Paul Rouse is an accidental academic, but a fascination with history deepened into a passion when it merged with his love of sport. His new book, ‘The Hurlers’, charts the birth of the modern game in that first All-Ireland final 131 years ago. He marvels at what a few visionary hurling men gave the country, but can’t help think that hurling has since failed at least half that country

A former Cork city-centre hotel, with a 207-year pedigree on St Patrick’s St, is to be partly demolished and redeveloped for high-end shops use, possibly with an appeal to the likes of Zara.

Parents and front-line services dread the binge boozing of October 31, but we are all culpable in subtly encouraging the young to partake, says psychotherapist Richard Hogan

Women’s Gaelic football has made huge strides but even more must be made before there is equality, writes Paul Rouse.

In the theatre of war of the turbulent years from 1919 to 1921, Cork was the main act, writes John Borgonovo

The Prince of Wales stressed the possibilities inherent in breaking down barriers on a Northern Ireland visit that took in a cross border hospital and a centre dedicated to one of his favourite poets.

Forgotten Patriot is the story of Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland under the 1937 Constitution. He founded the Gaelic League in 1893 and was therefore responsible for the “cultural proselytising from which Irish sovereignty flowed,” according to Brian Murphy.

Páraic Duffy has urged urge Tipperary County Board delegates to back his proposals to revamp the All-Ireland senior football championship.

Sunday’s Division 1 and 2 finals double-header could challenge the record attendance for a National Football League fixture. The largest crowd stands at 81,678 for the 2007 Division 1 opener between Dublin and then All-Ireland champions Tyrone when Croke Park’s floodlights were debuted.

John Borgonovo explores the political landscape in Cork in the years preceding the 1916 Rising

Literature, Gaelic games, and Irish classes were all activities in the early 1900s of the young nationalists who would later rally around the Rebellion, writes John Gibney.

The last chance to hit the dance floor at a hotel that hosted top political figures in Irish history takes place this weekend, as the new owner sells off its contents.

THE Gaelic Athletic Association is one of the great organisations in this country. 

The GAA’s first female chairman was elected in an historic move last night when Roisin Jordan landed the top job in Tyrone.

Ireland’s all-island bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 will be impossible to resist, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted.

You may or may not have heard the news about Cricket Ireland’s rather stunning sponsorship coup earlier this week.

Sport has always played an important role in Irish life. The establishment of the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884 and the Gaelic League in 1893 have often been credited with inspiring the movement that led to Irish independence.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has described country superstar Garth Brooks’ decision to pull out of a comeback special expected to pump millions into the country’s recovering economy this month as a shock to the system.

The Gaelic Athletic Association and Croke Park Stadium has said it shares the “intense disappointment” that there will now be no Garth Brooks shows at the home of the GAA.

A comeback extravaganza by country superstar Garth Brooks has been called off after residents around the stadium objected to the five-night run.

When Michael Cusack founded the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884 he had two main aims: to re-establish hurling as the national game and to promote athletics throughout the country.

There are deals and there are deals. In my view life is all about dealing.

From next month to September, 45 Championship games will be shown live on TV.

Another long trip to the Irish Parliament in Kildare Street, in a last-gasp bid to save the rural post office.

A Co Cork-born man is spearheading a campaign in America’s third largest state to have the Irish Famine put on its schools’ curriculum.

Forging a Kingdom: The GAA in Kerry, 1884-1934

Northern Ireland chiefs have poured cold water on a proposal by Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny for an all-Ireland soccer team.

Dublin's Kevin O'Brien has successfully appealed his three-match ban for allegedly biting Donegal's Paddy McBrearty during the sides' recent Allianz Football League match in Ballybofey.

Dublin manager Jim Gavin insists the Paddy McBrearty bite saga hasn’t affected his side’s Allianz Football League final preparations.

Alcohol sponsorship of sport will be seen as a crazy idea in 15 years, a public health specialist has warned today.

JIM Gavin has called on the GAA to make racist abuse a 12-month suspension offence and take a zero tolerance stance against spitting and sledging.

Fifteen miles of countryside separate the towns of Gort and Loughrea in Co Galway.

Why would between four and five thousand people turning up in Ballyconnell in Co Cavan last weekend to support a family who by their own admission tried, and are still trying, to hide assets from the State — in effect, from the taxpayer?

The Taoiseach said there must be “clear divisions” between public representatives and matters before the court after comments by Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly about bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn angered party colleagues.

Former tycoon Sean Quinn has denied his gamble on shares in the former Anglo Irish Bank collapsed the rogue lender and Ireland’s banking system.

Bankrupt billionaire Sean Quinn has insisted he does not know the whereabouts of his on-the-run nephew, who has been pictured in his native Fermanagh.

Seanie Johnston is unlikely to play for Kildare this year after the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee yesterday turned down his transfer request to St Kevin’s, Staplestown.

Four major sporting governing bodies have signed up to a new Government plan to develop the National Sports Campus at Abbottstown in Blanchardstown, with work set to start this year, Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar announced today.

GAA Director General Páraic Duffy has warned the Association is heading towards professionalism if it doesn’t address the issue of unregulated payments to county and club managers.

The Gaelic Athletic Association is the most successful sporting organisation on this island. It has provided state-of-the-art sporting facilities for generations, especially in areas where no other facilities were available.