Tag: Mick McCarthy

  • Could it be, the FAI actually doing something right?

    Could it be, the FAI actually doing something right?

    Google had to be consulted when Jonathan Hill’s name was seen trending on X. Even though he’s the head honcho of the Football Association of Ireland, his is not a name you’d see popping up too often. Certainly not an accusation you could level at the individual who held the position before him. With plenty…

  • As Captain Katie was entitled to express an opinion – which was all she did

    As Captain Katie was entitled to express an opinion – which was all she did

    There’s a story which has now been granted admission to the annals of Meath GAA which goes along the following lines: a very senior player is earmarked for substitution, but is not of a mind to row in with the idea and in the end it was a youngster in his debut season who succumbed…

  • Kicking Kenny misses the point

    Kicking Kenny misses the point

    Liam Brady’s bidding arrivederci to RTE’s soccer coverage the other night got me thinking. About several things, actually. Some of which were before my time, others that became central tenets of my life. Directly or indirectly as the case may be. To begin with the second bit, that revolves around the late Bill O’Herlihy and…

  • Rivalries parked once the whistle goes

    Rivalries parked once the whistle goes

    Rivalries are a huge part of how sport becomes such an intrinsic part of many of our lives. As I begin to write this, I’m not long home from the latest coming together between Dunboyne and Dunshaughlin in the Meath Adult Football League. These wheels may not park up at as many matches as was…

  • Give youth a chance

    Give youth a chance

    Rep. Of Ireland…3 Azerbaijan…0 Saturday would have been John Lennon’s birthday. No, I wouldn’t have known either only it was spotted trending on Twitter. In the days leading up to it, his great festive anthem Happy Christmas/War Is Over on a television commercial. Yes, in the first week of October. Nauseating. Having watched Ireland’s victory…

  • Black and Blue Saturday

    Black and Blue Saturday

    At a point in the early 1980s when Meath football would have required promotion to be considered in the doldrums, the Meath Chronicle ran a front page depicting a coffin with the words ‘Meath Football R.I.P.’ inscribed thereon. Obviously, to the betterment of generations of us, the prophecy was certainly debunked and then some. However,…

  • Weird window leaves many questions

    A few years ago, on Deadline Day of the winter transfer window, I wrote a piece headlined “Almost time to take down the tent”. Inference being that the concept and the time around it resemble a circus. At the time, that manifested itself in the insane fees clubs were paying for players and the manner…

  • Trouble at the top? Dung always falls downwards

    Do you ever simply stop and ponder how we all got by before social media? On one occasion recently, it was Twitter that informed yours truly that the following day’s National Hunt racing fixture at Newton Abbot had been postponed. That was only one example of the tsunami of information people can access in seconds…