The GAA JOE Team of the weekend. 1 Sean Coffey (Mid Kerry) East Kerry peppered the mid Kerry goals in the county final but Sean Coffey kept on denying them. David Clifford eventually broke the resistance but none-the-less, this was a fine display between the posts from the Beaufort man. 2 Niall McMannamon (Westport) The […]

3 years ago

“I’m nearly proud here looking at him, you know what I mean, he’s so good.” – Huw Lawlor. It was a proud night for Huw Lawlor, but it was a proud night for O’Loughlin Gaels too as two of their best men won their first All-Stars. Huw Lawlor and Mikey Butler were the rock upon […]

3 years ago

‘Watch your mouth,’ says Darran O’Sullivan when, by mistake, this journalist asks him about winning the 2008 county final with ‘East’ Kerry. ‘I’m mid Kerry,’ he says, quick as a flash. Obviously a point of note. When you consider that the purpose of this phone-call was to talk about mid-Kerry, and their last county championship […]

3 years ago

That, you’d have to say, was some year of hurling. First we had the Clare-Limerick rivalry that looked like defining the summer until, bang, out of nowhere, and like they’ve done so many times before, Kilkenny came good at the business end. They were good, but they just weren’t as good as this Limerick team […]

3 years ago

There are seven Kerry men, five Galway men, two Derry men and a Dub on the 2022 All-Star Gaelic football team. Inevitably, given the year that was, there are a number of unlucky absentees but that’s only because the football was so competitive this year. There were so many outstanding performers from so many counties […]

3 years ago

The Wexford championship is unusual in that hurling is ran off before the football even starts. The same system is deployed in Waterford and Carlow and the one thing they all have in common is that, within the county, the format is widely debated. There are pros and cons to the system, there is no […]

3 years ago

The Irish cricketers have beaten England by five runs at the T20 World Cup in Melbourne. 11 years after their famous victory in Bangalore, in a shock of similarly seismic proportions, the Irish cricketers have done it again. They’ve beaten England at the cricket World Cup. They were helped along the way by some timely […]

3 years ago

The GAA has announced its new broadcast deal for the next five years (2023 to 2027) and from a championship perspective, in truth, its slightly underwhelming. Yes, there will be more games shown on GAA GO – how many more, it remains unclear – but what is clear is that, on the back of the […]

3 years ago

Miriam Walsh, Katrina Mackey and Lorraine Bray are three nominees for the PwC GPA Camogie Player of the Year for 2022. Having starred in the All-Ireland final with three points from play, Tullaroan’s Walsh is the favourite to win the award though she faces stiff competition from Mackey and Bray, who also had outstanding seasons […]

3 years ago

Tony Lavin had not played for the Strokestown seniors all year. Club players all over the country will relate to the story of the man who was too good for his club’s junior team, but wasn’t quite good enough for the seniors. There you are, you’re caught between two stools. In situations like that, the […]

3 years ago

There were sensational performances all over the country this weekend. You had Eddie Gibbons saving the day and the double for Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin. You had Sean Mullooly darting up the field in Roscommon and you had Cian McConville nailing the shots in Armagh. This is The GAA JOE Team of the weekend. 1 […]

3 years ago

Kilruane McDonaghs 2-18 Kiladangan 1-21 What a finish. The Tipperary senior hurling final was a slow burner but then, out of nowhere and just in time, it sparked into life and that man Jerome Cahill lit the flame. The dynamic Kilruane McDonaghs’ forward scored two goals, one as good as the next, as he kept […]

3 years ago

Kenmare Shamrocks 3-11 Austin Stacks 1-15 Austin Stacks were the Kerry senior champions last year, they were very nearly the Munster champions too. But they’ll be playing intermediate club football in 2023. That’s how competitive it is in the Kingdom. It was a Seanie O’Shea inspired Kenmare Shamrocks that sent the Tralee club down, the […]

3 years ago

Henry De Bromhead said it was good to be back at the races today as he comes to terms with the devastating tragedy of losing his son Jack. 13-year-old Jack De Bromhead passed away after an accident at a point-to-point race in Rossbeigh beach in Kerry in September and ever since, the horse-racing community in […]

3 years ago

A little less conversation, a little more action. On that note, let’s get straight down to it. Our predictions have been, it would be remiss of us not to mention it, hit and miss over the last two weeks. 18/30 were spot on the first day and our ration slipped to 12/24 the last day. […]

3 years ago

Westmeath rule the roost on the very first Tailteann Cup Team of the Year with six of their players honoured. The champions are closely followed by beaten finalists Cavan, who have four players on the team while semi-finalists Sligo are next best with three award-winners. Offaly and Leitrim men complete the team with Anton Sullivan […]

3 years ago

Something was amiss with Ballybay for the last ten years. They’d lost finals in 2018 and 2020 and no matter what way you spun it, the bottom line remained the same. They were the nearly men of Monaghan, the bridesmaids in Scotstown’s shadow. And the more the years went on, and the more the crushing […]

3 years ago

Antrim lead the way with seven players on the Joe McDonagh Team of the Year for 2022. The champions are closely followed by the beaten finalists Kerry, who have four players on the team while two Carlow men, a Down man and an Offaly man make up the remainder. It rounds off a brilliant couple […]

3 years ago

Na Fianna won’t pull up on Sunday until the cup is in the clubhouse. Until there’s victory parades on Mobhi Road. Until they’re so sure they’ve beaten Kilmacud Crokes that, and this is only a slight exaggeration, they’re all side by side in the club or in the pub and they’ve watched the game back […]

3 years ago

The late Tyrone hurler Damian Casey has been named at wing forward on the Ring, Rackard and Meagher Team of the Year selection for 2022. It’s the fourth year in a row that he’s made the team. The 29-year-old Dungannon hero passed away in June, just one month after he inspired his county to victory […]

3 years ago

Between them, the GAA and the Consumer Protection Commission have warned hurlers about ‘unsafe helmets’ on the market. Chair of the GAA’s Hurling and Camogie Helmet Safety Working Group Jim Bolger was speaking at Croke Park this morning when he emphasises the importance of buying helmets from reputable sources. “Protection of players is of paramount […]

3 years ago

It didn’t matter if you were in Donegal or in Cork, if you were playing or spectating, if it was Saturday or Sunday. Because wherever you were and whatever you were doing, and this is the beauty of it too, there’s no way you escaped the muck and the rain. Because that’s county final season […]

3 years ago

Shane Walsh was still bandaged up, he was after some late night treatment but there he was, shoulder-high in the Kilmacud Crokes club-house, the Dublin senior football championship in his hands. From there to here, it’s been one hell of a journey for the Galway man. It may feel like a lifetime ago, but it’s […]

3 years ago

Shane Walsh was the hero in Dublin as Kilmacud Crokes made it two county titles in a row in Dublin. TJ Reid was a class apart in Kilkenny yet again, as Ballyhale Shamrocks made it five in a row while the Tourlestrane footballers won their seventh on the trot in Sligo. But this is county […]

3 years ago

Kilmacud Crokes 0-11 Na Fianna 0-10 There were shocks in Wexford, Monaghan and Leitrim on a blockbuster day of county final action. But the biggest and best show of all was in Dublin, as after all the talk and all the controversy, Shane Walsh walked the walk in Parnell Park, and inspired Kilmacud Crokes on […]

3 years ago

Ballyhale Shamrocks 1-21 James Stephens 2-11 14 men? Is the hunger still there? Can they quieten this Village crowd? Can they what. Ballyhale Shamrocks turned up this Sunday to win their fifth Kilkenny senior hurling championship in a row and they did it with what must be one of their greatest second half performances ever. […]

3 years ago

John ‘Shark’ Hanlon called it the luckiest day of his life the day he bought ‘Hewick’ for only €800 in Goresbridge. Ever since, the horse has become ‘the one-in-a-million’ every owner dreams of. The fairytale began back in April, when, at odds of 16/1, Hewick strode away from the field to land the Bet 365 […]

3 years ago

The provincial draws have been made for the 2023 All-Ireland senior football championship. The Connacht draw certainly catches the eye as, with Roscommon drawn against Mayo in the quarter final, it means that either London, Sligo, New York or Leitrim will contest the provincial final and, in turn, compete in the All-Ireland rather than the […]

3 years ago

Naomh Conaill 1-9 St Eunan’s 2-5 Ciaran Thompson got his yellow card and, as soon as the referee put it back in its place you just knew that, standing there alongside him, Shane O’Donnell was done for. He looked like he knew it himself too. Mark Dorrian went back to writing into his note-book and, […]

3 years ago

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. County finals, club legends, moments that will last a life-time. They’ll be won, crowned and happening all over the country this weekend. See the biggest ones, with fixtures and predictions below. Disclaimer: We predicted 18/30 correctly last weekend, which, admittedly, isn’t really something to shout about. Saturday […]

3 years ago

Na Fianna are preparing for their first Dublin senior football final in 17 years but for Alistair Fitzgerald, it actually feels like he’s been waiting his whole life for this day. Sunday can’t come quick enough. Born in ’96, Fitzgerald was perhaps too young to vividly remember the glory days, when, between ’99 and ’01, […]

3 years ago

Kilmacud Crokes are down one star forward but they’ve gained another. Having picked up an ankle injury in the latter stages of their Dublin SFC quarter final victory over Cuala last month, Paul Mannion is expected to be sidelined for the remainder of their club campaign, however long that lasts. It’s a crushing and a […]

3 years ago

Sean Finn uses a 36″ hurl when he’s playing corner back for Limerick but changes to a 33″ when he’s centre back for his club. The Bruff defender previously used a 37″ hurl during the 2019 inter-county season, which would be unusually long for a man who’s 5 ft 10″ tall, but Finn feels that […]

3 years ago

Donal Burke was the bearer of bad news this morning as he confirmed that, when the Dublin hurlers get back training in the next few months, new boss Micheál Donoghue will be without Liam Rushe, Chris Crummey and Cian O’Callaghan. Rushe only played a bit-part role in the 2022 season, having been hit with some […]

3 years ago

,’The super-bowl is fantastic but an All-Ireland hurling final is really hard to beat’ – Roy Keane. We’ll never tire of hearing that one. Having supported Cork in last year’s Munster semi-final in Páirc Uí Rinn and having appeared at last year’s All-Ireland quarter final in Croke Park, it’s no secret that Roy Keane is […]

3 years ago

Niall Mitchell says that, as a footballer, he made a hero out of opposition goalkeepers enough times this year to have learned his lesson. Hitting shots at the perfect height for them. Missing goal chances that he should be scoring. But if you’d seen him ten minutes into Sunday’s Westmeath senior football final, as he […]

3 years ago

It’s peak county final season, and there were super Sundays in Longford, Kildare and Westmeath in particular. 1 Jonathan Treacy (Na Fianna hurlers)  Played like a quarter-back for Niall Ó Ceallacháin’s team and, having picked Cuala apart all day, he even  scored a goal from play. A goal from the guts of 100 yards. Take […]

3 years ago

There were upsets in Westmeath and Roscommon in yet another big weekend of club GAA action. The Downs de-throned a three-in-a-row-seeking St Loman’s side in Westmeath, to win their first county title since 2005. Luke Loughlin top scored for the winners while Niall Mitchell, better known as a hurler, scored the game-changing goal Lar Wall’s […]

3 years ago

The tweets have since been deleted. Spanish football legend Iker Casillas tweeted on Sunday morning that he was gay, and called for respect. “I hope you respect me: I’m gay,” read a tweet from his account. Carles Puyol responded with a tweet of his own saying, “It’s time to tell our story, Iker.” These tweets […]

3 years ago

There was a public outcry in Kilkenny during the week, when it was announced that Community Radio Kilkenny City would no longer be allowed to commentate on GAA games. Because the real loser in this, it does seem, is the ordinary GAA fan in Kilkenny. The development had been mooted in recent times but now […]

3 years ago

It’s another blockbuster weekend of club GAA. From Armagh to Cork, from Antrim to Clare, there are huge club championship games all over the country this weekend. See fixtures and predictions below. Friday Armagh SFC Semi Final: Crossmaglen Rangers v Maghery Seán MacDiarmada, Athletic Grounds, 7:30 Verdict: Crossmaglen Rangers Saturday Clare SHC Semi Final: Cratloe […]

3 years ago

The Wexford club calendar is like marmite. They changed it up in 2020, the Covid year, and of all of the changes and all the switches and all the shifts caused by the pandemic, you could argue that, down in the sunny-south-east anyway, none of them have been as hotly debated as the change that […]

3 years ago

All-Ireland champs Kilkenny lead the way with 11 of the 36 nominees for the 2022 PwC Camogie All-Star awards. Brian Dowling’s team won their second All-Ireland in three years back in August and having impressed right throughout the year, beating Galway in the semi-final and then Cork in the final, it’s only right that they’re […]

3 years ago

All-Ireland champs Meath are mob-handed with 13 of the 45 nominees for the 2022 TG4 Ladies Football All Star awards.  The Royal County won a second successive TG4 All-Ireland Senior title on July 31, when they defeated Kerry, to go with the Lidl National League they’d won earlier in the year. Runners-up Kerry are next […]

3 years ago

It seems that, as far as Matt Doherty’s Spurs career is concerned, it’s always been a case of one step forward, two steps back. Jose Mourinho signed him in September 2020 and then six months later, Mourinho was sacked. It’s not that Doherty was sad to have seen the back of the Portuguese, having featured […]

3 years ago

Kieran Donaghy has distanced himself from rumours linking him with the vacant Roscommon job. The rumour mill was in full-flow on Monday evening, and it was reported that Donaghy was set to leave his post as Armagh selector to take over the Roscommon senior footballers. But the Star, who still plays for his club Austin […]

3 years ago

Shinrone won the Offaly senior hurling championship on Sunday, their first ever, so it’s no wonder the celebrations are still going strong on Monday and will continue long into the week. Along with Ciaran Cleary, 21-year-old Killian Sampson was the star of the show for Shinrone, the wing back scoring four huge second half points […]

3 years ago

The GAA JOE Team of the weekend. 1. Jack Teape (St Mary’s) Teape was the hero for St Mary’s in their win over Drumcliffe-Rosses Point, kicking a late, great leveller in extra-time before saving three penalties in the shoot-out. 2. Stephen Reilly (Palatine) Solid as a rock in the last line as Palatine won their […]

3 years ago

Chelsea full back Marc Cucurella said at the beginning of the season that, despite having his hair tugged by Spurs’ Christian Romero, he wasn’t going to change his style. He was not going to cut his hair and that was that. Obviously, having long hair poses something of an occupational hazard when you’re playing a […]

3 years ago

A great man gone. Andy Moran bowed out at the very top of the game as, in his last ever match, and at 38 years of age, he scored 3-3 and saved his club from relegation. At this stage, he doesn’t owe them a thing. The Ballaghaderreen faithful are well aware of that and, to say […]

3 years ago