If you’re gonna make a bold statement, make sure nobody is listening. Sure, if it comes off you’re going to look really smart. But if it doesn’t… If it doesn’t you’ll end up pulling a Pele. And nobody wants to do that. The Brazilian was one of the greatest footballers ever born but one of […]

10 years ago

Did the earth move for you? No? Well you must not have been in Leicester on Saturday evening. In case you have been living under a rock (or in Nottingham) for the last week, you will now know that Leicester City are the Premier League champions. On Saturday they celebrated the first title in their […]

10 years ago

Three goals in five games and more plaudits than you can shake a guitar at – is it any wonder Shane Long has been named Southampton’s player of the month? The Republic of Ireland striker has been wowing fans and pundits alike with his form this month and Martin O’Neill will be delighted to see […]

10 years ago

Louis van Gaal does not appear to have a great relationship with his Manchester United players. Manuel Pellegrini too, not exactly vibing off his Manchester City charges. Remi Garde and the Aston Villa players, Rafa Benitez and the human race the Newcastle squad, Roberto Martinez and his Everton team… the Premier League is littered with teams who […]

10 years ago

It’s just a shame that plucky up-and-comer from Holywood couldn’t get the job done. Rory McIlroy is considered by some observers of the game of golf to be a live contender for the gold medal in Rio. A renowned gym rat, the precocious Irishman is also known to be good with a club in hand and, […]

10 years ago

Derek McGrath is an English teacher. A career spent instructing teenage boys on the wisdom of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Seamus Heaney suggests he probably has enviably reserves of patience and a decent sense of humour. These would have been tested on Sunday in Thurles when Diarmuid Kirwan decided against giving Jamie Barron a free, moments […]

10 years ago

Looks like we’re going to get the book before the film. Hardcore Jamie Vardy fans will now be able to tut outside the cinema, complaining that the planned biopic was not faithful to the autobiography. His Premier League-winning hangover not even worn off, the Leicester City striker was promoting his upcoming autobiography on Tuesday. The […]

10 years ago

Forget Merseyside, forget Manchester, forget North London – English football’s real hotbed is the East Midlands. A quiet, comfortable part of England, known for successful rugby teams and conservative views, the region now finds itself at the centre of a furious debate: which was the greater shock, Leicester 2015/16 or Nottingham Forest 1978/79. One man […]

10 years ago

Maybe he can high-five Robbie Henshaw on his way out of the RDS. Connacht’s crazy season is not over yet but, regardless of how their PRO12 campaign ends, they will be saying goodbye to their favourite son at the end of the season. Henshaw made the decision to join Leinster in February (who currently trail second-placed Connacht […]

10 years ago

We can definitely see a regional, z-list celebrity Blind Date appearance in Lee Chapman’s future. Fair play to the Leicester postman. He has taken a mild physical likeness to his club’s top scorer Jamie Vardy and ridden that wave from Soccer AM all the way to Leicester City’s Premier League party bus. In fairness, he puts in […]

10 years ago

If you’re looking for productivity, maybe look away from Leicester today. The East Midlands city is coming to terms with the fact their football club are champions of England for the first time in their 132-year history and, unsurprisingly, it is all kicking off. The players turned up for training on Tuesday morning, mostly looking […]

10 years ago

If you were looking for somewhere to base a fairytale, Leicester wouldn’t be your first choice. Profoundly Middle England, it has a non-descript city centre spiced up by an abundance of curry houses and a rugby team who win more often than they lose. It also houses the remains of a hunchback English King and […]

10 years ago

Come back Sean St Ledger

10 years ago

Maybe after lunch with his mother, Claudio Ranieri could hold a couple of language classes. The Leicester City manager, because of a meeting with his mother, will miss tonight’s pivotal match between Chelsea and Tottenham, which will see his side crowned Premier League champions if Spurs don’t take all three points. The Italian’s amazing job […]

10 years ago

The heart rates of the Roscommon players may not return to normal until they’re back on Irish soil. The darlings of the early Allianz League rounds were nearly dumped out of the All-Ireland Championship in ignominious circumstances in New York on Sunday night. Their hosts, who have never won a Championship match in 15 outings, […]

10 years ago

Pity the pro who gets pitted against Tom McKibbin. He may only be 13, but the Antrim teenager is a serious golfer and may catch a few of his competitors unawares at the K Club in a fortnight. Playing the game for only four years, McKibbin was crowned World Junior Champion at the age of 12, and […]

10 years ago

Leicester fans are going to enjoy this. Claudio Ranieri may be on a plane home from lunch with his mother in Rome, but pretty much everyone else connected with the club will be glued to Tottenham’s trip to Stamford Bridge Monday night. Anything less than a win for Spurs will see Leicester crowned league champions for the […]

10 years ago

They may have to erect a fence between the two benches at Semple Stadium by the time June 5th rolls around. Clare and Waterford could not be separated after 90 minutes yesterday, but their respective management teams had to be separated during the course of a see-saw Allianz League Final in Thurles. It took a […]

10 years ago

No sign of Shay Given, Jon Walters, Seamus Coleman or even Aiden McGeady. Thank the god of raised studs then for Kevin Toner – the combative Meath defender getting his first Premier League start for doomed Aston Villa away to Watford. The early signs are promising for the teenager, who was praised by caretaker manager Eric Black, […]

10 years ago

Tonight in Ennis marks the beginning of the end. The Under-21 football championship, a mainstay of the GAA calendar since 1964, is to be replaced by an Under-20 grade from 2018. The new competition, taking place during the summer, will be restricted to players not featuring on senior county panels after a motion was passed at February’s […]

10 years ago

If Florentino Perez can fire a manager who wins the Champions League what will he do to the doctor who breaks Cristiano Ronaldo? We’re imagining some agonisingly painful punishment borrowed from Game of Thrones… or else being forced to stitch up all Zinedine Zidane’s torn trousers. While Ronaldo was sitting on the bench at the Etihad […]

10 years ago

Daniel Sturridge’s scowl is the 21st century’s Mona Lisa’s smile. Not since Leonardo Da Vinci painted that enigmatic smirk on the visage of Lisa del Giocondo has a face and its expressions been as scrutinised as that of the Liverpool striker. He is substituted, people examine his reaction for signs of displeasure, ignoring the fact that no professional […]

10 years ago

He is the unfancied Italian who has returned to the Premier League and is 90 minutes away from delivering the greatest shock in the history of English football. What Brian Clough achieved with Nottingham Forest was phenomenal but he was not operating in an age when the top clubs were fuelled by Middle Eastern Sheikhs […]

10 years ago

In the five years between 1987 and 1991 Meath reached four All-Ireland finals, winning two of them. Cork enjoyed an identical record over the same period. Perhaps it was the Leinster-Munster symmetry that stopped people short of fretting about two new superpowers wrecking the game of Gaelic football. Or maybe it was simply the fact […]

10 years ago

After 27 years the families of the 96 Hillsborough victims received some comfort on Tuesday. There were cheers, tears and applause in the courtroom when the jury of nine delivered their verdict of unlawful killing on a majority of 7-2. This was the most crucial of the 14 questions the jury were asked to answer and reverses the […]

10 years ago

Was everyone else busy? Let’s think about it. Robbie Fowler has his property empire to manage. Alan Hansen has golf. Mark Lawrenson talks about football to whoever will listen, forever. Steven Gerrard is slaving away in Robbie Keane’s LA shadow and Kenny Dalglish, well, where is Kenny Dalglish? Why couldn’t Dalglish or Graeme Souness or […]

10 years ago

Limerick football is back, baby. The Treaty County ran through the Tipperary defence on Wednesday evening to register a score of 3-8, which was good enough to jettison the defeated Munster and All-Ireland finalists from this year’s minor football championship. Captain Diarmaid Kelly ran amok, scoring 1-1 in each half as Limerick ran out six-point […]

10 years ago

Jon Jones would have been expecting a question or two about Conor McGregor. Bones met the media on Wednesday ahead of his comeback bout with Ovince Saint Preux, their interim light heavyweight title bout headlining the UFC 197 card on Saturday night. Despite having not fought in a year and a half, Jones said he is […]

10 years ago

Tom Cleverley will tell you, Roy Keane and Aston Villa were never a good fit. The Republic of Ireland assistant manager’s short spell as Paul Lambert’s number two came to an abrupt end after an alleged training ground bust-up with players in November 2014. Keane subsequently spent 15 minutes outside Cleverley’s house, after suspecting the former Manchester United […]

10 years ago

It can be a bit of a grind this top level football. The likes of Neymar can spend upwards of 11 months a year nutmegging and embarrassing opponents, with very little time to lie on the beach and reminisce about all the nutmegging and embarrassing. Since signing his very suspicious convoluted deal with Barcelona in 2013, […]

10 years ago

Clearly somebody thinks Jimmy is capable of winning matches in the Scottish Premiership. Ronny Deila has been asked to slowly clear his desk between now and the end of the season after Celtic confirmed the Norwegian will be leaving his post as manager once the club inevitably add their 47th league title. Now all the […]

10 years ago

Thurles AND the green fields of France… it promises to be a busy summer for Hawk-Eye. The score detection system, already in use in the Premier League, Serie A and the Bundesliga, as well as Croke Park, has been selected by UEFA to be the goal-line technology (GLT) provider for Euro 2016. It will be the first time goal-line […]

10 years ago

All in all, not a great weekend for Kilkenny GAA. The senior hurlers defeat at the hands of Clare in the Allianz League semi-final, while disappointing, will not see too many Noreside losing any sleep. Unusually it is a football result that has sent shockwaves through the county and Monday morning the county chairman Ned Quinn went […]

10 years ago

Chicken and the egg scenario, this one. Was Mario Balotelli unhappy at Liverpool because he was playing like a drain, or was Mario Balotelli playing like a drain because he was unhappy? Unsurprisingly the Italian enigma is suggesting it was the latter. The 25 year old has been on loan at AC Milan since August, scoring three […]

10 years ago

If we were him we would claim some credit for Sunday’s win. Last month we shared the inspirational story of Iraqi teenager Abdul Al Jumaili (AKA Bonner Ó Loingsigh), who produced a video detailing how hurling became his refuge from bullying after his family arrived in Ireland in 2008. Despite growing up in Dublin, he became […]

10 years ago

Well, “poorest” may not be fair. Perhaps this was a display of defensive football for the ages. We’re not convinced, however. But at least those involved are still talking about the Cavan Junior B Championship semi-final between Belturbet and Lavey back in 2012. Belturbet emerged victorious on a scoreline of 0-6 to 1-1. Holding their […]

10 years ago

Clare fans worried by the sight of John Conlon hobbling off injured will have been calmed when they saw his replacement. Tony Kelly made an instant impact on his return from injury, popping over two points before those in the Semple Stadium stands had a chance to mark the 2013 hurler of the year’s arrival […]

10 years ago

Don’t believe everything you read (or don’t read) on social media. Jordan Ibe caused something of a diplomatic incident on Merseyside when he purged his Twitter and Instagram accounts of any mention of Liverpool FC. His employers, like. However after giving him his first start in over two months, in the 2-1 win at Bournemouth on […]

10 years ago

That would explain why his head doesn’t explode when he goes forward. Danny Mills said he wasn’t convinced by Timothy Fosu-Mensah at full-back, and it seems the young man agrees with him. Well, sort of. The 18-year-old Dutchman has made the right back berth his own after a slew of injuries in the Manchester United […]

10 years ago

This selflessness is fast becoming a curse on the GAA. Team spirit, sacrifice, work ethic and primacy of the result is all well and good, but what about flair, arrogance, selfishness and moments of genius? Gaelic football has long since been lost to the realm of ‘the-ends-justify-the-means’, but we hurling folk always thought there was hope […]

10 years ago

He couldn’t even blame it on a lack of fitness. You’re the Balyhale Shamrocks intermediate football manager preparing for a match in January and an 11-time All-Star walks through the gate with gear bag in hand, you’re not going to be worried about the code. And so it was Henry Shefflin found himself playing midfield in his first […]

10 years ago

Better men than Joe Johnson have felt the wrath of He-Man. Evil Warlord Skeletor’s hopes of ruling Eternia were constantly foiled by our blond adonis, so what hope had one of snooker’s unlikeliest heroes? You might be a match for the all-powerful Steve Davis of 1986, but what is snooker’s Mr Interesting when compared to the lord […]

10 years ago

You wouldn’t blame the world of women’s GAA for having mixed feelings on the retirement of Valerie Mulcahy. On the one hand it is a shame to see one of ladies football’s greatest ambassadors call it a day, but the flip side is some others might get to win something now. The Cork legend retired Monday to […]

10 years ago

What we wouldn’t give to have these two in their prime lining out for Ireland in France this summer. Roy Keane and Paul McGrath are arguably the greatest footballers to ever play for Ireland (we said arguably!) and back in 1997 the younger man got to show his appreciation for McGrath during a special episode of […]

10 years ago

Ding dong, the witch is dead. Racing Metro finally loosened Toulon’s stranglehold on European rugby, beating the four in a row chasers 19-16 in a tense and tight Champions Cup quarter-final on Sunday. The Parisians are now the only club standing between three Premiership sides and European glory, with Maxime Machenaud holding his nerves to kick […]

10 years ago

At one stage on Thursday he looked in the running for a green jacket, but this is a pretty good consolation prize. Shane Lowry got things rolling at the 16th hole at Augusta National on Sunday, sinking the first of three holes in one on the par three. The Offaly man finished 16 shots behind […]

10 years ago

Previously it was a line of questioning that may have provoked the volcanic temper of Richard Cockerill, but now Leicester Tigers director of rugby is dancing to a different tune. The egg-chasers used to run the East Midlands town but now, like the Tattaglia crime family in The Godfather, they find themselves outmanoeuvred by an unassuming Italian. […]

10 years ago

They are the GAA’s Punch and Judy. For some fans, a big football championship match wouldn’t be complete without Joe Brolly and Pat Spillane going at each other on The Sunday Game. From the row over Brolly’s description of Colm Cooper as a “choker” to Spillane taunting Brolly about his measly, single Celtic Cross, the […]

10 years ago

They’re not the anchor tenants though. Dublin’s 2011 All-Ireland-winning captain Bryan Cullen has been overseeing the procurement of equipment for the gym at the GAA’s new national games development centre in Abbotstown. Cullen, Dublin high performance director, is selecting the gym equipment for the GAA’s new national games development centre in Abbotstown because the Dublin county board […]

10 years ago

A penalty saved, Manchester City take the lead before conceding one of the worst Champions League goals of all time but all we can think about is Michael Owen’s pay cheque. He keeps getting them from BT Sport. We bet they’re huge. Much bigger than any insight he has ever given on television. It’s not new […]

10 years ago