Columns - Irish Examiner

Kieran Shannon

Rugby Country only stretches so far and bosses will in time come calling to Ireland

At some point Ireland will be as good as it gets for rugby, says Kieran Shannon

Wed, 08 Nov, 2017

Prima donnas, introverts, and defining the greats

For a media working off morsels to understand what really makes Jim Gavin tick, his keynote presentation at the HPX High Performance Conference back in October, when everyone from Maslow to Mandela to MLK got a mention, was rightly considered revelatory.

Mon, 06 Nov, 2017

What will management teams make of new fixtures order?

How inter-county management teams plan for the changes will be among the most intriguing aspects of the whole new ball game that will be Championship 2018, writes Kieran Shannon.

Wed, 01 Nov, 2017

Why there should be more testimonials for GAA’s finest — just not as Gooch knows it

Before he became one of the country’s leading if unheralded performance directors, David Malone was one of this country’s leading if unheralded athletes, winning gold at the 2000 Paralympics and multiple world swimming championship medals.

Wed, 25 Oct, 2017

The Big Interview: Joy Neville - Breaking up the boys club

When she retired from playing rugby, Joy Neville scoffed at the consolation of reffing. But a friend set her a challenge she couldn’t back away from. And now she blazes a trail to new milestones on an almost weekly basis. Yet having gone full-time with the IRFU, she’s not afraid to admit when she’s made a mistake

Sat, 21 Oct, 2017

Governance and results go hand in hand

During Jim Gavin’s presentation at Sport Ireland’s recent HPX Conference, the Dublin manager noted that there were “some competitors in the audience”, past and present, which probably explained why he was so big on philosophy but so scarce on actual detail, writes Kieran Shannon.

Wed, 18 Oct, 2017

What about the poor créatúrs?

Liam Moggan retired last month from his position with Coaching Ireland. Known as the ‘coach’s coach’, he worked with everyone from Billy Walsh to Brian Kerr to Éamonn Fitzmaurice. But he believes Ireland’s focus on elite sport at the expense of physical education means a generation of kids have been lost

Sat, 14 Oct, 2017

With Sarah Keane at the helm the OCI is a much less toxic brand

With Sarah Keane at the helm the OCI is a much less toxic and much more presentable brand, writes Kieran Shannon

Wed, 11 Oct, 2017

A bright future in hurling’s brave new world

When Special Congress passed the new hurling proposals last Saturday, it threw up all sorts of new challenges and opportunities that it may not even have thought about.

Wed, 04 Oct, 2017

There’s no acceptable cynicism. Let’s black ball the offenders

Back in 2004, long before several of Jack McCaffrey’s teammates hauled Mayo defenders to the ground to prevent them from receiving a kickout in the closing moments of an All-Ireland final, his father Noel, along with some other eminent academic colleagues, conducted a study into the attitudes of Irish athletes towards cheating.

Wed, 27 Sep, 2017