There were so many reasons for Sam Bennett to fold. Mountains, cruel mountains that you’d struggle to drive a car up. Peter Sagan, a three time World champion, a man who has won the green jersey in each of the last seven tours but above all, a ferocious competitor. But no matter what was thrown […]

5 years ago

Burn it up.

5 years ago

At 13, most kids wouldn’t even know how to swim. At 13, Ellen Keane was swimming at the Beijing Paralympics. At 25, the Dubliner is now preparing for her 4th Olympic games and in almost 15 years of competition, she’s learned plenty. Natural talent and a burning desire brought her to Beijing and London, years […]

5 years ago

200 not out. Only 5% of AFL players make it, only one Irish man had ever exceeded it. The 200 appearance barrier is an elusive and iconic mark for AFL players and in 10 glorious and injury-blessed years, Portlaoise’s Zach Tuohy has cantered his way into history. 30 is a relatively old age in AFL […]

5 years ago

Growing up, Joan Healy was the trailblazer in the Healy household. The older sister, she inspired her younger sibling Phil into the sprinting game with her achievements and her success. At first, it didn’t all come easy for Phil, who only really began to make strides in fifth year but from there she took off […]

5 years ago

In ‘The Hill’ Bernard Brogan talks about the special bond he had with his brother Alan and fellow Dublin forward Paul Flynn, and how this helped them spark off each other on the pitch. Brogan sees the same kind of relationship between Brian Fenton, John Small and Ciaran Kilkenny in the current Dublin team and […]

5 years ago

Relegation to the junior grade was an unthinkable blow for Glenmore in 2014, and St Patrick’s Ballyragget are going through the same heartache now, six years on. It just goes to show the unforgiving nature of Kilkenny club hurling that in two years, Ballyragget could go from an All-Ireland intermediate final back down to junior […]

5 years ago

Hallelujah. Supporters will be let into GAA games once more. Unfortunately, this only applies to a small few of them but by this stage, we’ve all learned to gleefully accept even the slightest bit of leeway. The new rules concerning GAA and sporting attendances are as follows: up to 100 patrons/spectators outdoors and 50 patrons/spectators […]

5 years ago

‘Never write the Fenians off.’ It’s the unwritten rule of Kilkenny club hurling. Nine times, since 2000, have the Johnstown club found themselves lining out in a relegation final. Only once have the county’s ‘Houdini Men’ lost, and that defeat, a 2016 senior relegation final loss against Danesfort, only came after a replay. These are […]

5 years ago

We’re on the road again.

5 years ago

Though Dunloy pulled clear in the end, the Antrim final was gripping for large parts. The crowd, obviously, added to the occasion but the skill, entertainment and intensity were as good as you’ll find anywhere in the country. Ballycastle, that tight, daunting pitch on Antrim’s sensational north coast is like a hurling hinterland, with the […]

5 years ago

Dicksboro 2-16 O’Loughlin Gaels 0-14 The first goal was always going to be crucial in this tit-for-tat Kilkenny semi-final between the city rivals, and the athletic Aidan Nolan was the man who stepped up. O’Loughlin Gaels had just seized the initiative, with Eoin O’Shea lording it at centre forward and Paddy Deegan storming into it […]

5 years ago

5 years ago

In Wolves under Nuno Espirito Santo, Matt Doherty seemed to have a licence to thrill. Boy did he revel in it. Skipping up and down the the right flank with enthusiasm and verve, he made a name for himself as a reliable defensive performer, but more so, as a potent attacking threat. Four goals and […]

5 years ago

Club GAA weekends are so action-packed that you always feel as if you’ve missed something. A county player lording it for example, or a less heralded club star making a name for themselves. Over the last two years, you simply couldn’t miss anything Tony Brosnan did, as the Dr Crokes ace shot the lights out […]

5 years ago

In Healy Park Omagh, there was a pitch invasion as Dungannon Clarkes celebrated making it through to a first Tyrone senior football final since 1986. Young and old, subs, crowd and players were beaming on a joy-filled Saturday evening that the people of Dungannon will never lose. About 100 miles down the road in Castlebar, […]

5 years ago

In Loughmore-Castleiney, the training sessions run off like a morning at the Cúl Camps. You bring over your hurl and helmet, stick a pair of gloves in the bag. The sliotars and footballs are good to go and over the next hour and a bit, you’ll be having a shot off the two of them. […]

5 years ago

Are you ready to BLITZ this bad boy?

5 years ago

You can break her hurl but that doesn’t mean you’ve stopped Cait Devane. Clonoulty Rossmore pulled off one of the shocks of the weekend in the Tipperary camogie championship when they knocked Burgess-Duharra out at the semi-final stage, and Cait Devane was in that unstoppable zone. The 2019 All-Star is widely renowned as the most […]

5 years ago

You’ll want your geography cap on today. And being a sporting bookworm will do you no harm either.

5 years ago

When Philip Mahony retired from inter-county hurling last year, there was widespread regret around Waterford. Just 28 years of age at the time, the nagging feeling was that despite injury – and he’d suffered his fair share over a distinguished inter-county career – that he still had more to offer. A double leg fracture and […]

5 years ago

Lámh Dhearg are back for more. They’re always in the hunt. Last year was a rollercoaster ride for the west Belfast club, one so gruelling and heart-stopping that it would have convinced the majority of teams not to bother coming back. Three semi-finals and two finals. Each of them going to extra-time. By the end, […]

5 years ago

Imagine leading a game by five points with five minutes of second half injury time played. Imagine it was a preliminary quarter final in the Galway senior hurling championship. Imagine the relief, the elation as you allow yourself to think about the quarter final, the draw and the build-up. Imagine the opposition went down the […]

5 years ago

Start the week off with a 20/20.

5 years ago

Are you feeling it?

5 years ago

The injury was described as “career-threatening if not managed properly.” Tyrone were preparing for a year without their talisman, a year without Mattie Donnelly. That would have been rough. In the meantime, nature has healed, his hamstring issue has obviously, subsided and he’s back doing what he does best. Trillick St MacCartan’s are headed for […]

5 years ago

When Oisin Breen took off, he wasn’t thinking about stopping. They call him the Iveragh Wizard and with good reason. Every once in a while you witness a goal that takes your breath away and down in the Kingdom this week, they were seeing stars. The Kerry under-15 schoolboys had just repelled a Limerick attack […]

5 years ago

They seem like such small things, a game of football and a championship. To many, worrying about whether they will be played, in the world we now live in, is madness. But to people, and to the vast majority of communities all over Ireland, it is as Davy Fitzgerald said last weekend, what they live […]

5 years ago

If you were to go about picking a Waterford club All-Stars team for 2020, along with Dessie Hutchinson, Maurice Shanahan would be one of the first names on the teamsheet. Noel Connors meanwhile, who has inspired his club Passage to their first final since 2016, would be next up. This wouldn’t surprise anyone with their […]

5 years ago

In honour of Saturday’s spent lazing on the couch, this is a Gillette Soccer special.

5 years ago

“She didn’t understand too much of what we were saying… but we were only talking nonsense anyway” SportsJOE caught up with the O’Donovan brothers to talk Skibbereen, past successes, Tokyo 2021 and their experience on Graham Norton’s couch. "She didn’t understand too much of what we were saying… but we were only talking nonsense anyway" […]

5 years ago

In Laois and Offaly, they’re just happy to be back. The weekend was missed, due to the goverment’s and NPHET’s reluctance to give any advanced notice on the lifting of lock-down restrictions, but the county boards didn’t hang around. In both counties, a full round of football championship games were played with the Offaly and […]

5 years ago

For 16 years, Michael Darragh MacAuley and Declan O’Mahoney have been the midfield pair for Ballyboden St Enda’s. The Dublin star reveals the statistic proudly. With a smile on his face he reflects, but he’s more than happy to be living in the now. Uncertainty surrounds all walks of life in Ireland this weather but […]

5 years ago

You could actually feel Sean Tobin and Paul Robinson’s legs turning to jelly. You could see the pain in their faces. The men’s 1500m was the race of the weekend at the National senior athletics championships with Sean Tobin of Clonmel AC and Paul Robinson of St Coca’s slogging it out right to the line. One […]

5 years ago

And the crowd goes wild… Ballyduff Upper won the Waterford intermediate hurling title after an edge-of-the-seat thriller with Clashmore Kinsalebeg in Fraher Field, Dungarvan on Sunday. It took an hour and a half of hurling, it took a penalty shootout but it wasn’t until sudden death, with darkness descending, and the 15th penalty of the […]

5 years ago

Honestly, the clean sweep is on.

5 years ago

After 15 years down, Wexford were Leinster champions again. Davy Fitz had worked his magic once more and all the talk and headlines, quite rightly, were based around the managerial mastery of the Sixmilebridge man. The celebrations were full-steam ahead, the dressing room was a giddy place but somewhere under the Hogan Stand, about an […]

5 years ago

He speaks for every GAA head in the country here

5 years ago

Micheal O Muircheartaigh turns 90 today. The 12 o’clock quiz turns 152. There’s plenty of years in the great Kerryman yet.

5 years ago

Take your chances.

5 years ago

The Champions League semi-final itself was underwhelming, with PSG streaking to a facile 3-0 win over Red Bull Leipzig. But so too was the occasion, and more so the teams involved for RTÉ pundit Richie Sadlier. Speaking prior to kick-off, the Dubliner explained the debatable morals that fund and run both clubs and left viewers […]

5 years ago

And there were the GAA, anticipating an increase to 500 spectators at games, preparing for an inter-county championship. Following on from the latest advice from NPHET, all sporting events in Ireland will take behind closed doors for the foreseeable future. These measures were announced at a cabinet briefing on Tuesday afternoon and predictably, they have […]

5 years ago

The Kilkenny minor championship begins on Monday night. One team are still in limbo. With both clubs struggling for numbers at the start of the year, Slieverue and the Blacks and Whites were granted permission by the Kilkenny county board to form an amalgamation. This came with the stipulation however, that the team would be […]

5 years ago

Just do yourself justice out there.

5 years ago

Kyren Wilson had just fulfilled his childhood dream, in making it to the World Snooker championship final. He’d just potted the ball that, for all intents and purposes, had made him €100,000 richer. But you wouldn’t have known it by him. Rather than elation, the emotion was one of confusion and disbelief, as he finally […]

5 years ago

To rub salt in the wounds, Leitrim GAA have banned clubs from streaming championship games themselves. In a controversial move, Leitrim GAA have made the decision to play the remainder of their knockout championship games – senior, intermediate and junior – behind closed doors. According to a statement released early this morning, the chase and […]

5 years ago

Mike Quirke looks on the bright side. He could have picked a better year to start his managerial career, that’s for sure, but the former Kerry footballer is taking 2020, and all its imperfections, in his stride. “It was a great choice of mine yeah, to start off this year during the pandemic, I picked […]

5 years ago

It’s rare enough to see a donkey priced at 300/1 in a horse race. Even rarer to see a horse on offer at such high odds so to see a 300/1 winner is barely believable, but that was the story in Leopardstown on Thursday afternoon. Priced at 250/1 in his last outing in Limerick when […]

5 years ago

Throw the kitchen sink at it.

5 years ago

In Portumna, Sam Murphy’s talent has been the talk of the town for years. A gifted golfer with a beautiful swing, on Wednesday, the eighteen year old made the biggest statement of his career to date when he romped up in Thurles to win the Irish under-18 Boys championship by a remarkable eight shots. The […]

5 years ago