Tag Archives: all-ireland foootball

Colm Cooper’s retirement from inter-county football earlier this month had most in the GAA community acknowledging the positive aspects of one of the greats of the game. However, Joe Brolly, speaking on the Sunday Game two weeks ago, while mentioning how talented Cooper was did have some criticisms of the former Kerry forward. “My point about him as always been …

The inter-county retirement of Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper at the age of 33 might not have come as a shock to most, but the outpouring of support since has nonetheless been widespread.  The Gooch won nine Munster titles, five All-Irelands, four National Football Leagues, eight All Stars and is Kerry’s record scorer in championship competition having amassed a stunning 23-283 over a …

Tipperary take on Mayo in their first All-Ireland Football Championship semi-final since 1935 this Sunday in Croke Park at 3:30pm.  Mayo come into the game as strong favourites as they continue their chase for All-Ireland success, which has eluded them since 1951. Tipperary haven’t reached the final stage since 1920 – the year the Premier county last won an All-Ireland …

“Fortune favours the brave.” That’s RTÉ’s tagline for this Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final between Mayo and Tipperary. Few would, or could, have predicted at the start of the year that this encounter would take place, as Mayo, perennial favourites, take on Tipperary – a team that has not contested a semi-final since 1935. Yet here the men from the Premier find …

The four remaining qualifiers were paired up with the beaten provincial finalists in this morning’s draw for Round 4A and 4B of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Roscommon, Donegal, Tipperary and Westmeath all drop down to the qualifiers having been defeated in their respective finals, with Cork, Mayo, Clare and Derry all coming through their 3A and 3B qualifiers with …

A sweeper covering touchline to touchline in front of a disciplined, dogged and durable back row. A high-energy, swarming defence, featuring a half-back line that break with pace, incision and ruthless precision. An inside forward line that blends power, pace and deft skill seamlessly. That was Donegal in 2012. This is Tyrone in 2016. It’s taken him five years, but …

The last weekend of June was supposed to be a momentous weekend for Irish sport. Ireland were going to clinch their first ever win over the Springboks and win the Junior World Cup in the rugby, they were going to eliminate host nation France at Euro 2016 in the football, and Meath were going to give it to Dublin in Croke Park and deny Jim Gavin’s …

For any other team in the country, the news that a player of Paddy Andrews’ caliber is to be ruled out of their upcoming Championship opener this Saturday would be worrying. Not for Dublin. The All-Ireland champions don’t have that crippling lack of depth, that dependence on a mere one star man or the insecurities that come with both of …

There was a ninety minute edition of League Sunday last weekend, where GAA supporters had another opportunity to see their county’s performance in the fourth round of the National Hurling League and the fifth round of the National Football League; if your county happens to be involved in the top divisions that is. Once again, we were treated to extended highlights of games shown …

Five years ago, Offaly star Niall McNamee was at the height of his inter-county career. He had been playing for Offaly since the mid-2000s and had solidified himself as one of the top forwards in the county. But at the back of all this lay a dark addiction that took hold of his life – something that he hadn’t spoke out …

As the All-Ireland final approaches again it is time to take a look at the state of Gaelic football in the year its imminent demise was forecast with a proposal which could reinvigorate a moribund and torpid championship. Anyone who has read either of the excellent “Inverting the Pyramid” by Johnathan Wilson or “The Managers: the Tactics and Thinkers that …