DONEGAL-LIFFORD shay given

JonnyCash10

Howya lads,lookin for info on lifford underage teams from a few years back.SPECIFICALLY whether or not one Shay Given played much GAA in his younger years?

Given was born in 76 so i guess from 81-91 is in question,tried looking this up online to no avail cheers

shiibata

JonnyCash10 wrote: »

Howya lads,lookin for info on lifford underage teams from a few years back.SPECIFICALLY whether or not one Shay Given played much GAA in his younger years?

Given was born in 76 so i guess from 81-91 is in question,tried looking this up online to no avail cheers

Well, I have a video of him in the house here playing for Lifford u-12s against McCumhaills(Ballybofey/Stranorlar). How, I got the video, I dont know, as I am from none of the 2 places mentioned above.

JonnyCash10

lol small country!Great stuff shiabata,that clarifies whether he played or not.Maybe someone in the house might know more (whoever got the video) id like to know

1-If shay played through all the age groups before he moved to celtic at 16

2-What position did young Given play in as a child

3-If he played outfield,was he one of the better players

Come on ye Donegal boys ask ur oul lads im sure one of em will remember!

shiibata

JonnyCash10 wrote: »

lol small country!Great stuff shiabata,that clarifies whether he played or not.Maybe someone in the house might know more (whoever got the video) id like to know

1-If shay played through all the age groups before he moved to celtic at 16

2-What position did young Given play in as a child

3-If he played outfield,was he one of the better players

Come on ye Donegal boys ask ur oul lads im sure one of em will remember!

1. Don't know anyone from Lifford direction GAA wise, will try and find out off lads who might have played against him underage.

2. In the u12 video, he plays everywhere bar goals, think he started midfield.

3. Definetly the best player on the Lifford team, nearly soloing the length of the field at times and this is when u12s played the full size pitch..

Smashey, who is a mod here, I think is originally from Lifford, should know a thing or two.

JonnyCash10

thanks for that shiibata,if you could ask a few boys who might have played against em thatd be great,gonna give this smashey lad a buzz see if he can help

Paracore

Even if he did I doubt he would freely admit to it. Lifford GAA club have a bit of a reputation you see, and not a good one. A bit like the Leeds teams of the 1970s if you get my drift?

JonnyCash10

Paracore wrote: »

Even if he did I doubt he would freely admit to it. Lifford GAA club have a bit of a reputation you see, and not a good one. A bit like the Leeds teams of the 1970s if you get my drift?

Dirt!!

harpsman

Na-played very little gaa for lifford.for a few years during that period lifford werent even fielding teams.i remember playin against lifford lads playin for other clubs at time.
think he won some junior medal with lifford when he was 17-might have been home at summer from celtic.

smashey

Paracore wrote: »

Even if he did I doubt he would freely admit to it. Lifford GAA club have a bit of a reputation you see, and not a good one. A bit like the Leeds teams of the 1970s if you get my drift?

Steady

He did play for Lifford in goals. He was part of the under 14 team that won a county championship back in the day. He came to prominence playing soccer for Lifford Celtic when they reached the semi finals of the FAI junior cup in the late 1980's

harpsman

Dont think so.McCumhaills and Eunans were the kingpins of that age group.

lovebud

yes shay did play for lifford gaa and yes harpsman he was in goal for the u14 donegal championship final in which lifford beat urris on 13th of september 1987 i know cos i was on the same team. shay played both sports for lifford until he was signed by celtic and even once when he came home on holiday b4 he was too well known.

harpsman

ah.bit before my time.i was still u12 then.i do know that when i was u14 lifford didnt have a team.
presume that was a B or C final?we did beat lifford in divisional semi that year. they did have a decent enough team though

Hulk Hands

On a different note, Packie Bonner played in goal for the Donegal U-21's at the age of 16.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Hulk Hands wrote: »

On a different note, Packie Bonner played in goal for the Donegal U-21's at the age of 16.

he originally played in midfield but then his GAA coach at Rosses discovered he played soccer in goals and decided to move him between the sticks

lovebud

harpsman wrote: »

ah.bit before my time.i was still u12 then.i do know that when i was u14 lifford didnt have a team.
presume that was a B or C final?we did beat lifford in divisional semi that year. they did have a decent enough team though

lifford were out of football for 2 years shortly after that, still harpsman your not going swell many lifford heads with all the praise you heap on us

Bencon

It was definitely a B or C title Lifford won. They wouldnt have stood a chance in the A grade.

Most of the time when you played Lifford at underage, half the team was from Strabane, and they didnt worry too much about birth certs either. You would have 17 year olds playing under 14.

Even in soccer Shay played as a striker quite a bit at underage.

lovebud

Bencon wrote: »

It was definitely a B or C title Lifford won. They wouldnt have stood a chance in the A grade.

Most of the time when you played Lifford at underage, half the team was from Strabane, and they didnt worry too much about birth certs either. You would have 17 year olds playing under 14.

Even in soccer Shay played as a striker quite a bit at underage.

i played for lifford underage from i was 8 years old and i take your comments as an insult to the men and women who tried to keep gaa alive in our parish and your way off the mark but as usual knock lifford

Bencon

Take my comments whatever way you like but at then end of the day thats the truth.

Are you seriously claiming Lifford won an A title?

I played against Lifford and can remember going down there for underage games. A lot of Lifford lads went to school in Stranorlar so we all knew that their teams had loads of overage players on them. Didnt really matter I suppose as we still hammered them.

lovebud

i never claimed we won an a title at all it was a b championship but 17 year olds playing u14 come on! some of us did go to school in stranorlar but maybe the fellows you didnt know went to secondary school in raphoe just cos u didnt know them dosent mean we went over to strabane and grabbed a load of players.

westsidestory

What state of health would the GAA be in now in Lifford ?

Bencon

Still useless

lovebud

bencon u really are a ray of sunshine in this dull and dreary summer:D