Mean Machine... Who were/are the hardest players in the EL

[Estar]

Just watched the flick. An average film but some funny moments, played against a keeper like that before (Psycho).


Who were the hardest players to play LoI football?
Most would come from pre 90's because of the laws now.

Dermot Keely, Liam O'Brien, :confused:

[parnell ranger]

tom conway definitely,keely,

[Postman]

Alan Reynolds is a hardman,
He wears a hardman's hat,
And when he signed for Rovers,
he said I fancy that,
he heard about the Rovers fans,
on the ultras site,
he signed for Liam Buckley,
and ****ed off the Citeee ****e!

[The Sheliban]

Originally posted by Estar
Just watched the flick. An average film but some funny moments, played against a keeper like that before (Psycho).


Who were the hardest players to play LoI football?
Most would come from pre 90's because of the laws now.

Dermot Keely, Liam O'Brien, :confused:


Liam O'Brien was a lamb in a den of lions. Keely, Eccles, King - all of them nasty. Does that make them hard though?

[DvB]

Cant believe everybody has forgotten the ultimate hard case, namely Alan Byrne!! Nutter!!

Tom Mc Nulty was another hard ( for hard read dirty as f**k ) case!!

On the subject of Hard/dirty one player who gets away with murder is Osam, he consistently goes in studs high & leaves the foot in, im amazed he gets away with it, suppose it goes to show how a reputation can blinker the officials view of a given situation!

Koh

DvB

[Dodge]

I don't think Oso's dirty but I get your point that quality players get away with more than most. I'd have Mick moody in there for Pats, hard but rarely dirty.

[Estar]

How about the former Shelbourne striker Folan. Any keepers? Tom Lally Galway Utd (more of a nutter than dirty!).:) By the end of this tread we could have a starting 11.

[Éanna]

McNulty, Osam, Ratnolds are all in there. Wes Charles is a brute of a fellow as well, and patsy freyne was very like osam inthat he got away with loads of ankle taps and sly kicks

[wws]

osam is just physically stonger than most in the league so that with his legendary skill and balance means he's always odds on to get the best out of one on ones, ive said it before and i'll say it again, any time we played in europe osam was the only player you could point to and say he didnt just compete on an equal footing he was better as an allround footballer and tougher opponnent, saw it v celtic, rijeka and gent

just a different class, a one off

[pete]

Big difference between hard & dirty.

McNulty definitely one of the dirtiest feckers ever to grace the LOI/eL.

Elbow merchants would be Wesley Charles & Avery John.

Osam hard but not really dirty. Deccie Daly similarily plus great skill of talking himself out of bookings.

League seems to short of hard men these days.

[The Donie Forde]

John Brohan - Martin Sheehan - Noel O'Mahony - John Herrick. Quite possibly the toughest collective bunch of hardmen of all time in a League of Ireland context. Amazing that they were all of the same generation and from the same city - incredible that they all played for the same team: Cork Hibs early to mid 70s. Only Fada among them also played for Cork Celtic.
As a sop to style and finesse, Hibs usually deployed Dave Bacuzzi with just 3 of the others lest the Dubs refused to travel to Leeside altogether...! :D Or maybe that was Bacuzzi was actually picking the team...

Others may mention Keely or King or whoever they wish, but you'll never beat that quartet who gave rise to the oft-used and much beloved clichéd phrase of Radio Eireann, 'Teak-tough Cork defenders'...

John Herrick is Mark's daddy, btw.

Donie

[wws]

Originally posted by The Donie Forde

John Herrick is Mark's daddy, btw.

Donie


its worse than an aussie soap.....and ya had to tell him this way!

[wws]

Originally posted by pete


League seems to short of hard men these days.


isn't that really cause all the true hardmen were basically sh!t footballers? elbows mcguinness a case in point - a relic at a time when general technique (rico word) is replacing slashing someones head open as a league of ireland skill requirement

[The Donie Forde]

Originally posted by wws
its worse than an aussie soap.....and ya had to tell him this way!

Sometime's being blunt is best with bad news...:D

Donie

[patsh]

Originally posted by The Donie Forde
John Brohan - Martin Sheehan - Noel O'Mahony - John Herrick.

Donie
Spot on!
Noel was doing the kung fu kick long before that tosser Cantona was out of nappies !!!:D
Micky Niblock?
Remember Ben Hannigan?
$hels defo and Celtic too? He was a hard man!

[TommyT]

Donal Leahy's reputed to have been a dirty bastared aswell.

Alan Byrne, Peter Eccles would be my most fondly remembered.No Dundalk fans contributing, bet they could name dozens. :D

[BobtheDrog]

any drogs who played in midfield under lawlor and Lavine

[bert]

Originally posted by TommyT
Donal Leahy's reputed to have been a dirty bastared aswell.

Alan Byrne, Peter Eccles would be my most fondly remembered.No Dundalk fans contributing, bet they could name dozens. :D

Alan Byrne hard? don't know about that but he was pure scum, which is why he fitted in so well with ye.

[TommyT]

Originally posted by bert
Alan Byrne hard? don't know about that but he was pure scum, which is why he fitted in so well with ye.

Very intellectual reposte-I hope you've been drinking.

[UCD_4_Life]

Alan Cawley.

'Ard as nails, so he is.

[sadloserkid]

John Frost (Waterford United)

John & Derek Whyte (Limerick - The Brothers Grim)

Was Charles is a huge, tough guy. Sound as can be though.

Greg O'Halloran is no shrinking violet either.

[d13bohs]

Without a shadow of a doubt it has to be...


















FERGAL HARKIN:D :p

[techs]

at the moment it would be between

alan reynolds (the man is a f***in barbarian)
barry ferguson (he's an animal)
avery john (just ask trevor molloy or bobby ryan)
kevin hunt (great player and as tough as nails)

[Maz]

well would agree with avery anyways...madman