Columns - Irish Examiner

Liam Mackey

Chelsea FC v FC Porto - UEFA Champions League

Time to play 'spot the underdog' in this crazy Premier League season

You don’t hear a lot about ‘The Tinkerman’ anymore. But then you don’t hear much about ‘The Special One’ either.  

Sat, 12 Dec, 2015

A night to forget as Louis van Gaal plan unravels again

Manchester United’s swash has well and truly buckled.

Wed, 09 Dec, 2015

Memories of the pressing game with Con Houlihan

Just when you think you’ve heard all the Con Houlihan stories, along comes one from way back in the day about the time he and sportswriting colleague David Faiers were in Paris for France versus Ireland in the rugby.

Sat, 05 Dec, 2015

Faraway hills happily greener since Euro qualification

What a difference qualification makes. 

Sat, 28 Nov, 2015

A time to laugh, a time to cry amid football's triumph and tragedy

The final whistle had barely blown in the Aviva on Monday night when a colleague in the press box received a text from a family member: “F**k Isis – I’m going to France!”

Sat, 21 Nov, 2015

A hotel room with a view into Bosnia's war-torn history

Warmth of reception at Holiday Inn makes up for lack of heating in a hotel that used to be regularly hit by shells and peppered with bullets throughout the bloody three-year siege of Sarajevo, writes Liam Mackey.

Sat, 14 Nov, 2015

Shamrock Rovers the greatest FAI Cup team of all

With an incredible total of 24 FAI Cup final victories, Shamrock Rovers have a sense of ownership of the trophy, writes Liam Mackey

Sat, 07 Nov, 2015

Normal one meets abnormal one

If Liverpool hadn’t come back from the dead to perform ‘The Miracle Of Istanbul’ in 2005, a lot of my friends or perhaps, more accurately, former friends, would have been mercifully spared my patented ‘Did you know I was there?’ juggernaut riff, a sort of journalistic equivalent of ‘Smoke On The Water’. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times. And, trust me, you’ll hear it again. (Still, it could be worse for the hearers – imagine if I lived in Milan).

Sat, 31 Oct, 2015

Where do Dundalk stand among all-time greatest?

Where does this Dundalk side rank in the pantheon?

Fri, 30 Oct, 2015

Martin O’Neill backing his lucky number ahead of Euro 16 showdown

So what’s the story with Martin O’Neill and the number 31?

Sat, 24 Oct, 2015