Irelands greatest ever sportsman -Sean Kelly

Richie Aprille

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXStSnomVoY&feature=player_embedded

funnights74

Jaysus talk about opening a can of worms!! lol. Most cyclists would pick kelly but you have opened the floodgates.

531

Well who else are you expecting votes for on a cycling forum?

happytramp

Yeah right! Apparently you've never heard of someone called Roy Keane.....

BTH

happytramp wrote: »

Yeah right! Apparently you've never heard of someone called Roy Keane.....

He's not even our best footballer ever. Pipe down.

happytramp

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

He's not even our best footballer ever. Pipe down.

Neville Bartos

Very few Irish sportsmen have achieved as much international success as Sean Kelly achieved in his career, especially in an individual sport and potentially the toughest sport in the world at that. The guy's records basically anwser the question..nine monument classics, and 193 professional race wins in total. Also internationally he is regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time..we have not many sportsmen who are as widely hailed as being one of the best sportsmen in the world in their given field. Roy Keane great footballer but definatley not one of the greatest players of all time..Maybe for Ireland but not in the worldwide game..Kelly was and is looked upon as one of the greatest cyclists in the world ever!...

funnights74

And dont get the rugby guys started on o driscoll and o gara and their likes, the horse racing fraternity will have a few jockeys names to add to the mix as well. And oh christ the golfers are on a roll now that i think of it.

Neville Bartos

http://listverse.com/2009/05/08/top-10-best-road-cycle-racers-of-all-time/

In what other sport would you see an irishman so far up in the all time list?..I honestly cant think of any irish sports person who would be that far up in an all time list in their given sport..

Beasty

George Best;)

(and there's a lot more competition in football)

funnights74

He's in illustrious company there. Breathtaking.

Cork24

What about

Paul O C ?
Keith Wood, etc etc

Lets face it Sean Kelly in my mind was on stuff and well of every Single person back in his day..

Neville Bartos

George Best..He's not really irish tho is he..His career wasnt long enough anyway..How do you mean there is more competition in football?. The tour de france for example covers more than 3,600 kilometres (2,200 mi) and lasts three weeks. The number of teams usually varies between 20 and 22, with nine riders in each..All this in probably the most physically demanding sport in the world..not as much competiton?..ya right!!!

Pherekydes

This is silly.

I thought it was agreed it was Padraig Harrington's caddy or the guy who trains horses?

Neville Bartos

cork 24 in comparison with other cyclists such as Armstrong and Indurain, Kelly's name is very very rarely mentioned with drugs.. Paul o'c or wood ya were and are good players but would you find their names in the top 5 Rugby players of ALL TIME...Not a hope of it..O'Driscoll maybe but not o'Connell or wood..great players all the same tho..

Beasty

How many professional cyclists are there? Let's keep it simple - how many are there that are Irish

How many professional footballers are there that are Irish?

As I said, there's more competition ....

Anyway, it's simply not meaningful to try and compare across different sports - I would accept Kelly is almost certainly by most measures the greatest Irish cyclist ever....

Neville Bartos

Pherydykes..you thought it was agreed?..haha..By who RTE?.....Its an opinion..

Esroh

Well at the same time Sk was doing his thing. 2 other Irishmen would have been seen as at the top of their sport. And both would have results at World Championships to match SKs
Eamon Coughlan was dominating the indoor track scene and was a serious force outdoors.
And I know you may say its the Horse but Eddie Macken was regarded in the Showjumping World as the best in the world during the same era.(And he also had to do it the hardway by working his way up the ladder with results gaining him better horses as he went on. (The family did not have the money to set him up)

So both of the above would have the results in high numbers against the best the world had to offer

As for toughness of a sport its all relevent.

Neville Bartos

Cycling is an individual sport wheras football is a team sport so of course you will have more competitors.....I dont think that should come into the debate anyway..im talking about quality not quantity..and if you break it down into quality and the amount of international success any irish sports man has had, Kelly is probably at the top..

Hail 2 Da Thief

It's clearly Henry Shefflin!

Dermot Illogical

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

It's clearly Henry Shefflin!

Who's that?

fran oconnor

Drico for me is the best then Kelly, Roche. My favourite sports person though is Paul McGrath.

J Madone

He is not called King Kelly by mistake!:D

Pherekydes

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

It's clearly Henry Shefflin!

I wonder what he could have achieved if he'd been born across the border in Carlow. I'm guessing not much without his 14 Kilkenny teammates.

Likewise Best or any other team player. How would Best have fared with Crewe? Or Keano if he'd stayed at Forest?

Beasty

Neville Bartos wrote: »

Cycling is an individual sport wheras football is a team sport so of course you will have more competitors.....I dont think that should come into the debate anyway..im talking about quality not quantity..and if you break it down into quality and the amount of international success any irish sports man has had, Kelly is probably at the top..

Are you telling me there weren't 8 other HTC riders helping Cav win in Paris?

TBH, it's a completely meaningless discussion:rolleyes:

mick121

ireland has many true world class stars,all of whom deserve respect.the greatest however may depend on the age and sports interest of people.its hard to beat eamon coughlan in my opinion,but lets not forget wee barry mcguighan,steve collins and more recently katie taylor.as for soccer too many to mention.

dlofnep

Gene Tunney. World Heavyweight champion with 2 wins over Jack Dempsey. 65-1 (recorded) as a pro. Amateur, Katie Taylor.

squod

Neville Bartos wrote: »

Very few Irish sportsmen have achieved as much international success as Sean Kelly achieved in his career

Disagree entirely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWcLsnUlEVQ

World Powerlifting Champion - 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
European Powerlifting Champion - 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Current world record holder

I'm sure there's more examples of sporting excellence I'm not aware of.

themandan6611

no, has to be Stephen Roche as the best cyclist - he won the treble - including the big one and the other one Kelly could never win.

two amazing cyclists (along with Martin) - its been a long 20 odd years since we had the like.....

Cork24

squod wrote: »

Neville Bartos wrote: »

Very few Irish sportsmen have achieved as much international success as Sean Kelly achieved in his career

Disagree entirely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWcLsnUlEVQ

World Powerlifting Champion - 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
European Powerlifting Champion - 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Current world record holder

I'm sure there's more examples of sporting excellence I'm not aware of.

Once again a drug riddled sport weight lifting and cycling...

Come on do you really think some one could do a speed of 35 going up hills and do around 85 down them and 45 on the flat roads with out the use of epo ? I don't think so.

How Many cyclist will we hear found using drugs during this year tof ?

Sure why not put Michelle Smith down their as well Since were putting all time irish drug.users in our top sports stars

Were nothing but cheats we talk about China and Russia using drugs Every gold medal we won in the olympics seem to have being using drugs.

Even our horse forget his name. Was on the dam things

Vizzy

Cork24 wrote: »

Once again a drug riddled sport weight lifting and cycling...

Come on do you really think some one could do a speed of 35 going up hills and do around 85 down them and 45 on the flat roads with out the use of epo ? I don't think so.

How Many cyclist will we hear found using drugs during this year tof ?

Sure why not put Michelle Smith down their as well Since were putting all time irish drug.users in our top sports stars

Were nothing but cheats we talk about China and Russia using drugs Every gold medal we won in the olympics seem to have being using drugs.

Even our horse forget his name. Was on the dam things

What about Cian O Connor so !

He never used drugs,the horse did :)