AT the tribute night for Brian Mullins in St Vincents a few weeks ago, Roddy Collins was gobsmacked at the number of his old Derry team that turned up. “In soccer, they wouldn’t be here unless they were being paid.” “Seriously?” “No bleeding way Joe. It’s all about greed in our game.” I haven’t been watching […]
MARADONA would have been 60 this week. The greatest left foot in the history of the world. To commemorate his birthday, The Funny Old Game soccer site broadcast a goal he scored for Napoli against Verona in 1985. The Verona ‘keeper launches a high kick out from his hands, in the manner of a Cavan […]
OUR greatest referee, David Gough, was on an elite referee’s night out in Dublin. Everyone had passed the fitness test earlier that day so they were all, as he puts it, “on a high.” David: We were in the Croke Park hotel having pints and the craic. It was getting late and the lads were mad […]
I INTERVIEWED David Gough at the weekend, our greatest referee. He supports my four new rules. Q. The sweeper is the real game killer? A. It is. It has become an awful boring game to watch Joe. Even to referee. It is dreadful. I wouldn’t go to watch a football match now and I used […]
ON Sunday just past, I was at the Knockmore-Aughamore championship match at Knockmore. Jerome Henry, one of our best referees, was in the middle and refereed the game very well indeed. Everyone was on their best behaviour, the cloud of the Roscommon affair hanging over every game played last weekend. Afterwards, I shook hands with […]
CLUB championship season is upon us, and it is hard to feel excited. We go because we support our team. We go because we have always gone. It is a triumph of optimism over reality. The sweepers will kill the game. The teams will hold possession endlessly. They will work the ball forward and back and […]
ORGAN Donation Week takes place from Monday 19th to Sunday, 25th September. The theme this year is Go pink for Organ Donation Week. The idea is that people are asked to go pink for the week! Whether you bake a pink cake, wear pink socks, paint a pink unicorn or drink a pink drink, NHS […]
I AM still recovering from the sing song at Knockmore GAA club. Michael English on the piano makes everyone sound good, even the glamorous brunette, who is the only woman I know who can see in three keys simultaneously. If the club was bouncing to ‘Courtin in the Kitchen’ it went to a whole new […]
WICKLOW hurler Daniel Staunton won man of the match in a club championship game at the weekend. After the game, a bewildered looking Daniel was presented with a bag of new season Wexican Queens potatoes by a beaming Louise Hollingsworth of Kelly’s Fruit and Vegetables, Wicklow Town. He will need a wide mantelpiece. When we […]
THE Dublin empire has fallen, replaced by a democracy of flawed challengers. Tyrone came out of the blue to win it last year. When they did, it was so mentally overwhelming for them that they were unable to recover in time to defend their title. They were a ghost team this season, walloped by Derry […]
