Noel Hickey remembers the day well. 1997 was the year and the young Dunnamaggin buck was just a promising hurler with a dream of making it. Dunnamaggin were one of the biggest players in the Kilkenny club scene and he looked up to every senior player who wore the green and yellow jersey as if […]

7 years ago

And then there were four. The quarter finals didn’t disappoint on a Fitzgibbon feast of a Thursday and there are only four teams left standing now. Quarter final summary UCC 3-19 IT Carlow 1-11 Tipperary hotshot Mark Kehoe was on fire for Tom Kingston’s side in their comprehensive victory over DJ Carey’s IT Carlow in […]

7 years ago

DCU 2-19 DIT 0-12 When you’ve the strength in depth DCU have, you’re only going to get better as the game goes on. A battling DIT side kept it into them in the early stages of this north Dublin derby in St Clare’s, Glasnevin but when it came down to it, the home side stretched […]

7 years ago

They couldn’t escape it in the Burke household. Hurleys clutter the halls and sliotars roll around every floor waiting to be tripped over. The main chat is hurling chat and if you’re ever looking for a puck, there’s never any shortage of takers. Five brothers knocking about and a sister who plays camogie too – […]

7 years ago

Mary I 2-19 Cork IT 0-12 When a Fitzgibbon Cup game comes to Mary I, there aren’t too many left in lectures. A tight-knit teacher training college of no more than 3000 students, everybody knows everybody else’s business and there’s no business bigger than college’s hurling. It’s what they leave and breathe down here. Over […]

7 years ago

It’s happening again. Kieran Molloy was the hero for NUI Galway as the Corofin man’s first half goal against UUJ propelled last year’s beaten finalists into the last four once again. Controversy is looming, however, as Higher Education GAA confirmed on Wednesday night that the semi-finals are scheduled to take place in Mallow on Saturday […]

7 years ago

NUI Galway 1-8 UUJ 1-7 Kieran Molloy lives for this type of thing. February football, the rain pelting down, the studs slipping and the muck gathering, it’s usually under the lights of a Wednesday evening and it’s no place for meek men. It’s Kieran Molloy’s playground. Last year, the Corofin bomber was always there for […]

7 years ago

Try telling Liam Rafferty to sit back. St Mary’s Belfast ground out a 0-15 0-13 win over Maynooth University in their Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup quarter final to become the first team to make it through to the last four of this year’s competition. Only a few of The Ranches’ 2017 winning team are still […]

7 years ago

Wim Hof is Holland’s answer to Bear Grylls. Nicknamed the Iceman, he’s an extreme Dutch athlete who’s renowned for the breathing techniques that allow him to withstand freezing cold conditions. The Wim Hof Method (WHM) is also widely respected and scientifically proven to bring comprehensive health benefits, and can also be used as a way […]

7 years ago

Brought to you by Electric Ireland And then there were eight. After a frantic group stage that saw the reigning champions lose three out of three games, the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup bounds onto the quarter-final stages. Each of the eight teams left are there on merit and will be backing themselves to go all […]

7 years ago

There was plenty of confidence amongst Irish fans going into Sunday’s Aviva Stadium showdown with England. And why wouldn’t there have been? Ireland won the Grand Slam this time last year and they’d won 12 games on the bounce on home turf leading into this one. There have been barren years and they’ve suffered through […]

7 years ago

Kilcummin, January 2018 After 19 years in the Kerry senior football championship, Kilcummin are an intermediate club and they don’t know what do with themselves. They were relegated in 2017 and the appetite to get back up just doesn’t seem to be there. They’ve no manager and there’s only eleven or 12 players turning up […]

7 years ago

There ain’t no bond like the gym partners’ bond. You’re both in this together. You both know you’re letting yourselves in for an hour of hell but hell is never that bad when you’ve someone beside you. And after a few sessions together, you become a gains team and that’s where it all starts. You […]

7 years ago

Mayo are back, Limerick are here to stay, Leitrim are rising and the Donegal ladies are on fire. Here’s your GAA team of the weekend. 1 Niall Morgan (Tyrone) Tyrone were poor, but for this alone their keeper deserves a spot. Tyrone’s keeper Niall Morgan scores from play pic.twitter.com/P3DA3i6SJa — The GAA (@officialgaa) February 3, […]

7 years ago

Mayo are motoring. Mayo 2-13 Tyrone 0-10 Sunday in Omagh and a response was expected from Tyrone. Last weekend, they were listless down in Kerry and Mickey Harte’s men rarely have two bad games on the trot. But with Mayo buoyed by a gritty win against Roscommon and with a couple of youngsters emerging in […]

7 years ago

The men of Clare were men with points to prove. Clare 2-20 Kilkenny 1-22 Last weekend was a write off for the Banner boys. They didn’t show up to Semple Stadium and Tipperary danced all over them. Up next, a confident Kilkenny in Ennis with their main man Tony Kelly suspended. It doesn’t get much […]

7 years ago

Paul Townend looked to have all bases covered. Klassical Dream had a good run at it under Ruby Walsh but he was about to be collared by his stablemate in the Chanelle Pharma Grade One Novice Hurdle. Aramon winged the last under Townend and the 5/2 shot was coming for Ruby and his mount. He […]

7 years ago

It was business as usual for Jim Gavin’s Dubs. Dublin 1-15 Galway 0-7 After disappointing against Monaghan last weekend, Cormac Costello turned on the style in Croke Park to fire Dublin to a comprehensive victory over Galway and to get their Allianz National League campaign back on track. In fairness, Costello and co. weren’t long […]

7 years ago

Limerick 1-21 Tipperary 1-14 Pure helter-skelter hurling. If Tipperary are a team on a mission this year, then Limerick are just consolidating their status as the most physical team in the land. On Saturday evening, the two revved up battalions met at the Gaelic Grounds and what followed was Tipperary attempting to prove a point, […]

7 years ago

Limerick go two from two in League. Compiled by Daragh Ó Conchúir A Sophie O’Callaghan goal and five points from Niamh Mulcahy enabled Limerick to chisel out a five-point victory, 1-14 to 0-10 over neighbours Clare in their Littlewoods Ireland Camogie League Division 1 Group 2 clash at the Gaelic Grounds. Declan Nash’s troops join […]

7 years ago

The English were up for it. It only took Eddie Jones’ men two minutes to break through the Irish rearguard and to lay down a marker in this Six Nations opener in the Aviva Stadium. Johnny May dotted down in the corner and Owen Farrell nailed a near touchline conversion to let Joe Schmidt’s men […]

7 years ago

Laois did not look at home in Croke Park. After holding their hand up for breaching the GAA’s training ban last April by having a camp in the build-up to their championship clash with Wexford, Laois were punished by having a home game taken away from them in this year’s League. That turned out to […]

7 years ago

Michael O’Leary was hung out to dry and Ted Walsh wasn’t long to pounce. Apple’s Jade won the Irish Champion Hurdle like a Cheltenham Champion on Saturday afternoon in Leopardstown, but the mare’s owners continue to resist Pretsbury Park’s premium prize. They avoided it last year, instead targeting the mares’ honour and with a fancied […]

7 years ago

We’re ready for road again. The Dublin Racing Festival takes place in Leopardstown this weekend and the line-up for the two day extravaganza of horse racing is yet again nothing short of mouth watering. Over the course of the weekend’s action, there will be: Eight Grade One Races Some of Ireland and Britain’s finest National […]

7 years ago

Hurlers live and die by the grains of ash they hold in their hands. The crisp touch comes off it, the perfect strike comes from it and both games and careers are defined by their hurley, and what their wrists can do with it. A good hurley won’t make a bad hurler good but a […]

7 years ago

UCD always knew it was going to be tight. Going into the last round of group games, the south Dublin college required a helping hand, a generous one at that, from UCC as well as a mammoth performance from themselves to take all against UL and to beat NUI Galway to the last spot in […]

7 years ago

UCC 1-19 NUIG 0-15 UCC are looking irresistible at the moment. They didn’t even need to beat NUI Galway on Thursday afternoon with their progression to the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup quarter finals already assured, they wanted to though and when they’re in that kind of mood, they’re next to unstoppable. And from the word […]

7 years ago

Darragh Fitzgibbon knows that these days don’t come around too often for a club like Charleville. When he was growing up, Charleville were only junior. In 2011, they won the junior championship and that got them going and eight years on, they’ve finally made it back to senior hurling in Cork. They’ve the small matter […]

7 years ago

UCC are home and dry but NUI Galway still have work to do. From the moment the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup draw was made back in December, Group A was the deal-breaker. The Group of Death, the showstopper. UCC, UCD, UL, NUI Galway. 86 Championships between them, four of this competition’s most successful ever teams, […]

7 years ago

A goal worthy of the wonderful setting. Double biology of a Wednesday evening or a journey down to the sunny south east to watch your schools’ best hurlers in one of the most scenic GAA pitches in the country. You’re leaving James’ Street behind and you’re heading to Bunclody. Kilkenny CBS were on the road […]

7 years ago

The champs will take some stopping. UCD gave DIT a 16 point clipping on a frozen over Belfield pitch on Wednesday night and now they bound onto the last eight of the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup. The deadly attacking duo of Con O’Callaghan and Evan O’Carroll did most of the damage for the home side […]

7 years ago

Another wicked Wednesday. There were Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cup games aplenty all over the country this afternoon and we’ve them rounded up for here. Sigerson Cup IT Tralee 1-10 St Mary’s 1-15 Slaughtneil’s Shane McGuigan pointed the way for the 2017 champions into the quarter finals of the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup. The Derry forward […]

7 years ago

James McGivney left the Longford panel during the League last year. He had no other option. See, he’s a full-time farmer and January, February and March are a farmer’s armageddon with ewes lambing and cows calving. It’s all hands to the pump and the farm wouldn’t survive without him. “During the league is very hard […]

7 years ago

Offaly were down a number of key players on Sunday. Joe Bergin, Shane Dooley, Colin Egan and Conor Mahon among those injured. Four stalwarts of Offaly hurling. Four of the county’s most gifted and effective talents with hurls in their hands and four men who would undoubtedly have reduced the damage – if nothing else – […]

7 years ago

The League is back. And the first weekend came and passed a treat. Here’s your team of the weekend. 1 Eoin Murphy (Kilkenny) Made a point blank save from Patrick Horgan and was superb throughout Kilkenny’s comfortable victory. 2 Noeleen Lambert (St Martin’s, Wexford) Played a crucial role in St Martin’s semi-final victory over Inniscarra. […]

7 years ago

It was a good day for Kerry. Dara Moynihan wasn’t meant to start for Kerry against Tyrone. Thank God for Peter Keane’s late intervention. Because only for him, the crowd in Fitzgerald Stadium may not have seen a score from play in the first half on Sunday and only for him, Kerry fans wouldn’t have […]

7 years ago

You can stand him up, you can stand in his way if you want but he’s just going to bullock you out of it and then he’s going to do damage. Limerick 1-17 Wexford 2-11 Aaron Gillane had one hell of a 2018 and he’s started the new year off on that same destructive path. […]

7 years ago

Evan Comerford wasn’t quite the fireman who returned to find his station ablaze, but that’s only because referee David Coldrick quenched the flames. The Dublin lads weren’t ready. Sure Jonny Cooper was giving out before McCarron had even put boot to ball, Eric Lowndes had his back turned while goalkeeper Evan Comerford was ten yards […]

7 years ago

Not since JJ Delaney have Kilkenny had a natural full back. Padraig Walsh has been exceptional there for the last few years, clawing ball over the best full forwards in hurling but every Kilkenny Cat will tell you that his flamboyant talents would be put to better use further out the field. Padraig Walsh bursts […]

7 years ago

The Carlow boys have steadied the ship. Four days ago, they lost a watertight battle with Limerick IT by the bare minimum but don’t let that narrow loss convince you otherwise because they’re still one of the most talented panels left in this competition and with no better manager around than their leader DJ Carey, […]

7 years ago

DCU 0-23 Cork IT 0-12 DCU are tipping along nicely. Last year’s beaten finalists and this year’s League champions came into this year’s competition primed and well fancied and though they haven’t been firing on all cylinders with no goals yet in their two games to date, they’re doing what they have to do. Thursday […]

7 years ago

Some lads are glad to get out of it. Sick of the slogging and with injuries catching up on them, there comes a time around the age of 35 when they’ve enough done. For many, that day comes earlier. For a rare few it comes later. Step up, Tommy Walsh. Looking back, asking the 35-year-old […]

7 years ago

And just like that, the champs are gone. Boggy Dangan of a drizzly day isn’t the nicest of places to hurl but the Galway boys are well used to it by this stage and with themselves and UL both in dire need of a win to stay alive in this year’s Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup, […]

7 years ago

Like a Gold Cup good thing. Finally, after entries aplenty and withdrawals to follow, Presenting Percy made his seasonal re-appearance on Thursday afternoon in Gowran Park and just like last year, Pat Kelly’s horse made it worth the wait. In fairness, this was probably always the plan. After coasting to a mouthwatering RSA Chase victory […]

7 years ago

The response was always coming. 2018 was a dark year for the Fitzgibbon men of UCC. Beaten out the gate by UL in a 22 point quarter final hammering, the wounds left were raw but they were a reminder too. Fitzgibbon Cup QF FT: UL 4-18 @ucc_gaa 0-8 Fantastic performance from UL! We march on […]

7 years ago

The boys of Tralee aren’t here for the craic. They may be without their star turn David Clifford but they’re far from one-trick ponies and in the host of similarly talented footballers attending the Kerry college, they’ve an Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup team who are capable of putting it up to the best and the […]

7 years ago

No matter what had gone before, it wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference anyway. There’s five minutes left in Tipperary and Clare’s do-or-die Munster championship match and the Premier look home and hosed. Up by four and cruising, Clare haven’t exactly been firing either. But four is a dangerous lead in hurling and […]

7 years ago

The times they are a changing. “One last memory to treasure, from an already bulging collection,” wrote Dick Clerkin in the Irish Examiner not long after he’d retired from inter-county football. A treasured memory from a disappointing day. Monaghan had been knocked out of the championship by Longford and Clerkin, an unused substitute in Clones, […]

7 years ago

Paddy Deegan wasn’t even big enough to hold a pen but he was already heading to Kilkenny CBS. And that was the lay of the land. His father had hurled in the CBS fields and he’d learned in the classrooms on James’ Street and his mother had it all planned out for him too. He […]

7 years ago

It’s time. The folks at Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh Hurling club have launched their Fantasy Hurling & Football competitions for the National Leagues. This is the GAA’s version of Fantasy Premier League which has grown and grown over the last few years all over the world. With the return of the National Leagues this weekend, Fantasy GAA begins with […]

7 years ago