IT must be very confusing being Paddy Tally. In the first round, we played Tyrone, who he coached. In the second, Kerry, who he coached. In Celtic Park on Saturday evening, it was Galway, who he also coached. It is a wonder he remembers which dressing room to go into. Paddy also previously coached Derry. […]
ARMAGH had played their first game against Galway as though the old rules still applied, in line with a school of thought that was popular before the league started that the new game only required a tweak of the old one. As one inter-county coach said to me, “We think we can still make do with […]
THE old rules died at the weekend and good riddance. The finale was the Crossmolina penalty, which was the worst decision since Brexit. Just before throw in at Pearse Stadium for the Galway Armagh game, I received a Whatsapp: “The rocket is fuelled and the final countdown to a new dawn has begun.” It was not […]
BEFORE the throw in, Killarney Dr Crokes’ manager Pat O’Shea looked worried. He had every right to be. Torturing Kerry men is, after all, a cherished Canavan family tradition. God, meanwhile, was smiling and chatting in the stand, as though he knew something the rest of us didn’t. Which I suppose is one of the benefits […]
I WAS in Donegal last week and three different people told me – in absolute confidence (“Don’t mention my name Joe”) – that in their in house training games, Michael Murphy has been playing in goals. According to them, Jimmy has discovered a loophole in the no pass to the keeper rule, by not putting […]
IT was a very good year for Mickey Harte. Mickey managed to get three cars in one year, with less miles on them than an elderly nun’s. Being a county manager these days can be awfully confusing, just ask Mickey Graham. Harte started off the season with Louth, unveiling his plans for the new year […]
IN the week when a convicted tax offender will end up holding the balance of power in government for the next five years, the state has launched an investigation into our referees’ and players paltry expenses. Michael Lowry TD is the man who the Moriarty tribunal ruled to be “profoundly corrupt to a degree that […]
AFTER the votes last weekend, there will not be “A New Energy” or “Moving Forward Together” for the country, but there most certainly will be for Gaelic football. Standing in front of a Christmas tree in Croke Park on Saturday morning, Jim Gavin delivered the mother of all Christmas presents to the GAA community, with voting […]
WHEN Professor Niall Moyna said last month that Gaelic football was “probably the most boring game in the world to watch,” he was only repeating something I have been saying for a decade. Something I got lambasted for. “He doesn’t understand the modern game.” “He is a dinosaur.” “The game was just catch and kick […]
WHEN the well known badge kisser Mickey Harte was being presented with the keys to his new Renault in Celtic Park, proudly wearing his Derry tracksuit, he said that his Tyrone assistant Gavin Devlin was “the best coach in Ireland.” The best coach in Ireland went on to play an offside trap in a game […]
