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6 Of The Greatest GAA Brawls Of All-Time

6 Of The Greatest GAA Brawls Of All-Time
Balls Team
By Balls Team
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When Al Gore decided to invent the internet, even he probably didn't realise what he was unleashing. The internet has given us email, social media, easy access to pornography and the ability to watch and re-watch clips of old GAA fights. The last of these is unquestionably the most significant.

Here are six of the best the world wide web has to offer. Prepare to feel proud.

6. Laois v Louth, 1991 Leinster semi-final replay

A relic of that wondrous era when the Leinster championship was a competitive entity. The brawlers of Laois and Louth can be thankful that their fight was overshadowed by bizarre happenings elsewhere in the Leinster championship in 1991.

Micko's assault on the Leinster championship had an inauspicious start as Kildare were upended by Louth - and not for the last time either - in the Leinster quarter-final.

In a summer of draws, Laois and Louth played out another one in the semi-final. In the replay, Laois won soundly by eight points but the game was mostly recalled for the fight.

5. Galway v Dublin, Fenway Hurling Classic

Despite the game's status as an exhibition match, a major brawl broke out in the second quarter of the AIG Fenway Hurling Classic between Dublin and Galway.

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The event provoked greater lip-pursing disapproval than the usual bog standard GAA brawl because it took place in front of foreigners.

4. Tyrone v Dublin 2007 National League

As Aprés Match's Nordie correspondent said, the full-time score in this game was 'Tyrone - 10 kicks, 4 slaps, and no suspensions,  Dublin - 12 digs, 4 loafs, and no suspensions'.

Seven players were suspended for this brawl but, magnificently, all were cleared on appeal.

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3. Laois hurling brawl

Details remain sketchy on this brawl. The first comment under the video on youtube is 'typical Carnross c****'. Congratulations to Fionn Sinnot for entering into spirit of things. A steadfast refusal to admit that it takes two to tango.

2. Dromid Pearses-Derrytresk 2012

The intimate relationship between player and supporter at club level means that spectators are likely to morph into participants during mass brawls.

The Dromid Pearses-Derrytresk 'unpleasantness' was a classic of the bench clearing genre.

1. Mayo-Meath, 1996 All-Ireland Final

Possibly the most beloved brawl of all. Enough to make one misty-eyed. On the greatest stage too. Pat Spillane's forensic analysis is his finest hour - at least since his playing days ended - but his anxieties about what Mary Robinson made of the spectacle were misplaced.

As a Mayo woman, Robbo was likely shaking her fists in the direction of assorted 'Meath gurriers', with Jack Boothman pleading with her to remain presidential.

Read more: This Map Of GAA Pitches In Ireland Shows That One County In Particular Is Way Behind

 

 

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