Watching the excellent ‘Feile Dreams’ documentary last Monday, it seemed, at first, extraordinary to think coaches of Irish birth or descent could actually go and sell the game of Gaelic football to a group of kids born and raised in London, most of whose roots are traced back to Africa rather than Achill, Athlone or Annascaul.

Be that as it may, millennia of faith has already been observed so it seems likely we will continue to see a blurring of the lines between religion and sport.

Turn on your TV for any length of time this next few weeks and sooner or later you are likely to be treated to recorded moments of rare magic

Sports stadiums can be drab places long after the final whistle has blown, when all that humanity has trickled away into the surrounding streets and countryside and left behind are the memories, the cold and the detritus of a day well spent.

From mediocrity to systems failure and, finally, heroism.

“Life is about timing,” said the American track and field star Carl Lewis — and he ought to know.

I miss the old Lansdowne Road. There, I said it.

There is no denying the status of Irish sport’s Big Three, soccer, GAA and rugby, yet all three have questions to answer

It’s that time of year again when some of this country’s finest and fittest stare into the inky blackness of those dark winter nights and decide that one more spin on the GAA’s carousel is beyond them.

Wednesday morning in a café in Portlaoise and Gordon Matthews, general manager for Rugby League Ireland, is responding to a query as to why people in this country should pay heed to the code’s World Cup which starts tomorrow and sees Ireland taking on Fiji, England and Australia in the obligatory group of death.