Category: Opinion

Lessons from the All-Ireland Football Final

Because life is a cycle, the Sunday Game programme had hardly finished last Sunday night when the thoughts of the majority of the viewers were all ready concerned with the most enduring of all GAA questions; who’s going to win the All-Ireland next year? In life’s cycles there are more followers than leaders, therefore the […]

Mayo’s All-Ireland semi-final win was due to Dublin’s loss of Mickey Whelan

I got a text message not long before half time of last Sunday’s All-Ireland football semi-final between Dublin and Mayo. “Mayo bossing it big time” the message read. The Mayo team were bossing it – at that stage of the game. I thought about my answer for a few seconds before replying, “Dublin are really […]

Lance Armstrong (Part 1) Written in August 2012

It came as no surprise to me that cyclist Lance Armstrong has decided not to contest the charges of using performance-enhancing drugs that were made against him by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Like many other sports fans, I watched in awe as he accumulated his seven Tour de France victories. “This is the stuff of […]

Will Glasgow Rangers be out of their depth in the lower leagues?

I only know on genuine Glasgow Celtic fan. Having made that statement I think I better explain that I am using the word “genuine” as defined by former Cork City FC manager Pat Dolan. It used to irk him when he heard somebody claim to be a fan of Liverpool or Manchester United. “Are you […]

Fulfilling my Olympic promise

Nothing – not Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium with the roof closed, not Croke Park not even the new Yankee Stadium – can compare with the enormous complex that is Olympic Park. It is huge.

Filling the stadiums could cost the sports organisations as much as the fans

Attendances are down at all the GAA championship games. And it is not just the GAA either. It is the same in English soccer, cricket and rugby where there is a far greater population base to support the games. If the NFL is suffering a drop in attendance you can be sure it is the same for every sport across the world.

The fear of success

Then one day, I decided to see what would happen if I stopped.
As I approached the gate the dog appeared and got into the ready position. Once I was passed the gate it took off after me, barking and snapping as usual. I led it on for 30 metres. Then I stopped the car and turned off the engine.

The dog stopped running. It stopped barking too.