The stars have aligned for a Darragh Canavan-Con O’Callaghan showdownOut of half a century of All-Ireland club finals it’s difficult to pick one when you had two of the game’s absolute elite forwards facing off in the biggest club game of the yearSat Jan 18 2025 - 06:00
St Lachtain’s and Watergrasshill make the most of their day in Croker to take home All-Ireland titlesThe Junior and Intermediate club hurling finals are the GAA with its nail polish scraped off, but the four teams served up a couple of crackersSun Jan 12 2025 - 18:37
‘A gorgeous time for referees’: Gaelic football managers open to learning on the hoof as new rules kick in Handing the ball back to opponents may prove to be a step too far for someSat Jan 11 2025 - 06:00
Some threw toilet rolls - others, sausages. How it might look if you were a fly on the wall at Mack Hansen’s Media TrainingThe Connacht and Ireland winger has to sit through a session along with all his team-mates to learn the fine art of boring reporters to tearsSat Jan 11 2025 - 06:00
‘I make a mark in the grass with my foot as I go.’ How GAA groundstaff line pitches for new football rulesThe FRC proposals mean the country’s 3,200 pitches will have their first new markings since the small arc came in 30 years ago - and they only have three months to get it all doneFri Jan 10 2025 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: Whatever anyone thinks about Rory Gallagher, the GAA president should not be influencing Naas GAA’s coaching choicesJarlath Burns has brought huge energy to the role since he took over last February, but his intervention at the Kildare club is an unprecedented overreachTue Jan 07 2025 - 20:36
From Bryson to Jurgen to Raygun: The A to Z of 2024′s weirdest and wildest sports storiesSport is about so much more than who won and lost and in the 12 months just gone – it gave us a non-stop stream of chancers and characters away from the podium placesSat Dec 28 2024 - 06:00
‘I don’t think I’ll ever get over that’ - Shane Ryan reflects on what might have been and swims onA bronze medal at the recent World Championships showed the Irish swimmer’s remarkable ability to put Olympics disappointment to one sideSat Dec 28 2024 - 06:00
Kellie Harrington fought hard for the dream ending she well deservedBack-to-back Olympic champion achieved the most coveted sporting triumph of all, going out on a highSat Dec 21 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: After 27 years of being ignored by British government, some good news at last for Seán Brown’s family Bellaghy GAA chairman was murdered in 1997 while locking the club gates. On Tuesday, a judge ordered a public inquiry to get to the bottom of alleged state collusionFri Dec 20 2024 - 16:00
The top 25 women’s sporting moments of the year: top spot revealed with Katie Taylor, Rhasidat Adeleke and Kellie Harrington featuringOur countdown of the 25 moments that defined women’s sport in Ireland this yearSun Dec 15 2024 - 13:02
Shamrock Rovers’ European adventure one of the best stories of the Irish sporting yearDespite internal strife and tiny budgets compared to most of their competitors, Stephen Bradley’s side are unbeaten in the Conference League and have a free hit against Chelsea next weekSat Dec 14 2024 - 06:00
Irish women on top of the sporting worldIrish sportswomen are now the women other countries study to see what can be achievedSat Dec 14 2024 - 06:00
Failure to overcome Wales test sealed Eileen Gleeson’s fateThe eaten bread of all those Nations League wins was soon forgotten after the failure to progress through crucial European Championship playoffWed Dec 11 2024 - 21:22
Dr Crokes and Errigal Ciarán take the spoils as the last football trophies of 2024 are handed outThe Kerry and Tyrone clubs will face off in the All-Ireland semi-final on the first weekend of the New YearSun Dec 08 2024 - 19:24
Peter Óg McCartan makes himself immortal with injury-time winner for Errigal Ciarán in Ulster finalBrilliant point in the 63rd minute brings a first provincial club title to Tyrone since 2002Sun Dec 08 2024 - 18:54
Malachy Clerkin: Looking for compensation when a player goes to the AFL is a terrible idea for the GAAIt’s understandable that a county like Kerry is annoyed at losing young players to Australia but once you start extracting a price for footballers, you turn them into tradeable commoditiesSat Dec 07 2024 - 06:00
From missing out on the Olympics to winning an AFLW title, nobody had a year like Vikki WallThe Meath footballer came close to making the cut in rugby Sevens just nine months after taking up the sport but used her disappointment to go back to Australia intent on ending 2024 on a high noteSat Dec 07 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: Ireland can have no complaints as they could not take their chances when it matteredEileen Gleeson’s side didn’t die wondering about Euro 2025 but a petulant night from Katie McCabe wasted a lot of energyTue Dec 03 2024 - 22:02
Sports Books of the Year: Conor Niland’s The Racket the best in a year dominated by autobiographiesJohnny Sexon, Joe Canning and Richie Hogan all have highly readable offerings and Miguel Delaney’s book on the hijacking of modern football is not to be missedSat Nov 30 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: Whatever happens tonight, Na Fianna will celebrate it. What else would we do?Turns out you don’t know you belong to a club until the club gets fitted for a black hat and people start taking potshots at itSat Nov 30 2024 - 06:00
A fleeting moment: How to take the perfect sports photographAward-winning photographer James Crombie explains how he got three of his favourite shotsSun Nov 24 2024 - 06:00
FT Ireland 52 Fiji 17: As it happenedStraightforward victory against ill-disciplined FijiansSat Nov 23 2024 - 17:17
Malachy Clerkin: Ireland can’t afford to miss the women’s Euros - once momentum is lost, it’s hard to get backWomen's soccer team must heed the lesson of their rugby counterparts from a decade ago - if they don’t beat Wales in the play-offs, the sporting circus will move onSat Nov 23 2024 - 06:00
The bird-shaped obsession that drives James Crombie, one of Ireland’s best sports photographers It started as a pandemic distraction but ended up producing probably the most famous photo the Westmeath man will ever take - the murmuration that went around the worldSat Nov 23 2024 - 06:00
Ciara Mageean: ‘I just felt numb. It wasn’t even sadness, it was just emptiness’The Down athlete reflects on the devastation she felt at having to pull out of the Olympics on the eve of the GamesThu Nov 21 2024 - 09:18
Malachy Clerkin: Brian Fenton, the best midfielder of his era and one of the greatest everAfter arriving full-formed in 2015, the Raheny midfielder anchored Dublin for a decade – nobody could match his mobility, accuracy and general game senseTue Nov 19 2024 - 12:35
Malachy Clerkin: James McCarthy drove all that was good about Dublin, and they loved him for itHis defiance, athleticism and ability to sense when his team needed a rocket all combined to produce one of the greatest they’ve ever hadMon Nov 04 2024 - 18:41
With 4,000 homeless kids in Ireland, why is the Minister for Housing trying to buy our votes with golf?Darragh O’Brien clearly thinks there is no downside to him claiming credit for bringing the Open Championship to Portmarnock but it’s not a great look in the middle of the housing crisisSat Oct 26 2024 - 06:00
The agonising story of how two Irish sailors lost out on an Olympic medalRobert Dickson and Seán Waddilove were in prime position to make the podium in Marseille but a split second decision cost them and meant they finished fourthSat Oct 26 2024 - 06:00
Des Cahill having the time of his life as Cuala’s footballers finally get their day in the sunTraditionally a hurling stronghold, the southside club have made it to only their second Dublin football final where they take on near neighbours Kilmacud CrokesSat Oct 19 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: The new Gaelic football rules are fun but they need cynical teams to stress test themThe opening games under the FRC recommendations showcased some interesting possibilities but until there are league points on the line, nobody can truly assess the possibilitiesFri Oct 18 2024 - 22:21
Malachy Clerkin: Cheating scandal shows conkers is in need of root and branch reformThose of us who witnessed the skullduggery of the schoolyard know the sport has always been rotten to the coreTue Oct 15 2024 - 19:02
Graham Rowntree on Croke Park: ‘I’ve been around the world at stadiums. I’ve not been to this one before. Wow’The match might have been over before some of the 80,468 crowd took their seats but that didn’t stop Leinster v Munster being an incredible occasionSun Oct 13 2024 - 15:41
Hayley Kilgallon on the growth of women’s Gaelic games: ‘I think change has finally happened’Her new book, Unladylike, charts the history of ladies’ football, and the grinding, inching process to gain recognition and respectSun Oct 13 2024 - 06:00
‘I can’t fault their effort’: Munster’s Graham Rowntree looks on the bright side after Leinster defeatFirst-quarter chaos tested the resolve of Munster’s packSat Oct 12 2024 - 21:14
Early Leinster onslaught impressive, but Munster should have seen it comingWith little over 15 minutes on the clock, Leinster had already racked up a 21-point leadSat Oct 12 2024 - 20:43
Malachy Clerkin: The FRC dissent proposals will change Gaelic football as much as the gameplay onesFootball Review Committee’s report suggests a cultural revolutionSat Oct 12 2024 - 06:00
Ireland player ratings: Liam Scales and Robbie Brady to the fore as Ireland beat Finland 2-1A late winner from the Preston winger caps a terrific night’s work, while the Celtic defender looks every inch the Champions League centre backThu Oct 10 2024 - 21:53
Cillian O’Sullivan played for Meath in 2024 championship despite being diagnosed with MS‘I’m used to living in such a capable body. So it was very strange to be all of a sudden living in this body that didn’t do what I wanted it to. It was incredibly infuriating at times.'Sat Oct 05 2024 - 06:00
Ten Hag’s Manchester United resemble Liverpool in the doldrum years – except they’re in much worse shapeHistory is repeating itself as a once-dominant force slides into irrelevance, but United are so far off the pace it might take them even longer to get backSat Oct 05 2024 - 06:00
Oisín McConville: ‘I didn’t give a f**k as long as there was 300 quid waiting for me at end of week so I could gamble’The ex-Armagh GAA player says that in the absence of a gambling regulator, working with an industry-funded charity certainly beats doing nothingSat Sept 28 2024 - 06:00
Cian Healy’s big achievement isn’t just enduring this long, it’s still being relevant after all these yearsStarting into his 19th season in professional rugby, the ageless prop is about to become the most capped Leinster player of all timeFri Sept 27 2024 - 16:04
After losing his leg to an Israeli sniper, Alaa al-Dali found his way out of Gaza and into the World ChampionshipsIn Zurich on Tuesday, the Palestinian flag will fly on the global cycling stage for the first time as the founder of the Gaza Sunbirds takes his place among the best paracyclists in the worldSat Sept 21 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: Managers always moan about new rules, but they might be right this timeBy scrapping the preseason competitions and banning training until December, the GAA has left the door open for the Football Review Committee’s proposals to be killed at Special CongressSat Sept 21 2024 - 06:00
Derry rule out Rory Gallagher coming back as managerFormer Derry boss “not in consideration” for the vacant post in the countyFri Sept 20 2024 - 19:26
Clubber TV: From streaming the Kerry intermediate championship to taking on the Premier League?Gaelic games streaming service Clubber boss Jimmy Doyle reckons 70 viewers justifies covering a game, but he’s on a quest to scale things upSun Sept 15 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: Boos for man of the match sum up perfectly those silly Irish soccer fictions Making players stand in for a bit of crystal after they’ve been on the end of a chasing just to satisfy a sponsor is right on the nose for the state in which we find ourselvesSat Sept 14 2024 - 06:00
Ireland ratings: Jayson Molumby the pick of the bunch on another grim night against GreeceA decent display from Will Smallbone but too many of Heimir Hallgrímsson’s players are below par yet again as they lose at home to GreeceTue Sept 10 2024 - 22:01
Shane Lowry ends Kingspan sponsorship in the wake of the report into the Grenfell fireGrenfell United survivors’ group: ‘We first presented Shane Lowry with the Inquiry’s evidence 3 years ago, so we are pleased he has made the right decision’Tue Sept 10 2024 - 10:59
