Wasn't always so rosy

Blog

May 25, 202010 min read

Wasn't always so rosy

IT IS only a couple of weeks more than 12 months ago to the day - February 20 to be exact - that Rosaleen McGrath went to watch John play...

3 views0 comments

May 16, 20204 min read

"If everyone waits until they find out the money's not there, it will be too late" - Nallen calls fo

LEGENDARY point-to-point producer John Nallen has called on racing’s superpowers such as Coolmore, Godolphin and the Aga Khan to forego...

2 views0 comments

May 9, 20194 min read

I feel like I get more done when I have more things to do - Chloe Foxe

CHLOE FOXE is taking time out from completing a college assignment to chat. The conversation flows, the 21-year-old at ease with...

0 views0 comments

Dec 20, 20178 min read

The man who makes the big decisions

RACING is all about opinions but some count more than others. When it comes to rating horses under national hunt rules, senior...

2 views0 comments

Dec 20, 20174 min read

Noel O'Brien Q & A

NOEL O’Brien is the Irish senior national hunt handicapper, responsible for rating every horse that runs under national hunt rules. It...

1 view0 comments

Aug 16, 20173 min read

Auction For Adrian

I MOVED to Kildare the week before Christmas in 2002, to take up a new job as sports editor of The Kildare Nationalist. It was exciting...

1 view0 comments

Jul 22, 201712 min read

Dr: Adrian McGoldrick: Guardian of the track

"That man should be made a saint. Words can't describe how amazing he was, and still is, for me.” Mark Enright “The only standard is the...

3 views0 comments

Jul 14, 201714 min read

More than a player with skill and talent - Johnny Doyle

LUKE WADE is an 11-year-old from Old Parish, Co Waterford who is entranced by football and so you would expect his favourite footballer,...

3 views0 comments

Jul 6, 201711 min read

Kate Kelly: parting from her great love of camogie

“Someone told me when the time is right to give up you’ll know and that’s what I’ve gone on. It never crossed my mind this winter but you...

1 view0 comments

Jun 9, 20174 min read

"If you see somebody pulling on one of your sisters it's like a red flag in front of a bull"

ANNA FARRELL has noticed a transformation towards camogie among the general public in Kilkenny. It had been difficult to gain any...

2 views0 comments

May 26, 20173 min read

McDaid and Okunbor to trial at AFL Combine

GALWAY senior Cillian McDaid and last year’s All-Ireland minor winner with Kerry Stefan Okunbor have been invited to attend the annual...

1 view0 comments

May 24, 20176 min read

Zach on the up with fresh challenge

ZACH Tuohy chuckles at the memory of that first phone call from AFL scout Gerard Sholly. At 17, he didn’t know an Australian accent from...

2 views0 comments

May 20, 20173 min read

Walsh rejects criticism of AFL's recruitment of Irish players

FORMER Cavan footballer and current AFL coach Nicholas Walsh has rejected criticism of the recruitment of GAA players by AFL clubs. Mark...

2 views0 comments

May 16, 201710 min read

Holden out for a hero

AROUND Kilkenny, if the names Shefflin, Cody and Holden come in conversation, the likelihood is that hurling will be the topic, with...

1 view0 comments

May 5, 20179 min read

Murphy looking to unleash the magic

OISÍN MURPHY seems to have been around a long time but then he was so young when he shot to prominence. He handled that meteoric rise...

2 views0 comments

Apr 23, 20175 min read

"The hardest part was just not playing" - Niamh McCarthy

THERE was a time, even as she had barely entered her teens, when it seemed inevitable that the Niamh McCarthy would play for Cork. “I...

1 view0 comments

Apr 21, 20174 min read

Dunphy relishing combination of work and play

IT WAS the second minute of injury time when Aisling Dunphy entered the fray. Kilkenny were four points clear of Cork, their supporters...

1 view0 comments

Apr 21, 20173 min read

Non-Trier Rule for punters rather than horses, says Power

IRISH Grand National-winning jockey Robbie Power says that the updated Non-Trier Rule means that jockeys will be riding for punters and...

2 views0 comments

Apr 14, 20172 min read

Sligo without key players for potential Big Apple banana skin

SLIGO manager Niall Carew must plan without a number of key players when his side make the journey to New York for their preliminary...

1 view0 comments

Apr 14, 20177 min read

"I had him in a slatted house in Ballintubber and when the lads came to get him he was eating a roun

IT IS another of those quintessential national hunt stories that captures the very essence of jump racing. “Katie has done a great job...

1 view0 comments

Apr 9, 20172 min read

"Shut your mouth or you will be given a black card" - Carew claim

NIALL Carew has called on the GAA to facilitate the provision of specific boxes for management and coaching teams in grounds around the...

1 view0 comments

Apr 8, 20173 min read

O'Connor makes 16,000km round trip for Killarney cause

IN ANOTHER year, Padraig O’Connor might have been preparing with the Kerry squad for Sunday’s Allianz Football League Division 1 final...

1 view0 comments

Mar 28, 20173 min read

Derry defeat a positive on Kildare's promotion march says Sweeney

KILDARE coach Ronan Sweeney has pinpointed the Lilies’ last-gasp defeat to Derry in round 3 of the Allianz Football League as an...

2 views0 comments

Mar 21, 201710 min read

Never give up

THE congratulations cards are wedged above the fireplace, battling each other for a good posi. Room is tight, particularly with the...

0 views0 comments

Mar 17, 20172 min read

For rugby, how big is too big?

IT WAS notable how even former Ireland and Lions skipper Paul O’Connell was remarking on the shudderingly physical nature of the...

3 views0 comments

Mar 14, 201713 min read

Sell pity somewhere else - the inspirational JT McNamara

"This wasn’t meant to be no sad song. We’ve heard too much of that before." - Paul Brady, The Island “I’d be a lot worse if it happened...

7 views0 comments

Mar 13, 201710 min read

Renaissance Roger

“Do you think you’ll ever get outta here?” “Me?” Red sighs. “Yeah. One day, when I’ve got a long, white beard and two or three marbles...

0 views0 comments

Mar 12, 201713 min read

Ruby on the rise

HE WELCOMES you at the front door, the smoke he exhales more vivid in the zero-degree night. You not given those up yet? “For Lent” comes...

0 views0 comments

Mar 9, 20179 min read

Johnny Martyn: "I want to finish on my own terms"

“OH FOR fuck’s sake. Not again.” When you are a 34-year-old inter-county footballer recognising the symptoms of a stroke, having suffered...

3 views0 comments

Mar 9, 201712 min read

Cooper's Choice

BRYAN Cooper seems to have been around a long time but one look at the cherubic face and you are reminded that he is only 23, giving the...

0 views0 comments

Mar 7, 20172 min read

Doyle determined to pull her weight

CIARA Quirke won most of the plaudits as a result of scoring a goal and nine points in Myshall’s 1-10 to 1-9 defeat of Eglish in the AIB...

2 views0 comments

Mar 7, 20172 min read

"You never see your friends and maybe you've lost friends over it. But it's all worth it in the end"

SOME players have a knack for scoring goals and Mary Kelly fits into that category. It has ever been thus. Mary Kelly wheels away after...

1 view0 comments

Mar 7, 20174 min read

"He'd be a massively proud man. It's just unfortunate that he missed the biggest match of our lives"

“NÍ NEART go cur le chéile!” Slaughtneil skipper Aoife Ní Chaiside lifts the Bill & Agnes Carroll Cup (Photos: INPHO/Tommy Grealy) These...

1 view0 comments

Mar 4, 20178 min read

"You don't know how good any of them are going to be until they get broke up and come back" - Ruby W

RUBY Walsh is one of the greatest jump jockeys the world has ever seen. Everyone has different criteria for judging the best. Even the...

1 view0 comments

Mar 3, 20172 min read

Allen sings Molly Malone as "horse of my lifetime" Romanov retired

IRISH riders were in fantastic form yesterday, scoring a hat-trick of wins against top-class opposition in the Middle East, Europe and...

1 view0 comments

Mar 2, 20179 min read

Lynam's Power grid

WHERE to start with Eddie Lynam’s season? The norm is to go with the beginning, isn’t it? “When I was standing at the parade ring on...

0 views0 comments

Mar 2, 20176 min read

Outsider Lynam crashes the party

WHEN Sole Power blitzed a high class field in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York’s Ebor meeting last August at the eye-popping price of 100/1,...

2 views0 comments

Mar 1, 20175 min read

New game, same Katie

IT IS undeniable that turning professional has brought change in Katie Taylor’s life, but only around the edges. The really important...

0 views0 comments

Feb 24, 20173 min read

Any Second Now looks special but Labaik a potential fly in the ointment at Naas

A FIELD of seven have been declared for the Grade 2 Paddy Power Onside App Novice Hurdle headed by the Ted Walsh-trained Any Second Now,...

0 views0 comments

Feb 24, 201714 min read

The Walsh wonders

IN HORSE racing, breeding carries as much weight for the human protagonists as the equine ones. Being a Mullins, Carberry or Taaffe is...

2 views0 comments

Feb 20, 20173 min read

Nguyen in European Young Player of the Year race

IRELAND’S badminton squad bowed out of the European Mixed Team Championships in Lubin, Poland last Wednesday, after defeats to Sweden and...

2 views0 comments

Feb 13, 201711 min read

Taking CARE of business

SERENDIPTIOUS is how Patrick Ryan describes the sequence of events that saw Carol Nolan tell her interviewers at Horse Racing Ireland...

0 views0 comments

Feb 13, 20174 min read

Irish spend 22m euro at Cheltenham Festival

AN ECONOMIC Impact Analysis has revealed that people visiting from Ireland spent €22.3m (£19.23m) at the Cheltenham Festival last March,...

1 view0 comments

Feb 10, 20172 min read

Kerry's Okunbor dreams of pro life

WHILE many in Kerry are decrying the so-called poaching of the county’s top players by Aussie rules clubs, teenage AFL hopeful Stefan...

3 views0 comments

Feb 8, 20172 min read

Baker and Narbon on the double for Thunder

GRIFFITH Swords Thunder will be celebrating once more this week, as the club has been awarded both the Men’s Super League Player of the...

2 views0 comments

Feb 3, 20172 min read

Douvan to attract racegoers to Punchestown

IRELAND'S highest-rated chaser Douvan will be the star on show at Punchestown on Sunday when lining up in the Boylesports Tied Cottage...

2 views0 comments

Feb 3, 201710 min read

The Next Episode - Joseph O'Brien

THE quiet village of Owning nestles in a small valley, resting neatly between two inclines. Descending from the Carrick-On-Suir side, a...

1 view0 comments

Feb 3, 20173 min read

House of Commons committee to host "no confidence" debate in FA

THE Culture, Media and Sport Committee has secured a debate on the governance of football governance in the House of Commons. This...

1 view0 comments

Feb 2, 20172 min read

Nash makes debut as Erasmus rings the changes

RASSIE Erasmus has made 11 changes for Munster's Guinness PRO12 game against Edinburgh Rugby tomorrow evening in Myreside (7.35pm). A...

2 views0 comments

Feb 2, 20172 min read

Strickland makes first appointments to coaching staff

NEWLY-APPOINTED head coach of the Irish senior men's basketball team, Pete Strickland has today announced the first two appointments to...

1 view0 comments