Joe Carroll's Curiosity Corner: Sporting Quizzes and Trivia

KNOW YOUR INITIALS QUIZ

It’s LM this week
1: Maureen Connolly, Wimbledon champion
2: County Cavan’s best-ever golfer......
3: ....and an American professional whose only major came in the 1987 Masters
4: Arguably the world’s best soccer player......
5:...who won many of these in Spain
6: He helped guide the GAA over many years in an official capacity
7: It can break a team’s heart to concede a goal at this stage
8: Louth senior footballers have a couple of these coming up in the next few weeks
9: A Celt who played with Man U who would have been watching out for Dundalk FC’s results last season
10: You have to be above 66.7 kilos and below 69.9 kilos to compete in this division

I SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID THAT

Malcolm Macdonald was writing a newspaper column at the time, and before his Newcastle United side played Hereford in a replay of their 1972 FA Cup Fourth Round tie he said that he would beat the record for the number of goals scored by the one player in an FA Cup match.

Big Malc was setting himself some task: the record stood at nine, scored by the flamboyant Ted McDougall for Bournemouth in an 11-0 win over non-league Margate.

Not only did the record stay intact, England International Macdonald could manage just one goal, and Newcastle got beaten. His goal put Newcastle in front with eight minutes remaining, but then came the legendry Ronnie Redford screamer, forcing the game into extra-time.

The other hero on the Hereford side was Ricky George; his goal made it 2-1 to put the Edgar Road side through to the next round, while at the same time leaving Macdonald and just about everyone else attached to his St James’ Park club red faced.

ANAGRAM CHALLENGE

Clue: You'll see it in a Boxing Ring

Bonce Ruler (4, 6)

SHE SAID

“I shall be 53. To stay in International class shape is not very easy. Maybe I prefer to rest.” Jeannie Longo, regarded as the greatest-ever female cyclist.

The French woman first competed at competitive level in 1975 and didn’t retire until 2012. She was a World and Olympic champion and competed in seven celebrations of the Olympics. She was tempted to compete at the 2012 Games, but chose instead to retire.

THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG HERE

Cork’s Flower Lodge housed its first game in 1957, a League of Ireland tie between AOH and Sligo Rovers. It was subsequently used for home games by, in turn, Cork Hibernians, Albert Rovers and Cork City.

In 1989 it was bought by the GAA and today is Cork’s second pitch for staging inter-county games, after Pairc Ui Chaoimh. It is name after Jack Lynch, a five-time All-Ireland winner.

BALL BURST – GAME OVER

It has most certainly happened in many a game played in the local park; but could you imagine it happening in an All-Ireland semi-final? Well it did, admittedly back when the GAA was still in short trousers and footballs wouldn’t have been as plentiful as they are today. (Someone counted a team playing around with 42 – yes, 42 – before a Leinster Championship football match last year.)

The 1890 Munster senior final had just four minutes to run, with Cork leading Kerry by 0-1 to nil, when the ball burst. There was no replacement available, so the game had to be abandoned. Cork won the re-fixture by 1-4 to 0-1.

ANSWERS

Know Your Initials: 1 Little Mo, 2 Leona Maguire, 3 Larry Mize, 4 Lionel Messi, 5 League Medals, 6 Liam Mulvihill, 7 Last Minute, 8 League Matches, 9 Lou Macari, 10 Light Middleweight.

You’ll See It In A Boxing Arena: Blue Corner.

There’s Something Wrong Here: Flower Lodge is now known as Pairc Ui Rinn, named in honour of Cork’s greatest hurler, Christy Ring.