I CANNOT remember seeing a bad match at the Athletic Grounds. Something about it brings footballers and supporters to life. In the same way as Donegal cannot lose at Ballybofey, even if they pick a tall u-14 in goals and half the team has hangovers, the Gods have decreed that the Athletic Grounds will bring […]
CORK suffer from acute solorunitis. The symptoms are highly contagious, but easily spotted. Sufferer takes possession from hand-pass. Puts head down. Solos hard until runs into something or someone. Looks up, but not before then. Hand-passes to fellow sufferer, who puts head down, solos hard until runs into something or someone. Looks up, but not […]
THE year is 1993, and Derry are All-Ireland champions. At the victory banquet, there is a shot of Joe Brolly and Marty Morrissey, each smiling ear to ear. Like Down two years previously, the seismic proportions of victory are beyond the comprehension of delirious men, women, and children alike. A cup of shimmering silver is […]
STEVIE Murtagh from the Watty Grahams club says I am now 1/5 on to win the Pat Convery Clubman of the Year Award. Which would be the first time in its history the prestigious trophy has been presented to an outsider. I would probably have to do what our own Colm McGuigan did when he […]
WELL, we are two days out from the start of the National League in 2023 and ideally I should be looking at some of the interesting ties ahead with all of the Ulster countries well placed in their respective divisions to be ultra-competitive but unfortunately that is not the major talking point of the GAA […]
THIS week’s Policing Board report shows ahow extraordinarily peaceful the North has become. PSNI officers have only discharged a shot five times in the last ten years, the most recent being an unintentional discharge in June 2022. The other four shots were fired into the air outside Omagh police station after Tyrone won Sam in 2021. The […]
WELCOME to the football factory, where every Gaelic football team looks the same, sounds the same and plays the same. The All-Ireland Senior Club semi-finals on Sunday were the usual chore. The winners, Kilmacud and Glen, spent most of their time trying not to lose. The crowd spent most of our time chatting amongst ourselves. […]
SEAN MacCumhaills tweeted the following message on their social media on Christmas Eve. “We invite applications from suitably qualified persons for the position of Reserve Team Manager. To express your interest in this position please send an e mail with your name and contact details to: secretary.seanmcools.donegal@gaa.ie before 6pm on Wednesday 11th of January 2023.” […]
JORGE Valdano, the Argentinian striker who scored the winning goal in the 1986 World cup final (needless to say, from a classic Maradona pass), was interviewed in the Guardian a fortnight ago. The chat turned to the little man. He said “How could you not look at Maradona? When he walks into the dining room everyone […]
“I’ll be seeing you, in all those old familiar places That this heart of mine embraces All day through… I’ll be seeing you In every lovely summer’s day In everything that’s light and gay I’ll always think of you that way…” WHEN I turned on the radio on Wednesday, Jimmy Durante was singing ‘I’ll be seeing […]
