Category: CHRONICLE COLUMNS
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Forget Orbison, cue up Joni Mitchell on the jukebox – 31/8/24
“Love hurts, love scars, love wounds and mars any heart not tough, or strong, enough./Takes a lot of pain, takes a lot of pain, love is like a cloud, holds a lot of rain”. Don’t worry, one is not about to break into a Roy Orbison tribute ode. Though the above lyrics – most closely…
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Meath believe they can rise to a new pitch – 25/8/24
As somebody that’s not intrinsically entrenched in the music scene, after the last few weeks, if I don’t hear the words “Coldplay” or “Oasis” for the next 12 months there will be no wet eyes here. Between the majority of my work requiring social media to maintain its functionality and having half a family obsessing…
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Life and sport from an armchair view – 18/8/24
If you haven’t seen the above line before, firstly where have you been? It is of the tagline for the website in conjunction with which this column is produced. Seriously, though, such has been the variety and complexity of the tumult engulfing aspects of the world in which particular interests are held, the line of…
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Be very careful what you wish for… 11/8/24
The wheels of life naturally go full circle. Another way of saying the same thing – history repeats itself. Thus, regarding current pressing matters related to Meath GAA, we’ve been here before. Now read on… In fact, the last mini-series of comparable posturing was even more farcical. How exactly Eamonn O’Brien was removed from his…
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Seeking winter comforts – 4/8/24
There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see. That the GPA wouldn’t be top of my Christmas card list is hardly newsflash material. But at this stage I’ve given up trying to decipher what their game is. If, as they continually attest, they are adamant on the amateur status of…
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At what point do reasons become excuses? 21/7/24
You can dress it up any way like, it will still never sit right with me. Here we are, July 21st, not an ear of winter barley cut. The hay has been saved and Cork have indeed been beaten, yet it’s most likely the Croke Park sod will only see three more weekends of action…
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Where are we now? – 7/24
It may come as a surprise to some to hear that yours truly began writing an autobiography at some stage between the closing stages of Covid-19 and the return of normality. Whatever that is. Granted, the manuscript has probably fallen a bit behind now as, from memory, the story concluded in the week Colm O’Rourke…
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Were we all in the commentary box? – 7/24
Growing up in the 1980s and early ‘90s, I’m sure every family had their oddities. Factors that set them apart from their contemporaries. Things they had or didn’t have. In our case, that meant only having access to the two ‘National’ television stations, RTE 1 and Network 2 as it was then. Which in turn…
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Show class when it’s needed – 17/6/24
On Saturday morning last, Anne Moran was laid to rest in Dunboyne. A member of the famous Watters family, she and her sisters Marion (Reilly), Brigid (Guy) and Kathleen (O’Connor) were the fulcrum of a camogie team which dominated the sport in the county for a good portion of the 1970s and ‘80s. My late…
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Reward or poisoned chalice? – 10/6/24
Seeing Ronan Ryan and Cian McBride swarmed by young Meath fans hunting autographs and selfies in the wake of Meath’s resounding loss against Kerry was somewhat surreal. Yet, for this sporting romantic, there was hope in it. Kids still look up to the current players and still dream of emulating them in the years and…