THERE used to be a county court judge in the North who did not like hearing complicated cases, a sensible man who liked to get home early in the day. Once, I had an equity civil bill in front of him, neighbours fighting over a ten foot square of land at the bottom of their […]
ON Saturday I got a lift to the Mayo game with a lad from Ballina. As we got close to MacHale park, two hours early, there were parking spaces everywhere. “There’s one,” I said. He drove past it. “There’s another one.” He drove past it. “I don’t know how to reverse Joe,” he said. “How did […]
KEVIN McStay told TG4 before the throw-in against Armagh, “We’re going to play the game on its merits and see if we can come up with two points and that sums it up really. Hopefully, the wind stays nice and mild, because we all know about the wind.” I assumed this was some sort of […]
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 […]
