Rugby in Munster – A Social and Cultural History by Liam O’Callaghan
There are no tickets available for next Saturday’s Heineken Cup game between Munster and Castres at Thomond Park. This is the norm for the Heineken Cup. It has been so since Munster’s first run to the final in the 1999/2000 season, but it was not always like that. The season before the May 2000 final, […]
Don’t train alone – if you can avoid it
If I had not made a commitment to be at Bric’s at 9.30am, I would have gone back to bed once I looked out the window at 8.30am. The great thing about making arrangements to cycle, or train with someone else is that once you make a commitment, you are no longer answerable to just yourself, so you have to keep your promise.
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 […]