Features

With a break in the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, we have a moment to catch our breath and reflect on what has been an intriguing competition thus far.  We have experienced huge shocks in the championship already, not least Galway’s exit in the provincial stages at the hands of Dublin, and Mattie Kenny’s sides subsequent loss to Laois which …

Reporter: “Do you think the luck of an Irishman got England over the line?” Eoin Morgan: “We had Allah with us as well. I spoke to Adil (Rashid), he said; ‘Allah was definitely with us’. And I said; ‘we had the rub of the green’. It actually epitomises our team. We’ve got a quite diverse background and cultures and guys …

There’s something cringe-worthy about those open letters you see from journalists in sport. As if the target audience should fall under the spell of their wisdom and bow way down to their thinking on a subject. On occasion though, they are called for and this is one of those cases. Apologies in advance, but needs must. After all, here we …

Sunday sees the renewed rivalry of the two most successful sides in hurling when Cork and Kilkenny battle it out in Croke Park for a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals.  It’s a rivalry as long as time. Their first All-Ireland final meeting came all the way back in 1893 and to date, no two teams have met in more All-Ireland …

Sean McMahon reporting from Galway Friday’s open training session at the Sportsground in Galway was supposedly one of the ‘light’ sessions taking place in what is Ireland’s third week of pre-World Cup training.  If this is considered light or easy-going then it provides an indication to just how hard Ireland are working to right the wrongs of their 2019 Six …

Roscommon’s Connacht title win was never the surprise result that many people made it out to be. They were up against a depleted Galway side devoid of their captain and travelled to Salthill brimming with Connacht final experience and full of confidence having turned over the Tribesmen at the same venue two seasons prior. As it transpired, an inspirational second-half …

It was a day for numbers in Laois as they beat Dublin for the first time in 14 years to qualify for their first All Ireland quarter-final since 1979.  Dublin were the strong favourites heading into the clash following their win over Galway in their final game of the Leinster round-robin series. However, it was the Joe McDonagh champions who …

As tough as it can be to utter out loud, there’s no denying that Alex Morgan was completely correct. With the United States’ deserved semi-final victory belonging to the past, and most eyes turning to yesterday’s World Cup decider, there were still those that wouldn’t let it go. Some English players claimed upset around her tea-sipping celebration (and that moment …

The League of Ireland Premier Division is full of talented players, and we have set out to rank the top 25. Judging them on several metrics – from potential to pedigree, a player’s importance to their team and their ability to produce when required, as well as if they’re worth the admission alone  – we have ranked the players competing …

There’s a scattering of straws… Tyrone’s reversion to 15-behind-the-ball counter-attacking football might suddenly be good enough when it was nowhere near good enough a year ago. Kerry’s youth might grow up in a flash when in 2018 they were too green to make even the last four and today are more at Cork’s level. Thus there’s clutching… Donegal winning one …

Deep down we all knew once the Leinster SFC got underway and Diarmuid Connolly wasn’t in the Dublin panel that the likelihood of him making a grandiose return was slim to none. Despite Jim Gavin’s repeated sentiment that the Dublin camp has a year-round open door policy, once Rory O’Carroll returned on the eve of Championship and Connolly didn’t, the …

The Gaelic football provincial series came to a less than dramatic conclusion on Sunday as Dublin collected their ninth Leinster SFC title in a row following a facile 16-point win over Meath. The game followed a less than spectacular finish to a rip-roaring Ulster campaign as Donegal swatted aside the Cavan challenge in Clones to lift their fifth provincial championship …

The provincial series has ended for another year and with that, it’s time to reflect on what was a strange provincial season overall. As expected, Kerry and Dublin picked up their seventh and ninth provincial crowns in a row. Dublin’s was as challenging (not very) as ever while Cork left us all with a huge smile on our faces Saturday …

Leinster champions for the ninth time in a row, Dublin were made to work hard in the opening 35 minutes of Sunday’s final before hardly working in the second 35 as the Meath challenge wilted to the point that it became sad to watch. It was the outcome we all expected but didn’t want as Dublin turned the screw in …

Donegal are Ulster SFC champions for the fifth time this decade after a convincing 1-24 to 2-16 victory over Cavan on Sunday. While five-points doesn’t seem like much, in truth, Conor Madden’s late goal put a bit of a gloss on the scoreline because Donegal never looked in trouble or like they were going to lose. That is not meant …