Great win at the weekend. That 2nd shot to 17 was a peach. He really is a class act. Its great to win 2 majors. Would be fantastic if he could win a US major next year
Class act is right, what a great win for him. Down in history will illustrious company. He has the US PGA next month before next year still too come, so potentially could win that. I think his next goal is to win the Masters and win 3 in a row.
I think he is now the best Irish sportsman of all time,I don't think any other Irishman has ever reached the top of his game likeHarrington.I hope he can win a US major now.
Superb stuff alrite!! Had him backed at 33-1, ew! Also had poulter ew at 22-1.Nice little return for my 20eur bet. Was great to watch.
I have no interest in golf whatsoever but as an Irish person you would have to be proud of him. It's some achievement.
I thought he had no chance with the injured wrist being honest. Fair play to him. He deserves all the praise he gets. Comes accross as a really decent family man as well. Any of you out there who fancy a bet should put a few quid on him winning sports personality of the year. He should win it, unless someone wins gold in the Olympics or he is shafted by the dodgy panel like D O'Rourke was. Not the betting type myself.
I was thinking the greatest golfer to come out of the emerald isle but have to agree with u that personnally he's the best irish sportsman ever. I've never felt the emotion of the past 2 yrs in the British Open with any other individual irish acheivements. Roll on Major Number 3 whichever it may be. cool:
Agree with all the sentiments posted. Last year he stuttered, bith he and Garcia were making loads of mistakes. This year he really won in style. In fairness 3+ in those conditions was excellent. I think he would have won it with Tiger there too. Irelands best ever sportsman?....Possibly ....though there are several other candiates for that title. Barry McGuigan, Paul McGrath, Steven Roche, Christy Ring (it counts I think), Michelle Smith (tainted or not, that was an incredible achievement), Sean Kelly (world number 1 for 6 consecutive years, no major tour wins though), John Tracy (I remember screaming at our black and white telly that morning in 1984). Lots of candidates, Harrington stands shoulder to shoulder with all those great names. Any other candidates?
Vuelta a España Paris-Nice, 7 consecutive wins Milan-Sanremo, 2 wins Paris-Roubaix, 2 wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège, 2 wins May never have won the tour de France but some major victories in there all the same Other greats Fred Daly,Christy O'Connor, Ronnie delaney, Bob Tisdall and Pat O’Callaghan.
Yes I guess I meant to say he never won Tour, Giro or worlds. He was my hero. He went close to the tour on a couple of occasions and won 6 stages.
And unusual that he turned from a sprinter into an all rounder as well. I dont think he ever rode on the Giro though did he? It was always just before the Vuelta wasn't it. Think they've moved it to Autumn since.
Remember the 1989 Tour when for one day he had the green, red, polkadot and overall jersey. He ended up with 2 I think. PDM won everything except the yellow I think.
Whilst many may argue he's the best of all time there deffo are other candidates so I personally wouldn't see it as a complete no brainer. But I'd have to disagree with him being the only Irishman to have reached the top of his game, that would be giving others a diservice. The more recent heroes always get the benefit of current euphoria (ala Robbie Williams gets voted best artist/song of the millennium !!!) but I suppose he's not exactly finished his career yet and time will tell. Stephen Roche got deservedly voted the Irish sportsman of the last century and what he achieved was only ever matched by the accepted best cyclist of all time. The golf equivalent would be to win all 4 majors in the same year. Thats just to name one, albeit the one that instantly springs to mind. "All time" is a long time we can't even just work off what's happened in our life time. I always loved what John Lennon said in an interview (when living in New York) when he was being pushed on saying that The Beatles were the best band of all time. He said what does it really matter who's the best. The more great bands there are the more great music there is so who's to say who's the best that may come down to taste, era of the music etc. and why bother in the first place. Reckon the same applies here and you could look at exceptional inidividuals on Irish teams too. I hope Harrington kicks on from here. He self admittedly had the look of journeyman about him for a long time. It looked that getting into the top 5 in majors might've been his limit and as mentioned on this thread in last year's Open all the players were making so many mistakes. But to win in adverse conditions on and off the course with such confidence could be a mental and career watershed for him and maybe his modesty was actually more his Irishness than a limit to his talent.
Personally no. But largely cos he is a Manc legend and I'm not a big enough man to give him the credit he deserves.
I always think its shocking how generally Irish are amazingly ignorant of just what Kelly achieved and how well respected he is on the continent. So many seem to think the season starts and ends with the Tour De France. The guys that 100% specialised in it, never competing in any other races (just using them for training), wouldn't be half as respected. I guess it just our culture. Its such a European sport and the classics don't get exposure here. On a side the big fella was sh1t outta luck when he had the Worlds in the bag but for faulty gear selection before the race and also when he got banned from the Olympics when it was amateurs only for riding in South Africa (when nobody knew anything about boycotts). Those two would've looked good on his honours list.
Well I wouldn't say everybody would even agree he's the best Irish football player of all time ! Most of his rep (and blind loyalty) comes from his club career. If had hung around in Saipan and we went on a good run in the WC with him then his appraisal might be higher.............but anyway not to mention the war I suppose a rugby head might throw their favourite Irish player of all time into the ring. Its most deffo a game of biased opinions and trying to compare honours in different sports. Doing something on an international stage as an individual or member of an Irish team would to me be more quantifiable than evaluating a club football career.