Niall Kiely

[BlueBlue]

Well , he could not have made a bigger fool of himself. With self important little tw@ts like this, thats very hard for him to take.

[BlueBlue]

k

[Mackman15]

Rest assured, it is with gritted teeth that I’m providing this link.

I suspect John Robbie is and Niall won't be exchanging Christmas Cards. With Friends like this......... and all the rest.

Ciano might not be the wisest of targets either.




http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/spo ... 43094.html

[Hippo]

He's still a complete tool then, still not quite as hilarious as he clearly thinks he is. I recommend unearthing his IT piece from that glorious day in May, it makes for very entertaining reading now.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Given that we are coming up to the seventh anniversary, I consider it timely to remind ourselves of this particular piece of smug shite.
Never forget!

'Even staunch Blues now fear a hiding'
Sat, May 2, 2009,


IN THE RED CORNER:Three years ago Munster fan NIALL KIELY found it hard to be humble when faced with Leinster's delusions of adequacy. Today, he says it is impossible to be humble and much easier to be patronising.
DREADFUL CANARDS and shameful slights are doing the rounds of Munster textland this weekend. Sly, sleekit, faux-innocent questions. This column agonised through a dark night of the soul before it became obvious that in our Information Age, it would be venal to break an SMS joke-chain. Thus:
Question one: What do you call a Leinster supporter in Europe after May 2nd?
Question two: Felipe Contepomi said what to the garda who caught him speeding?
Question three: What do General Pinochet and Leinster have in common? (Answers at the end.)
Seriously, though. Now that we’ve finalised the Larne- Stranraer bookings, I suppose the Croke Park business must be got through somehow. It might even prove a semi-decent warm-up for Edinburgh, though the suspicion lingers that a team with more need in the gut than Leinster might lay down a stiffer test.
Why has the gap widened to the extent that even staunch Blues are sweating bricks, and (the honest ones) now fear a hiding?
Liverpool would be pleased if their Boot Room succession- model of old was still delivering Munster-smooth continuity. In Leinster, Michael “Butch” Cheika and his Sundance farceur, David Knox, strutted into town and inherited a pretty decent, albeit soft-centred squad. What’s been developed in the years since?
Frankly, not much. Importing instant-fix, High Veldt muscle isn’t going to provide either a medium or long-term solution – given a pack that still doesn’t get the difference between “want” and “need” to win – and gives not even immediate succour when any bought-in, beef-to-the-heel Boer heifer has Achilles’ hooves.
The organisation? It gave us the farce of Felipe Contepomi’s cocked-up original registration. It managed to let slip easily the best outhalf package it ever had: neat, unshowy David Holwell, who looked the playmaker most likely to let slip the hounds of O’Driscoll and D’Arcy. Even the daft loss of press officer Pat Geraghty has been Munster’s considerable gain. And as for Isa Nacewa: Lord, have mercy.
Last month’s ticketing debacle? Leinster rushed into sales, made a mess of that, as well as the aftermath of the Ticketmaster fiasco. Some genius then tried to strong-arm the province’s clubs with dire threat of consequence should Reds appear in “Blue” seating: ye gods. And the clubs were short-changed and left angry over their miserly allocations.
The Leinster playing style? To the external tracker, there’s evident spoor of internal dissonance. Is the “Real Leinster” the team which wiped Wasps off the RDS pitch, or the side which limped through the later ERC pool games – or is it the limp lot who went down tamely, home and away, to Munster in the Magners?
How can dependable, all-weather gameplans evolve with a unbiddable head-banger at outhalf; a superannuated Aussie crabbing inconsequentially at scrumhalf and a backrow lacking either a linking rover (sin of omission: Keith Gleeson was deaf to all pay or persuasion to give it a Johnny Logan?) or a lethal lumberjack (one of commission: non-selection of Seán O’Brien).
And contrast the disaffection among Leinster clubs with Munster Rugby. Munster Rugby has the goodwill of its provincial clubs. Not just the top-table Shannons, Garryowens, Cork Cons – it’s just as much the nascent likes of Cashel, the Castleislands and Carrick-on- Suirs. Most people I know in Leinster junior rugby are Munster supporters by inclination: they relate to a genuine entity that well represents them abroad. Chapters of Reds in Connacht, Ulster and across the diaspora have viscerally connected to a noble concept: a group of sportsmen has truly earned the troth of its motley; and a roiling terrace knows its faith is acknowledged in kind.
Reggie Corrigan had a weekend slap at “Lunsters” – Jonathan-come-latelies turned Redcoats. Some may of course be prawn-sandwich opportunists, but the vast majority I reckon became disenchanted over bitter years on the concrete steps of Donnybrook by the fundamentally uncaring “performance” of so-called professionals who simply couldn’t be arsed.
Appreciation of Munster’s simple virtues is now widespread. The text questions above came from Llanelli stalwarts. They know their rugby, their captain for years has been the revered Simon Easterby – who in his prime would have dovetailed seamlessly with most Munster backrows – and they are envious but admiring aficionados of the Munster project. The Scarlets even “get” Leinster: they’ve got their local ladyboys, the Neath-Swansea Ospreys. As my Llanelli friend Dewi might put it: “Niall bach, our Ashtrays are just like your Leinster – all fur coat and no knickers.”
One feels sorry for Leinster diehards – almost – and those three-quarter thoroughbreds. Just a couple of Magners from that sleek slew of gilded genius, lads? As Felipe might say: Jesús,
María y José!
But it’s really, genuinely not just about results. We’ve been to Lille and back, suffered the Backhand. Folks, it’s this simple: we Reds love the magnificent gestalt that is our Munster, we care deeply for these people who have leavened our quotidians with joy and brio and serious fun, we have endless time for our players who viscerally reciprocate our ardour.
Soon after seven o’clock this evening, the ultimate Red shout of the evening will succumb to susurrus, and in that fine sibilance will resonate our most recent epiphany. Bless these men.
And the answers: 1 A tourist; 2 At this stage, I’ll do anything for points; 3 Both gather people in stadiums and torture them.
Niall Kiely is a former Irish Timesjournalist and contributes to RTÉ’s What it Says in the Paper

[Grumpy Old Man]

This was the Leinster viewpoint, same paper, same day (name has been omitted to protect the innocent!)

We learned to grind out victories'
Sat, May 2, 2009, 01:00


Hickiefan says odds-on favourites Munster are beatable and that Leinster have the game-breakers to emerge victorious if Brian O’Driscoll and his team-mates deliver on their potential
SO HERE we are, facing into another Munster versus Leinster Heineken Cup semi-final in Dublin and all the associated hoo-ha it entails. Matches between these sides always bring that extra little something, you might call it banter, you might call it bite, but it is certainly not “just a game”.
The last outing, known in Leinster quarters as Black Sunday, has been used as a stick to beat the team and its supporters with many times since then, and it still hurts. It was closer than the scoreline suggested – which due to therapy I find myself happily unable to recall – but certainly we were roundly beaten.
You know what they say though: that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and in that respect I suppose the Leinster supporters should be grateful to their Munster counterparts. That sea of red in Lansdowne Road in April 2006 was in some ways responsible for awakening the more laid back element of the Leinster support and galvanising what was an already growing support base.
In brief, it made us wise up.
No more, “after you, sir” with our ticket allocation for a start. We’ve taken a leaf out of the Munster supporter’s handbook (imitation and flattery and all that don’t you know) and developed a bit of our own cute hoorism to ensure that as many Leinster supporters get to see their team on the big occasion. You might not like it, but we are standing up for ourselves and marking our territory.
In 2005/6 Leinster’s season ticket holders numbered under 3,000; today there are 10,000 of us. Last year Leinster was the best-supported team in the Magners League and the fourth-best-supported team in Europe in all competitions after Stade Toulousain, Stade Francais and Leicester Tigers.
Away from the RDS, more and more men, women and children are taking to the road in blue to support their team. Not just to the high-profile matches in the south of France, mind, but also to the somewhat less glamorous destinations in deepest, darkest Wales.
Our supporters are true blues. Ignore the oft-repeated and frankly ignorant stereotyping; both the team and its supporters are representative of the province as a whole. We might not have a stage play in our repertoire but we certainly have passion. Leinster supporters have come through bad times and grown in number regardless. Success in Europe will be all the sweeter.
Anyone who witnessed the unrelenting display of Leinster support in the Twickenham Stoop against Harlequins on Easter Sunday by the 2,500 or so who travelled will know the Blue corner is going to come out swinging today. It’s a given that the Munster supporters will have plenty to say about it, so you can safely predict that the noise level in Croker will be something to rival the nosiest of Kerry-Dublin clashes.
So, while Leinster supporters are certainly primed for the off-pitch battle, what of the match itself? Despite some noises coming from Munster attempting to indicate otherwise, there can be no doubt the defending champions are the red-hot favourites. Sure haven’t they barely lost a match all year? Didn’t they just humiliate the Ospreys, a team full of Welsh internationals, in the quarter-final? Haven’t they the largest representation of any single team in the Lions squad, including the captain? Yes, yes, yes and yes again. The much-loved underdog billing is no more.
In 2006, Leinster had just come off that magnificent, “total rugby” win in Toulouse and were supposedly riding high. Munster, meanwhile, had achieved a more pedestrian home victory against Perpignan. While their history in the tournament gave them the edge, they still had the underdog, grafter tag they thrived under while Leinster were the soft-up-front, inconsistent flash Harrys.
These days, Leinster have developed some steel. They have learned how to grind out victories but only intermittently get their talented backline in full flow. Munster in 2009 are an all-conquering, two-time European Cup-winning side with some incisive backs, including Doug Howlett, the record-holding All Black try scorer if you don’t mind. Not quite role reversal, but there is a different complexion on today’s match than in 2006.
Quite reasonably, all expectation is for a Munster victory. Liam Toland, a columnist in this paper, last week on Setanta asserted that Munster could expect to take on any international side and win, such was their devastating form. No pressure there then.
The challenge for Leinster, seemingly unshackled by expectation, whatever about desire, is to make like David and slay Goliath.
The team has developed more edge and guile since Black Sunday and must couple this with their undoubted talent and make it count. Having played each other six times since that fateful day, the head-to-head stands at three-all, so Leinster have it in them to win today.
Rest assured that neither the team nor the supporters will be there to simply make up the numbers. Munster are good, sure, but Leinster aren’t scared of them. We have the game-breakers to take them today, and if Messrs O’Driscoll (God protect him!), Elsom, Heaslip, Fitzgerald et al have anything to say about it they will.
Given the “no chance mate” ascribed to Leinster’s prospects by all but the bluest Blues, perhaps this will be our miracle match and the stuff of legend to come. Blue Saturday anyone?
Redemption awaits. Keep the faith.
Hickiefan is a medical journalist from Dublin and committee member of the Official Leinster Supporters Club

[blockhead]

Given that we are coming up to the seventh anniversary, I consider it timely to remind ourselves of this particular piece of smug shite.
Never forget!

'Even staunch Blues now fear a hiding'
Sat, May 2, 2009,


IN THE RED CORNER:Three years ago Munster fan NIALL KIELY found it hard to be humble when faced with Leinster's delusions of adequacy. Today, he says it is impossible to be humble and much easier to be patronising.
DREADFUL CANARDS and shameful slights are doing the rounds of Munster textland this weekend. Sly, sleekit, faux-innocent questions. This column agonised through a dark night of the soul before it became obvious that in our Information Age, it would be venal to break an SMS joke-chain. Thus:
Question one: What do you call a Leinster supporter in Europe after May 2nd?
Question two: Felipe Contepomi said what to the garda who caught him speeding?
Question three: What do General Pinochet and Leinster have in common? (Answers at the end.)
Seriously, though. Now that we’ve finalised the Larne- Stranraer bookings, I suppose the Croke Park business must be got through somehow. It might even prove a semi-decent warm-up for Edinburgh, though the suspicion lingers that a team with more need in the gut than Leinster might lay down a stiffer test.
Why has the gap widened to the extent that even staunch Blues are sweating bricks, and (the honest ones) now fear a hiding?
Liverpool would be pleased if their Boot Room succession- model of old was still delivering Munster-smooth continuity. In Leinster, Michael “Butch” Cheika and his Sundance farceur, David Knox, strutted into town and inherited a pretty decent, albeit soft-centred squad. What’s been developed in the years since?
Frankly, not much. Importing instant-fix, High Veldt muscle isn’t going to provide either a medium or long-term solution – given a pack that still doesn’t get the difference between “want” and “need” to win – and gives not even immediate succour when any bought-in, beef-to-the-heel Boer heifer has Achilles’ hooves.
The organisation? It gave us the farce of Felipe Contepomi’s cocked-up original registration. It managed to let slip easily the best outhalf package it ever had: neat, unshowy David Holwell, who looked the playmaker most likely to let slip the hounds of O’Driscoll and D’Arcy. Even the daft loss of press officer Pat Geraghty has been Munster’s considerable gain. And as for Isa Nacewa: Lord, have mercy.
Last month’s ticketing debacle? Leinster rushed into sales, made a mess of that, as well as the aftermath of the Ticketmaster fiasco. Some genius then tried to strong-arm the province’s clubs with dire threat of consequence should Reds appear in “Blue” seating: ye gods. And the clubs were short-changed and left angry over their miserly allocations.
The Leinster playing style? To the external tracker, there’s evident spoor of internal dissonance. Is the “Real Leinster” the team which wiped Wasps off the RDS pitch, or the side which limped through the later ERC pool games – or is it the limp lot who went down tamely, home and away, to Munster in the Magners?
How can dependable, all-weather gameplans evolve with a unbiddable head-banger at outhalf; a superannuated Aussie crabbing inconsequentially at scrumhalf and a backrow lacking either a linking rover (sin of omission: Keith Gleeson was deaf to all pay or persuasion to give it a Johnny Logan?) or a lethal lumberjack (one of commission: non-selection of Seán O’Brien).
And contrast the disaffection among Leinster clubs with Munster Rugby. Munster Rugby has the goodwill of its provincial clubs. Not just the top-table Shannons, Garryowens, Cork Cons – it’s just as much the nascent likes of Cashel, the Castleislands and Carrick-on- Suirs. Most people I know in Leinster junior rugby are Munster supporters by inclination: they relate to a genuine entity that well represents them abroad. Chapters of Reds in Connacht, Ulster and across the diaspora have viscerally connected to a noble concept: a group of sportsmen has truly earned the troth of its motley; and a roiling terrace knows its faith is acknowledged in kind.
Reggie Corrigan had a weekend slap at “Lunsters” – Jonathan-come-latelies turned Redcoats. Some may of course be prawn-sandwich opportunists, but the vast majority I reckon became disenchanted over bitter years on the concrete steps of Donnybrook by the fundamentally uncaring “performance” of so-called professionals who simply couldn’t be arsed.
Appreciation of Munster’s simple virtues is now widespread. The text questions above came from Llanelli stalwarts. They know their rugby, their captain for years has been the revered Simon Easterby – who in his prime would have dovetailed seamlessly with most Munster backrows – and they are envious but admiring aficionados of the Munster project. The Scarlets even “get” Leinster: they’ve got their local ladyboys, the Neath-Swansea Ospreys. As my Llanelli friend Dewi might put it: “Niall bach, our Ashtrays are just like your Leinster – all fur coat and no knickers.”
One feels sorry for Leinster diehards – almost – and those three-quarter thoroughbreds. Just a couple of Magners from that sleek slew of gilded genius, lads? As Felipe might say: Jesús,
María y José!
But it’s really, genuinely not just about results. We’ve been to Lille and back, suffered the Backhand. Folks, it’s this simple: we Reds love the magnificent gestalt that is our Munster, we care deeply for these people who have leavened our quotidians with joy and brio and serious fun, we have endless time for our players who viscerally reciprocate our ardour.
Soon after seven o’clock this evening, the ultimate Red shout of the evening will succumb to susurrus, and in that fine sibilance will resonate our most recent epiphany. Bless these men.
And the answers: 1 A tourist; 2 At this stage, I’ll do anything for points; 3 Both gather people in stadiums and torture them.
Niall Kiely is a former Irish Timesjournalist and contributes to RTÉ’s What it Says in the Paper

Jeez, talk about pride before the fall.
"Liverpool would be pleased if their Boot Room succession- model of old was still delivering Munster-smooth continuity." Oh lord!

Where's this Kiely lad now? The very definition of a bandwagoner.

[cormac]

The build-up to that semi-final really was the peak of Munster fan arrogance. Most of them really couldn't conceive of us beating them. The crushing win that day and every victory thereafter meant we never had to put up with this level of shitehawkery again.

P.S. Whatever happened to Provincial Towns? He must have hated the Schmidt years.

[blockhead]

The build-up to that semi-final really was the peak of Munster fan arrogance. Most of them really couldn't conceive of us beating them. The crushing win that day and every victory thereafter meant we never had to put up with this level of shitehawkery again.

P.S. Whatever happened to Provincial Towns? He must have hated the Schmidt years.

Isn't Gorey a provincial town?

[neiliog93]

The entire Irish media and most of its rugby fans had written Leinster off. But not just written them off. Done it in a really, really nasty, ugly, bitter, chip on the shoulder way. It was almost moral disapproval. And then we leathered them. Arguably a bigger high than any of the trophy wins.

[hugonaut]

Given that we are coming up to the seventh anniversary, I consider it timely to remind ourselves of this particular piece of smug shite.
Never forget!

Hahaha! What a smug, smirking pr*ck that lad was.

[tate]

Given that we are coming up to the seventh anniversary, I consider it timely to remind ourselves of this particular piece of smug shite.
Never forget!

hahaha, i vaguely remembered that article, never forgot the fockers name though! fantastic to read it back all these years later. i think that was my favourite day as a leinster supporter, top 3 for sure.

thanks for the mammaries grumpy!

[wixfjord]

This definitely added to the sense of satisfaction after the final whistle.
The hubris of the Munster fanbase around that time was just incredible!

[blockhead]

It was probably the most seismic game in modern Irish rugby history. Munster were going for 3 in 4 Heinos, their fans were claiming that they were the 2nd best team in the world (after the All Blacks). But after that game they were a spent force and our period of glory had just begun. The lunsters (remember them), lingered on until September of that year until we beat them 30-0 in the RDS, then they were no more.
BTW anyone got a recording of that game?

[jimbobjoe]

Is this Kiely chap still floating around? I don't go near the papers anymore.

I think I've got a recording of the game on my old Macbook Blockhead.. I'll have a check over the weekend when I get a chance.

[LeinsterLeader]

"And as for Isa Nacewa: Lord, have mercy."

I'd love to read his article from the following Saturday. How do you climb down from that?

[blockhead]

Nice one jimbobjoe

[LeinsterLeader]

"Soon after seven o’clock this evening, the ultimate Red shout of the evening will succumb to susurrus, and in that fine sibilance will resonate our most recent epiphany. Bless these men."

I got to be honest. I got a liitle bit sick in me mouth, there

[tate]

his current whereabouts - http://www.carrcommunications.ie/our-people/niall-kiely

no mention of his being a smug pr!*k mind you!

[Hippo]

Agree with all of the above - it was the zenith of the hubris and I will never forget that match.