By Michael McMullan I VISITED my parents a few years ago on a Sunday night after covering a bumper weekend of Derry club championship action. It was the beginning of the second coming of group stages. It was a case of wall-to-wall games with next to no jeopardy. We started to dissect the games; it […]
By Michael McMullan THE race for the Sam Maguire will heat up another level this weekend after Monday morning’s draw for Round 3 of the All-Ireland SFC. Reigning champions Kerry will host Armagh. Donegal were last year’s beaten finalists and they’ll travel to Dublin It follows another dramatic weekend that saw Louth snatch victory with […]
THE draw for Rounds 2A and 2B of the All-Ireland SFC took place this morning. Ulster champions Armagh have been drawn against Louth away. Donegal will welcome Cork with All-Ireland champions Kerry facing a trip to Newbridge. Derry and Meath will face off in a repeat of the Royals’ win earlier in the season. Advertisement […]
THE race for the Sam Maguire will be based on a backdoor format this year, with pairings based on where counties have progressed in both their provincial competitions and their league placing. Any county reaching a provincial final will be in pot on for the draw and guaranteed a home draw. The full breakdown of […]
WHO can win the All-Ireland? Not Derry. We just solo run and handpass. The boys are still Rory Gallagher’s team still playing the old rules. Ciarán Meenagh, our third Tyrone manager in a row, was Rory’s assistant and is therefore acceptable to the group in a way that Mickey Harte and Paddy Tally never were. […]
By Shaun Casey THERE were so many turning points to Tyrone’s heroic 2025 season. Too many to count. Replays, wrongful red cards, last-minute winners, melees, match ups. The career-defining Armagh trilogy. The ten-game run to Sam. So many stories. But a meeting inside the dressing room after a league semi-final loss to Wexford jumps out […]
Armagh footballer Ciaron O’Hanlon explains why he has decided the time is right to hang up the boots. Shaun Casey writes… FROM making his first Armagh senior appearance as an 18-year-old schoolboy in the opening round of the Ulster Championship, being told he’d never kick a ball again to having Sam Maguire at his wedding, […]
County teams have a McKenna Cup campaign to feel their way into 2026. Michael McMullan ponders over the Ulster teams’ targets. ANTRIM NEW manager Mark Doran will have one clear focus and that is to get the Saffrons back out of Division Four after last year’s relegation. He has experience of inter-county backroom teams and […]
FORMER county star Damian Diver hopes that the Donegal senior footballers can overcome Sunday’s disappointment and stick together in order to try and go one further in the 2026 campaign. Jim McGuinness’s Donegal were on the receiving end of a ten-point defeat to Kerry in Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final at Croke Park. It was a disappointing […]
By Michael McMullan WHEN Gavin White swept onto the scraps of Sunday’s All-Ireland final throw-in, Jack O’Connor’s message would’ve been fresh in the mind. The finishing touches to the Kingdom’s 39th All-Ireland title was about playing on their terms. Not Donegal’s. Before they got on the bus for Croke Park, O’Connor laid out a message that […]
