Shuffle forward a week from now and the drawbridge will close on applications for the role of the GAA’s next director general. Interesting times lie ahead, but the process of appointing Pauric Duffy’s successor has already shone a revealing light on an association at war with itself.

Hard to believe but it’s over six years since Dublin GAA’s provocative ‘Blue Wave’ strategic plan was met with a tsunami of snipes.

Most of us would be thrilled to be granted the one wish — and even a genie only offers three — but Irish sport is a vast tent that covers many tribes so here are 10 stories we hope to see written in the 12 months to come.

Cancelling Christmas isn’t an obvious means of ingratiating yourself with a raft of new employees but it appears that Sam Allardyce can do no wrong at Everton where the latest chapter in one of British football’s most intriguing careers has kicked off on the most promising of intros.

Exeter is a club that has never been asked to run before it could walk and that has fashioned an inexorable rise, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Last week, with Australia having scored 138 runs for the loss of two wickets on the first day of the second Ashes test at the Adelaide Oval, four of the game’s most respected minds and former practitioners stood on the pitch and debated what hope, if any, there was for the future of Test cricket.

Like Ronan O’Gara, Welsh rugby coach Alistair Rogers understood the maxim about travel broadening the mind, says Brendan O’Brien. 

Martin O’Neill is far from a one-trick pony but his team is, writes Brendan O’Brien.