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11 striking photos of beautiful old-style shopfronts around Ireland

Trevor Finnegan is a graphic designer on a mission: to highlight the beauty of traditional Irish shopfronts.

Our Type Our Type

OVER THE PAST few years, a number of accounts dedicated to documenting old signage around Ireland have cropped up on Instagram.

One of these is @our.type. The brainchild of graphic designer Trevor Finnegan, Our Type shares photos of traditional shopfronts around the country.

“The project came about initially as part of a college project when I was studying Visual Communication in NCAD,” Trevor says. “It started with me taking some photos of old signage in rural towns around the midlands.”

Finnegan attributes his passion for old type to his father’s penchant for collecting old enamel signage.

“These were then displayed on the back of garage where we all used to play football growing up. So my fascination with typography was subconsciously starting to take place as we kicked a football against the walls,” he explains.

The project’s beginnings coincided with the Celtic Tiger, a time in which family-run businesses closed down and were replaced by the likes of Spar and Centra.

“The familiar face of many of our towns and villages was beginning to change,” says Finnegan.

As such, he felt compelled to document them before they disappeared from the landscape forever.

As a country, we really have a beautiful and unique style to our traditional shopfront, and we are in real danger of losing this as we  continue to let our towns be taken over by these cheap shops with little regard to how our towns are losing their unique style and starting to look the exact same as each other.

“One part of the project that I really love is getting to speak to the owners of some of the places I photograph,” says Finnegan. “This to me is almost as important as the photographs themselves.”

I think it is important to capture the nostalgia as many of these places have played such important roles in the society of local towns in Ireland.

So far, Finnegan has taken well over 500 photos. There was an exhibition in Dublin’s Bernard Shaw a few years ago, and he regularly gets e-mails from people sharing their own personal memories.

Naturally, he has his favourites.

“I definitely have a few favourites – such as Doran’s drapers shop in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork,” he says. “It is probably not the most traditional but I just love the quirkiness of the signage and the 3D structure of it.”

Doran's Mitchelstown- Co. COrk _preview Trevor Finnegan / Our Type Trevor Finnegan / Our Type / Our Type

“Another favourite would be E. O’ Ceallait in Virginia, Co. Cavan and the Railway Bar in Bannagher, Co. Offaly.”

Railway Bar, Banagher Co. Offaly_preview Trevor Finnegan / Our Type Trevor Finnegan / Our Type / Our Type

Finnegan is currently working on a book that will be released in 2018 and is hopeful that people are beginning to see the importance of preserving our heritage.

I just hope that there is more protection on them as our economy is now beginning to grow again and the building boom is back. I hope we don’t start making the same mistakes as before.

You can follow Our Type here and learn more about the project here.

‘We’re more intimate’: How small Irish cinemas are fighting back against blockbuster screens>

Double Take: The facts behind *that* unmissable tiger mural in Waterford>

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    Mute Emmet Dillane
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:38 PM

    Lived in the Bronx for a couple of years in an area run by the Bloods. Had to walk through Crips territory on the way to the subway (undergound). In my local park you had the Gorilla Brims, the Mac Ballers, Latin Kings, Trinitarios, MS-13 and the Gangster Disciples, the Mexican Mafia ran the corner shop and the Colombians cast a long shadow over the hood, but let me tell you nothing ever prepared me for that summer spent in Dublin. Many’s the night I lay awake in my Dalkey apartment wishing I was back in the safe environs of Throgs Neck, but what the heck, I lived to tell the tale.

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    Mute mark kenny
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:40 PM

    @Emmet Dillane:

    Haha good one.Sounds like the Warriors cult classic movie set in New York – The Baseball Furies,The Orphans and trying to make it back to Coney Island via the Subway.Great movie.

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    Mute Emmet Dillane
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:47 PM

    @mark kenny:
    Great movie. Reminds me of negotiating my way up Ballybeg High Street after the pub on Saturday night.

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    Mute gjpb
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:06 PM

    McGregor projects the image himself that he is victimised for being Irish so I wouldn’t be surprised if this claptrap came from him.

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    Mute Michael Geraghty
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:56 PM

    @gjpb: in some of Dublins most notorious fueds, feuding families have literally lived across the road. Constant fighting for just crossing the street. The article is more accurate than you think.

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    Mute Philip King
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:11 PM

    @Michael Geraghty: have to call bullshit in that comment.

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:18 PM

    @Michael Geraghty: ye I think you’re talking about when the kids have a fight and the mothers are screaming back and forth from their front doors at each other …

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    Mute Michael Geraghty
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:45 PM

    @Philip King: the sheriff street gangland fued was neighbouring families of only a few house separating them with a garda car literally parked between the two. Different families in the area aligned to each other. There was around 7 gangland murders from that.

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    Mute Simon Dottcom
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    Aug 9th 2017, 6:39 AM

    @Michael Geraghty: you misspelled feud

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    Mute Geoff
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    Aug 9th 2017, 12:24 PM

    @Suzie Sunshine: The Crumlin/Drimnagh feud was a thing. 16 murders between 2000 and 2012. It was gang on gang though so didn’t really impact uninvolved locals, it wasn’t like living in a housing project in the US. Maybe a bit of a transatlantic cultural misunderstanding by the author?

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    Mute moore house
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:11 PM

    It’s a bit over the top but fact is most of it is correct. Rocket launchers have been seized and many young man have been killed in dublins workig class areas due to gang violence . Sure the lad they were writing about frazer was nearly killed yesterday .

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    Mute Metempsychosis
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:05 PM

    @moore house: Really? That was probably that Mayweather shower, trying to drum up publicity for the fight.

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    Mute Fluich Go Craicean
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:36 PM

    The article is simple using American adjetives and as a whole is fairly accurate. Projects are the basically council estates.

    The phrase “what you looking at?” Has started many a fight in Dublin.

    To be honest I stopped reading the above article when I saw Roisin Ingle being quoted.

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    Mute Jamie
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:16 PM

    I’d say that’s a mellow enough depiction of Dublin giving the amount of gangland killings lately.it should read you could get shot dead if you’re seen talking to a certain family from Dublin

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    Mute Mark Nolan
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:41 PM

    Also no mention in the article about him attending a Gaelscoil in Dublin 6w. Wouldn’t fit the narrative.

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    Mute Jensen Vhrin
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    Aug 9th 2017, 5:32 PM

    @Mark Nolan: he attended a public gaelscoil in Tallaght, Dublin 24, a public one made up mostly of working class kids until he left to start his apprenticeship.

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    Mute Ben Coughlan
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:35 PM

    Crumlin didnt have the adequate planning to be considered a project.

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    Mute Jamie
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:17 PM

    In fairness I wouldn’t walk the streets of Crunlin at night

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:24 PM

    @Jamie: perfectly fine to walk through Crumlin at night. .

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    Mute Philip Gerard
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    Aug 8th 2017, 11:43 PM

    @Suzie Sunshine: I walked out of The Gate on Friday to the sight of 4 squads, a police van, and a helicopter overhead on the Old County. It’s nothing to see heavily armed police all over Crumlin. Though strangely enough, I love and feel safe there.

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Aug 8th 2017, 11:50 PM

    @Philip Gerard: exactly ! . Very rarely anything would happen to you. .The gate was a good spot when the Dillons had it .. not sure what it’s like now though .

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    Mute Philip Gerard
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    Aug 9th 2017, 1:12 AM

    @Suzie Sunshine: Still a solid pub with a solid pint and a salt of the earth crowd. I was a lounge boy there back in the day.

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    Mute AJ
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:40 PM

    He says hes from the streets but from what i remember he lived in what i would call a palatial home in that documentary before he made any serious money, far from the streets, i call BS

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    Mute Rochelle
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:51 PM

    It sounds like a very accurate description of inner city Dublin to me.

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    Mute John Mc Grath
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:20 PM

    Growing up in the working class areas of any city in Ireland will make it sound like a completely different city to those who did not, although some poetic licence can be seen here.

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:52 PM

    @John Mc Grath: sounds like a seventies scropt.
    Warriors, … come out and play-eh … Warriors, … come out and plaaay-eh

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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:51 PM

    Embrace the guy and what he has done
    He’s Irish and proud

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Aug 9th 2017, 9:01 AM

    @Quentin Moriarty: he’s also a fraud in how he depicts in where he comes from. I embrace sports people from Ireland who keep it real and are true about where they came from not frauds. And don’t give me that bulshit begrudger line. McGregor isn’t going to be hiding behind that tired line.

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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
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    Aug 9th 2017, 7:54 PM

    @Brian Mardle: who cares
    He has drummed up great interest in the sport made bucketloads of cash and above all is Irish

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    Mute Metempsychosis
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:52 PM

    Best sports article I’ve read in ages, despite the exaggerations. And, what do people think a project is? Project = Public Housing Project. It doesn’t mean ‘Sao Paolo favela’. In one of the Michael Moore documentaries, he went to (world famous) south-central LA, and it was quiet residential streets, with neat lawns and no hassle. He was asking, “where’s the no-go area we’ve been seeing in news & film’. I’ve no doubt most US ‘projects’ are the same.

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    Mute moore house
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:03 PM

    @Metempsychosis: a lot nicer than Dolphins Barn just more guns

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    Mute gerry fallon
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    Aug 8th 2017, 11:08 PM

    Yeah I was in crumlin yesterday and I saw two of the most notorious old age pensioners,paddy the axe man rielly and Seamus one eye Murphy giving out stink to each other at the bus stop.
    I was so scared I crossed to the other side of the road.Its worse than the Bronx I’m telling ye!
    No wonder Conor left for LA.

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Aug 8th 2017, 11:25 PM

    @gerry fallon: Crumlin’s not safe with those two hanging around the bus stops .. can’t even get the bus nowadays ..

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    Mute Derek Moean
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:50 PM

    He is so full of s##t.

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    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
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    Aug 9th 2017, 6:45 AM

    Lets be honest, we all avoid Sheriff street where possible. Crumlin and Drimnagh do have a gang issue. Just because because we don”t like people saying it doesn’t mean its not true.

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    Mute Covfefe MAGA
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:14 PM

    ESPN is Fake News!!

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    Mute Ryan Boyle
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:16 PM

    @Covfefe MAGA: your gimmick is boring.

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    Mute Owen Ball
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    Aug 9th 2017, 1:25 AM

    They do eat their young though, in fairness.

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    Mute Brian Kelleher
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:17 PM

    Had to stop reading that, what a load of shit! Granted McGregor is from Crumlin (originally) His family moved out of there about 13/14 years ago to Laraghcon in Lucan. Houses going for €500,000, a very middle class area. McGregor would want to ditch the “I came from nothing “, “I’m from the streets” act.

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Aug 8th 2017, 10:27 PM

    @Brian Kelleher: but he did originally come nothing no ?

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    Mute Philip Gerard
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    Aug 8th 2017, 11:37 PM

    @Brian Kelleher: Oh look! A begrudger!

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    Mute gerry fallon
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    Aug 9th 2017, 8:08 AM

    @Brian Kelleher: well said Brian.hes going on like ur man Frank McCourt selling a very bad image of his country that he used to sell his image.
    I’m very disappointed with him.
    He should be promoting his home country not denigrating it.

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Aug 9th 2017, 10:39 AM

    @Brian Kelleher: Perfectly said

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Aug 9th 2017, 10:42 AM

    @Brian Mardle:
    lmfao I knew it wouldn’t take long for someone to come out with that tired old ‘begrudger’ line.
    If the truth hurts they’ll always fall back on the old reliable.

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Aug 9th 2017, 7:27 AM

    McGregor will love this garbage article. Crumlim being misrepresented as one of the poorest and roughest places in western Europe to elevate McGregors self proclaimed rise from rags to riches. If McGregor wants to push this untrue fantasy story let him at it. But leave Crumlin out of it. And don’t tell me McGregor has nothing to do with the writing of this article. This rags to riches theme has been pushed by him from day one. McGregor is a fraud. Plain and simple.

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    Mute Dermot Quinn
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    Aug 9th 2017, 6:03 AM

    Leaving aside the depiction of Dublin it’s actually a very interesting look into McGregors mind. He’s clearly a fairly fragile guy from a mental standpoint, not a criticism btw, and Kavanagh clearly knows what makes him tick . Personally I won’t be watching the fight as it’s a total farce but as insight into the motivation to do what he does it’s a brilliant read.

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    Mute Eoin Madigan
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    Aug 15th 2017, 11:55 AM

    @Dermot Quinn: You’re spot on, it was a brilliant look into the chasm between his public and private selves, post-apocalyptic Dublin sensationalism aside. Genuinely makes me like McGregor more knowing that he can be that fragile, or that he’s worried about getting jumped (not sure how true that is, though, a few left hooks and there’d be bodies sprawled around him). That he surrounds himself with coaches and trainers who know him that well is a testament to his intelligence, never mind his fantastic media manipulation.

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    Mute Paddy O Rourke
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    Aug 9th 2017, 12:50 AM

    Straight outta crumlin is a brother that’ll smother your mother

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    Mute Ronan McKeon
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    Aug 9th 2017, 7:56 AM

    They got the parochial part right anyway.

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    Mute Paul O'Connor
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    Aug 9th 2017, 6:38 PM

    Hilarious! Where was the outrage in the decades your organisation amongst others were seriously damaging Limerick’s reputation with misinformation ?

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    Mute Jay Coleman
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    Aug 9th 2017, 8:24 AM

    Awww the poor dub’s don’t like what a magazine has written about their city

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    Mute Jay Coleman
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    Aug 9th 2017, 8:26 AM

    @Jay Coleman: obviously the journal has decided we can’t mention “junkies and drive by shootings” in Dublin as my original comment got edited

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    Mute mark kenny
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    Aug 8th 2017, 9:26 PM

    Haha,even the writing about this nonsense event is make-believe.What a load of horse manure.

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    Mute Maurice Murphy
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    Aug 9th 2017, 12:26 AM

    More fake was by the less than credible espn.

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    Mute Slim Browne
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    Aug 9th 2017, 7:36 AM

    McGregor has a big mouth, I dunno where he gets some of the crap he comes out with, I hope Mayweather boxes the cauliflower ears off him.

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    Mute Michael alder
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    Aug 9th 2017, 6:02 AM

    Long After he escaped dublin….ah here you’d think he was an immigrant…da f**k is he escaping from?

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    Mute Cathal Leonard
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    Aug 9th 2017, 1:49 AM

    What a pile of stereotypical last century bull. Shit we are so scared the cross the road we go piggy back on a pig from the parlour.
    Places like Stockton where Dias is from now thats rough… bullet holes on ever slum corner. Every traffic stop is life threatening, no money and thats the city the schools the everything. That place makes Dublin look like Diseney Land, in fact most of America does. As rough at the back end on a bear.

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    Mute Lorcán Ó Broin
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    Aug 9th 2017, 11:05 AM

    Roisin ingle? F*ck off

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    Mute Keith Murray
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    Aug 9th 2017, 3:17 PM

    Haha, I’m pretty sure they do eat their young out that way… lol

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