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Over The Bar

Week That Was - Sept 14th to 20th

Season 1, Ep. 6
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In this edition of Week That Was, we head back through the GAA history books to three very different moments associated with the middle of September. We return to the extraordinary 1982 All-Ireland Football Final between Kerry and Offaly and look at the unlikely part played in the drama by the Lowry family — a story that goes beyond one of the most famous finishes in Championship history. Then we travel much further back to mark the breakthrough of the first Connacht team to bring an All-Ireland title west across the Shannon, at a time when the established order in Hurling looked very different. And finally, why did the third Sunday in September become synonymous with All-Ireland Football Final day? We trace the origins of one of the great dates in the GAA calendar and discover when the tradition really began.

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  • 9. Week That Was - Oct 5th to 11th

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    Three decades, three memorable encounters, and three very different chapters in GAA history. This week, Michael Foley and Ciarán O’Hara revisit a dramatic October when All-Ireland glory was still up for grabs, a new chapter in Ireland's sporting rivalry with Australia was unfolding, and another football championship required a second day to settle the destination of Sam Maguire.

  • 111. Why Did Tipperary Go 16 Years Without Winning A Munster Title? Part 1

    01:01:01||Season 1, Ep. 111
    In 1971, Tipperary were Munster and All Ireland Champions. Few could have imagined that it would be sixteen years before they would rule the province again. In Part One of this two-part mini-series, Michael Foley and Ciarán O’Hara trace Tipperary’s extraordinary decline from the heights of 1971 through to 1985. As Cork reasserted their dominance and a new force emerged in Limerick, Tipp endured a succession of disappointments, false dawns and changing fortunes. How did one of hurling’s great powers go from All-Ireland champions to spending more than a decade looking on as their Munster rivals collected the silverware?

  • 8. Week That Was - Sept 28th to Oct 4th

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    This week on Week That Was, we revisit three All-Ireland Finals separated by almost a century — but each with a story that has lived long beyond the final whistle. There’s the September afternoon that helped launch one of Gaelic football’s defining rivalries, a replay that produced one of the most remarkable individual performances ever seen on All-Ireland Final day, and a journey back to 1928, when two counties met for Sam Maguire in a very different GAA world.

  • 109. Why Was The GPA Formed?

    56:59||Season 1, Ep. 109
    By the end of the 1990s, the demands being placed on inter-county players had changed dramatically. Training commitments were increasing, the GAA was becoming more commercial, and yet the players themselves had no independent organisation to represent their interests. In 1999, that changed with the formation of the Gaelic Players Association. In this episode of Over The Bar Michael Foley and Ciarán O’Hara look back at the origins of the GPA, the players and personalities behind its creation, the issues that drove them to organise, and the often difficult relationship between the new body and the GAA establishment.

  • 7. Week That Was - Sept 21st to 27th

    11:47||Season 1, Ep. 7
    This week on The Week That Was, Michael Foley and Ciarán O’Hara travel back through the GAA history made between September 21st and 27th.We revisit 1986, when Kerry’s latest All-Ireland triumph saw some of the Kingdom’s greatest names rewrite the record books; go back 30 years to 1956, when a polio outbreak disrupted the championship and forced the postponement of the All-Ireland finals; and remember 1971, when Offaly finally broke through to claim their first ever senior All-Ireland title.

  • 107. What Happened Between Christy Ring And Galway In The 1953 All Ireland Final?

    53:31||Season 1, Ep. 107
    The 1953 All-Ireland Hurling Final brought Cork and Galway together in Croke Park, with Christy Ring chasing yet another chapter in an extraordinary career. But this was no ordinary final. A fiercely contested game produced incidents that would be debated for decades, with Ring at the centre of a controversy that didn't end when the final whistle sounded. Michael Foley and Ciarán O’Hara go back to the contemporary accounts to ask: what really happened between Christy Ring and Galway in that final and it's aftermath.

  • 105. Why Do Mayo Wear The Green Above The Red?

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    Few county jerseys are as instantly recognisable — or as closely tied to a place — as Mayo’s. Where did the colours come from, and how did the jersey evolve into the one generations of Mayo supporters know today? Michael Foley and Ciarán O’Hara dig into the archives to trace the story of the Mayo jersey, separating tradition from fact and uncovering how the green above the red became one of Gaelic football’s most enduring identities.

  • 5. Week That Was - Sept 7th to 13th

    18:18||Season 1, Ep. 5
    In this edition of Week That Was, we turn the clock back to three remarkable chapters from GAA history. We revisit the 1947 All-Ireland Hurling Final, when Kilkenny and Cork renewed one of hurling’s great rivalries. Then it’s back to 1926 and the Munster Hurling Final — a championship encounter with a story that didn’t end when the final whistle sounded. And finally, we head to 1955, when the All-Ireland Football Championship reached the semi-final stage and neither game could separate the teams. Two semi-finals, two draws, two replays — and a remarkable route to the biggest day of the year.