“We heard a few club members saying that we didn’t beat Cross that year.” Maghery Seán MacDiarmada stunned the Armagh GAA scene, back in 2016, when they won their first ever Senior Football Championship title. It was quite the achievement for a club that had, at that time, been going 110 years with only intermediate […]

5 years ago

Robin McBryde must have braced himself for a flood of Owen Farrell questions. Instead, they flowed in about Leinster’s lineout. The upcoming Leinster Saracens clash at the Aviva Stadium will have no fans in attendance but will certainly be Must-See-TV. As fate would have it, last season’s Champions Cup finalists are set to meet in […]

5 years ago

Let her rip! The SportsJOE 12 o’clock quiz is hitting bombs off the tee, right from the get-go. A nice mix of sport for you all today, but getting over 17 (or higher) will not be easy.

5 years ago

The Ireland international lasted just under four weeks with his new club. Anthony Stokes will soon be on the look-out for a new club and doing so with one of the shakiest references going from his previous employers. Having started his professional career with Arsenal, Stokes ended up having the most success in the Scottish […]

5 years ago

“Over lockdown, there wasn’t much else to be doing!” On Saturday, at a sparsely populated Aviva Stadium, Hugo Keenan started the Guinness PRO14 final while Rob Kearney watched on from the sidelines. Just over a year ago it was Keenan watching Kearney in action in a final, only from a greater distance. The 24-year-old played […]

5 years ago

“Ouchtown! Population, you, bro!” You have as much chance of getting 20/20 in this Dodgeball quiz than Gordon did of getting a considerate or loving comment from his second wife. ‘L’ for Love. Good times. We kicked off our sports movie quiz run with Karate Kid, and we are following it up with another classic. […]

5 years ago

“He’s a very complete player.” The Premier League’s 2020/21 season kicked off at the weekend and 12 teams got to show what they are made of. Liverpool continued their impressive run at Anfield while newly promoted Fulham and West Brom both lost 3-0. Two more games are slated for Monday evening kick-offs, leaving just four […]

5 years ago

“You can just see how hard he works.” For the past four weeks, Leinster’s coaches were offering optimistic updates on Tadhg Furlong, Dan Leavy and James Ryan. For the first three games of the resumed rugby season, however, the trio did not feature. So, last Monday, when a Leinster update espoused how Ryan should be […]

5 years ago

“And Doherty, just to give an example… “ Matt Doherty probably would have preferred if José Mourinho had picked someone else as an example. After the thrill of sealing a move to Wolves to Tottenham, a fortnight ago, the defender has now lost two games and drawn the other one. Making some headlines with the […]

5 years ago

It was a case of job done for Ballymun Kickhams until an ugly brawl took the sheen off their victory. Ballymun reached the Dublin County Senior Football Championship Final with a win over Kilmacud Crokes but there was a particularly nasty meleé in the closing stages. Kickhams defeated Crokes 1-18 to 2-12 to reach the […]

5 years ago

An elite crew, but it could be about to welcome its’ newest member. Luis Suarez is being heavily linked with a switch from Barcelona to Juventus for the 2020/21 season. If that deal goes through, he will join an exclusive ‘Messi Ronaldo’ club. 13 men have had the honour of playing with both Lionel Messi […]

5 years ago

They keep telling us it is a squad effort, and most of us still can’t get our heads around the team announcements. Andy Farrell and Richie Murphy were one of the lucky few hundred to make it along to the Aviva Stadium, on Saturday, to see if Ulster could derail the Leinster juggernaut. They gave […]

5 years ago

By the Gods, this one is a potential heartbreaker. In the SportsJOE 12 o’clock quiz, today, we reckon you will score highly… but have you got what it takes to get full marks?

5 years ago

The Leinster duo may yet have a say on how the final trophy of the season gets decided. Rob Kearney and Fergus McFadden may not have felt lucky, missing out on a playing role in the Guinness PRO14 final, but they were among a handful of fortunate Leinster players to actually get along to the […]

5 years ago

LEINSTER 27-5 ULSTER Leinster have made league history after winning the Guinness PRO14 for the third season in a row. Ulster pulled off one hell of a comeback to stun Edinburgh, last weekend, in the semi-finals but, once they put some daylight between their opponents, Leinster brutally snuffed out a repeat. Leo Cullen and Stuart […]

5 years ago

A fantastic opportunity missed, in our opinion, as rugby moves relentlessly on. Leinster and Ulster faced off in the Guinness PRO14 final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, this evening, but something was missing. When the league returned, on the weekend of August 22-23, after the pandemic-enforced pause in the 2020/21 season, all the teams […]

5 years ago

We’re starting off with some howlers and finishing strong. For round 15 of the SportsJOE 2000s Football Quiz, we are celebrating the sublime and ridiculous. Get off to a good start and you should score highly.

5 years ago

Take your breaks whichever way you get ’em. The end of the 12th stage of the Tour de France ended in a massive sprint and a photo finish. Sam Bennett was pipped to successive stage wins but his green jersey chances would, later, get a huge boost. Having retained the green jersey when he won […]

5 years ago

“U2’s famous One Tree Hill song. I’m from there.” To an Irish person, Isa Nacewa knows what button to press when explaining where he was born and raised. An Onehunga boy, Nacewa was never far from the scenic One Tree Hill [a volcanic peak] in Auckland. His parents arrived in the Auckland suburb in 1977 […]

5 years ago

“I know you lot won’t like that, will you?” You lot?! 26 seconds of that pure Bradley Wiggins bravado we have all come to know so well. As the song sweepingly goes in the aptly named Beauty & The Beast… ‘Tale as old as time’. The never-ending British past-time of seeing an Irish person gain […]

5 years ago

“The player is free to play again on October 5.” Owen Farrell went out to make a big hit, got his technique all wrong and wasted an 18-year-old scrum-half who has now been stood down from training and matches for the next two weeks. As soon as he connected with Charlie Atkinson, he knew he […]

5 years ago

“This is a karate dojo, not a knitting class!” The original Karate Kid is now available on Netflix and there is a whole new audience getting invested Daniel LaRusso and his battles with Johnny Lawrence and his California crew. How much do you know about the movie? Take our quiz, and let us know how you get […]

5 years ago

“I don’t mean to be a cry-baby… “ Cry your bloody eyes out for all we care, Sam Bennett. This is your moment and you can do whatever the hell you want with it. We were all celebrating, last week, when the Carrick-raised cyclist became the first Irishman since Sean Kelly, back in 1989, to […]

5 years ago

“The game starts 0-0 and it goes for 80 minutes. Every game is totally different.” Injuries to Dave Kearney, Fergus McFadden, Adam Byrne and Jordan Larmour [failed Head Injury Assessment last Friday] mean Leinster’s back three has been shorn of some top options. Fortunately, though, they have Rob Kearney in reserve. Felipe Contepomi is in […]

5 years ago

Eyes on the prize. The SportsJOE 12 o’clock quiz has geared up for another round of questions and is taking you on a journey of [sporting knowledge] enlightenment and improvement. Namaste!

5 years ago

Late efforts to draft in the world champions South Africa were not successful. Plans for the 8 Nations tournament in November and December have reached the match-scheduling stages and Ireland are set to be included in a tough pool. The one-off series of winter Test matches were devised as a way to replace the lucrative […]

5 years ago

“Ireland have a very Scottish problem.” With Ireland Slovakia the next game up for Stephen Kenny’s men, The Football Spin sought to take some positives out of a rough few days. On Sunday evening, social media was awash with people fretting over the pending OVER-REACTION to playing dreadfully to a plucky yet average Finland side, […]

5 years ago

“I’ve save getting angry for game-day!” Fresh from a training session and stretching out his Leinster singlet, Andrew Porter looks ahead to this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 and a reunion, of sorts, with some old teammates. Currently doing the business for the Miami Heat in the NBA playoffs, Jimmy Butler loves to stoke up pre-game rivalries […]

5 years ago

“This whole situation has left me really sad and empty.” For Novak Djokovic, there goes a golden chance to clinch Grand Slam number 18. The year that started so wonderfully in Melbourne has descended into a complete shit-fit of Covid-19, ill-advised high fives, fierce blow-back from the public and a US Open disqualification. At least […]

5 years ago

“That’s cheating. I don’t like that.” James Ward-Prowse has come in for criticism from former Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane for his injury-time shenanigans in Reykjavik. There was not much to write home about England’s 1-0 Nations League victory over Iceland, but Keane and Ian Wright still found something to argue about. The […]

5 years ago

Munster have now lost five semi-finals in a row, with three of them coming against their old rivals. As Leo Cullen and Johnny Sexton looked ahead to another Guinness PRO14 final in the main press conference room at the Aviva Stadium [albeit answering questions through Microsoft Teams], Johann van Graan and CJ Stander were next […]

5 years ago

IRELAND 0-1 FINLAND Good grief, that was grim. We took as little pleasure from compiling these Ireland ratings as we did from watching that stuttering 90 minutes from the hosts. Stephen Kenny’s Ireland have commenced their Nations League campaign with a draw [away to Bulgaria] and a home loss to lively Finnish outfit. In truth, […]

5 years ago

“Chop tackle, Will! Chop him!!” Will Connors has stuck 33 tackles in his last two games for Leinster and so many of them have been crucial in slowing the momentum of the opposition’s biggest ball-carrying threats. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this unbeaten Leinster side, this season, has been how they ramp up their […]

5 years ago

A healthy sprinkling across Europe’s elite leagues. After going in alphabetical order at the start of our European football quiz run – letter A here, letter B here and letter C here – we are skipping ahead a touch. Letters D and E were proving both tricky and sparse so we hedged our bets! Can […]

5 years ago

“I got some good news this morning… “ This is such a class moment, and one that may bring a tear to your own eyes. Tupou Vaa’i delivered one hell of a Father’s Day surprise for his old man, and the rest of his family. From an early age, the Vaa’i family knew they had […]

5 years ago

Welcome to the Thunderdome! We have a blitz of a SportsJOE 12 o’clock quiz for you all today. If you know your sporting pundits, you’ll get off to a great start.

5 years ago

It happens to us all. Even the greats. Rory McIlroy has twice won the FedEx Cup and, on Friday, put himself in the mix again with a superb opening round of 64. On Saturday, the East Lake course bit back. The Holywood native, who became a father for the first time last weekend, started his […]

5 years ago

“I can’t defend that.” Owen Farrell has received plenty of criticism – much of it merited – over recent years for his no-arm tackle technique. On Saturday, at Allianz Park, there was too much arm, at too much force and way too high. The Saracens, England and Lions outhalf cost his club side dearly with […]

5 years ago

EDINBURGH 19-22 ULSTER Flipping heck! Ian Madigan was not introduced to the party until late in the evening, but he cracked out one hell of a piece. The former Leinster outhalf has set up a Guinness PRO14 final against his old side after stepping up to pop over a 40-metre penalty to win it for […]

5 years ago

The Munster outhalf was confirmed as the ‘Golden Boot’ winner on Wednesday. Two days after picking up the Guinness PRO14 award for his kicking accuracy, JJ Hanrahan returned one from three off the kicking tee as Munster’s season ended in semi-final heart-ache again. The Currow native put Munster into a 3-0 lead, against Leinster, but […]

5 years ago

None too pretty, but Leinster came out on top again. Johann van Graan called it tactical, but all Leo Cullen saw was box-kick after box-kick after box-kick. In Conor Murray, Munster are blessed with the best box-kicker in the game. It is a tactic that often works well for them but they are guilty of […]

5 years ago

LEINSTER 13-3 MUNSTER Cruelly, this closely fought match came down to Leinster’s rabid defence and a couple of crucial penalty misses by Munster. It will hurt. Again, for another season, it will hurt. Munster get close but Leinster do what they have to in order to get the win. We have seen this game played […]

5 years ago

Two of the teams are giants of European football. After a cracking start to our European football quiz run – letter A here and letter B here – we are moving on in orderly, alphabetical fashion. Can you name every football club, from Europe’s top eight leagues, that begin with the letter ‘C’? We are […]

5 years ago

“To get the chance, and for the club to want me, is a special moment for me.” Shane Duffy’s season-long loan from Brighton to Celtic was confirmed today and he will hook up with Neil Lennon’s side after the international window. When Duffy lines out for the Hoops, he will be the 18th Celtic player […]

5 years ago

Changes are afoot, and in a big way. Next season’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions have been rejigged to accommodate more teams and with an eye at more high profile matches that should attract big TV and [hopefully] match-day audiences. The EPCR, this morning, released the format and fixture plans for an expanded Champions […]

5 years ago

A couple of real ‘thinkers’ in here. Some of the greatest names in footballing history have lifted the Champions League. A heap of decent, tidy and ‘oh yeah, remember that guy’ players have too. We are giving you a Champions League-winning player from each of the past 20 competitions and we’re asking you to name […]

5 years ago

Most of the talk this week will be about Dan Leavy, Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander. Caelan Doris does not mind. Doris just wants to see his name on the team-sheet this Thursday. He wants the chance to do what he feels he is capable of doing. He wants to play his part in Leinster’s […]

5 years ago

“This isn’t a joke, pal. People die in fairy tales all the time.” The SportsJOE 12 o’clock quiz is starting off with some great sporting biopics then testing your wits with our three closing rounds. Stay sharp!

5 years ago

With no pre-season friendlies planned, all four provinces could do with more hit-outs to get ready. Leinster released a squad update, earlier today, that stated James Ryan, Dan Leavy and Tadhg Furlong were all progressing well in training and still in the selection mix for Friday’s Guinness PRO14 semi-final against Munster. In all likelihood, that […]

5 years ago

Hop into our footballing time machine and let’s go for a ride. One-season wonders, hat-trick heroes and transfer flops. The SportsJOE 2000s Football Quiz is back for Round 14 and coming out swinging from the first bell. We have faith in you to score high.

5 years ago