The 2006 ‘Long Grass’ All-Ireland Hurling Final was deliberately orchestrated to stop that Cork team winning three-in-a-row.

This is awful and brutal. Solidarity.

Lucille Bluth saying “I mean, it’s one rescheduled flight, Michael. What could it cost, ten thousand dollars?”

#gaa posting: good win for Cork: doesn’t quite lay the demons from last July, but doesn’t hurt. #SpéirghormCLG

My maternal grandfather’s family is as Gaeilge as well, but I was expecting that.

Ah, ok! No clue what my lot were at, so! I wonder who took the initiative to fill it out as Gaeilge.

Anyone else going through the 1926 census finding more entries as Gaeilge than they anticipated? Was this a recognised phenomenon as a response to the first census from an Irish, not a British state?

Found him! The family had all used an older Irish version of their (our) surname, and wrote in cló Gaelach to boot.

Which is interesting as that branch of the family never had a particular reputation as Gaeilgeoirs, and their 1911 census entry is in English. I wonder was it a nation-building thing?

Ah yes, we’ve had that as well.

More unexpectedly was at the start of the lecturing term, when I had to tell the class about specific arrangements for Weeks 6 & 7, and I had half of them sniggering and waving their hands.

“Ye’re 20! Aren’t ye too old for this?!”

Anyway, 3 out of 4 grandparents successfully located in #census26. Little bit of a mystery as to why my paternal grandfather isn’t showing up where we thought he was in 1926.

A view of Dunmanus Bay in West Cork

Happy #census26 day from Dunmanus Bay, #spéirghorm nerds!

(West Cork: where even the bits you haven’t really heard of look like this.)

wire mother gets a lot of flak but she's doing everything without any help from wire father

Oh, this should be good.

(And then the whole pub clapped, yes, yes…)

Anyway, lots of short-term thinking about.

Had this conversation with a friend recently who was telling me “I get why you’re against AI in education but it’s genuinely useful in the private sector”, and when I asked him where the person who’ll do his job in 20 years is going to come from, he had a bit of an “Oh. Ah. Hmm.” moment.

A Place of Greater Safety where all the characters are Muppets except Camille Desmoulins.

Seems wrong that Bluesky is having a Catholic moment, but it's mostly jokes about adult converts which is, like, the *one* aspect of Catholicism that Irish people don't have much experience with.

When all the US cradle Catholics roll their eyes, nudge you, and say "adult converts, am I right?"

Come join for our upcoming webinar with I-SPHERE & the Centre for Homelessness and Inclusion Health. We will present the first phase of findings from a longitudinal qualitative study of recovery and homelessness i-sphere.site.hw.ac.uk/event/i-sphe...

I did, indeed! He wasn't buying, mind.

Yes, I'd heard about that! We'll see a few people making comparisons before the Israel fixture, I imagine.
historyireland.com/hosting-the-...

Seemingly. Not something I'm well versed on.

(I actually visited Tito's private island off the coast of Pula when I was on holiday in the area, but that was not a place that engaged with much critical historical evaluation of the man or his legacy! You got to take a ride in his Cadillac, though.)

Idly researching when the last excommunication of a political, as opposed to religious, figure was, and it seems to have been Marshal Tito?: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

No Irish Need Apply? The Economic History of the Irish in England - EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin | Official Site EPIC is pleased to present No Irish Need Apply, a temporary exhibition on the economic history of the Irish in England.

Interesting looking exhibition at EPIC over the next couple of months for the #irishstudies #irishinbritain folk:

epicchq.com/event/no-iri...

‘I will, yeah’: How a very Irish phrase presented a challenge for an immigrant doctor Delegates at IMO conference speak of largely positive experiences of coming to work in Ireland, but say challenges remain

“the Irish health services, and the people of this country, are utterly dependent on the contribution of international doctors, nurses and support staff”. @irishmedicalorg.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...

Someone posted a semi-serious take on here a few weeks back (now sadly deleted) that Orbán had been counting on an election boost from World Cup qualification, denied him by the boys in green.

HISTORY OF THE HANDBALL ALLEY The history of the handball alley building type is presented in the COLLECTIONS below. This history has been interpreted from the material evidence of 640 alleys and substantiated with information in written sources. Spatial patterns in the distribution of handball alleys reveal that it was built to replicate a form of social gathering in old churchyards that was commonplace into the 1700s. The first purpose-built alleys emerged along old routes between churchyards that crossed the country from coast to coast (and extended across the Irish Sea into Wales). From about the mid 1800s, alleys were built at other types of locations close to these routes, which in turn were replaced as and when the meeting places of routine daily life changed; right up until the familiar concrete alleys were built in towns and villages in the 1920s to 1940s. This socio-spatial history of the handball building type is part of the heritage of handball and more generally, of Irish cultural–architectural heritage. In both their individual situations and their collective spatial interrelationships, the handball alleys remaining in the Irish landscape are a material resource for understanding how Gaelic-Irish places were simultaneously experienced and produced through the habitual social practices of everyday life.

Lots of public ball alleys have disappeared over the years in Dublin and I can't think of any new municipal ones replacing them. For anyone interested in the history of the ball alley in Ireland, there's Áine Ryan's brilliant Irish Handball Alley project:

irishhandballalley.humap.site/map

I’ve changed my opinion on blaring pop music at GAA games because of it, and last year’s camogie All-Ireland. Let the kids have their little bop to K-Pop Demon Hunters at half time: what harm.

Relatedly, I have an observation driven theory that the huge crowds at Cork hurling league games this Spring are partly driven by teenagers looking for hang-out spaces. It’s only a fiver in, you can hang around in large groups without anyone hassling you, there’s something to watch if you get bored…

A Wikipedia entry. The title reads, “2026 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship”. The subtitle, bizarrely, reads “Old English Charm”.

Ok, fess up, which one of ye have been messing with the Wikipedia page for this year’s #GAA Football Championship? #SpéirghormCLG