your all star schools team..

[old yellar]

lads, i had the pleasure of 11 great years up there working in offaly and was thinking back on the amount of talented hurlers i saw up there in the school. i was trying to think of a best 15 from my time and ran into pleasant difficulties in trying to pick it. great memories of great lads. i m just wondering have ye any thoughts of a team from your old school whom you would think were the best school hurlers in your time there. my old school was LSU. small in numbers and with a limited time frame hurling wise but has had some excellent players.. anyone like to try there own? i ll be a while before i settle on mine!

[leinsterman]

St. Brendan's Birr 80's
1.Barry Gleeson
2.Brian Hennessy
3. Damien Geoghegan
4.Gary Cahill
5. Brian Whelehan
6. Mick Hogan
7.Joe Errity
8.Johnny pilkington
9. Adrian Cahill
10.Johnny Dooley
11.Daithi Regan
12.Declan Pilkington
13.Billy Dooley
14.David Harding
15.Noel Hogan
there's maybe a few i left out can't think of them now it was 23 year's ago
not a bad side is it.

[True Red]

How many All Ireland winners are on that side you picked?

[leinsterman]

How many All Ireland winners are on that side you picked?

senior i think 9
minor 12 plus , 10 allstars on it between them all

[joe bloggs]

St. Brendan's Birr 80's
1.Barry Gleeson
2.Brian Hennessy
3. Damien Geoghegan
4.Gary Cahill
5. Brian Whelehan
6. Mick Hogan
7.Joe Errity
8.Johnny pilkington
9. Adrian Cahill
10.Johnny Dooley
11.Daithi Regan
12.Declan Pilkington
13.Billy Dooley
14.David Harding
15.Noel Hogan
there's maybe a few i left out can't think of them now it was 23 year's ago
not a bad side is it.

I could be wrong, but did Kevin Kinahin not attend Birr. Maybe he did and you decided not to pick him!

[leinsterman]

St. Brendan's Birr 80's
1.Barry Gleeson
2.Brian Hennessy
3. Damien Geoghegan
4.Gary Cahill
5. Brian Whelehan
6. Mick Hogan
7.Joe Errity
8.Johnny pilkington
9. Adrian Cahill
10.Johnny Dooley
11.Daithi Regan
12.Declan Pilkington
13.Billy Dooley
14.David Harding
15.Noel Hogan
there's maybe a few i left out can't think of them now it was 23 year's ago
not a bad side is it.

I could be wrong, but did Kevin Kinahin not attend Birr. Maybe he did and you decided not to pick him!

you see the team has to be picked on the best player's at your school when you were there, Damien Geoghegan was on the minor team for 3 year's and in my opinion was one of the best underage hurler i seen coming out of birr hard man.
as for kinahain didn't play minor but was one of the best full backs offaly ever had
i also left out coolderry players mick hogan, ray deegan, and osin oneill , brian gath,
all good hurler's as well. offaly won 3 minor all irelands when i was in school and them players made up them great minor team's well i was gone for 89 minor win
but alot of them played in 87.

[joe bloggs]

St. Brendan's Birr 80's
1.Barry Gleeson
2.Brian Hennessy
3. Damien Geoghegan
4.Gary Cahill
5. Brian Whelehan
6. Mick Hogan
7.Joe Errity
8.Johnny pilkington
9. Adrian Cahill
10.Johnny Dooley
11.Daithi Regan
12.Declan Pilkington
13.Billy Dooley
14.David Harding
15.Noel Hogan
there's maybe a few i left out can't think of them now it was 23 year's ago
not a bad side is it.

I could be wrong, but did Kevin Kinahin not attend Birr. Maybe he did and you decided not to pick him!

you see the team has to be picked on the best player's at your school when you were there, Damien Geoghegan was on the minor team for 3 year's and in my opinion was one of the best underage hurler i seen coming out of birr hard man.
as for kinahain didn't play minor but was one of the best full backs offaly ever had
i also left out coolderry players mick hogan, ray deegan, and osin oneill , brian gath,
all good hurler's as well. offaly won 3 minor all irelands when i was in school and them players made up them great minor team's well i was gone for 89 minor win
but alot of them played in 87.

Yes I see where you are coming from. It's a fair oul team there you have

[joe bloggs]

lads, i had the pleasure of 11 great years up there working in offaly and was thinking back on the amount of talented hurlers i saw up there in the school. i was trying to think of a best 15 from my time and ran into pleasant difficulties in trying to pick it. great memories of great lads. i m just wondering have ye any thoughts of a team from your old school whom you would think were the best school hurlers in your time there. my old school was LSU. small in numbers and with a limited time frame hurling wise but has had some excellent players.. anyone like to try there own? i ll be a while before i settle on mine!

You had a few good ones in your time in there alright. I'd say David Kenny would be near top of your list, or would it be Brendan Lucas. Stephen Wynne another top player to have played there with the Egans also making a big impression. There will have to be a spot too for Niall Lynch in there too, the Kiltormer Kenny's and don't forget the lads there when you started. Aidain Hanrahan and Damien Moran would spring to mind. I'll watch with interest to see your fifteen.

[old yellar]

yeah its a hard team to pick alrite. especially as you dont want to leave a lad out! i ll have a go, on the fly here...

1. ciaran butler rynaghs others - mike lyons, david flannery
2. joe kenny belmont others - ciaran popbye birmingham,
3. Niall lynch eyrecourt - others - willie orourke
4. fegus short rynaghs others - mark mcormack (worth a spot somewhere)
5. brendan kenny kiltormer others - others peter stones niall flahetry
6. adrain moran rynaghs others - jason ryan, robbie ryland
7. kevin moran rynaghs - others- kevin duffy, martin larkin
8. declan kelly lusmagh - others sean mcormack, black micky larkin (wheres me shoes??)
9. brendan lucas eyrecourt others - brian stones
10. david kenny belmont others - bosch carroll, paul birmingham
11. adrian hayes rynaghs others - padraig flaherty, colm kenny
12. stephen wynne rynaghs others - karol duffy
13. mark egan belmont others - enda egan
14. alan egan belmont - others- paul egan
15. paddy kenny kiltormer - the spanish lad we had hurling one day in a west midland league game - i kid ye not!!

thats a start anyhow. i did this quick and i bet i m missing a few obvious lads, so i m open to suggestions men.........

[old yellar]

that should be damien rooky moran not adrian..

[old yellar]

fintan kelly was another i left out, along with at least the 2 lynchs from lusmagh..

[joe bloggs]

I thought you might have been able to find a spot for Michael T on it!

[Lone Shark]

Great idea for a topic - was in Saran's in Ferbane from 1990 through to 1996 but would have been at a few of their championship games in 1988/89 as well so this team would be largely drawn from lads back in that era, since that was pretty much the best group the school had for a long time. The other side of the coin is that I was between ten and fourteen years of age watching a lot of these lads play, so I wouldn't be too confident of backing up this selection - somebody like AZ might make a much better fist of it. I've no doubt I've forgotten a rake of good lads here.

Indeed there are one or two contributors on this board who wouldn't be far off selection themselves, so for the purposes of this debate, I've declined to consider them for selection - I probably would have included one, but I'll keep my counsel on that one!

1 (Can't remember here whether Declan Nugent or Kevin Rohan was around in the earlier days - either of these probably but not sure)
2 Kevin Flynn (Ferbane)
3 Cathal Maher (Ferbane)
4 Willie Ryan (Doon)
5 Roddy McNamee (Ferbane)
6 John Ryan (Shannonbridge)
7 Barry Daly (Ballycumber)
8 James Grennan (Ferbane)
9 Sean Grennan (Ferbane)
10 Anthony Kelly (Shannonbridge)
11 Vinny Mooney (Shannonbridge)
12 Damien Hunt (Doon)
13 Karol Kelly (Shannonbridge)
14 Fergal McEvoy (Shannonbridge)
15 Colm McTague (Ferbane)

[old yellar]

ha! he wasnt a bad one alrite at the hurling.. a cert for the number 1 on the football team. unbeatable on certain days.. another i left off was sedgy dooley.. ah i could be here for days!
thats a tasty footabll team there from sarans. a lot of talent on that side.

[azoffaly]

Great idea for a topic - was in Saran's in Ferbane from 1990 through to 1996 but would have been at a few of their championship games in 1988/89 as well so this team would be largely drawn from lads back in that era, since that was pretty much the best group the school had for a long time. The other side of the coin is that I was between ten and fourteen years of age watching a lot of these lads play, so I wouldn't be too confident of backing up this selection - somebody like AZ might make a much better fist of it. I've no doubt I've forgotten a rake of good lads here.

Indeed there are one or two contributors on this board who wouldn't be far off selection themselves, so for the purposes of this debate, I've declined to consider them for selection - I probably would have included one, but I'll keep my counsel on that one!

1 (Can't remember here whether Declan Nugent or Kevin Rohan was around in the earlier days - either of these probably but not sure)
2 Kevin Flynn (Ferbane)
3 Cathal Maher (Ferbane)
4 Willie Ryan (Doon)
5 Roddy McNamee (Ferbane)
6 John Ryan (Shannonbridge)
7 Barry Daly (Ballycumber)
8 James Grennan (Ferbane)
9 Sean Grennan (Ferbane)
10 Anthony Kelly (Shannonbridge)
11 Vinny Mooney (Shannonbridge)
12 Damien Hunt (Doon)
13 Karol Kelly (Shannonbridge)
14 Fergal McEvoy (Shannonbridge)
15 Colm McTague (Ferbane)

[/quote]

Now I'm disgusted !!! Karol Kelly? Fergal McEvoy?

In fairness though, that's not a bad list. Although there were lads like Nicky Claffey and Colm Brazil as well that I'd have thought would be close to that team as footballers.