Life And Sport From An Armchair View
It was always going to come down to who blinked first. And it would appear the fixture makers have called the GPA’s bluff. The divisive player representative body have been agitating for the pre-season competitions to be done away with, but they can hardly stir up anymore dung with fixtures and competition structure already in... Continue Reading →
How often have you seen a player excel at Minor level and be earmarked, as Michael O’Leary once said people were making Samcro out to be “The next coming of Jesus Christ” only for their careers to dissipate disappointingly before, in essence, they had even begun? Now, there’s often a very valid reason for such... Continue Reading →
What old style life hacks can you remember from when you were growing up? For example, I know there was a method of mending a puncture on a bike (or wheelchair!) involving washing up liquid. The same substance was also deployed to counteract a disease in rose bushes which I think was called blackspot. Vinegar... Continue Reading →
In various strands of life, Christmas is regarded as the silly season. Referring, of course, to the shopping and spending and socialising that seems to consume the entire month of December, if not beforehand. In a sporting sense, there are a number of incarnations of the silly season. From the Transfer Windows in soccer to... Continue Reading →
I learned a long time ago - yes the hard way - that it is generally best to let emotions cool down before commenting on issues which have ground your gears. What tends to be divulged in the immediate aftermath of the occurrence or event might be the unfettered truth but it may end up... Continue Reading →
Both Colm O'Rourke and Seoirse Bulfin can ramp up preparing their teams in earnest for the season ahead after Meath's schedules for the forthcoming Allianz National Leagues were confirmed most recently. Logistically speaking at least, the footballers have the better end of the stick this time around. As per the biennial reversable system, the footballers... Continue Reading →
On the night Colm O'Rourke appeared on the Tommy Tiernan Show last February, his Meath charges had just been soundly stuffed by Derry in the third round of the National League at Owenbeg. Now, hindsight has proven that to be not that big of a deal because, were it not for a horrendous decision by... Continue Reading →
Aidan O'Brien recently sent out his 4,000th winner. Yes, that figure includes both Flat and National Hunt. We know, too, that he has seemingly endless resources of the Coolmore 'syndicate' backing, no need to labour on the point. Simply because, no matter how impeccably bred a steed may be, their pedigree will count for damn... Continue Reading →
Over the years, I've been very fortunate to meet a host of top sports stars, and befriend quite a few of them. Regular ingesters of content from this keyboard will know the list well. Or some of them. Colm O'Rourke, Graham Geragthy, Noel Meade, Jim Bolger, Trevor Brennan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony and Michael Carruth.... Continue Reading →
In what I think was 2002, the notion landed to get da tickets for the Fairyhouse Easter Festival as a birthday present. Apart from the fact that the day we went was the coldest day I was ever at a sporting event anywhere, the other abiding memory is if Gordon Elliot taking a mount in... Continue Reading →