Latest news with #Doyle
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
New Ross historical society to welcome distinguished guest for next lecture
On Thursday, July 24 at 8 p.m., the lecture will highlight those who emigrated from County Wexford and helped build Savannah in 19th Century. Kehoe, Rossiter, Doyle, Corish, Furlong and many more household names who are descendants of Wexford families are acknowledged as emigrants to that area and New Ross, Ireland's furthest inland port in Ireland was the centre of emigration, before and after the famine. Wealthy ship owning families like the Howlett, Graves, Doyle, and Galavan families traded from New Ross, which further links the historical town with various places all over the world. Dr. Howard J. Keeley PhD. is Assistant Professor and Director of the Irish Research and Teaching at Georgia Southern University in USA and Director of the Wexford Campus Initiative in Wexford, who is also well known for his vast research into emigration from the southeast of Ireland over the last two centuries, is due to appear at the lecture and give an insight into the topic while on his trip to Ireland. The society described the upcoming event as 'an illustrated lecture not to be missed'.
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
From 9th Dan to super Nan: Loretta Doyle on a half-century in judo
Doyle's is a life well and fully lived. A former world, Commonwealth and European judo champion, her passion for the sport remains undiminished as she dons more hats than Taylor Swift during a three-hour concert. Doyle is rarely home as she navigates the globe in one of her many guises; coach, TV commentator, sporting director, federation representative or some other role. She also runs her own judo foundation, providing a gateway into the sport for the underprivileged, and next year will serve as the judo technical delegate at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She also recently became the first British woman to be awarded her 9th Dan, deserved recognition for a lifetime dedicated to the sport. It's exhausting just talking to her but, mercifully, Loretta seems to be made of stronger stuff than the rest of us. 'The work's great – it's the best job you could have,' she confirms. 'The travelling is hard. That's the bit I don't like. And it's not like I'm in business class. I'm slumming it like everyone else! 'But I like the variety of the work I do. I've been involved in judo now for 52 years. And as you get older, your experiences change and you reinvent yourself. And you find yourself working with people you used to compete on the same platform with in judo. They're now directors in their own right within the sport and so we grow old gracefully together. Or disgracefully maybe! 'I have a real passion for events management. It's probably the hardest job because it's long hours and there's a lot of pressure. But I love pressure work. I love being able to think on your feet, problem solving and things like this. 'And there have been some real teary moments where you've thought, 'Am I ever going to get any sleep? Are my feet ever going to stop aching from all the walking?' But it's that final accomplishment that you get at the end and can say, 'we did it!'. That's always really satisfying.' Motivation is never in short supply. 'It comes from a passion for judo because I love the sport. But it's the passion for meeting people as well. You meet all walks of life. When I look at my phone book and I think, 'goodness me, how many people do I actually know?' 'I'm terrible as you get older for names and things like that. But I'll never forget a face and that social aspect is really nice and rewarding as well. 'And it's also about upholding the values of our sport. It's what started me off in my journey right from a very young age.' The Loretta Doyle Judo Foundation, established in 2019, is a key part of that progression, working with a number of different groups to give them a leg up into competitive sport. 'It does so much in enhancing people's lives and creating a bigger judo family,' she explains. 'Hence the reason of starting that up and working with those disadvantaged backgrounds, which could be anything from poverty to mental challenges, physical challenges, and just environmental challenges that they have, such as refugees. 'We've got about 10 projects running at this moment. And through support from the charity those involved don't pay anything. They get judo suits and free membership for Judo Scotland. That gets them integrated into the judo family, gives them some positivity in their lives. And hopefully then we can support them into a community-based club that will then continue their journey onto hopefully bigger and better things.' The chance to serve at another home Commonwealth Games – after competing in Edinburgh in 1986 when it was a demonstration sport and then winning the country's first ever judo gold in 1990 – is another thing she's already excited about after her recent appointment as technical delegate. 'Well, as you can tell by the accent, I was brought up and schooled in London by Irish parents but I've lived in Scotland now for as long as I lived in England. And both my children are Scottish. 'So, I was proud to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. And then in 2014 we had the Glasgow Games and that was an amazing atmosphere. It just gave you those tingly moments because of how passionate people were about sport and how supportive they were for the athletes. 'So, when we heard that we were having the Commonwealth Games again here, well, I was absolutely delighted. And to have a role within that is a real honour.' The recent 9th Dan award – in Paris, the city where she became world champion in 1982 – was testimony both to her longevity in the sport but also her role as a pioneer. 'To be recognised alongside the highest-graded women in the world is unbelievable because it says we're getting to that point that women are now becoming very strong within the sport and they're staying in it for longer. Hopefully, this will inspire more women to keep going and to get these awards because they're definitely worthy of it in a very male-dominant and physical sport.' And does she ever switch off and relax? Apparently so, by pottering around the garden at her Seamill home, taking on DIY projects or spending time with grandsons, Cillian and Eben. But, even then, there's a sporting angle. 'Eben is coming up for four and has already started judo. He comes to classes that I teach and demonstrates the ukemi because his nana is a little bit stiff at the moment. 'So I get my grandson to demonstrate how to do his little roly polies and the kids are amazed. He's a good role model.' It clearly runs in the family.
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
The Tipperary club corner-forward on track for a hurling All-Star at corner-back
A week before the beginning of his debut season with Tipperary, Robert Doyle lined out at left half-forward on the TUS Midwest side that drew their Fitzgibbon Cup opener. Barring a difficult final Sunday, this debut inter-county season will conclude with All-Star corner-back selection. In last summer's local Tipp championship, Doyle lined out at corner-forward for Clonoulty-Rossmore, even further up the field again than he was for TUS Midwest in subsequent months. In their final group outing, and needing a result against Templederry Kenyons to avoid the relegation play-offs, Doyle struck 2-1 to top-score from play and steer Clonoulty clear of any trapdoor argument. But despite a club campaign that included three goals in three outings, the Tipp management didn't want him breaking lines and pilfering flags, they wanted him putting the brakes on the game's most revered forwards. Management's first job, mind, was to get him on board. Full-back for the Tipp U20s in 2023, Doyle had turned down the 2024 invitation to graduate straight into the senior set-up. 'Somebody asked me after the All-Ireland semi-final did we have a bit of a job to get him to come in, as if he wanted to be guaranteed a spot! Twas anything but that,' Tipp selector Declan Laffan clarified at the county's All-Ireland final press day. 'I won't say he needed a little bit of poking to get him on board this year. I'd be telling lies to say he didn't. It was whatever he wanted to do in his own life at the time and obviously we had spoken to him the year before, but he's in now and he's hugely important to the group and he's really delivering.' Laffan reckons Doyle's versatility may have come against him at times in the recent past. Case in point was his complete lack of defensive selection and defensive exposure between the conclusion of his Tipp U20 career in April 2023 and his senior debut 20 months later. 'With Robert, we always viewed him as a defender, and obviously when you're involved in this end of things, you're watching everything, inter-county, minor, U20, whatever's on, you're aware of it.' His debut was his half-time introduction, replacing corner-back Michael Corcoran, in the facile opening round League win over Galway. Tipperary have played 13 games since. The 22-year-old debutant has started all 13. And outside of his half-time withdrawal in the non-event that was their All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final against Laois, he's finished the other 12. Tipperary's Robert Doyle in action against Eoin Cody of Kilkenny in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie If minutes clocked aren't enough of an indicator of the esteem management hold him in, look at the jobs he's been detailed on the run to the decider. On the Saturday evening in Ennis when winless Tipperary's championship involvement hung by a thread, the brief of the debutant was to shadow and stifle the 2024 All-Ireland final man of the match. No biggie, sure. Tony Kelly had seven first-half possessions and involvement in 1-2. Doyle, though, had four possessions, including the assist for Tipperary's third goal and secondary assist for their fourth. The first half, so, to the blue corner. And while Kelly had two second-half assists, won a converted free, and won a penalty he converted himself, Liam Sheedy would remark on the Irish Examiner's Dalo's Hurling Show that the Tipp No.2 'more or less' put Kelly 'to sleep'. A week later he issued a stronger anesthetic to Dessie Hutchinson. The Waterford captain managed one point in total. It was also the only shot at the target he managed off Doyle. Hutchinson went into the game boasting a 3-16 tally against Tipp across the four previous summer clashes. Doyle limited the corner-forward to one white flag and three possessions in the 65 minutes before he was whipped. 'For a young lad who played up front with Clonoulty, what management have done with him is off the charts,' Sheedy added. Kilkenny's Eoin Cody was another to receive short shrift last time out. Of course, Doyle's outstanding piece of semi-final interruption was to block on the goalline John Donnelly's injury-time green flag attempt. Tomorrow, he'll renew acquaintances with Alan Connolly. They've already danced this year. Connolly thrives in the company of the blue and gold. Five goals during the last three times he's shared a field with the Premier. Doyle wasn't present for the May afternoon last year when the Rockies kid raided Thurles for a championship hat-trick. He was instead preparing for a club championship where he intended to do similar. On Sunday, his latest job is to render ineffective a returned-to-form Connolly. 'He's a real quiet chap, he's not a guy that'll stick out within the group. I won't say you'll have to go looking for him but you're not going to hear him shouting around the place,' Laffan continued. 'He quietly goes about his business and look, he's a superb player and has done a huge job for us this year. We are really seeing now the true value of what he is capable of.'
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Long-awaited Cork-Tipperary final stirs old memories – and offers underdogs a chance
The team I played with in the 1980s and '90s were all reared on the lore of Cork and Tipp hurling from back in the 1950s and '60s and the exploits of Ring and Doyle. I've been through it as a kid, watching for the first time in 1972, to my championship debut a decade later and even as manager in 2000. For me, there's a magic to the fixture and I've always hoped to see it in Croke Park in an All-Ireland final. We got to see a semi-final between them in 2014, but it didn't live up to those hopes and Tipp steamrolled to an easy win. To watch it finally take place with Cork and Tipp parading before an All-Ireland final will be special. I say that with no disrespect to any other counties, but more because this has been a constant throughout my life and watching it on the biggest stage will mean a lot to me, my generation and many others. Traditionally, the matches have been played in a very good spirit, considering there has always been an unforgiving aspect to them. They start and you get stuck in but if it starts to pass you by, nobody's going to wait. Frequently, they have been high scoring and often close but typically exciting, which I am also hoping for this weekend. READ MORE The balance between the teams should favour Cork. They are waiting 20 years now for an All-Ireland and have lost four finals in that time. Tipperary have won three titles since Cork's last – something that hasn't happened since the 1960s. My career 'take' on the rivalry is that anything can happen in this fixture and any individual match can take on a life of its own. That wasn't so much the case at the very beginning. In 1982, they had a good few of their three-in-a-row team still playing and Jimmy Barry-Murphy was captain. We were built on a strong group of under-21s, a similarity with this weekend. [ Joe Canning: Tipperary need a performance for the ages to have any chance of stopping Cork juggernaut Opens in new window ] It took a while, five years, to get any traction, though. A dissimilarity with the current Tipp team is that they have a number of All-Ireland medallists. In our day, Theo English and Donie Nealon always said from their experience in the 1950s and '60s that it's easier to win an All-Ireland when you have someone within the set-up who has already got over the line. For us it was 1971 and counting since the last silverware and there was nobody still around with a Munster, let alone an All-Ireland, medal at that stage. Cork's Denis Walsh and Tipperary's Nicky English during the 1990 Munster hurling final, in Thurles. Photograph: James Meehan/Inpho Well beaten in '82, we came close in '84 even though we had no form whatsoever and were constantly playing in Division 2. For all intents and purposes, we had that game won before spilling late scores – that would have been some centenary year for us. It was back to losing comprehensively in 1985 when JBM was outstanding in the final. Our time came eventually in 1987 but even then there were two hard years, losing to Galway before we regained the All-Ireland in '89. A year later in the Munster final, Cork were 4/1 outsiders and inevitably, they won. Twelve months later, they were All-Ireland champions and nine up in the replay with 50 minutes gone. I was out with a torn hamstring. We won. Anything could – and does – happen in this fixture. Despite the weight of expectation, I still believe that's true of Sunday as well. Cork have played Tipperary twice already in the League final and the Munster championship in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. They've won by 15 and 10, with an asterisk over the second one because Tipp were down to 14 men from the start after Darragh McCarthy's red card. [ Red card for Tipperary's Darragh McCarthy was justified but it broke an unwritten rule Opens in new window ] Tipperary's Noel McGrath concoles Darragh McCarthy after he was red-carded at the start of the game at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in April. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho It should be an open and shut case, really. They haven't had any problem with Tipperary in 2024 or 2025 in big matches. Why should they have one now in Croke Park? All the more so because they lost last year's All-Ireland after extra time. There may be plenty of confidence in Cork but I doubt that there's as many assumptions around this year as there was before the Clare final. With Séamus Harnedy and Cormac O'Brien back, they have a very strong bench, experienced management and on the basis of all that, they are justifiably strong favourites. [ All-Ireland hurling final: Cork v Tipperary by the numbers Opens in new window ] Tipp's vulnerability in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh matches was largely down to Cork's pace and running game. In Ennis, Clare showed up that as well in the second half when they got Shane O'Donnell, Mark Rodgers and Ryan Taylor motoring but not for the last time, Tipp showed plenty of resilience to finish well. Liam Cahill has made changes as well, which have improved the team since the last matches with Cork. Rhys Shelly's puckouts have greater range. Ronan Maher has become a man marker rather than a centre back, taking care of TJ Reid and Peter Duggan. Brian Hayes looks his likely dance partner. Tipperary's Eoghan Connolly has shone at wing back. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Eoghan Connolly, who suffered at full back when marking Alan Connolly, has switched to wing back where his aerial strength and ability to strike from distance, has been put to good use. John McGrath and Jason Forde have come into form and their goal scoring has been impressive – as Kilkenny found out. Andrew Ormond has been a great addition and he and Jake Morris and many others have experience playing a lot of these Cork players at under-age and winning in All-Ireland finals. Tipperary though really need to shut down the middle of the field where Cork ruthlessly exploited space in both of the other matches. They needed to drop Darragh McCarthy and Sam O'Farrell back a bit in the championship but down to 14, that wasn't possible. That would help resist the early onslaught that's likely to come. Tim O'Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Barrett and Diarmuid Healy with Connolly and Hayes in the full forward line, all have done damage. Cork's Shane Barrett is chased by Dublin's Conor McHugh in the Senior Hurling Championship semi-final, Croke Park, in July. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho Tipperary can't afford to have all those players having good days on Sunday. It just can't happen because their best chance lies in getting to the last quarter within touching distance where their ability to finish out hard is well proven. So, they have to shut it down through a combination of closing the space around the Cork half-back line and midfield by competing hard there and also having more success in the individual man-to-man battles against those players, which is easier said than done, although Cahill has configured things better since April. Above all, they need to unsettle Cork and not allow them into a rhythm with the distinct possibility of those explosive goalscoring episodes. They also have a decision to make. Do they go one-on-one for the Cork puckouts, or do they concede them? If you do, you're closing up around the middle of the field and if you don't, they can then work it up the field. Tipperary are dangerous opponents for Cork, particularly as underdogs and all the more so now that they have the crowd back engaged. Based on the traditions of the fixture, they definitely have a chance but Cork are at a more advanced stage. They have been here more often in recent years and carry the bitter disappointment of getting hammered by Limerick in '21 and just not getting over the line against Clare. I know that feeling from 1988 and the following year, nothing was going to stop us. I believe the evidence is there that the same applies to Cork.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why isn't there a single social media-savvy MP in Parliament?
Chandler-Mather is in some ways a poor messenger, given his loss, but he insists there are longer-term risks from politicians' lack of engagement with voters on social media platforms. 'Australia's going down the pathway of this sort of slow disengagement,' says Chandler-Mather. 'Like, the number of people disengaging from politics increases every year. The number of people who feel sort of distrustful of politics increases every year.' Tim Doyle, a marketing savant who has done contract work for Labor in the past and now leads telehealth company Eucalyptus, says Australian political parties are behind much of the Western world. 'They also only fire up the engine, which needs to be always on, about six weeks before an election,' Doyle says. Where an American politician like Mamdani might throw himself into the ocean fully clothed in midwinter as he declares 'I'm freezing… your rent', Australian MPs play it safe, Doyle says. 'Politicians are terrified of being vulnerable and that's the essential thing for social media,' he says. 'They have no idea what engagement matters. They preach to their true believers, who like and share their content, but that does nothing to convince the undecided voters they need.' Good social posts, he says, 'should make your true believers a little bit uncomfortable.' Only a handful of politicians tiptoe into the stunts and trends that might distinguish them online from the parade of slick brand videos and AI-generated slop. Dan Repacholi, the MP for the Hunter in NSW, has, for example, posted videos with fake wounds to promote safety in the mining industry and tells men to 'watch your nuts' as part of his role as a men's health envoy. One Nation's Please Explain cartoon has flourished online, but is between seasons. And Keith Wolahan, a Liberal MP who did extensive social media directed at Chinese-Australian voters, lost his Melbourne seat at the election. Loading But most MPs have only a few thousand followers, far fewer than niche hobby influencers, and fill their feed with screenshots of press releases, clips from television interviews and awkward, unedited speeches about the opening of local facilities. One Labor MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the government has no unified social media strategy outside of elections. 'People just do their own social media,' the MP says. 'After coming to government, I just don't have the time.' Former Labor campaign strategist Megan Lane says Australia's compulsory and preferential voting system means that politicians here can use social media differently than other countries. There is no need to persuade voters to back a candidate in a primary, to bring disengaged people to a booth on polling day, or to tack to extremes because preferential voting tends to bring those ballots back to the parties in the centre. Politics is also less polarised, making it less likely to be picked up by an algorithm online. 'Instead of exciting rusted-on supporters to drive up voter turnout, Australian politicians are essentially focused on persuading punters that they are the least bad option,' Lane says. Mainstream media too still has huge influence. Seven's Sunrise breakfast television program, for example, had a national average audience of 399,000 people as of July 16, according to figures from industry measurement provider Virtual Australia. Morning interviews often draw further reporting from outlets, as do scoops in newspapers, multiplying their audience throughout the day. But another dynamic is staffing. Political staffers on both sides of politics, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said social media was typically the responsibility of the most junior person in an MPs office. Career progression required going into policy development or traditional public relations. 'They all think about traditional media all the time and never social,' Doyle says of politicians, who are in their mid-40s on average when elected, according to data from the Parliamentary Library. Jenrick's approach is different. The MP employs a 21-year-old called Dov Forman to film his videos. Uniquely among political staffers, Forman is a social star in his own right who racked up millions of views filming the stories of his great-grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, during the pandemic. His expertise is evident in his style. Where most Australian MPs talk straight into the camera, Forman's videos for Jenrick are frenetic. His 58-second clip on fare evasion has 33 jump cuts. There is a risk in getting social media wrong, though. 'It's a personal choice,' says the Labor MP. 'How do you get people to focus on your message without turning yourself into a clown?' 'Some people in the crossbench are happy to veer towards silly stuff but if you want to be serious in government I don't think it's worthwhile.' Loading Chandler-Mather, the former Greens MP who developed a huge social media following, disagrees. 'The idea that 'We're a party of government, and so we can't propose anything other than tinker around the edges' is a completely self-serving argument,' Chandler-Mather says. He argues that politicians from the major parties lack the charisma and appealing messages that work online. 'To be honest, the calibre of Australian politician isn't fantastic,' Chandler-Mather concludes. His loss, he says, was a result of major party preferences and being outspent.
