Tag: RTE GAA

  • Another task ticked off the list but nothing on the shelf yet

    Another task ticked off the list but nothing on the shelf yet

    MEATH…1-21 KILDARE…0-10 Balancing gut feeling with reality can be a very tricky task indeed. Six days ago, from a certain angle, Meath were somewhat unlucky to come away from Pairc Ui Rinn empty handed, yet an objective analysis would also conclude that they left enough waste behind them to have had the game won. Tonight…

  • It only takes a minute lads!

    It only takes a minute lads!

    MEATH…2-17 CAVAN…1-18 My obsession with and love for farming and machinery, particularly classic or vintage or classic iterations thereof, is something which I hope is still in me even when the pulse is gone. That said, February 1st in a darkening Breffni Park might seem a curious time to be musing on such things, but…

  • From the frying pan to the fire but not over the rainbow

    From the frying pan to the fire but not over the rainbow

    Another week, another mess for a GAA referee to deal with. Consequently more bad press for the Association. Obviously, nobody – you’d hope – would deliberately start a ruckus, but the main talking points this week seem to be how these incidents are (a) dealt with and (b) reported on. Let’s deal with the second…

  • Heroics and heartache for battling Ratoath

    Heroics and heartache for battling Ratoath

    On numerous occasions over the years, this writer has referred to Al Paccino’s Inches speech in Any Given Sunday. Mostly because it’s something I defer to very regularly. As a means of keeping the wheels turning. On a more fundamentally sporting level, not only did it get me properly ‘into’ American Football but, even more…

  • History repeated as Lake County claim landmark win

    History repeated as Lake County claim landmark win

    Westmeath… 2-14 Cavan… 1-13 There have been numerous examples in GAA of matches being turned on their head by moments of greatness. Anyone who has been kind enough to frequent this space for long enough will know my favourite exhibits of same. There is another one, mind you, which never got the acclaim it deserved.…

  • There’s no system to decommision simplicity

    There’s no system to decommision simplicity

    Kilkenny… 2-26 Clare… 0-20 When Dunshaughlin were a distance ahead of the pack in Meath football under Eamonn Barry, the highly successful and unfairly maligned coach had inculcated in his players the belief that 16 points was the very minimum required to win matches. It would be very interesting to see what the comparative score…

  • DriveThru Sports Show – Ep. 24

    DriveThru Sports Show – Ep. 24

    The first one of these I’ve done in a very long time and I will admit its existence is purely down to the fact that I hadn’t the energy to type anything after watching an epic day’s sport in Croke Park. Sit back, enjoy and please like and share if you think it’s decent!

  • Fear of the unknown without foundation

    Fear of the unknown without foundation

    Somewhere recently, Meath’s defeat of Donegal in the NFL quarter final of 1990 came up in conversation. Brian McEniff’s men had been kicking our lads around Breffni Park – in more ways than one – all day before two late goals from David Beggy set the Royals on a collision course with arch nemesis of…

  • One precocious talent, but Clare are no one-trick ponies

    One precocious talent, but Clare are no one-trick ponies

    “Less than a minute remains on the clock, as I tighten my boot lace, and turn down my sock/Is that the crowd I hear, or is it the ghosts, of men who before me had faced the same test, and never once failed to give of their best? “ This corner would never claim to…

  • Armagh – saving Gaelic football one long ball at a time

    Armagh – saving Gaelic football one long ball at a time

    When Meath broke through to the big time in Gaelic football circa 1986, I was five. Not a jot is recalled of the wet day Dublin were eventually usurped, but once this corner was properly attuned to the goings on of such matters – which in truth was the following year – the importance of…