Margins paper thin at Clones as McGuinness and Donegal reap final reward Heartbreaking Ulster final defeat for Armagh again as they suffer a fourth penalty shootout loss in big gamesSun May 12 2024 - 20:56
How Armagh fell from being the most feared team in Ulster to 16 years without a provincial titleWhen they lifted the Anglo Celt in 2008, it was their seventh time being champions in the previous 10 seasons - nobody expected it all to fall off a cliff, least of all themselvesSun May 12 2024 - 12:43
Amy Broadhurst has done a brave thing switching to Great Britain – but things could get messy at ParisSwitching to fight for Team GB can’t have been easy for the world champion from Dundalk but it underlines what a singular life you have to lead to be an OlympianFri May 10 2024 - 15:00
Leinster back where they most want to be, the place that has caused them the most hurtThe majority of this squad have known nothing but heartbreak in Champions Cup finalsMon May 06 2024 - 06:00
‘The humiliation of Kerry’ – how losing to Clare in 1992 made for a bitter aftermath in the KingdomThere were a lot of bad days for Kerry between 1986 and 1997 but none lower for the players involved than the county’s only ever Munster final defeat to ClareSun May 05 2024 - 06:00
Jamison Gibson-Park puts in an all-seeing display to lead Leinster to victoryJames Lowe scored a hat-trick of tries but it was no surprise that the Leinster scrum-half was awarded man of the matchSat May 04 2024 - 20:37
Galway’s form has nosedived in the absence of Shane Walsh and Damien ComerThe Tribesmen’s two best forwards played 92% of the time on the way to the 2022 All-Ireland final but those numbers have nosedived since, along with the team’s formSat May 04 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: Don’t mind Newstalk’s Ciara Kelly - pitting sport against sport is completely outdatedLeinster coming to Croke Park for an enormous rugby match is a great coup for the GAA - we should not be so po-faced and precious about itFri May 03 2024 - 17:40
No shame in losing to Limerick but Sunday could not have gone worse for TipperaryThe weekend that was: Liam Cahill’s team needs to find something in the coming days otherwise their year will be over quicklyMon Apr 29 2024 - 13:51
Peter Casey injury clouds trademark Limerick win over hapless Tipperary A scoring burst either side of half-time put clear water between the teams at the Gaelic GroundsSun Apr 28 2024 - 19:12
Born leader Darragh Canavan bears the load of great expectations lightlyAn intense spotlight in Tyrone was always going to follow the footballing fortunes of Darragh and Ruairí, the sons of legendary former county star Peter CanavanSat Apr 27 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: A rare dose of FAI truth reveals that Irish soccer is in a worse state than you thinkThe presentation this week on the academy system shows why the past six months of public humiliation has been such an unmitigated disaster for the associationSat Apr 27 2024 - 06:00
Donegal punish the Derry high press to run in four goals in a classic Jim McGuinness ambushThree goals directly from kick-outs make a fool of Derry goalkeeper Odhran Lynch as the visitors pull off a shock with echoes of their 2014 win over DublinSun Apr 21 2024 - 10:19
Malachy Clerkin: The Cork footballers have been out of the conversation for far too longMark Keane’s goal against Kerry in 2020 turned out to be just another surreal note in the Covid championship rather than a springboard back to the top tier of the gameSat Apr 20 2024 - 06:00
Derry seek to echo Donegal’s All-Ireland success ahead of their year of yearsWith at least six games to go until a potential All-Ireland final, Derry believing it is their year is one thing. Making it happen is anotherSat Apr 20 2024 - 06:00
Wicklow gave full media access and nearly shocked Kildare - more teams should follow suitAllowing The Irish Times access to preparations last week did not do McConville’s side any harm and engagement shows huge hunger by GAA public for insightMon Apr 15 2024 - 15:00
‘We haven’t closed the gap on Dublin at all’ admits Colm O’Rourke as Meath take another hammeringWicklow come close to overturning Kildare but make a mess of last-minute goal chance in PortlaoiseMon Apr 15 2024 - 06:00
Paul Mannion in sparkling form as Dublin roll on to 16-point victory over MeathColm O’Rourke’s side gave in plenty in the first half but a controversial opening goal for Seán Bugler was turning pointSun Apr 14 2024 - 19:00
One night in Ballinakill: Behind the scenes at Wicklow training ahead of Kildare showdownThe Irish Times was given full access to Oisín McConville’s side, team meeting, video session, in the gym and on the pitch as they prepared for this weekend’s Leinster quarter-final against KildareSat Apr 13 2024 - 06:00
The story of how Jack B Yeats won Ireland’s first Olympic medal ... in paintingIn Paris in 1924, Yeats’s painting The Liffey Swim took the silver medal in the art competition and gave a country that was just over 18 months old a treasure that has lasted a centurySat Apr 13 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: The FAI are reaping what they’ve sown in their struggles to appoint a new managerA middling team with limited prospects and a relatively low salary – it’s little wonder it has taken the association so long to appoint someone to take over from Stephen KennySat Apr 13 2024 - 06:00
Underdogs have their day as shocks mark first Sunday of the championshipOpening day of shocks in the football championship as Cavan, Waterford and WicklowMon Apr 08 2024 - 06:00
Cavan’s two injury-time goals seal deserved win over near neighbours MonaghanPaddy Lynch in outstanding form to score 1-9 as the wind dominates Ulster Championship opener in ClonesSun Apr 07 2024 - 19:10
Shane Lowry should win more often - Augusta would be a good place to startIf Rory McIlroy had blown back-to-back 54-hole leads in the past month, he wouldn’t have been treated with kid gloves in the manner Lowry so often isSun Apr 07 2024 - 06:00
All-Ireland football championship 2024: How the teams rank from 33 to 1 after the league campaignWho ranks as the main All-Ireland contender heading into the first weekend of championship action?Sat Apr 06 2024 - 06:00
Here’s to the football championship, the great clanking rust bucket of the Irish sporting summerEveryone assumes it’s between Dublin, Derry and Kerry for Sam Maguire but league form seems a dubious guide and plenty of teams will be ready for an assault when the serious stuff starts in JuneSat Apr 06 2024 - 06:00
It is hard to see how a gruelling Ulster campaign fits into Derry’s grand planMickey Harte needs to protect his precious resources for the business end of the seasonTue Apr 02 2024 - 10:40
Clare rout Tipperary to make hurling final as football league suffers Sleepy SundayAfter an underwhelming afternoon with no major surprises, Dublin will play Derry in the Division One final and Roscommon join Monaghan in falling to relegationSun Mar 24 2024 - 20:23
Rampant Clare much too good for lacklustre Tipperary as they cruise to hurling league finalDavid Fitzgerald continued his lordly league form but Brian Lohan’s side were helped by a Tipp team that hit 18 widesSun Mar 24 2024 - 19:26
‘This is the be-all and end-all’: Four counties still chasing glory in crunch weekend for Division FourWhile critics call for league finals to be scrapped, Laois, Longford, Wexford and Leitrim are pursuing a place in the Division Four decider. Each knows that winning it would give their county a lasting liftSat Mar 23 2024 - 06:00
Your view on Kyle Hayes shouldn’t be coloured by team allegiance - but sport is depressingly predictableWhile the Limerick hurler got a suspended sentence after being found guilty of two acts of violent disorder, it’s impossible to divorce the case from his standing as a high-profile sportspersonFri Mar 22 2024 - 18:05
Malachy Clerkin: Ireland don’t quite reach greatness, but do enough to win Six NationsIreland deserved to win Six Nations, but would a great team butcher as many tries as they did here?Sat Mar 16 2024 - 21:47
Malachy Clerkin: The GAA should make more of St Patrick’s Day - and more of its intercounty starsBy squeezing the season and stripping the leagues of meaning, this is another lost opportunity by an association that seems to want to remind its elite teams of their place in the worldSat Mar 16 2024 - 06:00
Cheltenham 2024 day four as it happened: Galopin Des Champs wins Gold Cup for MullinsIt’s Gold Cup day as Ireland looks to hit back following a successful Thursday for British trainersFri Mar 15 2024 - 18:53
Cheltenham 2024: Willie Mullins makes it 100 winners, Rachael Blackmore wins the Champion ChasePatrick Mullins wins the final race to bring his father to the landmark achievement of a century of festival winnersWed Mar 13 2024 - 17:59
Cheltenham Festival 2024 day one as it happened: State Man claims Champion HurdleAnother stunning day of Willie Mullins dominance at CheltenhamTue Mar 12 2024 - 18:27
Six Nations: Ireland can’t beat England often enough or by enough. No mercy, ladsOnly certainty is that this era of dominance will come to an end; it would be a shame if we became so used to beating England that the wins ceased to feel specialSat Mar 09 2024 - 06:00
Orlagh Lally: ‘There were days where I would just sit there and I didn’t care about anything’Three-time All-Ireland winner and Aussie Rules professional Orlagh Lally opens up about her mental health struggles and losing her friend Red Óg MurphySat Mar 09 2024 - 06:00
Defeats for Tyrone, Monaghan and Kildare bring relegation battles into focusNo room for error heading into the last two rounds of games in the top divisions of Allianz Football LeagueMon Mar 04 2024 - 06:00
David Clifford in immaculate shooting form as Kerry use all-in shemozzle to spark victory over TyroneJack O’Connor’s side respond to last week’s hammering by Dublin with a dominant display in KillarneySun Mar 03 2024 - 17:20
Hewick and Shark Hanlon will bring the best story to Cheltenham, regardless of how the Gold Cup goesThe grind of living from year to year and horse to horse has been broken for the Carlow trainer by an unlikely superstar who only cost €850 but has won more than €700,000Sat Mar 02 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: If John O’Shea does nothing else, at least he has righted the wrong done to Brian KerrFor 19 years, it has always been an unconscionable waste to have Kerr doing more to improve football in the Faroe Islands than in IrelandSat Mar 02 2024 - 06:00
Black cards have improved Gaelic football, but we should not forget their original purposeThe weekend that was: Recent black cards punished honest mistakes instead of truly cynical acts, a deviation from the point of the cardMon Feb 26 2024 - 13:23
Five things we learned from the GAA weekendMonaghan heading for the drop, with Armagh and Donegal poised to get promotedMon Feb 26 2024 - 12:21
Con O’Callaghan hat-trick lights up the night as Dublin trounce low-energy KerryDessie Farrell’s side put in their best performance of the campaign to run out easy winnersSun Feb 25 2024 - 08:31
Raymond Galligan’s Cavan motoring well and can target the Armagh-Donegal axisTwo league wins on the road has put last year’s Division Three champions in a promising position ahead of their trip to LouthSat Feb 24 2024 - 06:00
Malachy Clerkin: Redacted emails show FAI would rather look bad than be transparentChief executive Jonathan Hill’s overpayment did not need to become a drawn-out saga, so why did the association do everything an organisation does when it is trying to hide something?Sat Feb 24 2024 - 06:00
FAI spent their morning apologising and explaining a joke, making a bad situation worseJonathan Hill will most likely survive what was ultimately a small scandal with no real consequence other than making the association look embarrassingly clueless and badly governedThu Feb 22 2024 - 14:07
Football league talking points: Kildare and Cork left worrying over Sam Maguire statusGAA can surely live without adding VAR to the mix for marginal callsMon Feb 19 2024 - 15:42
Con O’Callaghan sparkles as Dublin pay tribute to the late Shane O’Hanlon‘Football was the last thing on our minds this week,’ says Dessie Farrell after team beat Roscommon at Croke ParkSat Feb 17 2024 - 20:47