Loss of Brian Fenton and Nickie Quaid will show Dublin and Limerick what ‘irreplaceable’ really looks likeLimerick and Dublin have lost linchpin players, and no amount of forward planning could have prepared them for itThu Nov 21 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Let’s not lose faith now in the need to reboot our game A couple of good games last weekend in no way undermines the work of the Football Review CommitteeThu Nov 14 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Milltown and Galway turn out in force to honour Noel TierneyThe outstanding full back on Galway’s famed 1960's three-in-a-row side still commands a special place in the hearts of the TribesmenThu Nov 07 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Breath of fresh air as Thomastown lead charge of underdogs Historic wins for Feakle and Doon in Munster but the fairytale rise of new Kilkenny hurling champions perhaps the story of the year in the GAAThu Oct 31 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Whatever rules are put before Central Council should be accepted. There is very little left to loseThe best players and managers available to the GAA showed up in Croke Park last week. That’s a statement admitting the game has to changeThu Oct 24 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Fine margins divide winners and losers in knock-out championshipsNowhere are defeats weighted with more finality than for minors who must then grapple with the task of bridging the gap to senior rankThu Oct 17 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Time for us to start living in the GAA world as is, not what we would like it to be ‘My answer to the idea of paying club managers is this: it’s already happening … These teams already exist. And managers are already getting paid’Thu Oct 10 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: McGeeney has the last laugh as doubters disappear in the wake of final successAll-Ireland glory has ensured the previous misgivings among a minority of club delegates in Armagh about their long-serving manager no longer existThu Oct 03 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: If the revolution will be televised, why not mic up the referee?If the GAA's Football Review Committee wants a more entertaining spectacle, then referees and coaches should have microphones during the upcoming interprovincial gamesThu Sept 26 2024 - 06:00
A re-evaluation of what GAA stadium is needed for Belfast should happen now The GAA is back to where it was with this project years ago trying to get a major piece of infrastructure built against the headwinds of Northern Irish politics and rising infrastructure costsThu Sept 19 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: The uncomfortable truth is people don’t want more Gaelic football gamesBut Central Council should revisit its rejection of the proposal to add a third tier to the football championshipThu Sept 12 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Waterford now merely base camp for brilliant BallygunnerCiarán Murphy: Despite unprecedented dominance in Waterford, champions Ballygunner remain all the more determined to add provincial and All-Ireland honoursThu Sept 05 2024 - 06:00
Colm O’Rourke’s Meath exit a stark reminder of pitfalls in moving from punditry to managementAs The Sunday Game panelist set sail as Meath manager, he had the tailwind of a nation’s worth of blowhards at his backThu Aug 29 2024 - 06:00
There’s no begrudging the continuation of Shane Long’s boy-meets-hurl storyBut what if he’d left to play Aussie Rules?Thu Aug 22 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Widespread live-streaming ensures a whole new ball game for the GAA Ciarán Murphy: Expanding GAAGo to include Clubber and county board streaming services and making it cost effective for GAA members should be the new goalThu Aug 15 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: National anthems often the catalyst to enable athletes excel ‘We stand for the anthem, buoyant and tribal, heart beating with heart, our colours brave, our faces turned towards the uncertain sun’Thu Aug 08 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Oisín McConville’s quiet conviction undermines my Zen-like calmCiarán Murphy: All week I’ve had a firm belief about Galway’s chances of All-Ireland glory but a trip to Crossmaglen provided an unsettling doubt or twoThu Jul 25 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Mass hysteria in store even if Clare don’t drink Cork’s milkshake The All-Ireland finals feel pleasingly fresh even if the teams are familiar to each otherThu Jul 18 2024 - 06:00
Donaghy and Armagh benefit from blurring GAA’s unwritten rules; and they’re not the only onesThe unreasonable men involved in this weekend’s All-Ireland semi-finals welcome external helpThu Jul 11 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Reluctant Rebels pay a heavy price for their timidity Ciarán Murphy: Cautious Cork refused to even place a bet when all the chips were on the table and Louth duly scooped the potThu Jun 27 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Rory McIlroy’s US Open failure a stark reminder of sport’s unforgiving nature ‘I felt bad for him when he lost the Open to Cameron Smith at St Andrews … He played solid golf, the other guy played brilliant golf, and he lost’Thu Jun 20 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: The GAA doesn’t need bigger stadiums – it needs better onesGAA president Jarlath Burns pessimistic about prospects for Euro 2028 in Belfast but already imagining a new future for Casement ParkWed Jun 12 2024 - 18:35
Ciarán Murphy: It may be time to start taking Cork seriously again There’s an event that offers the sort of weekend every GAA person should try to experience at least once in their livesThu Jun 06 2024 - 06:00
Copying Limerick hurlers could be worth a shot for some football teamsIt would be foolish to expect Dublin, Kerry, Galway or Donegal to change now, but other counties should consider itThu May 30 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: A golden age dawns for that GAA permutation-lover in your life‘Life is frustratingly short on clarity and so too are league tables where three teams out of four … can qualify’Thu May 23 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: We need more games on GAAGo – not fewerThe GAA now have more championship games that matter than they’ve ever had and via GAAGO more people can see more of these games than ever beforeThu May 16 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: FA Cup could provide a model for provincial GAA championships to prosperPlay the four championships throughout the season, like the FA Cup in England, sprinkled into the fixture list every couple of weeksThu May 09 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Of course the Connacht final is worth winning - just to beat the other showerFor the simple joy of beating that other shower, Sunday is a game these old rivals would dearly love to winThu May 02 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Whether you’re from Waterford, Donegal or anywhere else, playing intercounty is a fairly noble ambitionWe’re often guilty of patronising the likes of Mickey Quinn and Eoin Cleary, asking what motivates them to keep going. It’s the same for any playerThu Apr 25 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Jeopardy makes the Munster hurling championship a force for goodSpectre of the dead rubber has stayed away, showing fans that group stages can have all the drama you can handleThu Apr 18 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Recalibration of GAA summer an improvement on times pastProvincial GAA championships may be losing their lustre but straw hat brigade and, more importantly, players can now enjoy more high-quality games in high summerThu Apr 04 2024 - 06:00
FAI better off hiring John O’Shea than an average journeyman manager from elsewhere Gus Poyet’s comments hardly suggest a man for whom being fiercely loyal is importantThu Mar 28 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Family occasion the highlight in Galway as dull leagues run their courseAbsence of a host of Galway’s big names diminishe the double-bill at Pearse Park but league has never looked more like a secondary competitionThu Mar 21 2024 - 06:00
Colour me sceptical as we reach the pinnacle for adult GAA jersey wearersThe success of a fine Tipperary number seems to have led to a questionable cottage-on-a-shirt industryThu Mar 14 2024 - 06:00
Pats and monsters: a GAA player might just step into the world of American footballCiarán Murphy: Three Gaelic footballers have a very long shot at a NFL kicking job. Don’t bet against them making itThu Mar 07 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Jim Gavin’s presence a sign of new football review committee’s serious intentThe job of charting a bright new future for Gaelic football is difficult but former Dublin boss Jim Gavin's presence on the review committee will ensure a thorough approachThu Feb 29 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: GAA grounds need to be shared - it is time to open up their facilities to everyoneRegardless of what the final cost of Casement Park will be, we can be assured that the GAA will not be footing the majority of the billThu Feb 22 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Time for Kildare leadership groups to face the music Kildare GAA county board, the women’s football board and the county’s camogie board share responsibility for the county’s baffling underachievement at senior levelThu Feb 15 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Damp squib as hurling league gets off to a slow startSurely there is no shortage of games in this toothless hurling league system that busy Fitzgibbon Cup colleges players cannot be rested forThu Feb 08 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Derry have faced down worse crises than an outsider in charge of their football teamWhen they talk about ‘a Derry job for Derry people’, it would help if so many of their previous managers weren’t from outside the countyThu Feb 01 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: If Gaelic football is dying, how come it can still make you feel so alive? There’s nothing quite like Gaelic football, no matter how it changesThu Jan 25 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Maybe the SuperValu Páirc furore is part of Cork GAA’s cunning plan, but I have my suspicionsThe handling of the mooted renaming of Páirc Uí Chaoimh has exposed a deep lack of leadershipThu Jan 18 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: GAA decide that the show must go on – despite the fogThe conditions in Newry for the game were bizarre but at least both Glen and Kilmacud’s managers accepted they it made no material difference to the outcomeThu Jan 11 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: The four types of players hitting the pitch for pre-season, from blushing debutants to eternal panellistsAt this time of year, managers’ team-sheet selections are only thing we’re going to learn about themThu Jan 04 2024 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: The great Johnny Flaherty earned a permanent place in the nightmares of Galway peopleFlaherty was the key man in the two most groundbreaking days in Offaly’s historyThu Dec 21 2023 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Masters football just reward for dedicated club servants Players have paid their club debt and then some; getting a chance to wear a county jersey in the autumn of their career is a lovely final dividendThu Dec 14 2023 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: John Conlon matches All Star intercounty efforts with drive for club developmentClare multi-winning All Star striving for his club to build on Senior B success at the highest levelThu Dec 07 2023 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: The idea that you’re only playing Gaelic Games properly if you’re suffering is ridiculousGAA clubs who try to control players’ lives should be told who’s really in chargeThu Nov 30 2023 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: Rebuilding Casement Park could bring more wins than lossesIf the stadium is going to be redeveloped using public money, then it should be used by the public, and that could mean welcoming Coldplay as well as CushendallThu Nov 23 2023 - 06:00
Ciarán Murphy: What the GAA can learn from the FAI Cup final It’s not in the GAA’s nature to create the sort of noise and chaos we saw in the Aviva on Sunday, and that’s a pityThu Nov 16 2023 - 06:00
