Latest news with #O'Mahoney
The Citizen
23-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Springboks' reign sparks rugby rivalries and frustrations
Rugby powers debate the dominance of the Springboks and the struggle of Irish and other teams to reclaim glory. The Springboks will soon be back in action. Picture: Johan Orton/Gallo Images As the last of the grey-haired, going-to-seed men walked into the wood-panelled meeting room, security men closed the heavy teak doors and locked them, muting the sound of Dublin's traffic outside. As a butler moved to pull down the blinds on the windows, an Australian voice rang out: 'Hang on, mate! It's bloody bad enough that you can only tell the difference between summer and winter here because the rain's warmer in summer… but now you want to cut out all the light. I'm from Brisbane and we go bonkers without sunlight!' A beefy, dusky complexioned man joined in: 'I'm from Christchurch and this makes me feel right at home! You Aussies just whinge the whole time because the Bledisloe Cup keeps going back to Noo Zilland…' The chairman rapped his gavel on the broad, polished table: 'Gentlemen please! We have more important things to discuss than the weather, to be sure…' On cue, Mr O'Mahoney adjusted his shamrock tie and stood up: 'We would not be here if we did not all accept that the current situation in world rugby cannot be allowed to continue. ALSO READ: Proteas management join Springboks at alignment camp 'Sure, 'tis us who have suffered most grievously because, so long as the Pope is a Catholic the natural order of things should be that Ireland wins at least one World Cup.' Rutherford-Jones fiddled with his finely-tooled leather file folder, emblazoned with the red rose and thought better about saying something… in this changed world even the bloody Irish had human rights, he realised. Still, he nodded too, because even England had been hurting – perhaps not as much as the micks in green, but then even English pride was superior to its Irish equivalent. Across the table, Jean-Pierre nodded morosely, as did Diego. Taffy Jones interjected: ' If I may speak on behalf of Wales and Scotland – if you don't mind Jimmy – as well as Italy if that's okay, Tomasso, may I say that even though people think of us sometimes as spectators or also-rans, we have a long and fine tradition of the game in our countries. And if the Webb Ellis Cup continues to stay in South Africa, then our youngsters are going to drift away to football, heaven help us!' ALSO READ: Former New Zealand captain Sam Cane named for Barbarians A morose silence descended. 'It didn't work, did it?' said the former All Black. 'I knew you could never trust a golfer to follow through on a promise and to think we gave him a gold-plated Caribbean cruising yacht!' The Irish rugby supremo stood up. 'Why the bloody hell didn't Trump make the offer more attractive to the refugees? – scholarships and Lear Jets don't cost that much …' He added: 'There should have been tens of thousands of refugees by now… there would have been no-one left to put together a Boozer's League Second Team, never mind a Springbok one. That would have given us all a fighting chance.' From France, Jean-Pierre nodded: 'We've tried to keep them more than a few seasons but, even with our women, they always want to go home…' ALSO READ: Willemse misses Stormers playoff, and maybe a Bok game too… Not a great fan of the French, Bruce from Brisbane chipped in: 'Let's face it mate, you lot don't speak very good English – the Afrikaners are much better. 'And well, let's just say both your women and your wine are overrated…' Taffy jumped in to stop the fist flying: 'Get Elon on the Starlink! 'He can offer them each a Tesla to defect to us. That'll work.' There was a sigh and Tomasso said: 'No, it won't. They're used to living without electricity and they say a steak is always better on a braai…'
Irish Examiner
11-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Entrepreneur born with sight loss secures €2m to develop internet accessibility software
An Irish company founded by an entrepreneur born with sight loss has secured €2m in funding to develop AI software to make the internet more accessible for people of all abilities. Nexus Inclusion was founded by Kyran O'Mahoney, the former group chief technology officer of Vision Ireland. He has also held senior technical roles at Dunnes Stores, Ryanair, and AIB. Nexus Inclusion employs seven people and plans to build a team of 30 by the end of 2026, with roles currently open for developers, business development and marketing. Mr O'Mahoney was born with 17% vision. "I founded Nexus Inclusion to change the world so no one is excluded because they are different," he said. "It is my firm belief that technology and, more importantly, the emergence of AI is the next thing to change the world for people excluded from digital products. "If you look at the banking sector, it is still incredibly inaccessible, yet we have an inherent right to financial independence and financial freedom. Some elderly, vision-impaired or people with learning difficulties can't read their own bank statements. Nexus Inclusion's solution will help with this issue. 'The Nexus AI tool can summarise the key information at a reading level appropriate to the user in a format they are comfortable with. It automatically adds captions or transcripts and ensures that digital products work with assistive technologies. Every customer we onboard will make the world more digitally equal," Mr O'Mahoney said. The digital accessibility market is estimated to be worth €627m globally, growing to approximately €851m by 2029. Nexus Inclusion is launching ahead of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) coming into force on June 28th, 2025. The legislation requires all businesses trading in Europe to have digitally accessible websites, apps and online products. The World Health Organisation estimates there are 1.3bn people with a disability worldwide while as many as one in four people need assistance accessing online content. "We need to move beyond Digital Accessibility, which is about making accommodations for people with different abilities. As someone who has grown up with limited vision, I don't want to be accommodated. I want to be included in every aspect of life.' said Mr O'Mahoney. 'To me, this is inclusion. At Nexus Inclusion, our objective is to bridge the digital divide so no one is excluded.'
Belfast Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Munster defeat ends Ulster's chances of qualifying for URC Play-Offs and next season's Champions Cup
8 minutes ago The full-time whistle sounds. Munster take a huge step towards booking a spot in the URC Play-Offs. However, Ulster's hopes look bleak. Technically, they still have an outside chance of making the Top Eight, but realistically it's not going to happen. This is Ulster's worst season the professional era, that was aptly summed up by that dreadful second half performance. 80' The last ten minutes of this game have passed by without incident. Munster secured the victory with that O'Mahoney try half an hour ago. 80' Tom Farrell is named Player of the Match 71' It is Munster's turn to lose a man to the bin as loose-head replacement Josh Wycherley is the unfortunate man to get punished for consecutive penalties 70' Ulster haven't been able to maintain their first half momentum, here. They've been outplayed in every department. Now they must face up to the reality of failing to qualify for the Champions Cup for the first time since the tournament's inception in 1995. 66' Ulster back up to 15 as Stuart McCloskey returns 61' Peter O'Mahoney leaves the field to a massive reception. What a moment for him 61' Tom Stewart is on for Rob Herring. 61' Two more for Crawley 61' It was a searching kick into the corner from Jack Crowley. O'Mahoney leaps into the air like a basketball player before dotting down in the corner. What a moment for the man who has served Munster for 15 years 60' It's a try for O'Mahoney in his last game at Thomond Park! 58' Ulster's hopes are hanging by a thread here. Munster are once against camped inside the Ulster 22 57' Crowley adds the extras 57' Farrell runs in Munster fifth try after the home side asserted pressure from the lineout. This looks like the end of Ulster's campaign. 55' It's a yellow card for Stuart McCloskey for professional foul. He kicks the ball away from the hands of the Munster scrum half, to prevent a try scoring opportunity. Munster have a penalty and will kick for the corner. O'Toole comes on for Wilson 46' Rob Herring smashes the ball out of Michael Milne's hands. It's a goal line drop out for Ulster, who survive this particular Munster barrage.
