Articles in the Sports News Category

Jack Madden reports The life of a GAA club is more of a cycle. It is a series of cycles. Eras come and go, but the club lives on. They survive, they excel in the effort of volunteers, in the work of members of the association, die-hards of the club. Cycles often come full circle, but nothing comes full circle in the absence of momentum. And who creates that momentum? Us. For Cr emartin Shamrocks, the journey started in 1934. An era of short-lived peace between two world wars allowed the ...

In his All-Ireland final post mortem, JACK MADDEN dissects Mayo’s melancholy and concludes that Tyrone’s clinical game management struck the fatal blow This was the year the phoenix was supposed to rise from the ashes. One with a youthful innocence, an arrogant ignorance to all the hurt. This was supposed to be a new beginning. And in some sort of twisted world, it is. The emotion is left to fester in the form of a rock, sitting in the throats of those who are now known as losers. Thoughts are beyond ...

Colm Shalvey reports The AM Hurleys Senior and Junior Hurling Championship Finals took centre stage in Clontibret last Sunday, producing two contrasting games. Castleblayney remain as dominant as ever in the SHC after completing their second five-in-a-row since the turn of the century with a convincing win over Carrickmacross. It was a fourth consecutive double-digits final win for Blayney, who have now lifted 19 SHC titles since 1999. Carrickmacross, who reached this stage for the first time since 2005 after a progressive year, showed spirit in a much-improved second-half effort, but ...

JACK MADDEN An all-ladies team conquered rossmore golf course to scoop the top prize in Scotstown’s biannual Golf Classic event. the team scored an impressive 105 points under a new scoring system, with the event as a whole a huge success in terms of raising funds for Scotstown GAA and in particular the Kilmore Development Project. With what Scotstown GAA chairman Shane Stirrat described as a “great turnout” of almost 50 teams, the event started at 8am on Saturday morning, with presentation duties, outside due to Covid-19, concluding over twelve hours ...

JACK MADDEN There is a certain ambition involved in winning. When success comes, the most driven teams generally keep achieving. Success breeds success. In Monaghan GAA circles, Scotstown have been the epitome of this for the best part of a decade. But players can only do so much. Management can only do so much. The essence of the GAA is community, and with over seventy senior men’s players alone, Scotstown have a bigger community than most. New chairman Shane Stirrat is trying his best to be the glue that holds the ...

COLM SHALVEY The Monaghan Football Championship season is up and running, with the second round of group games taking place this weekend. The regular reminder that league form (perhaps more so than ever this year) comes with a health warning arrived last weekend, as the likes of Scotstown, Inniskeen, Latton and Aughnamullen reversed recent league defeats to make winning starts to their championship campaigns. Scotstown gave a reminder of their determination to retain the SFC with a convincing win over Magheracloone. The holders made light of the absence of Conor McCarthy ...

HARPS PRAISE FOR SECOND HALF GOAL SCORER DOHERTY MONAGHAN HARPS 2-08KILLANNY 1-10 Monaghan Harps lifted the last of this year’s Platinum Tanks Reserve Football League titles after a pulsating finish to last Sunday’s Division 1A Final against Killanny in Cremartin. The Harps started strongly with scores from Michael Galligan, Oisín Fagan, Lochlainn Power and Evan Doherty to Killanny replies from Daniel Leegan and Daryl Traynor. The Harps would play almost threequarters of the game with 14 men after the sending-off of Nathan Lavery and although a well-taken goal by Galligan moved them ...

JACK MADDEN previews the Co Senior Football Championship “through inter-county tinted glasses” and finds holders Scotstown have several would-be conquerors to be wary of It’s that time of year again, whatever “that” time even means these days. Championship season takes on a bit more of a wintry flavour this time, or an autumnal one at the very best. County players will once more be available to their clubs when they are needed most, the crème de la crème. Whether or not that cream rises to the top remains to be seen. ...

COLM SHALVEY As the dust settles on an intercounty season that saw Monaghan teams lose three Ulster football finals – the delayed 2020 MFC decider against eventual All-Ireland champions Derry, the U-20s in extra- time v Down and the seniors by the narrowest of margins to Tyrone – Mayo’s presence in another All-Ireland final could give inspiration to many to keep knocking on the door. Some more excitable Monaghan supporters may have even hoped that Tyrone’s Covid-19 issues, which threatened to cause the cancellation of their All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry, might ...

The saga surrounding the Tyrone-Kerry All-Ireland Football Championship semi final leads JACK MADDEN to conclude that the Covid-shadowed 2021 season is not one for predictions… Saturday: “Tyrone GAA Statement Re All-Ireland Final V Kerry: “This morning, the Tyrone GAA Management Committee has decided that it is not in a position to field its senior football team in the rescheduled All-Ireland football championship semi-final in Croke Park, next Saturday. “Having received expert medical opinion on the existing and future health and welfare of the players who contracted the Covid-19 virus during the ...