Sport

I have written a lot of stuff recently, having discovered many old drafts that I had scribbled over the years but not finished. Allow me therefore to write about my favourite subject – hurling. For non-Irish people, this is one of Ireland’s national games, an ancient sport which goes back over 5,000 years. It is played with a ball and a hurley stick and you can score goals and points. It is without question the fastest and arguably the most skillful field sport in the world.

I wrote a piece back in 2013 the day after the All Ireland Hurling Final replay. I called it ‘what Con might have said.’ It was the first All Ireland since his sad demise. The match had been an epic and I remembered Con saying many a time that when he watched a really great game or sporting event, although he would have thoroughly enjoyed it, he was often seized with a sense of panic thinking that he wouldn’t have the words to do justice to what had been a great occasion. He

I have never written about rugby before apart from a brief piece about watching the final day of a six-nations championship. I figure I don’t know enough about the technical aspects of the game to be able to give a qualified opinion. That has never stopped many a correspondent before me but just to be fair to everyone involved, I will stick with some comments about how the game is structured, particularly from an Irish viewpoint. Let’s be straight up and honest here; I’m Iris

Old Trafford - United's iconic stadium. The first thing to say about this article is that if you are not a Manchester United fan, you may find it tedious. But bear with me; it outlines what has happened to the football club and why; there are parallels in many other walks of life and certainly in business and sporting empires. Now the reason I’m writing this article is because people have asked me, ‘what’s wrong with Man Utd?’ ‘How can a club with such a huge following and wi

The lost five-in-a-row: I was walking in west cork recently, in a remote part of the beautiful Beara peninsula. It was a magnificent day, one of those that if we had enough of them, you’d never want to leave the country. As I crested the top of a very stern hill, I met a man who had just climbed it from the other side and both of us looked like we needed a rest. The chat came easily, initially covering the beautiful weather, the gorgeous countryside etc. but before long count

Con, in pensive mode. What Con might have said:’ (this was written following the dramatic replayed All Ireland Hurling Final replay in 2013. Con Houlihan, my favourite sports writer, an immensely popular figure, had passed away a year before. The drawn game was magnificent and the replay was an epic. There is no doubt that Con would have been enthralled by the game and would have loved to have written about it. I tried to imagine what he would have said...) I don’t know if Da

Micheal in position in Thurles before a Munster Final. When you consider the icons of the GAA, the names that immediately come to mind would be Christy Ring, Mick Mackey, Eddie Keher, John Doyle, DJ Carey and Henry Shefflin in hurling; Mick O’Connell, Mick O’Dwyer, Kevin Heffernan and Sean Purcell in football. There are also many more modern-day great players who will in time take their place in the pantheon. But did any of them do as much as Micheal O’Muirecheartaigh to publ

Much of my writings recently are random and varied. This is because they stem from past experiences recounted to friends, who immediately said, ‘you should write that down.’ So here goes: It was the 21 st of March 2015. Ireland were going reasonably well in the six nations rugby championship. We had won the previous year’s championship on points difference. In 2015, we weren’t setting the world on fire or anything like that but due to a combination of teams beating each othe