“When you’re finished, you sit back and you’re looking at the stamp. You just realise what a fantastic achievement it was to get it, to be the only Meath man on it…” Wherever he goes, there’s always someone who’ll recognise Martin O’Connell. They don’t talk about the All-Irelands, the All-Stars or even the Footballer of […]

2 years ago

33 years. 8 winners. Let’s go! Related links: Why Pat Gilroy made Bernard Brogan play wing back as a “sacrificial lamb” Alan Brogan reveals the two things that he regrets in his football career Kildare boss Glenn Ryan facing two lengthy bans for referee incidents

2 years ago

Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection Deodorant Colm Basquel couldn’t hide his delight when he scored his second, game-changing goal against Mayo in Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter final. Basquel arrived with momentum, met Cormac Costello’s pass without breaking stride before palming in the goal that put Dublin seven points clear. Why would you […]

2 years ago

Alan Brogan has sounded a word of warning to Derry and, if they overcome them, to Dublin/Monaghan. Because when it comes to Kerry, he’s been burned before. There’s a certain tendency, and it came to light more than ever last week, to pigeon-hole the Kingdom as some sort of ball-playing team who, for one reason […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection Deodorant Alan Brogan says that James McCarthy and John Small are two of the quiet leaders in the Dublin dressing room. The Ballymun duo both played stand-out roles in Dublin’s destruction of Mayo in Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter final and Brogan has hailed their influence on the […]

2 years ago

Dublin 2-17 Mayo 0-11 The Cork and Derry fans that stayed on gave up on Mayo with 20 minutes to go. As optimistic as they naturally are, a good chunk of Mayo fans gave up with 10 to go. They’d cling onto anything but there wasn’t even a straw to cling onto here. Ducking out […]

2 years ago

There were some frankly incredible scenes in Division Two of Leitrim’s Gaelic football League on Saturday night. Eventually, due to protests on the pitch, the derby clash of Ballinaglera and Allen Gaels had to be abandoned . The referee had no option but to call the game off. Just moments earlier, he had thrown the […]

2 years ago

Conor McManus was Monaghan’s hero as they defeated Armagh on a penalty shoot-out in the All-Ireland quarter final. Not only did the Clontibret legend score two penalties in the shoot-out, he also won, and then scored the last-gasp free that sent the game to penalties. Afterwards, his manager Vinny Corey hailed him as ‘the ultimate […]

2 years ago

Kerry 2-18 Tyrone 0-12 The All-Ireland champions have put their hands up. This party wouldn’t have been held without them. The Kingdom have spent the year in the long grass, stuttering through the League before failing to set the world alight in the group stages of the All-Ireland championship. But the grass around them was […]

2 years ago

150,000 are expected in Croke Park this weekend. It’s the biggest weekend of the GAA calendar to date, with four All-Ireland SFC quarter finals taking place across Saturday and Sunday. Keep up to date with all the action right here. It’s a blockbuster weekend in the Gaelic football calendar. The meetings of old rivals […]

2 years ago

Shelbourne first team coach Alan Quinn has been suspended from all football-related activity with immediate effect for four months. The news was announced on the League of Ireland website this morning via the following statement. “Alan Quinn, Men’s First Team Coach at Shelbourne FC, has been suspended from all football-related activity with immediate effect for […]

2 years ago

Diarmuid Connolly says he’s letting the ball do the work on his return to the St Vincent’s senior hurling team. “That moves way faster than I ever will,” says the 35-year-old. Connolly is in flying, chirpy form. “I’m living the dream,” he says. The word on the street always was that Connolly is as good […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by William Hill There’s beauty in the struggle. And Dublin GAA legend Philly McMahon has a lot of time for the courage against adversity shown by many of Ireland’s top football clubs. Having worked with Shamrock Rovers as their Strength and Conditioning coach and, in more recent times, with Bohemians as a […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by William Hill He may have gone onto win eight All-Irelands with Dublin but it could have been very different for Philly McMahon. Soccer was the Ballymun man’s first love. He grew up in a house-full of Everton supporters and, as a youngster, his first port-of-call was to play soccer with Ballymun […]

2 years ago

Warren Gatland is putting his Welsh players to the test ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Paris. Wales are coming off the back of a very disappointing Six Nations campaign, where they won just one game, against Italy, but they often save their best rugby for World Cups. Especially since Warren Gatland’s arrival. […]

2 years ago

Two of this weekend’s big All-Ireland quarter finals will be shown exclusively on GAA GO. Sunday’s meetings of Dublin-Mayo and Derry-Cork will be shown live on RTÉ Two but Saturday’s double-header will be broadcast exclusively on the streaming platform. Kerry-Tyrone and Armagh-Monaghan will not be on terrestrial television and will be behind the paywall instead. […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection Deodorant “None of them were in it for themselves. And some of them are the best players I’ve ever seen play the game.” In winning three All-Irelands between 2003 and 2008, the Tyrone team of the noughties are one of the best ever to have played […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection Deodorant It came as a huge shock to the Gaelic football landscape in January 2008 when, at the age of 27, Stephen O’Neill retired from inter-county football. The Clann na nGael legend had had enough. His knees had worn and torn to the extent that, by […]

2 years ago

Galway 1-20 Tipperary 1-18 Conor Whelan was the difference as Galway came good to knock Tipperary out of the Championship once again. In truth, Henry Shefflin’s side had miles the better of this Gaelic Grounds fare but as they often do, they left a ragged Tipperary team in the game. This could have been perceived […]

2 years ago

Clare 5-26 Dublin 2-17 Bang. Bang. The Dubs are dead. Clare sickened Dublin with two goals in two minutes in this All-Ireland senior hurling quarter final as, just before half-time, they put this game to bed. It was devastating for Dublin. Despite a shaky start, shook up even more by the early departure of key […]

2 years ago

Leona Maguire burned it up on a rainy day in Baltusrol as she stormed her way to the half-way lead at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The Cavan golfer has never won a major tournament before and insisted on Friday night that she’s still not thinking about winning the thing, but she’s certainly left herself […]

2 years ago

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the best long distance runner on the planet. The Norwegian wonder-kid is just 22 years of age but he’s already an Olympic champion, a World Champion, a multiple European champion as well as a two-time World record holder. Ingebrigtsen specialises in the 1500m, but he has won major championships over 5000m on […]

2 years ago

Damien Duff was shown a red card after the final whistle of Shelbourne’s 1-0 loss to St Patrick’s Athletic in the League of Ireland. Not unusually, emotions ran high for the former Republic of Ireland winger throughout the game, with a couple of refereeing decisions in particular appearing to irk him. The final result will […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection Deodorant Shane Walsh and Ian Burke are side-by-side in the Galway forward line these days, but that wasn’t always the way. The pair were travelling to Carrick-on-Shannon for Sunday’s clash with Armagh when, between them, they began to reminisce on days gone by. Walsh and Burke […]

2 years ago

Galway footballer Shane Walsh joined us in the studio on Monday. The county’s star forward was disappointed about his last-gasp missed free against Armagh but he says that Galway now must focus on bouncing back. They have no time to wallow in self pity with a knock-out clash coming up this weekend against their neighbours […]

2 years ago

Senior inter-county camogie and ladies football panels will play the remainder of the 2023 championship ‘under protest.’ The camogie and ladies football player groups released a statement through the GPA on Monday morning, where they criticised their respective governing bodies for turning a deaf ear their ‘real concerns.’ Camogie and ladies football players have taken […]

2 years ago

The All-Ireland senior football championship kicked into gear this weekend and it’s about to take off next weekend. Bring it on. The one week turn-around is going to be extremely difficult for those second and third placed qualifiers and that indeed shows the value of topping your group. Table-toppers Dublin, Kerry, Armagh and Derry will […]

2 years ago

Kieran Donaghy feels that Armagh’s approach and tactics are no different to the majority of Gaelic football teams in the country. The Orchard have shipped plenty of criticism this year, for having a ‘conservative’ game-plan but Donaghy, one of the team’s coaches, disagrees with this notion. “I think most teams are playing the same way,” […]

2 years ago

Colm Collins says that he’s looking forward to watching Clare without the ‘pumping of the heart.’ The GAA’s longest serving manager stepped aside on Sunday, after a defeat to Derry knocked Clare out of the All-Ireland senior football championship. Collins was appointed as Clare football manager in 2013, leading the county to some famous wins […]

2 years ago

Dual star Libby Coppinger played for the Cork Camogie and Ladies football teams on Saturday. The St Colum’s club-woman played the full game for the senior camogie team in their 3-19 to 1-10 win over Down. Coppinger lined out at full back for Matthew Twomey’s side who, having lost to Galway last weekend, got back […]

2 years ago

Donal Óg Cusack says it was to the detriment of Joe McDonagh Cup finalists Carlow and Offaly that they played in the All-Ireland senior hurling championship this weekend. As things stand, and since the early days of the competition, the beaten finalists of the Joe McDonagh play the province’s third placed teams in an All-Ireland […]

2 years ago

The weeks are flying by. The teams are dropping like flies. The Championship is hitting top speed, in hurling and football, keep up to date with all this weekend’s action in our live-blog below. Fixtures Saturday All-Ireland SFC Derry v Clare, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 6.00 Monaghan v Donegal, O’Neills Healy Park, 6.00 – GAAGO […]

2 years ago

Conor Grimes hopes that Mickey Harte stays with Louth for ‘many years to come.’ The Tyrone man took over the Louth job in 2020 and, step-by-step, the Wee county have been improving ever since. Having followed up a solid League with a run to the Leinster final, this season has been their best in a […]

2 years ago

Irish rugby player Cian Healy and some of the Dublin footballers are now consuming the product. Louth footballer Conor Grimes laughs when it’s put to him that he’s fuelling some of his competitors but he’s fuelling himself too. He and his wife Jayne set up Spoonful Botanical three years ago, having been inspired during a […]

2 years ago

Larry McCarthy refused to answer a question about the future of GAA broadcast rights at the launch of the All-Ireland hurling championship series on Tuesday. McCarthy, Uachtarán an Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, was down in De La Salle GAA club in Waterford along with representatives of each of the eight hurling counties left in the All-Ireland […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection Deodorant “Some are stand-offish, some of them are really tight with you.” They say full backs are a different breed and in his ten year Wexford career, Conor McDonald has come across all shapes and sizes. Big, small, spoilers, competitors – you name it. Hurling has […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection Deodorant Conor McDonald made his first Championship start for Wexford in 2014, in the Leinster championship against Antrim. Just a teenager at the time, the Gorey sharpshooter showed his class that day by scoring 2-2 from play. If nothing else, a debut like that burdened McDonald […]

2 years ago

Pat Spillane tore his cruciate ligament when he was 26 and, having travelled over to Cambridge for surgery, his road to recovery began with a makeshift rehab routine that, let’s just say, hasn’t survived the test of time. The year was 1981, surgery was less common, cruciates were unheard of and a banjaxed knee, well […]

2 years ago

Eoin Cody didn’t need any scribbles or prompts for his Hogan Stand speech. The Kilkenny captain picked up the microphone and, on the steps of the famous stand, he proved that off-the-cuff is so much better than off-the-page. “I never want to see a captain reading out a speech again after that from Eoin Cody,” […]

2 years ago

If you thought Kilkenny were going to lose a certain resilience with the departure of Brian Cody, well then, as the old saying goes, you’d better think again. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day but as Michael Duignan said in The Sunday Game commentary box, the Derek Lyng era has exploded into life, […]

2 years ago

Jackie Tyrrell said at half-time of Kilkenny’s defeat of Galway that he wouldn’t class Conor Whelan as one of the country’s top forwards. Today may not have been the best day to have made that point, however, with the Kinvara ace terrorising Kilkenny on his way to 1-6 from play in what Michael Duignan described […]

2 years ago

Limerick 1-23 Clare 1-22 An Aaron Gillane-inspired Limerick held off a late Clare fight-back to win their fifth Munster championship in a row. That late fight-back ended with Clare’s young corner back Adam Nolanwinning the ball deep into injury-time, before he took it into contact. William O’Donoghue dived into the melting pot, bringing Hogan down […]

2 years ago

It’s provincial final day. Some have argued that the games should take place on separate days so as to make an occasion out of each final. But what we have today is a Super Sunday of hurling and you can keep up to date with all the action RIGHT HERE on our live-blog. Fixtures […]

2 years ago

‘Brought to you by Sure 72 Hour Non-Stop Protection “I remember coming off the pitch against Tipperary thinking ‘what was it all for?’” Aidan Walsh had just lost an All-Ireland semi-final to Tipperary, 13 days after he’d lost an All-Ireland quarter to Mayo. He’d played in two Munster finals, winning one and losing another a […]

2 years ago

The IRFU has confirmed that it has held talks with the English Union over the situation at London Irish, though there is to be a long way to go before an investment is made. The Exiles filed for administration earlier in the week due to a failure to meet their bills. Their financial collapse stems […]

2 years ago

A whole load of football people were over the moon for David Moyes as the Scotsman won his first trophy as a professional football manager on Wednesday night. There were scenes of jubilation in Prague as Jarrod Bowen scored a 90th minute winner for the Hammers in the Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina. Moyes […]

2 years ago

An icon has passed. Cork legend Teddy McCarthy has passed away at the age of 57. McCarthy made GAA history in 1990 when, in the space of a magical fortnight, he won All-Ireland senior hurling and football medals for Cork. He was the first ever to achieve this feat and, to this day, remains out […]

2 years ago

Offaly manager Leo O’Connor hit out at Cork’s ‘cynical hurling’ in their All-Ireland under-20 triumph over Cork. Star forward Adam Screeney came in for close attention in particular from a set of Cork defenders who were notably bigger than their opponents. Having rounded his man, Screeney was dragged to the ground on three occasions in […]

2 years ago

Nelson is only in the job for six months. Meath ladies football manager Davy Nelson has stepped down from his position, along with his entire management team, ahead of their upcoming All-Ireland series group B games against Waterford and Donegal. The Navan O’Mahonys club-man took over from Eamonn Murray at the beginning of the season […]

2 years ago

Brought to you by William Hill. Alan Cawley reffed one match and he said to himself shortly afterwards that he’ll never ref another.  Having just retired from professional football, and as he weighed up what to do next, the Sligo native decided to pick up the whistle. His dad was reffing games back home and […]

2 years ago