Who was the hardest player to grace LOI

[mr.brightside]

any sugestions

[drummerboy]

Dermot Keely would be a contender
Donal Broughan, certainly one of the dirtiest

[lofty9]

Paul Mooney, Derry (ex Linfield). Hard as nails in the tackle and a fully committted footballer. As for nutcases we've had a few, but were absolutely useless with a ball and therefore don't get classed as footballers IMO.

[ollie]

deccie daly would be up there.danny murphy was creating a bit of a reputation for himself till he left

[gustavo]

I'll just nominate 2 bruisers from my childhood , Steve Birks and Lee Thew.

[Raheny Red]

I never seen Keeley play but after reading a few stories about him, I'd have to go with him...............

[joeSoap]

Joe O'Mahoney-Limerick, late 70's /early 80's.
Dermot Keely.

Today....all pussies.

[joeSoap]

deccie daly would be up there.danny murphy was creating a bit of a reputation for himself till he left

Agree with you on Daly. Murphy was developing a reputation all right-for being a foul- mouthed, sneaky, dirty player that cost his side a lot in the way of fines, red cards and suspensions. There's a difference between being dirty and being hard.

[GuisaSaigon]

Jimmy Nolan - Galway United 1981-1995
The hardest man to ever play football , without a doubt.

[razor]

deccie daly would be up there.danny murphy was creating a bit of a reputation for himself till he left

Deccie is a City legend and one of the hardest players ever to play in the EL, Murphy was tough but his temperament was suspect, nowhere near Deccie in the hard man stakes.

[oriel]

Roy Keane !!!!! (Cobh 88/89)

Tom McNulty for us, he played a roy keane type game for almost 10 years.

In fact see all players mentioned in most hated thread, most will fall into this thread again.

Also from the 80`s

Pat Byrne (Rovs) Tony Fagan (Sligo) Tommy Lynch (Limerick) all spring to mind.

[OneRedArmy]

Paul Hegarty.
Paul Doolin.
Tom McNulty.
Peter Eccles.

[lofty9]

Tom McNulty was a hooligan except he did his bit on the pitch, i remember him trying to remove Johnny Kenny leg from the rest of his body one saturday evening in the Showgrounds absolute filth. Derry had a Scottish right back as well who was filthy he was on the team that we beat in the 94 cup final i think hes surname name was Mc something but not sure.

Left back, Paul McLaughlin, dirty player, very slow though. I was going to include him but Mooney just got my vote.

[ollie]

Murphy was developing a reputation all right-for being a foul- mouthed, sneaky, dirty player that cost his side a lot in the way of fines, red cards and suspensions.

he was all that all right but you can't deny he was also a tough little nut

[Ash]

Steve Birks was a right tough fcuker. Tommy Lynch another.

Barry Murphy and Ray McLoughlin (both ex ATFC) could dish
out a few crunching tackles in their day

[red bellied]

Tony Fagan (Sligo Rovers). His speciality, give his opponent a good kick in the shins, not the biggest player you will ever see either.

[drummerboy]

Wouldn't agree with Pat Byrne. But his midfield partner, Noel King could give out a bit of stick. Actually that was some Rovers team, with King, Keely, Eccles. Harry McCue is another.

[pineapple stu]

Richie Purdy picked up 9 yellows and a red in his first ten games for us. Can't remember at this stage if it was just bad timing or if he was just a dirty *******. Memory tells me it was more the latter than the former anyway.

[stann]

Foxy Tommy definitely the hardest player I remember seeing. Tough as diamond nails that have been left soaking in vinegar, and with a cannonball 40-yard free kick in his locker that he scored with about once every other season.
From before my time I'd go with Jimmy McGeough from the tales I've heard.

Birks, McNulty, Keely all good shouts too. The mention of Lee Thew always makes me laugh thinking about his various errortel appearances.

[drinkfeckarse]

From personal experiance, Declan Daly and Peter Hutton.