May, June, July and August, a great time to be a fan of sport in Ireland, especially if you were from Mayo. They'd ban even the mention of September if they could in Westport, but they can't, they never will.
May is birth month of the stubborn bullish child, made at the tail end of the summer before, just like Premiership, Champions League and Heineken Cup winners. Man Utd won the league and lost a manager, the world was stunned with rumours circulating like a TD driving the wrong way up a dual carriageway. Paddy Crerand was there to step into the breach and let the world know, that it wasn't happening, that Sir Alex was staying.
http://balls.ie/second-stories/paddy-crerand-was-in-complete-denial-that-alex-ferguson-was-retiring/
In other football news, we were all standing in our applause for the rocket booted, sloppy haired David Luiz after this hammer shot from the blastchamber -
Stephen O'Neill walked straight into a brick wall in late May, we had it in all it's glorious gif form
http://balls.ie/gaa/stephen-oneill-challenge-on-neil-mcgee-gif/
June
The Lions tour, the American tour, the All Ireland in full swing, the schools off, the summer up, June 2013 had it all and then some.
Simon Zebo had just been called up to Lions squad and had just completed a mammoth trip from the Irish rugby base in the USofA when this video, the biggest story of the year here on Balls was broken by Paul Ring. A quiet Friday night became a monster, with thousands and thousands of new visitors coming to balls.ie - plenty of them originating in and around Zebo's new location of Sydney. Enough about the background, more of the fabulous lip syncing
http://balls.ie/news/simon-zebo-rapping/
With the main story happening off the field, it was up to George North to drag our attention kicking and screaming over his shoulder in this amazing gif - check out the series of them
July
A quiet oul month this one, bar the GAA championship and acres of transfer speculation there is little to whet the appetite. It was in the letters page of the Irish Times where we unearthed gold. A format used mostly by irate sailors or confused residents of Monkstown, it was a refreshing and beautifully honest letter from Paddy Monahan about how himself and his father watched the Dublin/Kilkenny match and what it meant to them - a must read.
http://balls.ie/gaa/fantastic-letter-to-the-irish-times-after-dublins-win-over-kilkenny/
You may or may not have heard, but Warren Gatland made a mad oul decision while boss of Wales The Lions, he left out a certain Irish player and for a week at least, Warren didn't seem like he would see Christmas. Murray Kinsella took some time out to find out what went wrong in the first two tests, that forced such a decision.
http://balls.ie/rugby/video-odriscoll-and-davies-partnership-analysis/
Meanwhile things were continuing to go well for Mayo people, as they tend to, in early Summer. Liam Irwin, no relation to either Daish or Denis, took it upon himself to score one of the goals of the summer. Dummy one, dummy two and top corner.
http://balls.ie/gaa/goal-of-the-season-from-mayo-minor/
August
Well you can forget about August as a month, it was septic tank full of controversy. Joe Brolly, a man, a legal man, considers controversy to be the best fertiliser for debate, and he brought it, he brung it, in spades.
Sean Cavanagh was caught in the crossfire, the poor Tyrone legend was just trying his hand at another sport in Croke Park, only for his manliness credentials to be called into question by Brollyman. Go for the rant, stay for the rugby tackle gif.
http://balls.ie/gaa/video-joe-brolly-rant-about-sean-cavanagh/
Every now and then here at Balls we are greeted with a sad as Christmas orphans type story, we are never quite sure how to handle these stories. They come with a sport connection but leave us all with a taste of yesterday's reheated dinner. This sad tale was one such story that went to the very core of what every GAA loving man, woman, boy or child is about. A Good Jumper
http://balls.ie/gaa/the-roscommon-gaa-lost-jumper-tweet/
