The Parish Cup – A Short Story
Little Johnny was mad about Gaelic Football. He knew the colours of every county; he knew the colours of every club in the county. He knew how many senior county titles each club had won. He was the first boy to turn up for under-12 training every Wednesday. He would have made a great player – if he were not so sickly and thin. Johnny had one dream, he wanted to play in the Parish Cup.
UCC Physical Education Department and Chengdu Sports University in China
For a small island, with a relatively small population, we make a terrible fuss about managing our affairs. We make an incredible ballyhoo over every issue; no matter how small that issue is in the greater scheme of things. In Ireland there are usually three parties involved in an argument or an issue of public […]
Pakey Mahony – The Boxer from Blackpool
About 18 months ago I decided that I wanted to know more about the man from Blackpool who fought for the Empire title and who ended up training the great Cork and Blackrock hurling teams of the 1920s. I started asking questions and collecting information about Pakey.
Cork County Hurling Final 2011 – Carrigtwohill and Me
I had some great fun with the Carrigtwohill teams over the next three seasons. It was the first time that I had ever trained a team outside my own club of Glen Rovers and St Nicks and it gave me a whole new perspective on training and managing teams.
New Book on Limerick Legend Mick Mackey. Mick Mackey – Hurling Legend in a Troubled County
Mick Mackey – Hurling Legend in a Troubled County is a tremendously lively read.
I can understand why Donegal played so negatively against Dublin, I just hope they don’t set a trend
The question I have been asked most often since Sunday is “did you see the match?” More often than not it has been a rhetorical question because, before I get a chance to reply, the statement “wasn’t it terrible?” follows. Well I did see the match, and in truth, it was terrible, but in a […]
Is the Art of Playing Hurling dying and is it now played like Gaelic Football and Rugby?
It does not seem that long ago (to me at any rate) since I spent most of my summer evenings training, or just pucking a sliotar in the Glen Field. This is not going to be a piece about how things were in “good oul’ days” – it is about the current skill levels in […]
Winning Streaks
Have you ever noticed how different years, or different sports seasons, can be defined by a series of similar feats or incidents? Take the Premiership season just finished in Britain; it will be remembered – if it is remembered at all – as the season of mediocrity. The top teams kept losing points to the […]
The Late Jackie O’Shea from Donoughmore
I spent most of the 1980s and ‘90s working as circulation representative for the Evening Echo and the Irish Examiner. During that time I clocked up a lot of driving miles all over Cork and Kerry. Occasionally, especially during wet and dark winter days, it was tedious work but I really enjoyed it most days. […]
The Chicago White Sox at the New York Yankees April 28th 2010
I had a short break in New York during the week between Easter Sunday and the May Bank Holiday. It was my third trip to New York. I did a tour of the Old Yankee Stadium in the off-season of 2007 and I was determined to see a game at the New Stadium on this […]