Columns - Irish Examiner

Mike Quirke

Where has this version of Cork been for so long?

Donncha O’Connor has been one of the very best forwards Cork has produced in the past 25 years, but he has always been an underappreciated footballer, writes Mike Quirke.

Tue, 25 Jul, 2017

A leaf we can all take from Dublin’s coaching book

Winning hasn’t softened them an inch, writes Mike Quirke. Getting their weekly pre-planned meals and sponsored this and that hasn’t quenched their thirst for success and their edge is as sharp as it ever was.

Tue, 18 Jul, 2017

Rugby falls short to Gaelic football and hurling in skills department

When I was a young fella, the local rugby boys came calling to my house. They had spotted the big body and wanted to get me up training and turn me into the next Mick Galwey, writes Mike Quirke

Tue, 11 Jul, 2017

How can you buy into a Cork football culture if there isn’t one?

I walked out of Fitzgerald Stadium after watching Kerry trounce Cork not knowing what to think.

Tue, 04 Jul, 2017

Jim Gavin’s first proper gaffe comes after mesmeric win

Gavin stood up for Diarmuid Connolly but it was the player’s own actions which got him suspended, writes Mike Quirke.

Tue, 27 Jun, 2017

Football is evolving - not dying

Novelist Mark Twain had set off on a speaking tour around the world back in the 1890s to raise money to cover a raft of debt he had built up in his native United States.

Tue, 20 Jun, 2017

Let the young lads off... they’ll find their way back

It’s that time of year again. College exams are over. The provincial championships are well underway, and that means the GAA clubs of Ireland being decimated by America.

Tue, 13 Jun, 2017

Players in need of education, not condemnation, in drug debate

A proper educational process could have spared Brendan O’Sullivan the reputational damage he and his family have endured for nothing more than a poorly thought out mistake, writes Mike Quirke.

Tue, 06 Jun, 2017

Someone needs to join the dots in Cork or it’ll be a short summer

It seems like a lifetime ago Cork football was riding the crest of a wave after winning the All-Ireland title in 2010, followed up by five Munster U21 titles in the next seven years, writes Mike Quirke.

Tue, 30 May, 2017