Skorts-gate finally over as sanity prevails
it only took the Camogie Association a little under half an hour to make history at Croke Park
on Thursday night,' writes Gordon Manning, 98 per cent of the Special Congress delegates backing a motion allowing players the choice of wearing shorts or skorts. Gordon's mission, should he choose to accept it, is to track down the two per cent and ask 'what were ye thinking?'
Joe Canning is wondering
what the Cork hurlers were thinking when they played Limerick last weekend
. Were they playing 'a long game', keeping their powder dry until they, possibly, meet Limerick again in the championship? If so, 'that is a risky business,' says Joe, 'if they don't beat Waterford at home on Sunday their season is over'.
Mathew Costello is
hoping there's plenty left in Meath's season yet
, Gordon talking to the forward ahead of the start of his county's round-robin campaign at home to Cork in Navan on Saturday.
In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey hears Colin Healy stand by his charge that the FAI's outgoing chief football officer Marc Canham and its chief executive David Courell
lied about the nature of his departure from his role as assistant coach
to the Republic of Ireland women's team.
READ MORE
Gavin also talked with
new Shelbourne CEO Tomás 'Mossy' Quinn
, the Dublin All-Ireland winner who, having switched football codes, is now trying to guide the club through the challenges ahead, among them ensuring Tolka Park meets Champions League standards.
In rugby, former Irish captain Ciarán Fitzgerald tells Gerry Thornley about
the 'Spirit of Garbally' campaign
, the aim to ensure that the name of his famous alma mater is incorporated in to the title of the new amalgamated Ballinasloe schools, Ardscoil Mhuire and St Joseph's College, Garbally Park. For now, it is to be known as Clonfert College.
Gerry also has news that
Leinster plan on hosting this season's URC final at Croke Park
... if – and it's a big one – they actually reach the final. First they have to negotiate a passage past Scarlets in the quarter-finals and, if successful, whoever they might meet in the last four.
Johnny Watterson, meanwhile, brings us the grim tale of the 'Enhanced Games',
a sporting freak show with a cast of drugged-up athletes
, which are scheduled to take place in Las Vegas next year. 'A poorly designed drug trial with no ethical oversight, it will,' he writes, 'be a ripping success if the athletes do better than Barnum's belugas and some don't die.'
Shane Stokes has
the latest from the Rás Tailteann
, Cycling Ulster's Odhrán Doogan slipping in to the yellow jersey on Thursday, while Brian O'Connor retraces
the story of the redevelopment of the Curragh
. 'It is a modern facility, which, by most measures, is lovely to look at. It is also, by most measures, predominantly unloved.'
TV Watch
: Following Wednesday's 124-run victory, Ireland play the West Indies in the second of their three-match one day international series in Clontarf (TNT Sports 1 from 10.30am). Kerry and Cork meet in this evening's Munster minor football final (TG4, 7.30) and St Patrick's Athletic host Waterford in the Premier Division (Virgin Media Two, 7.45).
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Irish Times
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- Irish Times
Live Conference League qualifiers updates: Shamrock Rovers and St Pat's in European action
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Irish Times
8 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Long Day's Journey Into Night – Frank McNally on a heady month for Monaghan GAA supporters, 40 years ago
As a long-suffering Monaghan GAA supporter, I can only dream of experiencing the levels of pain endured by Mayo Gaels during my lifetime as they reach All-Ireland final after final, only always to lose. Like most living Monaghan fans, I have never seen our (men's) senior team on the ultimate stage. They reached that only once in GAA history, and it's so long ago now that the game, a somewhat violent affair, was dubbed 'the last battle of the Civil War'. It was 1930 and our opponents Kerry were going for four-in-a-row. Their team included prominent anti-Treaty republicans, who had still been on the run (excellent training for football, it turned out) a few years earlier. Monaghan, by contrast, were seen as a pro-Treaty side, thanks to Eoin O'Duffy, the Garda commissioner who was also a fine GAA administrator before his late and unfortunate flirtation with fascism. READ MORE The game was a massacre, on and off the pitch. Kerry won by 3-11 to 0-2 (an embarrassing scoreline only bettered by the second half of last month's hurling decider ). My namesake and anti-Treaty grandfather may have been among the Monaghan supporters scarred for life. Since that dark day, we have never reached another All-Ireland senior decider. But the nearest we've been to experience such heights was a dizzy fortnight 40 years ago, in the two-part semi-final saga of August 1985. [ Hot Wheels - Frank McNally on the mystery of why anyone would steal a Dublin Bike Opens in new window ] That was against Kerry too, but this time, having had 55 years to plot revenge, our lads sprang an ambush. Defending with (almost) controlled savagery, we held the Munster aristocrats to two scores in the first half: one of those a lucky goal from a rebound off the upright. Then of course Kerry regrouped and seemed to have done just enough in the second half to win before a famous late, long-distance equaliser by Eamonn McEneaney. His free was only 51 metres out in 1985. The distance has grown with every year since, however, and is currently estimated to have been nearer 70. Our performance wasn't a complete surprise. The team were reigning league champions that summer – a first national title – and although the cliché was newer then, they had been 'punching above their weight' for a while. Speaking of punches, the county was also emerging as a global sporting superpower thanks to Barry McGuigan, who had won a world featherweight boxing title two months earlier and brought Dublin to a standstill with his homecoming. So to be a young Monaghan exile in the city then was to walk with a swagger, and to expect victory in all things, or pretend to anyway. On the other hand, I'll always remember a headline in the Evening Press before the first game. 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I was still there at 1am, by which time people who had walked by me earlier on the way to a dance were again walking by me on the way back. Eventually I was offered asylum in a house full of young lads who were still playing cards and drinking beer at 4am when sleep overcame me. I finally reached the Shannon next morning. In the meantime, probably the closest I've ever been to experiencing the plight of Mayo fans was that long, dark night of the soul in Mullingar.
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Former Ireland and Man Utd great spotted in Galway pub as Italia ‘90 icon poses with staff
The former Manchester United and Dublin GAA star was visiting Connemara on Monday evening and stopped into Lowry's Bar to mingle with locals and soak in the pub's warm atmosphere. The 71-cap Irish international and two-time All-Ireland winner posed with staff in the popular establishment, including the bar's owner Damien Ryan. 'We had the honour of welcoming Kevin Moran – former Ireland international and former Manchester United football legend – to Lowrys Bar last night!' the bar said on social media. 'From the pitch to the pub, Kevin still knows how to light up a room. Thanks for stopping by Kevin — you made our night!' Moran (69) grew up in Rialto, Dublin and divided his youth between playing Gaelic games and soccer. In the early stages of his career, he divided his time between playing Gaelic football for Good Counsel in South Dublin and soccer for Bohemians. A short stint at Dalymount followed with limited first-team appearances before he departed to play Gaelic football for Dublin, winning four Leinster titles and two All-Ireland medals for Dublin – including an All-Star medal in 1976. A move to Manchester United followed in 1978 after impressive stints with UCD, Pegasus and later Bohemians. After moving to Old Trafford, Moran infamously returned home to Dublin to take part in the 1978 Leinster Final, which Dublin lost to Kildare and resulted in him tearing his hamstring. The left-footed defender went on to make 277 competitive appearances across 10 seasons at Old Trafford, winning two FA Cups and famously receiving a red card in the 1985 final against Everton – becoming the first-ever player to do so. Moran made 71 appearances for the Republic of Ireland between 1980 and 1994, played every game at Euro '88 and Italia '90 and was named FAI Player of the Year in 1989. His post-United career took him to Sporting Gijón in Spain, followed by a four-year stint at Blackburn Rovers, where he served as club captain and, unfortunately, retired the season before their famous Premier League win in the 1994-95 season. Since retirement, Moran has been inducted into the FAI Hall of Fame and was the subject of a biographical RTÉ documentary titled Codebreaker in 2023.
