I WAS certain, deep in my bones, that Limerick hurlers would beat Cork in the hurling. Certain in the same way that a man is when he knows he is in love. A profound, inexplicable certainty. I have a kitty with David O’Malley. He is the horsey expert. I take care of the GAA side […]
THEY opened the Knockmore social club for me for the Dublin Galway game. By quarter to five I was settled in front of GAA+ on the huge television with a pint of Guinness and a feeling that life does not get any better. If I ever win the Euromillions I’ll buy the club and hire […]
THE Dublin wall has fallen. At the final whistle in the Leinster semi-final, people wept. They ran onto the field to grab a blade of grass or a handful of clay. An hour after the final whistle they were still standing on the field, in shock. For the last decade, on the Trinity Old Boys’ […]
I ASKED RTÉ before one of the Mayo All-Ireland finals if they would open the show with Beck’s song, “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me.” They refused. “Why?” I asked. “Because it’s not polite.” It might not have been polite but it is true. As they demonstrated again on Sunday for […]
‘Maradona has the ball, two are marking him. He touches the ball. He passes them both. Maradona, the genius of world football. He dashes to the right. He leaves the third defender behind him. He’s going to pass to Burruchaga. No he doesn’t. He passes the fourth defender. It’s still Maradona. Genius, genius, genius, he’s […]
IN 2000, the sportswriter Eamonn Sweeney was at the top of his game. A successful novelist and sports journalist, he was a regular on TV shows, a drinker, a socialiser, an intellectual and a 32 year old man in a loving relationship. In his new book ‘The Last Ditch”, his first in 20 years, he […]
AFTER the Ulster final last year, Jimmy McGuinness stood on an articulated trailer in the centre of Donegal town and told the throngs, “There is only one thing left for us to win, and we are going to go after that with everything we have.” Since then, a panel of players that looked very ordinary […]
AFTER the Ulster final last year, Jimmy McGuinness stood on an articulated trailer in the centre of Donegal town and told the throngs,”There is only one thing left for us to win, and we are going to go after that with everything we have.” Since then, a panel of players that looked very ordinary before […]
LIKE the Little Red Hen, Jimmy doesn’t need any help. But unlike the Little Red Hen, he doesn’t ask for it. I watched them training once in 2011, shortly before their All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin and was amazed that, apart from the goalies, he took the entire session himself. The drills, the running, the talks […]
THERE used to be a county court judge in the North who did not like hearing complicated cases, a sensible man who liked to get home early in the day. Once, I had an equity civil bill in front of him, neighbours fighting over a ten foot square of land at the bottom of their […]
