Tom Hogan speaks with such pride about this group of St Kieran’s College players. At half-time, they really were up against it. They hadn’t fired and would go into the second with the scores level and against a breeze. Pres Athenry had been the better team. Buoyed by last year’s loss, Mike Finn’s side were […]

7 years ago

St Kieran’s College 1-15 Pres Athenry 1-12 When they were really needed, the boys of St Kieran’s College stood tall. Half back Killian Egan stepped up with two rakers, midfielder David Blanchfield hit two of his own from the sideline and with that the boys of Kieran’s College quietly took over the game and drove […]

7 years ago

St Raphael’s College 1-18 Castlecomer CS 1-14 It was a B final but God it was not played at second grade pace. From the minute Jack Morrissey soared into the Tullamore sky to pluck a raking delivery after 12 seconds, there was always a little bit of cut about this game. The St Pat’s Ballyragget […]

7 years ago

The anticipation was real for Brian Carroll. Built up in his mind as hurling heaven, the near religious stories about DJ Carey, Eddie Keher and other Kilkenny legends honing their craft at St Kieran’s College had him daydreaming all the way through sixth class in county Offaly. Carroll will never forget D-day. An outsider coming in, […]

7 years ago

St Kieran’s College is a place like no other. A breeding ground for many of the finest hurlers this country has ever seen, its 200-year-old walls are steeped in history, tradition and in success. Seen as a nursery for Kilkenny hurling teams of the future, men like Eddie Keher, DJ Carey and Henry Shefflin all […]

7 years ago

Eoin Kelly. DJ Carey. Henry Shefflin. Tony Griffin. What do all of these men have in common? They’re all hurling legends, that’s a given. But a rite of passage on each of their paths to greatness was the milestones passed and the things learned in schools hurling. They all won a Dr Croke Cup – […]

7 years ago

Gaelic football…everywhere. The last weekend of the Football League is always an entertaining one with counties dropping and rising left, right and centre and the last round just past was no different. It seemed like every single Gaelic football team had something to play for, and that only revved up the hype. Meath’s promotion to […]

7 years ago

Brought to you by Intersport Elverys & adidas Here we go again. It’s the most talked about rivalry since Stephen Ward and the forward button on WhatsApp, and the talking is finally set to grind to a bitter halt. JOE and SportsJOE will face off in their all-deciding Intersport Elverys five-a-side derby in Ringsend this […]

7 years ago

“This one’s for the boys.” All Offaly needed was a distraction but Shane Tierney gave them so much more. The Daingean club man was summoned from the bench by John Maughan in the 68th minute of their do-or-die League clash with Sligo with the game, and with the future of Offaly football in the melting […]

7 years ago

By Declan Rooney Lidl league and TG4 All-Ireland champions Dublin, All-Ireland runners-up Cork, Connacht champions Galway and Ulster champions Donegal will compete in this year’s Lidl NFL semi-finals. Cork 4-15 Mayo 2-5 Cork’s win over Mayo at MacHale Park means the top four teams cannot now be caught in the top tier, and the final […]

7 years ago

Great news for the camógs. The hurling, football and camogie Division One finals will all take place in Croke Park next Sunday in a triple header fixture. The camogie final will kick off proceedings at 12.00 with Ann Downey’s four-in-a-row seeking Kilkenny taking on a rapidly improving Galway outfit. That will be followed by the […]

7 years ago

Some drama. A game wherever you look, the only trouble was deciding which one to look at or to go to. TG4 sided with the hurling semi-finals for the day so for football fans everywhere, it was a game of catch-up. League Sunday promises to be jam-packed. In the mean-time, here are all the promotions, […]

7 years ago

Helter skelter hurling. A fair indication of the physicality of Dublin and Limerick’s League semi-final in Nowlan Park lies in the stats. By half-time, Dublin had made four substitutions, some of them permanent, some of them temporary, three of them injury enforced. The All-Ireland champions were hitting Mattie Kenny’s men hard and by God, the […]

7 years ago

Such a waste of a good Supermacs. The year 2013 and the Clare hurlers and Davy Fitzgerald are like men possessed. 16 years without an All-Ireland senior win, a good deal of hurling folk slating their short-passing style, a batch of gifted under-21 hurlers coming of age, this was the time to do it. It […]

7 years ago

Ten points down, a few men down and with the clock ticking away… Not a bother on Kieran Donaghy and the Tralee Warriors. The Star has always been known as a clutch player and on Saturday night, he came good with the pressure at its highest again. With four minutes to go in their big […]

7 years ago

Talk about taking one for the team. Luke Philpott was the hero St Colman’s College needed. Shaughs was the main man, he was the scorer and he was the difference-maker, but what good would he have been if he was limping around the place after the first ball? Denis Ring had gotten wind of it. […]

7 years ago

At the age of 24, Andrew O’Shaughnessy was delivered some life-changing news. The hurt and the deliberation over a disappointing summer of 2009 with Limerick was quickly put on the back-burner as the Kilmallock man was found to have early signs of Multiple Sclerosis. Two frightening words, the news initially caused shock and concern within […]

7 years ago

An incredible hurler and a hugely inspirational human being. Andrew ‘Shaughs’ O’Shaughnessy had it from the word go. He played under-21 for Limerick when he was only 16, and would go on to play a crucial role in their two famous All-Ireland wins in 2001 and 2002. He was a shooting star for Kilmallock that […]

7 years ago

There’s no rest for the wicked. Not that Eoin Cody, Dean Mason or Darragh Corcoran wanted to leave their hurleys down anyway. Just three days ago, the trio won an All-Ireland club championship with Ballyhale Shamrocks but come Wednesday, they were hopping off the ground again. The win was celebrated, the partying was done, it […]

7 years ago

A sight for sore Donegal eyes. A firing Michael Murphy equals a flying Donegal and with the Glenswilly ace rounding into form in this Allianz League campaign, Gaels from the hills will be buzzing for summer Sundays. The 29-year-old made his eagerly anticipated seasonal bow in his county’s League clash with Armagh two weekends ago […]

7 years ago

How could anything possibly go wrong? It’s called the ‘free-role’ and managers love nothing more than giving it to their best players. Float around the place, get on ball, make hay. God, it sounds like full-on paradise for a hurler or a Gaelic footballer who can do it all but after a few days in […]

7 years ago

Thank you Corofin. Thank you. Joe Brolly spoke for the whole country with his glowing praise and gracious appreciation of one of, if not the greatest club teams of all time. The game they play isn’t Gaelic football at its breathtaking best, it’s Gaelic football on a whole new planet where only Corofin men live. […]

7 years ago

The future looks bright for Fermanagh. St Michael’s Enniskillen won the MacCrory Cup final on Monday afternoon after a masterful display of attacking football helped them to a 0-16 to 2-7 victory over Omagh CBS. Before the game, both teams stood for an minute silence after the tragic incident that occurred in Cookstown on Sunday […]

7 years ago

He was never going to be leaping around the place after a 17 point win, but the way Henry Shefflin goes about his business, you’d suspect he wouldn’t be going buck mad after a close one either. The Ballyhale man is coolness personified in everything he does. Fergal Horgan blew the final whistle on Sunday […]

7 years ago

We’re lucky to witness them. Corofin won their third All-Ireland club final in a row on Sunday afternoon with an emphatic 2-16 to 0-10 victory over a talented Dr Crokes team. From the moment Jason Leonard nailed a seventh minute bullet, the result was never in doubt as a beautifully united Corofin outfit cut swathes […]

7 years ago

How do you defend against a team like Corofin? Their players never ever stop moving, the player in possession always gives the simple pass, then they’re gone again. Simple game, really and on Sunday in Croke Park, Dr Crokes just couldn’t cope with them. The ball hops around their forward line like it would in […]

7 years ago

A lovely touch from Michael Fennelly. For a record seventh time, Ballyhale Shamrocks of Kilkenny are the All-Ireland senior club hurling champions. It was all too easy for Henry Shefflin’s side in Croke Park, with Colin Fennelly and Adrian Mullen having field days as they coasted to a 2-28 to 2-11 victory over Galway’s St […]

7 years ago

Ballyhale Shamrocks 2-28 St Thomas 2-11 The Shamrocks just got the scores easier. For the first five minutes of the second half of this All-Ireland club final, St Thomas’ were well on top. They were doing all the hurling, their half back line were winning everything, but they just couldn’t for the life of them […]

7 years ago

Mayo will never, ever go away. It’s been a tough few weeks for the men of the west. Galway gave them a lesson in their own back yard first, and then Dublin gave them a clipping in Croke Park. The League was going well up to then, but was it all too easy for them […]

7 years ago

There’s no fear of Aussie Gleeson. The ball hasn’t broke for him recently, but he looks back in business now. In 2016 he was a behemoth making a name for himself. A giant of speed, skill, power and leadership – his high catches, his unstoppable bursts and his delicate touches lit the hurling world up.  […]

7 years ago

A Crokes man through and through. A fresh faced youngster at the time, coming into the Crokes dressing room must have been a daunting proposition for Gavin White. Kerry heroes all around him. Club legends to his left and to his right. Where does a youngster fit into it all? Right under Colm Cooper’s wing […]

7 years ago

There was no separating the Irish and the British. There were some almighty highs and some crushing lows in Cheltenham this week. The highs were led by Bryony Frost winning the race of her dreams on Thursday and followed up by Paisley Park bringing owner Andrew Gemmill and the whole parade ring to tears an hour […]

7 years ago

It just had to be, didn’t it? Let’s rewind ten months for a second. Paul Townend and Al Boum Photo lead going into the last at Punchestown with the Champion Novices’ Chase seemingly at their mercy. Willie Mullins is licking his lips. The Closutton handler is trailling Gordon Elliott in the champion trainer standings and […]

7 years ago

He’s one of the most respected in the game. Cheltenham has been an emotional place this week but emotions were rarely as high as they were on Thursday evening when Noel Fehily, the legendary Cork jockey of 20 years announced his intention to retire at the end of the season. Fehily, who had just won […]

7 years ago

He had the potential to become one of the best we’ve seen. There were some heartbreaking scenes on Cheltenham Friday as the Joseph O’Brien trained Sir Erec had to be put down after sustaining a leg break in the Triumph Hurdle. JP McManus’ four-year-old came into Friday’s opener as the red hot favourite along with […]

7 years ago

Three days in and we’re still dreaming. There’s been swings, there’s been roundabouts but even those who’ve lined the bookies’ bags won’t deny that there’s been magic. From Bryony Frost giving Frodon the ride of the festival to Paisley Park bringing owner Andrew Gemmill and the whole parade ring to tears. From the legendary Cork […]

7 years ago

Joey Holden knows what it feels like to be a long way off. He wasn’t near a Kilkenny minor panel, so he says himself, and he didn’t make the under-21s either. “Some lads are slower than others and I was one of the slow ones,” he says with a shrug of the shoulders. He doesn’t […]

7 years ago

When Ted Walsh gets riled up, there’s no stopping him. Like Eamon Dunphy and like Joe Brolly, there’s absolutely no point in arguing because the man has words at will and he’d talk his way out of a dead-end anyway. On Thursday afternoon, few were arguing. There have been some almighty Cheltenham highs this week, […]

7 years ago

If you were ever to pick a jockey for a tight finish, you’d be all over Noel Fehily. For the last 20 years, the Cork man has been getting the most out of every horse he’s ridden. A powerful, gritty pilot, he was always a powerhouse in the closing stages of a race and if […]

7 years ago

Rachael Blackmore. Bryony Frost. Lisa O’Neill. Katie O’Farrell. When Katie Walsh and Nina Carberry stood side by side at Punchestown last year announcing their retirements, it would have been very easy to fear for the future of female horse riding. For years, Walsh and Carberry were the trailblazers and the standard bearers. They kept the […]

7 years ago

37 not out. Only Wednesday, many were lumping in on Barry Geraghty. He’d suffered narrow defeats on Champ and on Blue Sari in the bumper and a good deal of horse racing fans were deeming the Meath master past it, even going as far as selecting his replacement. Oh how they’d jumped the gun. Ever […]

7 years ago

AP McCoy is standing up for the Irish jockey. Irish amateur jockey Declan Lavery was slapped with a ten day ban for his ride on Jerrysback in the National Hunt Challenge Cup on Tuesday afternoon. The Philip Hobbs trained seven-year-old was ridden to a third place finish in the four miler – a slog that […]

7 years ago

A day of swings and roundabouts. Some thrifty punters won big, some spoofers won it all, some are broke, some shipped a beating and some are merely ticking over. But every one of them is back for more. Benie Des Dieux’s final fence fall was a killer blow that wrecked ‘dead cert’ accumulators the length […]

7 years ago

Martin Farragher hasn’t played for Galway in a few years, but it doesn’t really bother him too much. How could it? A key member of the Corofin senior football team, he hasn’t exactly been twiddling his thumbs this last while. For six years in a row now they’ve won the Galway senior football championship and […]

7 years ago

Coaching seems to suit Stephen Rochford. He enjoyed every second of his time as manager Mayo, and he doesn’t rule out a second coming faraway down the line, but for now coaching is the name of the game and that suits him just fine. He’s up in the Hills of Donegal this season as Declan […]

7 years ago

Everything Gordon Elliott has now, he worked for. He wasn’t born into riches, not even into a horse racing family. But day by day, he took a farmyard and he built and empire out of it. He took castoffs and turned them into champion horses. This is the inspiring story of a man who doesn’t […]

7 years ago

Time to get this show back on the road. It hasn’t been the best of starts for the Irish rugby team in this Six Nations campaign. A grounding loss against England was followed by a pair of less than convincing wins over Italy and the Scots and from the high of being ‘the best team […]

7 years ago

Roisín Baker wouldn’t want it any other way. A graduate of Genetics and Cell Biology, she’s now in her second year of studying to be a doctor. All the while, she’s balancing her academic pursuits with life as the Dublin senior camogie captain, having previously represented her country for water-polo. She doesn’t have a minute […]

7 years ago

From one brother to another. Having been Mayo’s leader in name for the last three years, Cillian O’Connor has this year passed on the captain’s armband to his brother Diarmuid. The younger of the O’Connor brothers was first called onto the Mayo panel in 2014 by James Horan and for the last five years he’s […]

7 years ago

In recent times, the chase for the extra one percent has become the name of the game. There is a very reasonable argument that we’re disregarding and undervaluing the other 99% in its pursuit, but it’s so widespread these days that it’s at least worth discussing. Indeed, the involvement of every different type of coach […]

7 years ago