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Replying To Lockjaw: "A really poor final which reminded me a lot of 1990. Argentina were involved then as well. They had one world class player, but decided that their best chance of success against a superior opponent (West Germany) would be to needle, kick and **house their way to penalties. Spain might not be everyone's cup of tea with the way that they dominate possession and squeeze the life out of the opposition. But they were the only team trying to play football last night, and deserved their win. I read somewhere that they only conceded 10 shots on target across their entire World Cup, resulting in only one goal conceded. That is extraordinary. Oryazabal has done a decent job up front for them. But if they were to unearth another Butragueno/Raul/Torres/Villa calibre striker, they'd be close to unstoppable." I thought Spain were pretty darn good all through. To go through an entire World Cup without anyone laying a glove on you speaks for itself. Schooled France at the semi, and Euro '24 champs to boot. Laughable that some 'experts' are bored enough to be criticising them. Pope_Benedict (Galway)** - Posts: 4876 - 20/07/2026 14:22:23 2686372 Link
Replying To BarneyGrant: "I had a good friend from Gortin and one of the sure ways to turn him into a raving loon was to say anything at all good about Derry." Yes the Sperrin mountains were a great natural dividing line. Brian Dooher used to play like a man possessed when he played Derry. tireoghainabu (Tyrone) - Posts: 490 - 20/07/2026 15:14:32 2686383 Link
Replying To Commodore: "Hardly surprising, as Fine Gael is the modern day remnant of the 1922 pro-Treaty voting TDs that legitimized partition and in more modern times have been the party of choice for block voting of ROI based people of unionist background. I can't see any self-respecting Nationalist/Republican wanting to remain part of an archaic monarchist Union, which has been directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of over 2 million Irish people and the departure of millions of other Irish people from these shores, not to mention the oppression of native people who remained. No tax percentage or amount of money would change my mind on Irish Unity, its time to end this stain on Irish History for good and open a new chapter in Irish history." Well said it is a terrible historical wrong and injustice. It should be the number one priority for all Irish people and any Irish government. It needs to be made much more of a priority so the momentum for a border poll increases. If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remain in Government and refuse to plan for unity, it will stall for generations. REDANDBLACK30 (Down) - Posts: 1765 - 20/07/2026 16:02:07 2686390 Link
Replying To Pope_Benedict: "I thought Spain were pretty darn good all through. To go through an entire World Cup without anyone laying a glove on you speaks for itself. Schooled France at the semi, and Euro '24 champs to boot. Laughable that some 'experts' are bored enough to be criticising them." Yes the Spanish are a model to follow in terms of coaching and player development. They really have their ducks in a row. Then look at the club scene - Champions League winning manager - Spanish Europa League winning manager - Spanish Most of the top jobs in the Premier League - Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea - Spanish and Pep Guardiola could probably walk into any job he wants, now that he's finished up at City. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10428 - 20/07/2026 16:38:19 2686393 Link
Replying To REDANDBLACK30: "Well said it is a terrible historical wrong and injustice. It should be the number one priority for all Irish people and any Irish government. It needs to be made much more of a priority so the momentum for a border poll increases. If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remain in Government and refuse to plan for unity, it will stall for generations." It certainly isn't "number one priority for all Irish people". Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 769 - 20/07/2026 16:39:37 2686394 Link
Replying To Seanfan: "It certainly isn't "number one priority for all Irish people"." That's completely true. In a Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll showed it wasn't a priority for the Irish electorate at all. This tracker asked 1,286 participants in the Republic of Ireland to select their top two political priorities. In this specific survey, a united Ireland completely failed to register among the top 18 priorities selected by the electorate, effectively receiving a 0% priority score. Because the lowest-ranking issue on the recorded list received 1% of the vote, commentators noted that Irish unity captured less than 1%. A border poll would pass comfortably in the Republic on the figures but it's not an issue the electorate seem to care about. A lot of Nationalists care about unity in the North but there is a significant cohort who would likely vote against unity also. This will make it very difficult for a border poll to pass because very few Unionists will vote for a United Ireland. REDANDBLACK30 (Down) - Posts: 1765 - 20/07/2026 18:03:05 2686412 Link
Replying To Lockjaw: "Yes the Spanish are a model to follow in terms of coaching and player development. They really have their ducks in a row. Then look at the club scene - Champions League winning manager - Spanish Europa League winning manager - Spanish Most of the top jobs in the Premier League - Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea - Spanish and Pep Guardiola could probably walk into any job he wants, now that he's finished up at City." 2 world cups and 3 euros in the last 18 years,serious going. Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 188 - 20/07/2026 19:09:28 2686417 Link
Replying To REDANDBLACK30: "That's completely true. In a Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll showed it wasn't a priority for the Irish electorate at all. This tracker asked 1,286 participants in the Republic of Ireland to select their top two political priorities. In this specific survey, a united Ireland completely failed to register among the top 18 priorities selected by the electorate, effectively receiving a 0% priority score. Because the lowest-ranking issue on the recorded list received 1% of the vote, commentators noted that Irish unity captured less than 1%. A border poll would pass comfortably in the Republic on the figures but it's not an issue the electorate seem to care about. A lot of Nationalists care about unity in the North but there is a significant cohort who would likely vote against unity also. This will make it very difficult for a border poll to pass because very few Unionists will vote for a United Ireland." Which is why border poll is not legitimate. It is another means to maintain Partition and British rule in Ireland. SF are being utterly cyncical about it. Harping on about it while acting as day to day managers along with DUP. They know one is unlikely to be held and if it is it will lose. Another can't be held for 7 years. So they continue harping on about it and wet their beaks. Shame so many lives ruined for this pathetic ending. BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 4493 - 20/07/2026 20:13:26 2686420 Link
Replying To Lockjaw: "Yes the Spanish are a model to follow in terms of coaching and player development. They really have their ducks in a row. Then look at the club scene - Champions League winning manager - Spanish Europa League winning manager - Spanish Most of the top jobs in the Premier League - Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea - Spanish and Pep Guardiola could probably walk into any job he wants, now that he's finished up at City." They recently won the UEFA U19 championships without conceding a single goal in qualifying or the championships themselves. They've won that title 10 times since the turn of the century, far more than any other country. Spain are continuing to produce quality players, who are technically excellent and their current senior team is quite young. Aside from their quality, something which isn't mentioned often enough is there excellent record in finals. Between club and country, they tend to get job done whenever they reach the showpiece match. Their record in European club finals is remarkable over the past 25 years or so. I think it's close to 30 won and only a handful of losses, most of which were to other Spanish clubs. At international level it's 6 titles from 7 finals between World Cup and Euros. WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2954 - 20/07/2026 21:13:08 2686428 Link
Replying To Commodore: "Hardly surprising, as Fine Gael is the modern day remnant of the 1922 pro-Treaty voting TDs that legitimized partition and in more modern times have been the party of choice for block voting of ROI based people of unionist background. I can't see any self-respecting Nationalist/Republican wanting to remain part of an archaic monarchist Union, which has been directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of over 2 million Irish people and the departure of millions of other Irish people from these shores, not to mention the oppression of native people who remained. No tax percentage or amount of money would change my mind on Irish Unity, its time to end this stain on Irish History for good and open a new chapter in Irish history." Donegal was one of those pro-Treaty voting counties though.. Majority of TD's in Donegal sided with the Treaty. The IRA in the county at the time of the Truce/Civil War went overwhelmingly majority pro-Treaty. Even the Sinn Fein in Donegal was pro-Treaty. Goreylad1985 (Wexford) - Posts: 61 - 20/07/2026 21:14:09 2686429 Link