Regularly here on Balls.ie, we celebrate the 2000s, that wonderful decade that heralded the new century. In Ireland, we sauntered through the Celtic Tiger, willfully ignoring its inevitable collapse.
We all partied, and nowhere more than in the barbershop where hairstyles got quickly out of control. Peroxide was all the rage and lads couldn't keep their hair shaggy enough.
Let's face it, for those of us in our 30s, we can hardly throw stones. This was the way of things in the carefree 2000s. But even so, stones we shall throw. We've delved deep into the Sportsfile archive to find the best styles of the decade from Ireland's biggest sports stars.
Let us know if we've missed your favourite.
Rugby:
The rugby boys took it to a whole new level as a group, with even the conservative locks of the likes of Ronan O'Gara getting ever so slightly wild in the middle of the decade. Some of them went for it though. We decided to confine our Brian O'Driscoll tribute to just one year for example - 2004.
Brian O'Driscoll 2004
How did he fit all of this into one year, and captain Ireland to a Triple Crown?
Donncha O'Callaghan 2006
Andrew Trimble 2006
Jerry Flannery 2006
GAA
The GAA was an interesting one in the 2000s. While the natural conservatism of the organisation meant that crew cuts remained the norm, more than a few went against type. This was especially true in football it seems, as hurlers for the most part either hid behind a helmet or went tight. We did throw in a couple, with one even being very, very slightly outside of the parameters of the decade, but who's counting?
First, sit back and enjoy just four of the many hairstyles that the great Ciaran McDonald treated us to across the decade.
Ciaran McDonald 2004
Ciaran McDonald 2006
Conor Mortimer 2004
Conor Mortimer 2006
Conor Mortimer 2009
Ger Oakley 2001
Jim McGuinness 2001
Paul Galvin 2004
Michael Lyng 2004
Owen Mulligan 2005
Owen Mulligan 2008
Mark Vaughan 2006
Mark Vaughan 2007
MJ Tierney 2007
Matthew Clancy 2009
Jackie Tyrrell 2010
Football:
Footballers as much as anyone adopted the twin styles of shaggy and spiky in the 2000s. While we didn't really have a David Beckham in the ranks, one or two of the Irish players definitely had defined hairstyles.
Kevin Doyle and Kevin Kilbane 2007
Lee Carsley got a bit flamboyant with the hairstyle in this game too.
Kevin Doyle 2006
Kevin Kilbane 2004
Paul McShane 2006
Jonathan Douglas 2007
Stephen Hunt 2008
Liam Lawrence 2009
Golf:
Darren Clarke 2006
Padraig Harrington 2004
All photos from Sportsfile.
SEE ALSO: 5 Of The Greatest Football Phone-In Moments
