Here we go again. Only one week after the Beast From The East, some heavy overnight snow has forced a host of Allianz League games into postponement again. The GAA can count their lucky stars that this is a Bank Holiday weekend, because it is likely that most of the games that have fallen victim […]

8 years ago

They don’t make the like they used to, they don’t make them like Gary Brennan anymore. This is a man who would line out at number eight for any football team in the country. This is a proud Clare man we’re talking about, though, and nothing will give him greater satisfaction than the strides his […]

8 years ago

One of hurling’s greatest. Henry Shefflin’s Laochra Gael aired on TG4 earlier this year and the great programme once again did justice to one of the great GAA careers. From his childhood in Ballyhale all the way to his tenth All-Ireland medal in 2014, we were given an insight into the life and times, the […]

8 years ago

What a ding dong battle that was. Without a doubt, Na Piarsaigh and Cuala are the two best club hurling teams in the country. And by a long way too. The Limerick and Dublin champions met in Croke Park in the All-Ireland club final on St. Patrick’s day and what they delivered wasn’t a spectacle […]

8 years ago

Sean Maguire is on fire. When Preston North End took the lead after 50 minutes of their clash with Sunderland, Irish eyes lit up. That’s because nearly every time they have scored in the last few weeks, it has come from the boot or the head of Sean Maguire. 50' GOAL PNE! He's only gone […]

8 years ago

A team for the big occasion. Corofin have been here before. They know what it takes to win an All-Ireland club football championship. On St. Patrick’s day three years ago, Corofin came to Croke Park and wiped the floor with Slaughtneil. They expressed themselves in the wide open spaces of the hallowed Drumcondra turf. It […]

8 years ago

Pick that one out. The bookies expected a tight All-Ireland club football final with both Corofin and Nemo Rangers priced at even money before throw-in. Both sides have had similar journeys and have come through similar battles to get to this stage. Nemo Rangers displayed character and steel to topple Slaughtneil in the semi-final. Likewise, […]

8 years ago

He speaks a lot of sense. Sport is all about confidence. Every game is a confidence game and those who have the most confidence in their own abilities will come out on top. At the highest level of sport, most players will have the skill set, it’s those who are able to get the most […]

8 years ago

He loves his hurling. Keith Higgins thrown his lot in with the Mayo hurlers instead of the footballers for this year’s League campaign. He’s spent years balancing both codes, but hurling has always been his first love and he’s delighted to be able to give an exclusive commitment to them at the moment. Higgins is […]

8 years ago

Payday. Davy Russell enjoyed a famous day three Thursday in the Cheltenham festival on Thursday. The Cork jockey was in the winners enclosure on three separate occasions, as he raced up the leaderboard to head the Champion Jockey standings with only one day of racing remaining. The 38-year-old, who rides for a variety of trainers […]

8 years ago

Hard to argue with them. Waterford will have to travel all the way across Munster to Limerick for their Munster championship meeting with Tipperary. The Déise were supposed to be hosting the Premier County in Waterford on June 3, but “due to the unavailability of Walsh Park,” the game will now take place in Limerick. […]

8 years ago

It’s been a mixed day for the Walsh family in Cheltenham. Ruby suffered a suspected repeat broken leg, just five months after his original break. The festival’s most successful ever jockey went through the wringer, both emotionally and physically to make it back in time for Cheltenham. He’d pushed his body to the limit, successfully […]

8 years ago

That’s the game. Horse racing is one of the toughest games of all. Ruby Walsh knows that well at this stage, 2 broken legs, cracked jaws, broken vertebrae, various dislocations, a ruptured spleen and many more injuries later. Indeed, a closer look at the damage suffered by the body of the ‘Iron Man of Racing’ […]

8 years ago

This is not what we wanted to see. Ruby Walsh got his Cheltenham Festival off to a flying start on Tuesday. Riding both Footpad and Benie Des Dieux to victory, the Kildare man had a wide smile on his face all day in the Cotswolds. Just back in the saddle after being on the sidelines […]

8 years ago

Samrco has done it. The Irish banker going into the Cheltenham Festival, Samcro has delivered on the hype. After a tough Tuesday where his horses were out of form and suffered bad luck in running, Meath trainer Gordon Elliott was under a lot of pressure to get off the mark here. Apple’s Jade was beaten […]

8 years ago

We’re back for more. You shouldn’t really live off tips in the Cheltenham Festival, because then if you lose you’ve somebody else to blame. Be brave, back yourself, make your own selections and live or die by your own sword. They say the only time you should really pay attention to tips is when your […]

8 years ago

He pities him. Rio Ferdinand feels sorry for a man who’s earning €600,000 each week. Alexis Sanchez was supposed to change everything for United. It all looked so perfect, for player and club, when the Chilean international played the piano and gazed around the Theatre of Dreams in his pristine kit like a boy in […]

8 years ago

“This is Championship stuff”

8 years ago

Ruby Walsh enjoyed another successful day at Cheltenham on Tuesday. Five months after breaking his leg, the Kildare jock was back doing what he does best in Pretsbury Park. Getabird disappointed under the 38-year-old in the Supreme Novices’, but Footpad did no such thing. Simon Munir’s eight-year-old was a class apart in the Arkle Chase, […]

8 years ago

It was too good to be true, wasn’t it? It always is. At the end of the day, the bookies always get their back. In fairness, most of us are well aware that our odds of cleaning out them out are higher than a rank outsider, but there’s always a buzz in taking a chance. […]

8 years ago

It wouldn’t be the Cheltenham Festival without Ruby Walsh riding a winner. Ruby Walsh was never going to miss this. Five months ago, Cheltenham’s most successful ever jockey broke his fibia in his right leg after a crashing fall to the Punchestown turf. Doubts emerged about his participation in the Cheltenham Festival. The recommended recovery […]

8 years ago

This is Owning Hill. We had an excuse for underestimating the harshness of the slope on the way up, but when we reached the summit, we were left with no illusions as to why the brow we stood on belonged to the most famous hill in Irish racing. Minutes earlier, Joseph O’Brien had loaded us […]

8 years ago

A tough one for Ruby. Owner Rich Ricci admitted on Sunday morning that he is “leaning” towards running Douvan in the Ryanair Chase instead of the Queen Mother Champion Chase in Cheltenham next week. Douvan, who hasn’t graced a race-track since he picked up an injury in defeat in the Champion Chase last year, wasn’t […]

8 years ago

‘The Aishling Moloney final.’ DCU became O’Connor Cup champions for the first time since 2011 when they defeated UL in the decider in Blanchardstown on Sunday. Captain fantastic Aishling Moloney was the game-changer for the Glasnevin college. Their Tipperary flier kicked seven points in an eventful afternoon that saw her spend ten minutes in the […]

8 years ago

Kilkenny aren’t going away any time soon. We can talk all we want about Kilkenny being on the wean. We can write their obituaries, we can say they’re gone but every time we do it, Brian Cody laughs. He’s lapping that up now. He mightn’t have been at the start of the year when, after […]

8 years ago

All of these games will take place next weekend. So, the group stages are over and now we’re into the quarter-final stages. The quarter-finals of the hurling league must be the most pointless round of fixtures in the GAA’s whole calendar. They unnecessarily take up a valuable weekend of action when they should really be […]

8 years ago

Relegation is all but confirmed for Kildare now. The Lilywhites’ footballers have had a disastrous League campaign. They’ve played five games and they’ve lost five of them and can have no real complaints or grievances about that. Because, in reality, despite Cian O’Neill’s men showing well on occasions, these flashes have been way too few […]

8 years ago

Michael Ryan, Brian Cody, Malachy O’Rourke and Eamon Fitzmaurice. We could even name a few more of the top managers in the GAA right now but these are the four men that sprang to mind immediately. What do all of these men have in common? Well, obviously, apart from being the best and being in […]

8 years ago

Garry Ringrose is here. Garry Ringrose is back. Before facing up to the in form Huw Jones in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Garry Ringrose had only played 113 minutes of rugby this whole year. The player blessed with some of the fleetest feet in Irish rugby had endured an injury ravaged existence for a […]

8 years ago

Another day. Another try for Jacob Stockdale. The Ulster winger has looked at home in the Ireland jersey ever since he made his debut in November’s Guinness series against South Africa. Since then, he’s made eight more starts for his country and has improved with each passing game. He took further strides forward next time […]

8 years ago

The excuse is bad, the lack of remorse is worse. But all in all, we reckon everybody in this WhatsApp group should be just pleased with the honesty. Come on, we’ve all had those days. It’s Friday evening, you’re after having a tough week at work. You were out on the town one night and […]

8 years ago

A repeat of last year’s League final takes place this weekend. Rivals Dublin and Kerry will do battle in Croke Park at 4.00 on Sunday in one of the most eagerly anticipated clashes of this year’s National League to date. Jim Gavin’s all conquering Dubs have been frighteningly business-like in this campaign so far, winning […]

8 years ago

Great to see. Battle commences when players cross the four white lines. Friendship is forgotten about immediately because the only thing that matters is the ball, your teammates and beating the opposition. GAA players’ lives revolve around the game nowadays. They make so many sacrifices and commit so much to their sport that when the […]

8 years ago

It would speed the game up anyway. Jason Flynn is a specialist sideline taker. He’s cut many beautiful balls from the line for his club Tommy Larkin’s and for Galway and he’s seen plenty of them sail over the bar. But like all sideline takers, the efforts that scrape the sky before splitting the posts […]

8 years ago

It’s been one hell of a five years. Mickey Moran’s reign as Slaughtneil manager saw the little rural community located at the foot of the Sperrin Mountains embark on a trail of success like they’d never ever experienced before. Like they’d never even dreamed of before. The former Mayo, Derry, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim manager […]

8 years ago

Fair play. Every year since 1908, International Women’s Day has been celebrated on March 8. The milestone date came into existence on the back of a trade union movement in America in the early 20th century. During this period, working conditions for women left a lot to be desired. In 1907 a “Hunger March” protest […]

8 years ago

Like he’d never even left

8 years ago

Garry Ringrose is in. Joe Schmidt has named his starting team for Ireland’s clash with Scotland in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The biggest decision facing Schmidt prior to this one was his replacement for Chris Farrell. The big, burly Munster centre sustained a knee injury during training recently. Schmidt has entrusted Leinster centre […]

8 years ago

Good news all round. The Ireland squad has been named for their upcoming International Friendly game against Turkey that will take place in the Aviva Stadium later this month. Martin O’Neill has handed call-ups to a host of fresh faces for the clash, with Kieran O’Hara, Declan Rice, Enda Stevens, Darragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams named […]

8 years ago

Like he’d never even left. On Saturday, Sean Maguire made his first appearance in the Championship after four months on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury. The Republic of Ireland international had not played in England’s second tier since Preston’s 2-0 loss to Aston Villa at the start of November, but he picked up from […]

8 years ago

There has been much a do about water bottles recently

8 years ago

It’s only one week to the Cheltenham ROAR!!!

8 years ago

Joe Kernan was always famed for his attention to detail. The legendary Armagh manager is always fondly spoken of by those who played under him. A tactician, a student of the game but also an astute, cute and clever mastermind who played the percentages down to the very last decimal point. This is a man […]

8 years ago

How well do you know your GAA players? We have attained the weights of various GAA players from the programmes of games that took place last year and from player profiles on their county’s website. We give you two GAA players, are you able to tell us which one is heavier?  Give it a go […]

8 years ago

David McInerney milked 100 cows the evening before Clare’s All-Ireland semi-final in 2013. That was the year the Banner bridged a 16 year gap to lift Liam McCarthy for the first time since ’97. Their relentless, All-Star winning corner back proved a key player the whole way through that famous journey. The Tulla club man […]

8 years ago

There’s no stopping Keano. One day after it was announced that he would take over Indian Super League club ATK in a player/manager capacity, Robbie Keane was again rattling the net. Again, because the Republic of Ireland’s record goalscorer has been in flying form on the other side of the world for the Kolkata based outfit […]

8 years ago

Some right boot on him in fairness. The best sports stars can turn their hands to anything so it’s no surprise that one of Dublin and Ireland’s finest Padraig Harrington was a talented gaelic footballer. Eventually, it was the golfing world that wrestled the attention and dedication of the Rathfarnham born jewel, but that famous […]

8 years ago

There’s no stopping the Farney army. GAA pitches from Derry to Cork and from Dublin to Galway are clad with inches, nearly metres of snow. Matches from the Allianz League all the way down to the club games have fallen victim. Training sessions have gotten the boot. Storm Emma has defeated many of us as […]

8 years ago

It’s fair to say the Cork hurlers have endured a frustrating start to their season. Ever since getting off to a flyer with an opening round victory over Kilkenny in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, it’s been downhill. Fast forward three more games and John Meyler’s men have suffered disappointing losses at the hands of Wexford, Clare […]

8 years ago

There’s something about the hammy. There’s few injuries as frustrating as the ol’ hamstrings. There’s few injuries as prevalent as them. One of Tipperary’s greatest ever forwards Lar Corbett suffered from chronic hamstring problems early in his career. As a 21/22 year-old, the Thurles Sarsfields club man was dogged by his pair. Tears, strains, stretches, […]

8 years ago