Gaelic Crssovers

[superfrank]

I've been thinking, now this is just a suggestion, that el clubs should consider looking at Gaelic players as possibilities. Especially when you think of the lads that have made the switch like Kevin Moran, John Walsh and....eh...Jason Sherlock.

AFAIK, PJ Banville at Waterford is the only crossover in the el at the current time. He plays for Wexford in the Gaelic.

Anyway, what do you think?

[Conor H]

....played for United a couple of years ago and he was ****e! It's a totally different game and the changeover wouldn't be that easy,although all the GAA heads would tell you that it is. :rolleyes: In general Bad idea IMO.

[Slash/ED]

Frankly, without wanting to start a big debate here, the vast majority of them wouldn't be good enough.

[superfrank]

It was merely a suggestion. We all know about Kevin Moran, John Walsh was great for us for a long time and I think he's the goalkeeping coach now.

[Troy.McClure]

Dont Drogs or Harps have someone too? I might be wrong though. Of course one of the best national league players ever was Cork CIty's very own Leeside legend Davey Barry who won the Sam MacGuire with Cork.

Colin O'Brien used to play minor (and u21?) GAA with Cork and when George O'Callighan came back from Port Vale he lined out for the Cork intermediate hurling team before he signed for us. He has stated that he would like to play for the senior hurling team after Cork wins the league, so you'd never know!

The fat bald Limerick goalkeeper used to be the City youth keeper too btw.

Didnt Kevin Doyle play at some level for Wexford too before he moved to City?

[ollie]

Stephen Kelly another example with Limerick FC and Limerick CLG,also plays rugby with some AIL side.
Brendan Devenney played with Finn Harps and Donegal i think.
the 2 games are too professional now to combine the 2.the 2 are very different games.

[Troy.McClure]

Frankly, without wanting to start a big debate here, the vast majority of them wouldn't be good enough.

But some athletes could be good at any sport they tried, like Setanta O'hAlpin crossing over to Ozzie rules. Id say that Sean Og hAlpin would be a good soccer player if he gave it a go and Im sure there are others too.

[ollie]

Colin O'Brien used to play minor (and u21?) GAA with Cork
that minor team won the all irealnd also.think it was in 93.not sure if he played with the u21s

[ThatGuy]

Wexford's all-star hurler Eoin Quigley was a centre-half for Bohs a few seasons ago, Graham Geraghty also was with the club briefly years ago.

The Westmeath 'keeper (Gary Connaughton?) was one of Kerr's old u18s/u21s and played for Athlone as far as I know.

[Bosco]

Shane Barret was doing very well for the meath under-21s when he started for us,not sure if he ever played for the seniors.Didnt dublom keeper stephen cluxtun play for pats at some stage?Also former town player paddy mulvihill left soccer and got into the westmeath senior team

[Cosmo]

'Dont Drogs or Harps have someone too? I might be wrong though.'

Drogs sub goalie Gary Rogers (should be our number 1 ) used to play with meath under 21's. Had to pack it though when he went full time

[Slash/ED]

Shane Barret was doing very well for the meath under-21s when he started for us,not sure if he ever played for the seniors.Didnt dublom keeper stephen cluxtun play for pats at some stage?Also former town player paddy mulvihill left soccer and got into the westmeath senior team

No Cluxton said he would play for Pats but didn't, around the same time he was due to get a big suspension that mysterously disappeared iirc.

[Dodge]

No Cluxton said he would play for Pats but didn't, around the same time he was due to get a big suspension that mysterously disappeared iirc.
yeah i said I'd pay for pats too...

Brian Donovan played GAA for Kildare and real football for us in the early 90s.

Always had huge respect for Dave barry for choosing football over GAA

[Anto McC]

Stephen Cluxton is better than all bar 1/2 EL goalkeepers

[Dodge]

In a smaller goal. I've played in goal in both sports and there is a HUGE difference. John O'Leary was signed by Rovers back in his heyday but couldn't get near their first team

[Anto McC]

In a smaller goal. I've played in goal in both sports and there is a HUGE difference.

I didn't think so

[MariborKev]

Anthony Tohill played for us briefly in the mid 90s.

He came on in the away leg against Lokomotiv Sofia when Tony O'Dowd got sent off and caused amazement amongst the locals by kicking the ball the entire length of the field.

Paddy Bradley is on Cliftonville's book but hasn't set the world on fire in the eleven-a-side code.

Donal O'Brien switched between Aussie Rules and LOI soccer when he was with us as well

[The Stars]

Michael Mc Namara was a good Sligo forward a few years ago and now he is Rovers captain and playing in the best defence in the League............not bad.
Phillip Gallagher also played for the Gaa team and is now a Sub for us.

[gael353]

Eoin Keating, JP Stokes, Barry Ryan, have all played for limerick in both GAA and soccer. Paul Tobin has played at some level of GAA for Tipperary, Ross Cosgrave and Brenden Hughes both ex limerick have played upto under 21 for there counties at Gealic, and Tommy Barret lines out for St Patricks at Junior football right now. Theres been tons cos limerick is a place like that, you run, play hurling, soccer and cycle or swin depending on the season or self dedication. Mr Spain can you confirm?

[harpskid]

Aye, Brendan Devenney played for us. Did grand but playing both codes burned him out in the end up. He also played for Limavady last season.

Currently, our no-2 keeper, Michael Boyle is the county's no1 gaelic 'keeper.

Didn't Sean Flannery play GAA for Sligo at a stage?

[sonofstan]

Stephen Cluxton is better than all bar 1/2 EL goalkeepers

half El goalkeepers? you mean Stephen O'Brien, right?

[fbtn]

Stephen OBrien ha ha :D Classic man.

Current Harps players Declan Boyle and Shane 'Rita' Bradley were stars for Donegal - Boyler gave up when he went to Celtic and Rita was made choose by the then county manager Anthony Bonner. Ironically Bonner played for both Donegal and Harps as a player himself.

Alan 'Dotsie' Doherty who played up front for us in the mid 90s played with Louth and the magic Tom Mohan who is now with Longford played with Fermanagh.

EDIT: Something that I noticed this week re: the GAA website. The folk that detest all things foreign had their official website www.gaa.ie and all their counties websites designed by a webdesign company in New Zealand. Nice of them with all the millions that they rake in with their draws that they can't spend some of it in the country that they are so proud of.

[The Stars]

Didn't Sean Flannery play GAA for Sligo at a stage?
he did indeed.

[gustavo]

Sean played for IT Sligo in the Sigerson a few years ago was also a panelist for us doing the NFL one year.Johnny Davey the Sligo GAA player (one of their best this year) also played for Rovers during the Jim McInally era,Conor O Grady played for Sligo gaelic team up to u-21 level also

[Longfordian]

Shay Kelly played for Offaly at inter-county level, Shane Barrett was picked for the Meath senior panel but had to drop out when forced to choose one or the other

[Macy]

Paddy Mulvihill was on the westmeath bogball panel this year wasn't he?

John Rogers is in and around the Roscommon panel.

Both formally with us.

How about Dessie Barry for the old timers?

I know Kenny was keen to get one promenient Longford GAA Star in for a look.... I've no doubt he'd have been a success, but he was adamant that you couldn't learn the positional sense at a relatively late age not being brought up playing the game. Pity...

[noby]

The move to summer (and I'm not knocking it) has made it more of a direct choice. PJ Banville didn't re-sign with the blues at the start of the season, as he wanted to concentrate on GAA. Now that Wexford's year is over, there's talk of him coming back for the rest of the year.

[Longfordian]

I'm 90% sure Dessie Barry played for the Town at some point

[gspain]

'Dont Drogs or Harps have someone too? I might be wrong though.'

Drogs sub goalie Gary Rogers (should be our number 1 ) used to play with meath under 21's. Had to pack it though when he went full time

Or when the Meath county board chairman went into the dressingroom and forcibly grabbed his shirt against the manager's wishes.

The Ban is still alive and well in Meath.

A recent UL study showed LoI footballers to be fitter than GAA county players. The GAA players are stronger.

The F.A.I./LoI used to facilitate players playing under false names during the days of the ban.

The ban was removed in the 70's and Dinny Allen was one of the first to benefit. He scored the winning goal in the 1973 F.A.I. Cup final for Cork Hibs and he also wona GAA All Ireland final medal with Cork.

[Macy]

I'm 90% sure Dessie Barry played for the Town at some point
I'm sure you'll be able to get confirmation. Pretty sure he played late 80's though....

[gspain]

Dave Barry - an absolute legend in both codes.
Deveney is another brilliant player in both codes.

(to the best of my knowledge Dessie Barry never played soccer).

Dave Barry was certainly Cork City's star player in the late 80's.

I wouldn't rate Brendan Devenney that highly as a football player with Harps or Limavady. I don't think he has done that much but open to correction from Harps fans. The club didn't make great efforts to resign him when he became available.

[Ash]

We've had:
Shane Curran - Athlone Town & Roscommon GAA
Gary Connaughton - Athlone Town & Westmeath GAA
Paddy Mulvihill - Athlone Town/Longford Town & Westmeath GAA

[Wiseguy]

Dessie Barry did play for the Town back in the 80's.I remember him coming to The boys school for a kind of Q&A session and i asked him if he was going to play for the Town again and he said no that Gaelic was taking up to much of his time.As long as i can recall the GAA never wanted anyone to associate with soccer.Niall Sheridan also had a very brief spell with the Town.
IMO most GAA players just wouldn't be good enough.

[pineapple stu]

Stephen Lynch (UCD, Athlone, Longford Town and Longford GAA), Eóin Keating (Limerick FC, UCD and Limerick GAA) and Eóin Bennis (UCD and Dublin GAA) are a few I can think off to add to the list. Didn't realise Mulvihill (another former UCD player) had played senior GAA. Richie Foran apparently got into trouble for sneaking home from Scotland to play a B league game or something recently.

They're two different games though - being fit enough to play eL and being good enough to play Gaelic Football doesn't necessarily mean you're good enough to play eL. And vice versa, of course.

[fbtn]

Richie Foran apparently got into trouble for sneaking home from Scotland to play a B league game or something recently

He didn't sneak home, he was home anyway as it was close season in Scotland. It was actually the County Junior Final that he played in so it wasn't exactly a low-profile match either - he had no hope of keeping it quiet the edjit. He came on as sub for his old side St. Joseph’s/O’Connell Boys’ who were getting beaten by St Vincents - scored a goal and changed the game. His side went on to win and Terry Butcher went nuts when he found out.

My mates (who is a Rovers fan) younger brother is one of his best mates and they used to give him dogs abuse when he was with Shels :D

Some mates eh?

[ollie]

has the offaly keeper played with any LOI side.think i heard he had trials with teams in England when younger.he's a super Football keeper

[pineapple stu]

Just reminded me that Shay Kelly (ex UCD, Cardiff, Bohs, Pat's and current Longford) played for Offaly - not sure what level though. Possibly senior.

[Longfordian]

Shay Kelly played for Offaly at inter-county level

Pay attention young man! Is his brother in goals for them now? Somebody told me that..

[bigmac]

Alan Reynolds won a Junior All-Ireland with Waterford a few years ago.

[Duffman]

Down GAA "star" Peter Withnell played with Dundalk about 10 years ago. Big and strong and no comprehension of how offside worked. Bit of a problem when he was leading the line :D

[bluemovie]

Can any Harps fan confirm that Kerry goalkeeper Charlie Nelligan played with Finn Harps?

[pineapple stu]

Another UCD player - Pat McWalter I think has a senior club county title medal for Gaelic Football. The county, which probably take away from this, is Wicklow.

[Xlex]

Andy Moran (Mayo) played U-21 for the town. Brian Greene played for Longford and the town. Was signed as U-21 cover some time ago when we suffered a couple of injuries...