The first one was so much fun that they’ve booked the same crew in again for Round Two. The UFC has confirmed the details of UFC 229’s fight week and there is another press conference to look forward to. Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov faced off in New York, last week, for the first time […]

7 years ago

“I absolutely loved Munster as a club and Ireland as a nation. It is somewhere that I have fallen in love with.” Jean De Villiers played just 23 times for Munster, eight years ago, but ask him about his time at the province and you’ll hardly be able to stop the man. The former Springboks […]

7 years ago

Martin O’Neill should consider sending a scout out to Iran to keep tabs on the lad. Anthony Stokes found it tough getting settled over the past few years. He appears to have found a cosy home for himself now. The 30-year-old was gainfully employed at Hibernian and Celtic for all but one season between 2009 […]

7 years ago

Not your usual post-round handshake. Bubba Watson came into this Ryder Cup with a poor record on European soil. In his seven previous outings for Team USA, away from home, Watson won one and lost six. Still, the Texan is nothing if not confident. Thoughts on Bubba Watson's @gfore #RyderCup shoes? pic.twitter.com/kxHcuCKKPH — Golf Monthly […]

7 years ago

Holy Lord, this got ugly. 3-1 down and heading into the afternoon foursomes, European captain Thomas Bjorn opted to team up out-of-form Sergio Garcia with a 36-year-old Ryder Cup rookie from Stockholm. Europe needed good news fast and both Garcia and Alex Noren, his new partner, delivered. The Spaniard and Swede birdied six of the first […]

7 years ago

What a turnaround. Never doubt for a minute that Rory McIlroy is a fighter. McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen looked to be set to give Europe a decent start in the morning fourballs when, after eight holes, they were 1 UP. Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson took five of the next eight holes to win 4&2 […]

7 years ago

This was insane. Tony Finau was dicing with the drink on Day One of the 2018 Ryder Cup. The American was perilously close to plonking his opening drive into the water on the first hole of the first fourball of the day. Finau hits a 300-yard 3 iron and just stays above water! We've all […]

7 years ago

Stitched him up good there. Team Europe’s WhatsApp group has been humming ever since Sunday. No-one is safe, nor immune, and God help you if you are from England – the Brexit jokes are zinging about. “No,” European captain Thomas Bjorn responded, amid much laughter, when he was asked if the English contingent of the […]

7 years ago

Unsurprisingly, Woods has not been as forthcoming this year. Tiger Woods brought the heat at the PGA Tour Championship and the galleries flocked to him. “It is unbelievable playing with Tiger,” says Ryder Cup teammate Justin Thomas. “It will be great, but it will be fun. It will be that fun/nervous. “It will be that […]

7 years ago

Before Hazeltine, the USA had not won the Ryder Cup for eight years. The Ryder Cup tees off on Friday morning at Le Golf National, in Paris, and the Americans are odds-on to defend the title they so emphatically won at Hazeltine in 2016. Rory McIlroy is determined to keep the trophy on European soil. […]

7 years ago

If this was the big surprise announcement the UFC was planning, the cat is out of the bag. Right now, UFC 232 at Madison Square Garden is a stacked card without a main event. BJ Penn is set to take on Ryan Hall, Carlos Condit and Michael Chiesa will do welterweight battle, Cris Cyborg is […]

7 years ago

Manchester United were cock-a-hoop in January of this year and didn’t care who they mocked. Eight months later and Derby County gained revenge over United by dumping them out of the League Cup. It was the second time the two sides had met in cup competition at Old Trafford in a short period and Frank […]

7 years ago

No room in the matchday 23 for a host of top quality players. The pure, ungodly form of Dan Leavy since the turn of the year has got rugby fans debating whether the young Leinster flanker would hold off a fully fit Sean O’Brien. O’Brien is a truly world-class operator when fit and firing but […]

7 years ago

A lot of thought and planning goes into getting as many players possible right and ready. The idea is for Ireland’s best players to peak at the perfect time, and to prevent them getting “goosed”. Jason Cowman, Ireland’s Strength & Conditioning coach, held a media briefing at the Aviva Stadium on Monday morning. The presentation was […]

7 years ago

Connacht are up, running and gunning now. Playing Glasgow, Scarlets and then Leinster at home – in ‘The Month of Champions’ – was always going to be a tough ask. After losing the opener to Glasgow, Connacht did for Zebre and then were defeated by Edinburgh. 2017/18 champions scarlets came to Galway at the weekend […]

7 years ago

Not a Best 15, but a squad of 20 of the best U20 players from the championship. 2018 saw the inaugural U20 All-Ireland Football Championship and Kildare captured the crown at Croke Park in early August. Six of those players – Jimmy Hyland, Aaron O’Neill, Mark Dempsey, Mark Barrett, Aaron Masterson, Jimmy Hyland and Brian McLoughlin – […]

7 years ago

Fans heading along to the game will get to see even more familiar faces. Former Manchester United assistant coach has shared the squad lists for the Liam Miller Tribute Match and there are a handful of additions from the squads announced last month. The game, which will be held in memory of the late Liam […]

7 years ago

Sunday. Final round. Tiger Woods wearing red. Leading. Pinging it down fairways. Huge crowds. It was good to be back to these levels of joyous hysteria. Tiger Woods went away, came back, went away again and is now back in the winners’ enclosure. A five-year wait for a tournament victory was ended as the 42-year-old […]

7 years ago

He left them wanting more, and laughing. Tiger Woods has 80 wins on the PGA Tour and only one man – the great Sam Snead – has more. Earlier this year, you would have been hard-pressed to predict he would ever win again. Now, you’d confidently claim he can reach Snead’s 82 and go beyond […]

7 years ago

Tiger Woods recorded his first tournament win since 2013 and took home a cheque for $1.6m in the process. The 42-year-old began the final day at -12 and three clear of Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy. He ended up winning by two but both the English- and Irishman dropped back after respective rounds of 73 […]

7 years ago

The England international had one hell of an impact on events. Saracens stomped all over Gloucester at Allianz Park and Mako Vunipola was in top form for ‘The Wolf Pack’. The prop made 21 carries and stuck 16 tackles, as well as scrummaging as if his life depended on it and hitting a fair few rucks. […]

7 years ago

Dragons badly needed that win. Last weekend, Bernard Jackman’s side were thumped 52-10 to drop their second game of the Guinness PRO14 season. On Saturday, at Rodney Parade, they got back on track. Dragons scored first half tries from Arwel Robson and Dafydd Howells and were 16-5 up when, after 58 minutes, their momentum was halted. […]

7 years ago

Is Simon Zebo doing enough to be the exception to the rule? He can’t do much better than he already is. Zebo was given a hefty pay bump to head from Munster to Racing 92, this summer, but he is proving to be a steal. The Ireland international scored within minutes of making his Racing debut […]

7 years ago

This sort of behaviour needs cracking down on. For the second weekend running, Derry GAA has borne witness to ugly scenes on the pitch during a tense club championship clash. Last Saturday, Eoghan Rua (Coleraine) took on Ballinascreen in the Derry Senior Hurling Championship semi-final and both sides waded into each other after a spat between […]

7 years ago

This one is heating up nicely. Tiger Woods just keeps getting better. The former world number one and 14-time Major winner is leading the way in the $9m Tour Championship finalé but two of europe’s leading lights are not far off. Woods fired a third round of 65 to go -12 in the PGA Tour’s […]

7 years ago

They could squeeze this one in before the end of the year. Conor McGregor created history in November 2016 when he became the first UFC fighter to hold belts in two different divisions. By defeating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, ‘The Notorious’ added the lightweight belt to the featherweight strap he had won in 2015 […]

7 years ago

We wonder if there was even more said than this. Two fighters, one main event and three belts. Conor McGregor’s comeback fight in the UFC is complicated. McGregor showed up to the UFC 229 press conference at Radio City Hall, in New York, with his featherweight and lightweight belts draped over his shoulder. The fact […]

7 years ago

Andrew Trimble laughs when I refer to it as ‘The Jared Payne red card game’. We are talking about the 2014 Champions Cup quarter final between Ulster and Saracens but it is a game that was defined by Payne’s red card in the fourth minute. “Jared hates that,” says Trimble, “but it’s how everyone remembers that […]

7 years ago

Mother of mercy, THIS is commitment. First off, we can only imagine what Connaire Harrison’s club manager made of this when he first heard the news. The Down star, and All Star nominee, is playing his club football with Neasden Gaels in London and, by all accounts, tipping along nicely. League champions Neasden Abu pic.twitter.com/cyuEkQ7zRn — […]

7 years ago

Leading the charge for all prematurely grey-haired men out there. Jon Walters has looked older than he is for the past 17 years. He’s heard all the slaggings before. The Ipswich and Ireland forward first started getting grey hair when he was 18. Nothing major, but enough to worry the hell out of a teenager […]

7 years ago

CARDIFF – 37 MUNSTER – 13 Munster sent a strong team to play Cardiff Blues and very few of them will feel happy with their contributions after a sound, solid beating. Cardiff scored four tries in a superb performance to secure their first win of the season. Nick Williams and Gareth Anscombe were good but […]

7 years ago

Conor McGregor was as natural, nasty and a pure, snarling Dubliner at the first UFC 229 press conference. The Radio City Hall showdown between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov was carried out in front of media members but, for safety reasons, the gen-pop was kept out. It made for an odd atmosphere but some of McGregor’s […]

7 years ago

Edinburgh will be doing well to lose by less than 20 on Saturday evening. Richard Cockerill and his men can pin that one to the wall if they like but it should not matter a jot. Leinster, the Guinness PRO14 and Champions Cup winners, are intent on retaining both trophies this season and blowing a […]

7 years ago

And there are four more that are not far off. A stubborn hamstring injury sustained by Ireland captain Rory Best threw the summer squad off-kilter somewhat. That offered Rob Herring, Sean Cronin and Niall Scannell cracks at the No.2 jersey and Joe Schmidt gave them all a decent run. Best turns 36 later this year but […]

7 years ago

Times have changed. Rio Ferdinand may, in the not too distant past, have expected such a warm welcome on his arrival to Anfield. Having played with total commitment, for West Ham, Leeds and Manchester United, against Liverpool for over 15 years, Ferdinand spent most of his adult years copping an earful on trips to the […]

7 years ago

The games are about to begin. On Thursday, at Radio City Hall in New York, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov will meet for the first time since the Brooklyn bus attack, back in April. The pair will be the primary focus at two press conferences over the next fortnight before stepping into The Octagon together […]

7 years ago

A match made in attacking, footballing heaven. When Wes Hoolahan wound down his time with Norwich City, having already retired from international duty, he had one eye on finishing his career in foreign, sunnier climes. Instead, after an oddly prolonged period, he is now at the Hawthorns and trying to help West Brom put together […]

7 years ago

The O’Callaghan production line is working a treat. Con O’Callaghan is good, sure, but have you seen the younger brother? Cuala and Thomas Davis are rocking along nicely in Dublin Senior Football Championship Division 2. The northsiders served up a beating to St Maur’s at the weekend, with brothers Con and Niall O’Callaghan the architects of their […]

7 years ago

If Sadio Mané could improve this part of his game, he’d be up there with some of the very best. Ahead of Liverpool’s win over Tottenham, on Saturday, Robbie Keaner recalled comments from Shane Long on Mané when he was with the Saints. “Keep an eye on this lad,” Long told his Ireland teammate, “he’s […]

7 years ago

This is what happens when you welcome ‘The Notorious’ back into the fold. Conor McGregor has defied the UFC ahead of Thursday’s press conference in New York. Considering the list of his recent misdemeanours, however, this is a mere prod at the promotion. The last time Conor McGregor was at a UFC press conference in […]

7 years ago

Fitting display for an occasion that should set a tasty scene. Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov will face off for the first time since the Brooklyn bus attack, in April, when they front the UFC 229 press conference [10pm Irish, 5pm local] in New York this Thursday. The briefing will feature UFC president Dana White and […]

7 years ago

Making waves in France. Stuart Olding may be playing one division lower than Paddy Jackson, but early results suggest they could be trading places. Jackson’s Perpignan are rooted to the bottom of the Top 14 while Brive, who signed Olding over the summer, are on the rise in Pro D2 after tthey lost their season opener […]

7 years ago

If the main event of UFC 229 plays out like this, we are in for a treat. Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov go at it for the lightweight title at UFC 229 at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, on October 6. Dan Hardy’s take on the fight will thrill many fight fans out there. The […]

7 years ago

“Why is Roy Keane indulged?” That is how Times columnist and BBC presenter Matthew Syed opens a stinging article that reads as a withering tirade against Keane, Ireland’s assistant manager. Syed, who presents a BBC podcast with Robbie Savage and Andrew Flintoff, has aimed several broadsides at the former Manchester United and Ireland captain in […]

7 years ago

A strong statement from the dozen players. Former Mayo ladies captain Sarah Tierney broke down in tears, on Monday night, as she spoke about her decision – and that of 11 teammates – to step away from the panel during the championship. 12 players that stepped away from the panel during the summer spoke, as […]

7 years ago

Major developments in the Mayo ladies saga. The 12 players that stepped away from the Mayo ladies football squad during the summer spoke for the first time at a select press briefing on Monday night. The players were joined by two former members of the backroom team, who had opted to step away in support of […]

7 years ago

Best centre of gravity in all of Irish rugby. Leinster battered the snot out of Dragons at the weekend to get back on winning track in the Guinness PRO14. Tadhg Furlong had a bruising cameo that was our highlight of the game. Bernard Jackman’s side clung onto the juggernaut for as long as they could […]

7 years ago

We wonder what Paul O’Connell made of all this… Stade Francais rebounded to their sounding beating at the hands of Clermont, last weekend, to dole out one of their own. It was a game to forget for Julian Savea but one in which Gael Fickou bossed. Toulon arrived in Paris on Sunday with their usual, […]

7 years ago

The Ulster scrum-half has an interesting, new haircut after receiving a nasty blow at the weekend. It looked as if nothing was going to stop John Cooney’s momentum this season, then he copped an almighty whack down in Port Elizabeth. The Ulster and Ireland No.9 was the toast of his province, last weekend, after clinching […]

7 years ago

Football is alive! Just a few days after lamenting the current state of football – following Kilmacud’s 0-7 to 0-4 win over Raheny – we are back in love. All it took was a boat-load of scores from the Kingdom, with Tony Brosnan having a field day. Sunday in Killarney and fans flocked to Fitzgerald […]

7 years ago