Pretending that Protestants are discriminated against and don't hold prominent and widely respected positions in the Republic is wild. Katie Taylor, David Norris, Graham Norton and Heather Humphreys are routinely celebrated in Irish public life.

Marrying a catholic bars one from Orange Order membership, murdering a catholic does not.

To those abusing Carla Lockhart for her physical appearance I ask this - would you like it or tolerate it if it was your sister, mother or daughter - which Carla is each of those things? The vile scumbags who shouted abuse and to the many online cowards and bullies sharing disgusting images of her just stop!!! But it says more about them than it does of Carla.

What the heck are @BBCnireland playing at? Give My Head Peace & The Blame Game are two iconic local television programmes. Plenty of life is left in both. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crz9…

Absolute muppet, FACTS” , followed immediately by an argument that isn’t factual, in fact just pure bullshit The Ireland football team does not select players by religion. There is no Protestant/Catholic quota, religious test or prohibition on Protestants representing Ireland. Trying to determine whether the current squad is “apartheid” by counting players according to their presumed religion is absurd and just plain stupid And the comparison with Israel completely misunderstands what apartheid means in international law. Nobody serious argues that Israel is an apartheid system because its football team doesn’t contain enough Arabs or Christians. Apartheid concerns an institutionalised system of domination and discrimination, laws, rights, movement, land, residency and political/legal status. Amnesty International concluded after extensive legal analysis that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians meets that definition, somebodies believe, you or Amnesty international, quite the quandary So pointing to four Arabs and three Christians in a football squad no more disproves allegations of apartheid than putting a Black player in South Africa’s national team would, by itself, have disproved apartheid. And then comes the inevitable leap, criticism of the Israeli state becomes “Jew hatred,” followed by a call to boycott an entire country’s goods and services. The irony is spectacular, accuse Ireland of racism on the basis of players’ presumed religion, complain about boycotts of Israel, and then demand a boycott of Ireland. Perhaps leave “FACTS” out of the next one. It raises expectations.

One of the best photos in GAA history, perhaps. Happy retirement, Aidan Forker 🥳

The breathtaking part is watching loyalism suddenly present itself as the lifelong guardian of the rule of law. 😂 For decades we’ve watched unlawful parades, road blockages, protests against Parades Commission rulings, demands for laws to be changed or institutions abolished when they produced the “wrong” answer , and politicians standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people openly defying restrictions. But Michelle O’Neill speaks or acts in a way you disapprove of and suddenly it’s Magna Carta, constitutional government and solemn lectures about nobody being above the law. By all means hold the First Minister to account. But have the integrity to apply the same standard to your own side. Because “the law must be obeyed when it suits us, challenged when it doesn’t, and treated as sacred when nationalism is involved” isn’t a constitutional principle. It’s hypocrisy wearing a barrister’s wig.

Aidan Forker retires as only the second man in history to captain Armagh to an All-Ireland title 👏 With Rafferty and Grugan already confirming their own retirement, Geezer won't be answering the phone to any more players for the next few weeks in a bid to prevent any more 😅

Where has @irelandresource appeared from !!!! His replies to the bigots and ignorant ranters are almost at genius level. Knowledge of history and politics seems off the charts. Nobody ever replies as they know there is no hope of a debating victory !! All should follow.

What an utterly fecking despicable post. Remembering the innocent people murdered by Hamas on October 7 is entirely legitimate. Their deaths don’t need to be cheapened by dragging the north’s dead into a point-scoring exercise against the south And if you’re going to invoke the Sutton Index, perhaps don’t cherry-pick two organisations and pretend you’ve just explained the Troubles, ffs seriously? Catholics were murdered by the IRA. That is an undeniable and shameful part of our history. Catholics were also deliberately murdered in large numbers by the UVF, UDA and other loyalist organisations, while members of the British security forces were responsible for deaths too. The Sutton Index exists precisely because the human cost was vastly more complicated than a meme to point score More importantly, what exactly has any of that got to do with the Ireland football team in 2026? Ireland’s players weren’t wearing armbands celebrating the IRA. They wore black armbands “in recognition of all lives lost in the conflict” in Gaza. Israel’s players wore theirs for those murdered on October 7. Both sets of victims can be mourned without turning either into ammunition for another political argument. Trying to answer concern for Palestinian civilians with “but the Provos killed Catholics” isn’t the devastating gotcha you apparently think it is ffs I’m Irish. I can condemn the IRA’s murder of innocent people. I can condemn Hamas’s murder of innocent people on October 7. I can condemn loyalist murder of innocent people during the Troubles. And I can condemn the killing of Palestinian civilians. There is no contradiction whatsoever. The dead of NI deserve considerably more respect than being dug up decades later to score points against a football team. Jeysus do better pal

Uri, this is extraordinary stuff and a little unhinged Ireland’s players wore black armbands “in recognition of all lives lost in the conflict.” You’ve somehow managed to describe an armband mourning dead human beings , Palestinians and Israelis, as “antisemitic.” Think about what you’re actually saying. Irish players bowed their heads and declined ceremonial handshakes as a protest against the actions of the Israeli state. They still took the field. They still played Israel. Nobody refused to play against Jewish footballers because they were Jewish. Yet criticism of Israel immediately becomes “antisemitism”, while you describe an entire nation as cowardly and announce that Israelis are the “bravest people on Earth.” And apparently Ireland should “remember who you’re up against.” What exactly is that supposed to mean in the context of a football match? It’s this type of veil threats that let you down You want to talk about courage? It takes considerably more courage to take a public position you know will bring abuse than simply keep your mouth shut and pretend nothing outside the stadium matters. Condemn Hamas. Remember every innocent Israeli murdered on October 7. Confront genuine antisemitism wherever it appears. But Jewish people are not the Israeli government, and opposition to the actions of Israel is not automatically hatred of Jews. Ireland doesn’t need to “hang its head in shame” because its footballers expressed solidarity with civilians. They already bowed their heads. You simply didn’t like the reason why and here is the biggest problem, you are behaving like innocent Palestinians should be forgotten

Aidan Forker an immense leader & footballer, brilliant left foot, excelled across every line of the field for Armagh wherever needed. Hogan Stand speech seared in my brain: "Let today be a lesson, to anyone who has a dream in life ... many of us are living our dreams here today"

Armagh lose another🥲 Armagh’s All-Ireland winning captain Aidan Forker has announced his retirement from inter-county football after fifteen seasons donning the orange jersey🟠👏 He is the fourth player from the county to hang up their boots in the last week, with Rory Grugan, Ethan Rafferty and James Morgan also deciding to call time on their careers🫡

Like his dad Peter, before him, a great servant to Armagh..

Fascinating to see this propaganda machine in full flow. There is zero basis for any of these claims; no evidence, no Irish player(s) named, no complaint to UEFA. They threw it out to deflect from their own fans monkey chants; their media & influencers have taken it from there.

If theres a relationship so what. What happens between two consenting in their personal lives is nobody elses business!

We've lost another one.... What a player Rafferty was, coming through injuries and still racking up a career as successful as his! Easily the best ever outfield to GK player transition and gave us some brilliant memories! Enjoy retirement Ethan!

Moment of the Weekend

Watch it back ON DEMAND. Game of the year!!! So Far....... tv.armaghgaa.net/.../clann-e…

You don’t get to redefine the GAA to suit your own politics. The GAA is an all-island sporting organisation. Its 32-county structure reflects the organisation it has been since its foundation; it doesn’t require every player, supporter or member to share the same constitutional aspiration. And the irony of lecturing the GAA about keeping “sport and politics” separate while objecting to its 32-county structure on explicitly political and constitutional grounds is quite something. Thousands of people from different backgrounds play Gaelic games because they love the sport and their community. If your idea of “cross-community” means the GAA must first erase parts of its identity to make you comfortable, perhaps the intolerance isn’t coming from the GAA.