Columns - Irish Examiner

John Fogarty

Numbers game fails to tell the full story

The most celebrated in-game statistic by an individual in Gaelic games? There are a couple of stand-out contenders. 

Tue, 08 Dec, 2015

GPA won’t take blueprint rejection lightly

Rejection in any form is a wretch. The GPA are no strangers to it having been outside the GAA tent for so long. But denial is a relatively new experience now that they are inside it.

Tue, 01 Dec, 2015

How the GAA can level the playing field

In Australia today, the AFL stage their annual national draft. It is the major plank of their equalisation strategy to make the Premiership as fair as possible.

Tue, 24 Nov, 2015

International Rules all about the money

Two days before last year’s International Rules test in Perth, Brendon Goddard was one of three Australia players made available for interview.

Tue, 17 Nov, 2015

Maurice Shanahan offers a lesson to us all

Took your advice, Maurice Shanahan. Picked up the phone over the weekend and called a friend. Two, in fact. To see how they were. To say hello.

Tue, 10 Nov, 2015

Cameras can’t cover all the angles

Confess it: when Dónal Óg Cusack criticised the decision to award Limerick a goal against Westmeath this summer you couldn’t have agreed more. Neither could we.

Tue, 03 Nov, 2015

A statement of serious intent

For four hours on Sunday night, Davy Fitzgerald and Dónal Óg Cusack thrashed it out. What each would expect of the other. What they would expect of Clare. Common ground found, they plotted and schemed for 2016.

Tue, 27 Oct, 2015

Galway executive hold all the aces

A tip of the hat to the Galway management committee. Nobody, dare it be said not even some of their own, thought it would last this long. That they would succeed in bringing the players to the negotiating table as often as they have this month is a remarkable achievement. Their will to have it out, it seems, is stronger than the 2015 panel to have Anthony Cunningham ousted.

Tue, 20 Oct, 2015

Carlow recipe for change worth sampling

Because it’s Carlow, it might be overlooked. Because it’s Carlow, it might be dismissed as the miniscule musings of a lesser light.

Tue, 13 Oct, 2015

Consistency goes out the window in ruling for elite

IF IT wasn’t so serious the irony would be delicious. Two legal eagles shooting down a ban, which had been upheld by the GAA’s three main disciplinary arms, largely on the basis that an All-Ireland semi-final means more than most games.

Tue, 22 Sep, 2015