September Road: Sit-down protests, hurling beer and #SkyGAA

LIMERICK PROTEST: Making a point

Sky had their cameras pointed the wrong wayon Saturday. While Kilkenny were busy splattering Offaly like a bug on a windshield there were some dramatic scenes playing out at the same time in Limerick.

Hammy Dawson, of the St Patrick's GAA club, staged a one-man sit-in protest Limerick City Junior A hurling final between Na Piarsaigh and Crecora in Clarina. Dawson's issue was with his club being forced to give Crecora a walkover in the semi-final of the competition last weekend as eight of his fellow clubmen were on duty with the Limerick senior and junior footballers.

Attempts to reschedule the game, including an offer to play on the Bank Holiday Monday, all failed. Dawson told the Limerick Leader: “Fixing that game made no sense but refusing to reschedule was worse, showed no respect for either hurling or football, certainly showed no respect for this club or for the players involved. We don’t blame Crecora, we blame the City Division board. They were wrong from day one to fix the match for that date.

“But if they try to go ahead with that I will lie in the middle of the pitch – that game will not take place. I’ll do everything I can physically to make sure of that. It’s a disgrace.”

As good as his word, Dawson turned up and lay in the middle of the field, his protest lasting two hours before the Gardaí eventually persuaded him to leave the pitch. It’s fair to say by that stage he had clearly made his point.

Here's the 'Limerick Leader' piece on the intervention of the Gardaí, complete with pictures. http://iti.ms/1jeZcP1

HURLING BEER: Hopping the ball

Looking for the perfect beer to complement a hard day watching hurling? Fear not, four Provinces Brew Co has your back. Set up at the start of the year in Dublin by Andrew Murphy and Feargal Chambers, the stated aim of the company is to produced quality craft beers with a distinctly Irish flavour to them.

Their love of GAA – Chambers played senior hurling for Dublin – meant they didn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

The Hurler Copper Ale is described on the website as “ a sessionable bright copper coloured ale. Paying homage to the skill and passion of those who play our most ancient game.” Does “sessionable” mean it can be used on a session?

You want to know what it tastes like? Well, it's "Malt driven, but still light on its feet and delicately balanced" which makes it sound a bit like Richie Hogan, and "First wort hopping lends an extra subtlety to the hop profile."

Fair enough, we have no idea what that last sentence means, but chances are it would taste pretty sweet in Kildare/Tyrone/Longford after the weekend they've had.


FAIR PLAY: Déise scoring machine

It's always been a pet peeve of September Road's that free-takers tend to get an undue amount of glory.

With that in mind, on the weekend Waterford exited the Munster championship, we thought it was worth paying homage to the great John Mullane. Let us explain.

Kilkenny’s King Henry is the all-time highest scorer in the championship, with 27-480 (561 points) across 65 games. If we remove free-taking from the equation Shefflin’s numbers drop to 24-132, an average of 3.13 pts per game.

But, as hurling statistician Leo McGough points out, this actually leaves Shefflin trailing the scoring machine that was Mullane.

In 49 championship games he racked up 15-133, all from play, for a 3.63 pts per game average, the highest in the game.


DON'T FANCY YOURS MUCH

Mayo footballers' odds ahead of game v Roscommon 1/5
(Roscommon 9/2 to win)
Dublin footballers' odds ahead of game v Laois 1/40
(Laois 12/1 to win)
Kilkenny hurlers' odds ahead of game v Offaly 1/50
(Offaly 12/1 to win)


THEY SAID THAT? Twitter twaddle (Sky GAA special)
@micky220406 Just watched 5 mins of Hurling, WTF is going on there's a GK but they keep smashing it over the bar how the fuck does he save that

@LAW1972 Hurling on Sky! Brilliant idea. Superb combination and skill and violence.

@samthedogtaylor Watching this Irish Hurling on sky sports confirms my belief that the Irish are mental

@dannykellywords Kilkenny could become the first GAA team to declare. #SorryForYourTrouble

@dickclerkin @JoeBrolly1993 silence was deafening as he instantly realised 'feck..these guys are good'! Joe..it's over to you! #SkyGAA

@JoeBrolly1993 @dickclerkin8 Veronica and Ron did read their autocues very nicely

septemberroad@irishtimes.com