With diamonds made under pressure, 2025 saw Ireland’s sporting treasure chest overflowFrom golf to athletics, this year saw Irish sports stars show their mettle on the biggest stagesThu Dec 25 2025 - 06:00
Without each other, Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott would never have scaled such heightsElliott might be ahead in the trainers’ championship but the shadow of his dominant rival looms large behind himMon Dec 22 2025 - 06:00
Paddy Power is not so mischievous any more but there’s still a dark side to what it doesThe bookmaker is a rising star on Wall Street but questions remain about its effectiveness at tackling gambling addictionSat Dec 20 2025 - 06:00
Even for great players like Mo Salah, the end can come suddenly and without warningThe Liverpool player’s precipitous drop in form and output is not an unusual phenomenon in sportMon Dec 15 2025 - 06:00
‘A seed was planted’: What is Jack Charlton’s legacy in Irish football? The Republic of Ireland’s unprecedented success under the manager inspired a generation, but not necessarily the FAISun Dec 14 2025 - 06:00
Ben O’Connor impresses on familiar turf but Munster mistakes frustrate an eager Páirc Uí Chaoimh crowdIn a game full of anxiety and errors the former Cork underage hurler put his hand up with a fine displaySat Dec 13 2025 - 20:29
Denis Walsh: GAA volunteers are taken for granted and now a reckoning has comeThe irony is that the longer someone volunteers in a club, the more they are actually taken for grantedMon Dec 08 2025 - 06:00
Conor Geaney free steals Munster title at the death for Dingle against St Finbarr’sStunning conclusion to final as Kerry side come from behind for most of the matchSun Dec 07 2025 - 17:14
All-Ireland winner George O’Connor on finding mental wellness after ‘years of pure hell’It takes courage to look for help, says the Wexford All-Ireland winner who has found contentment after a long struggle that included spells in residential careSat Dec 06 2025 - 06:00
Troy Parrott’s tears were a natural release from the helter-skelter of sporting endeavour‘In sport, crying has a different status. It excites a different line of questioning. Everyone assumes there must be something behind it’Mon Dec 01 2025 - 06:00
Ballygunner the undisputed kings of Munster as they see off Éire Óg to claim sixth provincial crown Dessie Hutchinson and Patrick Fitzgerald show their class in comfortable victory for Waterford championsSun Nov 30 2025 - 18:47
A long road of lessons learned brought Jason Ryan to BallygunnerFormer Wexford and Kildare manager looking to lead the Waterford champions back to Munster glory on SundaySat Nov 29 2025 - 06:00
In the end, oil money outlasted all the protests and sportswashing wonUproar faded away as murderous regime spent big in return for soft powerMon Nov 24 2025 - 06:00
Only Ireland’s courage saved them from a scoreboard thrashing against South AfricaIreland broke the law to survive but by breaking the law they had no chance of survivalSat Nov 22 2025 - 21:33
Why is South African rugby’s doping rap sheet much longer than everyone else’s? How can the IRFU know the extent of any use of banned substances in Irish schools?Fri Nov 21 2025 - 14:00
Succession planning the FAI way: Stunning World Cup campaign saves football bosses some botherHeimir Hallgrímsson well placed for new deal after securing World Cup playoff spotMon Nov 17 2025 - 06:00
Munster SHC semi-final: Éire Óg’s magic carpet ride continues after stunning extra-time winLoughmore-Castleiney had their chances but failed to score in the second period of extra-timeSun Nov 16 2025 - 18:10
Donal O’Rourke: ‘A lot of the talk out there was that Tipperary’s sweeper spooked Cork. That wasn’t the case’The 24/7 coach reflects on Cork’s All-Ireland defeat, Pat Ryan’s ‘devastating’ resignation, and a Déise homecomingSat Nov 15 2025 - 06:00
Would a male pundit ever be described as ‘the Fred West of football commentary’?Women soccer commentators still regular targets for prejudice and misogynyMon Nov 10 2025 - 06:00
‘The sessions are like a maths exam’: Managing the club-intercounty training balanceThe pattern of elite clubs looking for managers and coaches with intercounty experience is ingrained now – but at what point does playing for your local side stop being fun?Sat Nov 08 2025 - 06:00
The downfall of DJ Carey: Rumours, riches and a staggering mesh of fact and fictionThere were early accusations the hurling star was leveraging his name for money but Carey’s criminal scams took things to an entirely different levelMon Nov 03 2025 - 14:10
Denis Walsh: Joining an intercounty set-up is the biggest gamble any GAA player can takeAll over the country there are players who feel chewed up and spat outMon Nov 03 2025 - 06:00
Ballygunner keep up dominance over Limerick sides as strong finish sees off Na PiarsaighWaterford side suffer fright after going behind for the first time in the game with eight minutes remainingSun Nov 02 2025 - 18:49
Changes must come in Ireland squad as Andy Farrell faces biggest challenge yetIreland cannot go to the next World Cup with the same side that starts against New Zealand on SaturdayMon Oct 27 2025 - 06:00
The GAA and cocaine: ‘I saw the wildness that got into them after using this drug’Society’s drug issue poses a different challenge for the GAA than for other sporting bodies because it has always seen itself almost as a secular churchSat Oct 25 2025 - 06:00
Denis Walsh: Are you really opposed to cheating in sport? The Enhanced Games will do well in the United StatesMon Oct 20 2025 - 06:00
Cork SHC final: Jack O’Connor leads Sarsfields back to the top of the pileMidleton faced an uphill task after the loss of key players Conor Lehane and Eoin Moloney in the build up to finalSun Oct 19 2025 - 18:18
Andrew Porter: ‘I was lost, angry and missed my mum more than I thought was possible’ In his new book the Leinster and Ireland prop traces his once punishing self-criticism to his struggle with loss and grief as a boySat Oct 18 2025 - 06:00
Denis Walsh: Graham Lee’s hope and strength clear to see in impressive new documentary Nearly two years after a life-changing accident, the former jockey is drawing on some of the qualities that made him such a successful sportsman Mon Oct 13 2025 - 06:00
The rise of GAA super clubs has taken the romance out of the club championshipVarious county championships are dominated by a few clubs, who have almost professional set-upsSun Oct 12 2025 - 06:00
Savour this Golden Age of Irish golf as the future does not look as rosyOutside of McIlroy, Lowry and McKibbin, the last Irish player to win an event on the DP World Tour was in 2021Mon Oct 06 2025 - 06:00
Oisín Murphy: ‘Most of my destruction was done at home, getting drunk on my own’One of Europe’s top jockeys, in his new book Murphy admits to being a ‘deeply flawed young man’ in ceaseless conflict with himselfSun Oct 05 2025 - 06:00
Team Europe thought they held the moral high ground. In pro golf, there is no such thingIn his captain’s speech at the Ryder Cup, Luke Donald almost seemed to suggest money was a dirty wordMon Sept 29 2025 - 06:00
NFL brings riot of colour and noise to Croke Park as Steelers hold off late Vikings scoring raid Other sports fancy themselves as theatre but American football is pure sporting vaudevilleSun Sept 28 2025 - 20:08
Coming to Croke Park: Aaron Rodgers, US sporting great and castigated ‘critical thinker’The Pittsburgh Steelers player is among the best quarterbacks of all time but has attracted attention in recent years for leftfield pronouncements on a variety of subjectsSat Sept 27 2025 - 06:00
Denis Walsh: Patrick Horgan leaves a gaping hole that Cork will struggle to fillLongevity and durability set Horgan apart during his glittering intercounty careerWed Sept 24 2025 - 15:02
Lovely hurling a uniquely Irish game despite globalisation of sports‘Hurling lives here, a source of wonder to visitors, just like the Book of Kells or Newgrange. That doesn’t make the wonder any smaller’Mon Sept 22 2025 - 06:00
Pitch battle: In Dublin, the GAA is rapidly outgrowing its capacity to provide basic facilitiesWith land at such a premium, GAA pitches are increasingly regarded by local authorities as an inefficient use of spaceThu Sept 18 2025 - 17:44
Golf once refused to sell its soul to Trump. Now it has handed it to him for freeThe US president has always craved the approval of golf’s establishment – both for business reasons and for his vanityMon Sept 15 2025 - 06:00
From pony to horse and boy to man, Dylan Browne McMonagle is living the dreamDonegal rider stood out as a 12-year-old. A decade on, he’s closing in on champion jockey titleSat Sept 13 2025 - 06:00
Denis Walsh: GAA must take a leap on paying managers and deal with the consequencesPiety about amateurism belongs to a bygone eraMon Aug 25 2025 - 06:00
‘There was some pretty awful stuff going on’: Golf’s growing problem with fans heckling players Bob MacIntyre among players the experience coarsening of discourse in golfSun Aug 24 2025 - 06:00
Dodgy boxes are everywhere and that’s bad news for football as it heads for saturation pointWealth of options at piracy subscribers’ fingertips means big sporting events are losing their valueMon Aug 18 2025 - 06:00
Tom Brady has brought attention to Birmingham, and the shtick of a saviourThe former NFL star’s investment in the club may be measured in pence rather than pounds, but then his role is more ‘visionary’ than ‘operational’Sat Aug 16 2025 - 06:00
Team Europe ready to take sportswashing’s poster boy on board for Ryder CupThe Ryder Cup had a chance to rise above the venality of golf’s grubby power game. That opportunity has been spurnedMon Aug 11 2025 - 06:00
‘It’s so brilliant to see them hopping off each other’: How camogie moved the goalposts – againOf the four principal games in the Gaelic games family none has changed more profoundly than camogie since the turn of the centurySun Aug 10 2025 - 06:00
All-Ireland camogie final: Cork’s three-in-a-row dream unlikely to be stoppedGalway looking to improve their disappointing record in finalsSun Aug 10 2025 - 06:00
Now it’s clear who the real beneficiaries of the GAA’s split season areThe split season has consistently been portrayed as a triumph for clubs and club players. But the reality is different Mon Aug 04 2025 - 06:00
Paris Olympics, one year on: ‘It’s a very difficult pill to swallow. It probably always will be’Sports fans soon move on from the Games but for athletes, it is rarely so simpleSun Aug 03 2025 - 06:00
Cork must rise above groans of fickle fans and take heed of Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s wordsHistory tells us it is more than possible to bounce back from humiliating defeats on the biggest dayMon Jul 28 2025 - 06:00
