Hold the Mayo and Iceland - Where Inbreeding Worked!

With a Guinness in hand and high hopes in my heart, I sat down like most everyone else last night and watched the All Ireland Final between Kerry and Mayo. The match started with Kerry absolutely tearing in to Mayo. At one point they were up something like 2-4 to 0-0. For those that don’t know the Gaelic football scoring rules, there is a goal, like a soccer goal, and is you get it in there it is 3 points. There are also goal posts that rise above the soccer-type goal like rugby or American football field goal posts. Get a ball through there and it is 1 point. The score lists the number of goals first then the number of scores (field goals if you will). So a score of 2-4 is actually 10 points. Either way it seemed a rout was on. Then in the last few 15 minutes, Mayo started to come back and got a goal and a score to get to 1-1 and somewhat back in the game. Kerry then got another goal and a few scores to get to 3-6 (or so, can’t remember the details… stupid Guinness). Mayo then turned it on and got 2 quick goals and 2 quick score just before the half. Seemed we had a game on our hands. To see 6 goals before the half was quite unique in a football final, at least that’s what the guys on the telly had to say. But, as the second half started, Kerry again started to dominate possession and started scoring. Mayo seemed to try a bit too hard and couldn’t find their rhythm again. The rout was on again and the final score was Kerry 4-15 and Mayo 3-5. It was a fun match to watch though and I’m looking forward to next season for sure.

Speaking of dominations, in my excitement about the Arsenal win I forgot to mention that England’s Paul Casey completely owned Shaun Micheel at the Match Play Championships on Wednesday. Micheel, who sent Woods packing and gave Luke Donald a spanking lost with a staggering 36-hole score of 10 and 8. That means Casey was 10 holes up with 8 to play, and there was no way Micheel could win enough holes to draw or win the match. That is a big margin of victory and he may be giving the Americans something to think about this weekend. For his efforts, Casey won £1 million (or about $1.88 m) which is a tidy sum for sure. Not bad for a few days work. I wonder if he needs an overweight caddy?


As the new English football season rumbles out of the gate and the Champions League matches get underway, Icelandic side FH Hafnarfjordur (don’t ask me how its pronounced) were the first to put their name down for the qualifying stage of the 2007-8 season. The Icelandic season wrapped up last weekend (I wonder why they don’t play in the winter there?) and they beat Vikingur Reykjavik 4-0 to wrap up their 3rd domestic title. Great stuff. For the trivia minded FH hails from a fishing town about 10 m from Reykjavik and is known as "the town in the lava" because its in the middle of some dramatic volcanic rock formations. I suggest checking it out not only because it sounds like a cool place to visit and there is some good football, but the stories I’ve heard about Icelandic women and their casual attitudes makes me wish I was single! (Just kidding honey, trying to connect with my reader).

Adios.