Oisin McConville looks back on his career and, while 2002 obviously stands out, there’s no win he values more than the All-Ireland club that he brought back to Crossmaglen in 2007. He was team captain that year but, as he says himself, that’s only part of the reason it meant and means so much to […]

4 years ago

Patrick Horgan has always had an interest in coaching. “It’s something I always think about,” he says, “How I’d like to be coached myself.” So he’s decided to do something about it. He looks at his nieces and nephews, sees them on the Ipad with no intention of ever getting off it and he thinks […]

4 years ago

The rules were the same and the pitch was the same but, for a good hour on St Patrick’s day, this looked like a different sport. Dummies were being loaded out of the place like crocs from a holiday-stall. Outside-of-the-boot scores were raining down like it was Salthill in January. It was one-against-one, it was […]

4 years ago

“Mayo are so frustrating. They work so hard to get into games, then they just kick it away. It’s the theme with them.” Mayo were six points down at half-time of their National League clash against Tyrone but, coming out for the second half, you just knew they’d get back into the game. It’s what […]

4 years ago

No matter what way you try and dress it up, Fermanagh will wake up this morning and they’ll be feeling sick. They’ll be sick to the pits of their stomach because, in a blow that turns their season upside down, they’ve been left in the mire and it was an injustice that brought them there. […]

4 years ago

It was the first trophy Johnny Sexton won as Ireland captain but he gave it away straight away. It didn’t look like a pre-planned thing and you could see the surprise on James Ryan’s face as, having been presented with the Triple Crown, Sexton passed the trophy over to Ryan and Andrew Conway to celebrate […]

4 years ago

It was an experimental Mayo team but, let’s not forget, out in Mayo, discoveries are what’s required. They need players, they need them like Chelsea need a buyer but they didn’t find them tonight. It was an experimental Mayo team but this was an abysmal Mayo performance. It was an experimental Mayo team but that […]

4 years ago

Rachael Blackmore was lost for words after winning the Gold Cup but that didn’t matter because as usual, the Tipperary jockey had let her actions do the talking. It was the one that got away last year when, after chasing Minella Indo up the run-in, Blackmore and A Plus Tard were the bridesmaids that only […]

4 years ago

It’s day two, it’s Cheltenham Wednesday, it’s time to bounce back. What a wonderful sight it was on Tuesday, to see Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle welcomed back like the heroes they are. Chants of Olé Olé Olé rang around the Pretsbury Park parade ring as, with no crowd making it in last year, race-goers made […]

4 years ago

She said she was the proudest woman in the world last year, when Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle stormed up the Cheltenham hill and she must feeling something similar again now. Eimir Blackmore gets nervous and that’s why, with her daughter in the middle of it all, she doesn’t go racing all that often but she’s […]

4 years ago

This Naas CBS Hogan Cup team will never play together again after St Patrick’s day and according to their manager, Longford man Cormac Hughes, that’s what’s driven them on all year. It’s do-or-die, it’s cut-throat and when it comes to schools GAA, it’s rare that you’ll get a second chance. As a school, having lost […]

4 years ago

Keep it on the down low. They’re coming out of the woodwork now. These people, these geniuses have been studying the form, the patterns, the good things since the middle of last March and they’re just about primed now. They’ve seen it all. The good things, the bad things, the sure things. They’ve an ear […]

4 years ago

County players are looking for expenses to cover five, sometimes six nights a week and the club players, they’re going mad too. Because if you’re not going mad training, they’ll say you’re not doing as much as the next parish and they’ll definitely say that you’re falling behind. The GAA Hour made its return to […]

4 years ago

Joanne Cantwell had to play the mediator as Colm O’Rourke and Tom Parsons got stuck into it on The Sunday Game. GPA CEO Tom Parsons was first up, and he explained why GAA players are aggrieved at the moment, and why they refused to give interviews at the weekend. The Mayo man’s argument was that, […]

4 years ago

Shane McGuigan lost the head and when you see what he was sent off for, it’s very easy to see why. Brian Stack hood-winked the officials, who should have known better, and McGuigan and Derry paid the price for it. It was a heavy price and it was fairly sickening to watch because, just seconds […]

4 years ago

Dublin 0-13 Tyrone 0-8 It’s Tyrone-Dublin, it’s hot, it’s heavy and it’s hardly the type of place you’d expect someone to stand back and smile as they hold the door for you. Padraig Hampsey wasn’t holding the door for Cormac Costello and Cormac Costello wasn’t standing back to smile at Padraig Hampsey. The ball ran […]

4 years ago

‘That aul soccer nonsense’ doesn’t always go down too well in Gaelic football but even the nay-sayers are being won over by Diarmuid O’Connor. And that’s saying something. It was always going to take something special to do that but, on three occasions in this league campaign to date, O’Connor has mixed the soccer with […]

4 years ago

Michael Conlan lost his World title fight to Leigh Wood but the Belfast man can hold his head high. That’s because, having out-boxed the world champ for the guts of 12 rounds and having boxed himself to an utter stand-still, Conlan literally left everything he had out in that ring. Defeat will sting and it […]

4 years ago

This was a Saturday when players did not give interviews, either to journalists or to television stations, on the back of an expenses row with the GAA. As revealed by the GPA, The “majority” of GAA players have not received any expenses since the resumption of training last December and that’s why the players representative […]

4 years ago

The St Kieran’s College supporters were chanting 21, 22, 23 or however many Croke Cups they’d won at the time and, in response, the Ard Scoil Rís boys went something like ‘that’s grand, but have ye ever won a Harty?’ That’s grand but Ard Scoil Rís have never won an All-Ireland. They’ll be looking to […]

4 years ago

Philly McMahon didn’t ever let the trolls get to him. But God they did their best. A t*nker, a smack-head and a pony-riding scumbag are among the names he’s been called online – and that’s only in the last month. Good job the skin is thick. Philly had the knives out for him back in […]

4 years ago

In a tearful meeting with the Kilcoo players, Mickey Moran told them last night that he was stepping down as their manager. And though unconfirmed, the word is that they’ll be the last team he will ever manage. It’s been some innings. Having began his managerial career way back in the 1980s, when he became […]

4 years ago

Inter-county players are flat to the mat right now. This could be one of the most intense seasons they’ve ever had. They’re navigating their way through a busy League schedule, as they always are at this time of the year, but there’s a bit more to it this time around. Because as well as competing […]

4 years ago

Laois 1-20 Antrim 1-19 Cha Dwyer is a horse and cart of a man. Just when Laois thought they were down, he pulled and kicked and dragged them back up. Just like he has done so many times over these last few years. The people of Laois knew all along that, to copper-fasten their Division […]

4 years ago

Waterford 1-28 Tipperary 0-21 So many people streamed into the Walsh Park stand that, for a finish, the latest of them had to head for the terrace. Two cheeky chaps, with no more than 16 years between them, sat down in front of me but while the press box was quiet, the stands were anything […]

4 years ago

Patrick Horgan reckons someone’s doing a bit too much talking. Who that is remains unclear but what is clear is that, even though he’s in the middle of his 14th season as a Cork senior hurler, he’s still one of the best around. The Glen Rovers assassin began this game in uncharacteristic fashion, shoving one […]

4 years ago

Kilkenny 2-23 Dublin 0-16 Anthony Daly questioned referee Paud O’Dwyer when he pulled Donal Burke and then Padraig Walsh for throwing the ball. But then, as he watched the replay, Dalo himself wasn’t sure if they’d thrown or hand-passed the ball. Which proves Paud O’Dwyer’s point. The rule states that, when hand-passing the ball, there […]

4 years ago

Roy Keane doesn’t have much time for the ‘This is Anfield’ sign, of course he doesn’t. In fact, the Cork man deems it fairly childish that, as an opposition player, Ian Wright was still excited by the prospect of touching the famous sign. Wright, who played for Crystal Palace, Arsenal and West Ham, made sure […]

4 years ago

Shane Horgan didn’t spare Finn Russell. The Meath man absolutely went to town on him. Speaking on Virgin Media, Horgan used words like ‘pathetic’ and, in calling Russell’s work-rate into question, said you’d never see an All Black or a Springbok doing what he did on Saturday. Now Sean O’Brien didn’t give the Scotsman a […]

4 years ago

Always workin’ Paddy Durcan. One of the stats of the 2019 championship was that, having marked Ryan McHugh, Shane Walsh and Jack McCaffrey, Paddy Durcan kept all of them scoreless and at the same time, kicked 0-8 from play himself. That’s bang for your buck from a wing back. It’s three years on but little […]

4 years ago

The under-17 and under-20 competition’s have not captured the GAA public’s imagination quite like their predecessors. And that goes for both club and inter-county competitions. Under-12, 14, 16, 18 and 21 age-grades were in place for the guts of 60 years, between 1964 and 2018, and while they weren’t perfect – how could they have […]

4 years ago

There was a decent garden, a wall and a set of goal-posts. You’re very welcome to Fossa. Nobody knew much about the place ten years ago because, well, blink and you’d have missed it, but then, along came David Clifford and here we are. You’d still miss it if you blinked but there’s an aura […]

4 years ago

A local radio commentator was shaking his head. He was hardly the only one. Kerry were in Newbridge of a dog-dirty day for football and, up in the commentary box, the Kildare correspondent was talking good, bad and ugly. No prizes for guessing who he was on about. The issue with Daniel Flynn, according to […]

4 years ago

Kerry 1-13 Donegal 0-7 Of a windy day in Killarney, Donegal were just as bad with the wind as they were without it. They went out with a plan of containment in the first half and while you couldn’t blame Declan Bonner’s side for that, given the way the wind was blowing, the trouble for […]

4 years ago

UL 1-21 NUIG 2-15 Mikey Kiely you must be joking me. We’ve been saying it all week that a two point lead is the most dangerous lead in hurling but, after yet another late show-down, it appears that nothing is safe anymore. There were only five minutes left in this Fitzgibbon Cup final when, from […]

4 years ago

UL 1-27 IT Carlow 2-23 A two point lead is the most dangerous lead in the GAA. We said it on Saturday after a pair of blockbuster All-Ireland club finals and we’re saying it again now. Where does it end? When will it stop? Because it’s taking the biscuit at this stage. Rory Higgins scored […]

4 years ago

NUIG 0-12 UL 1-6 Of a wet, windy night in Carlow, it took a man from Roscommon to light the whole thing up. They’ll hear a lot more about Cathal Heneghan yet. The Roscommon forward came on at half-time of this Sigerson Cup final and with his pace, trickery and sense of adventure, he swung […]

4 years ago

He’s not sure if it’s the hurling or the football or the breeding or something he picked up along the way but whatever it is, when he walked into prison, Johnny McGurk had no fear. That was in 2016, the Derry GAA icon having been sentenced to 30 months, 10 in prison and 20 on […]

4 years ago

Growing up, Jonny Wilkinson was Dean Rock’s idol. He has lots of time for Jonhny Sexton too and has no qualms in admitting that, although a fan of Gaelic football and hurling, he watches more rugby. Rock played for six years you see. CUS of Leeson Street wouldn’t be considered as one of the heavy-hitters […]

4 years ago

After a long winter, Tony Kelly is looking ahead to a boundless summer. He’s done the time, 17 weeks into an ankle rehabilitation programme and now, for the Ballyea man, it feels like things are coming around again. He injured that ankle during the 2020 championship – a championship that wouldn’t have been the same […]

4 years ago

Erika O’Shea and Sarah Dervan are excited by the prospect of a merger of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie associations, which, if introduced, should go a long way to solving the facility issues that are ongoing in the women’s game, they say. Finding pitches to train on and gyms to go to has been an […]

4 years ago

Donal Óg Cusack says that the red card Gearoid Hegarty was shown against Galway has been a long time coming for him. The 2020 Hurler of the Year was sent off for retaliating on Joseph Cooney, who, after shouldering into the Limerick man, was swiftly met with three dunts back into the chest and into […]

4 years ago

There are a lot of mé féiners in the GAA but Mickey Moran is not one of them. The Derryman has waited a long time to win an All-Ireland title, losing finals with Mayo, Slaughtneil and Kilcoo along the way but when he finally won one, on a dramatic February Saturday with Kilcoo, it still […]

4 years ago

Ballygunner 2-17 Ballyhale Shamrocks 1-19 Ballygunner have done it. Ballyhale have been Ballyhaled. Where do you even start? The Kilkenny club must have been looking up the steps of the Hogan Stand when, with injury time up, with a two point lead to hold onto, with a ninth All-Ireland club title within smelling distance, Harry […]

4 years ago

David Clifford is playing. That should be enough. The University of Limerick are on the hunt for their first ever Sigerson Cup title and with the Fossa freak in their ranks, it would take a brave punter to bet against them. Clifford has ripped the competition apart with 5-16 to his name in just three […]

4 years ago

There are drawings on the wall behind him and there’s a hi-vis on the chair. Something’s telling me there was a hard-hat knocking around too. Colin Fennelly is a project manager for a construction company called Virtus and on All-Ireland final week, in his office up in Dublin, the Ballyhale man looks like a busy […]

4 years ago

Stephen O’Keeffe enjoyed his year out from inter-county hurling in 2021 and that’s why, during his time off, he made the decision to hang up the Waterford boots for good. It’s the little things that get you. Going for a pint of a summer Saturday was unheard of during his ten years as a Waterford […]

4 years ago

Kieran Fitzgerald is a gentleman. He wasn’t even talking to me but he didn’t have to be. His Laochra Gael is coming up and, of a Monday evening, as we (me and my more experienced journalistic colleagues) chat to him on Zoom, it doesn’t take him long to brighten up the day. The odd day, […]

4 years ago

It’s hard to believe it but Ard Scoil Rís were once underdogs. They were once the St Joseph’s Tulla of the Harty Cup. That all changed in 2010 when, with Niall Moran the manager, a golden generation of Limerick players that included Declan Hannon, Shane Dowling and Kevin Downes won the schools’ first ever Munster […]

4 years ago

John Small will puck, get pucked and he’ll move on. Ye won’t fall out over it and then, if the chance arises, like a true warrior he’ll go for you again. He’s on first name terms with the rough and tumble at this stage but, even though his reputation often precedes him and he gets […]

4 years ago