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 […]
IT is a terrible irony that Jimmy McGuinness’s system won Michael Murphy an All-Ireland medal yet ruined his best years. As a young footballer Michael was so good it was cartoonish. Here was a real life Hotshot Hamish, fetching impossible high balls and driving them to the net like Tony Yeboah, the ‘keeper standing there wondering […]
THE games for the new rules over the weekend had all the drama of a plate of warm scones, though the final was fun. To be fair, I played in an All-Star game in Donegal after they won the All-Ireland and scored 1-2 in the first half against the most fearsome defensive formula the game […]
JIM Gavin has the air of a fresh faced young Mormon selling bibles door to door. Serene as the buddha, he could persuade you of almost anything. Imagine him as a US trial lawyer, beaming down from a gigantic billboard, with the slogan: Honest Jim Gavin, Trial attorney. Just because you did it doesn’t mean […]
