’ 15 metres
MELBOURNE'S Jim Stynes was the footballer who gave “the Irish experiment” credibility, winning the Brownlow Medal in 1991 and breaking the VFL/AFL record for consecutive games played. But among all the praise and the footballing highlights came one monumental mistake.
Melbourne was leading Hawthorn in the last minute of the 1987 preliminary final when Hawk Gary Buckenara had a shot on goal from about 60m. As he was lining up, an unaware Stynes, in his first season of VFL football, ran across the mark, gifting Buckenara a 15m penalty. He duly converted and took his team into the grand final.
“There was no running, no hiding from the mistake I had made against Hawthorn,” Stynes wrote in his autobiography.
“I could not blame it on this or that. I could not blame it on the umpire, or on my teammates, or that the siren was not loud enough. It was my fault, my mistake.”
Remarkably, Stynes attributes his subsequent Brownlow win to that awful day.
“If I had not given Gary Buckenara that 15-metre penalty my attitude would not have been what it was in subsequent seasons. I would not have made the most of a rare opportunity to play Australian football at the highest level.”

 

[Croaker]

WERE ROBBED of 3rd place today.

It was a pretty bizarre end to the game. A few of us on the fence were divided between the opinion that the African played on or the Irish defender went over the mark.
A guy who was next to me ran over to the umpires after the game to find out what happened and the umps were adament he went over the mark. Seems ludicrous to me - he didn't play on because the defender went over the mark, he saw it as the only way to cover the 50 m. The penalty was a gift and goal pure luck!

We talked to a few of the Irish players as they were leaving and they were very upset about the result. They were clearly the better team.