By Declan McCoy I WAS fortunate enough to have been in Croke Park last year to witness one of the best games of football in years when Armagh played Galway in the All-Ireland quarter final. The game was action-packed with quality, drama and, of course, controversy. One incident that I have spoken to a lot […]
KEVIN CASSIDY: The high points of the 2022 football season
AS the curtain closes on 2022 and with Christmas day is on the horizon, I’d like to take a look back at a number of things that I was happy to see during this year’s GAA calendar season. 1 Death of defensive football I think a change has been slowly happening for a number of […]
Feature: Who’ll make team of the year?
IT’S a topic that always prompts lots of debate, and our journalist Niall Gartland has his say on who he thinks should be named on this year’s All-Ireland football team of the season… 1 ETHAN RAFFERTY (ARMAGH) I WAS going to opt for the steady and reliable Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan, but then I thought, […]
JOE BROLLY: The problem with pulling the brakes
WICKLOW hurler Daniel Staunton won man of the match in a club championship game at the weekend. After the game, a bewildered looking Daniel was presented with a bag of new season Wexican Queens potatoes by a beaming Louise Hollingsworth of Kelly’s Fruit and Vegetables, Wicklow Town. He will need a wide mantelpiece. When we […]
All-Ireland referee Sean Hurson proud to represent club and county
By Niall Gartland OFFICIATING an All-Ireland final is an honour bestowed on a very select group of referees, and Galbally native Sean Hurson said he was hugely privileged to get the call up for last Sunday’s showdown between Kerry and Galway. The first man from Tyrone to referee the big day since Paddy Devlin in […]
JOE BROLLY: Galway v Clifford
THE Dublin empire has fallen, replaced by a democracy of flawed challengers. Tyrone came out of the blue to win it last year. When they did, it was so mentally overwhelming for them that they were unable to recover in time to defend their title. They were a ghost team this season, walloped by Derry […]
Antrim’s West Wing
By Michael McMullan GLENAVY’S Chapel Hill is a long way from Croke Park, but there will be an Antrim interest in Sunday’s All-Ireland final with former Saffron star Owen Gallagher in Pádraic Joyce’s Galway squad bidding for a first title since 2001. Gallagher was brought into the Antrim senior panel by Liam Bradley in 2012 […]
IN FOCUS: The Paddy Tally factor
Paddy Tally heads back to All-Ireland final this weekend. Michael McMullan looks at what he has brought to Kerry’s challenge. ONLY Darren McCurry and Cormac Costello have managed to score a goal from play against Kerry this year. The fact both moments could be argued as contenders for goal of the year speaks volumes for […]
KEVIN CASSIDY: O’Connor and Tally deserve credit for Kerry’s transformation
Galway and Kerry face off this Sunday to see who is crowned 2022 All-Ireland senior football champions. At the start of the year not many would have predicted this pairing but both are in the final on merit. Both have gone through somewhat of a rebuild over the last number of years with the new […]
PATRICK MORRISON: Let’s clear things up
By Patrick Morrison SO, after last weekend’s round of games we have our All-Ireland final pairing. Galway versus Kerry in a repeat of the 2000 final, a game the Kingdom prevailed in. Both teams’ semi-final encounters were of a very similar nature with teams setting up in their defensive structures while trying to break down […]