No one knows why good teams go bad, but they do. The Irish rugby team, for example, who, within the space of a year went from being very good to being really not very good at all.

Rory Gallagher has been ratified as the new manager of the Derry senior football team.

Not for the first time, Gavin referred to a specific question in a general sense but is not ruling anything in or out for the St Vincent’s man.

The star of Stephen Kenny’s Ireland U21 soccer team, Connor Ronan, has assured Ireland fans that he has no intention of emulating Declan Rice by defecting to his homeland, England.

“For us we would certainly encourage the genuine supporter not to lose faith with the team; the team will definitely turn up in Japan,” said the Irish rugby team’s coach, Joe Schmidt, in a press conference after the loss to Wales in Cardiff last weekend.

After a year of turbulence and triumph for the Irish women’s team, skipper Katie McCabe is relishing the chance to make history in 2018.

A couple of months after Martin O’Neill took a sabbatical from football management to help look after his then ill wife Geraldine, this writer interviewed someone who had played minor inter-county Gaelic football with one of O’Neill’s great foot soldiers at Parkhead, Neil Lennon.

Update: In a statement today the Galway Camogie Board said they did not believe Galway Camogie was best served by "indulging in a public spat with an ex-manager or his backroom team."

Karl Lacey has announced this evening that he is retiring from the Donegal Senior football team.

Templeogue were crowned Men’s Super League champions following a thrilling 96-93 win over Garvey’s Tralee Warriors at a packed Oblate Hall in Inchicore on Saturday night.

There you go, that’s now a headline, you win 2016. Apparently Members of parliament in Russia want to ban Fifa unless the game is changed.

Team Ambassador UCC Glanmire were given a mighty scare before prevailing over WIT Wildcats 61-56 in the Women’s National Cup.

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UCC Demons stunned a fancied Griffith Swords Thunder 90-74 in yesterday’s thrilling Men’s Super League tie at the Mardyke Arena.

Another Team GB athlete has become a victim of crime in Rio during the Olympic Games as incidents continue to mount.

An Irish woman is among a BBC team expelled from North Korea for what is been described as "disrespectful reporting".

Cork woman Gemma Crowley is the Team Services Manager at the Rugby World Cup for Ireland’s Pool D. She offers an insight into some of the logistics that have gone into planning England 2015...

A loving mother of two killed in the Tunisia beach massacre will be remembered for her goodness and kindness, her funeral Mass has heard.

TOM McGlinchey was 28 — “just a baby,” he says — when he was appointed manager of the Tipperary football team in 2000.

Two prospects from the US ski team have been killed in an avalanche while skiing near their European training base in the Austrian Alps.

This adorable canine is well hard, and has a loyal heart to boot.

Arthur was a bedraggled, hungry stray when a kindly stranger offered him a meatball. The man was Mikael Lindnord and he was leading a team in one of sport’s toughest challenges.

Cork has taken the first steps towards twinning with Liverpool.

Aoife ní Mhaoileoin is preparing to sail 2,400 miles across the Pacific in a boat with no engine and no sail, writes Claire Droney.

Last week I was in an audience listening to Sonia O’Sullivan discuss her Olympic silver medal.

So, Stoke City footballer, Stephen Ireland, is being considered for a return to the Ireland international team.

An Irish woman really has a handle on things as she joins the first all-female team to row across the Pacific Ocean this summer.

Team Garveys (Kerry) 38 Team Titans (Galway) 36

The Minister of State for Tourism and Sport confirmed €2 million of the monies cut from the sports budget earlier this year has been returned to the sector for use at grass roots and elite levels.

Jack O’Connor’s ratification as manager of the Kerry minor football team for the next two years met with an unprecedented challenge from the floor last night when Kenmare delegate Michael Carey and his Kilgarvan counterpart Tom Randles objected to the recommendation of the executive and maintained the outgoing manager, Mickey ‘Ned’ O’Sullivan, should be re-appointed.

Naomi Campbell's ex-boyfriend is reportedly dating her protégé.

Liverpool have stressed Luis Suarez is not for sale and that they expect him to honour his contract with the club.

Tara Reid allegedly had a meltdown in a Los Angeles boutique.

UL Huskies 93 Team Montenotte Hotel Cork 78

AVERY busy year is expected by Fantom, a Dublin technology company that has developed online digital sticker albums, a 21st century version of collectible trading cards.

Jimmy’s winning matches with incremental marginal gains

Two of the Nivea for Men’s SuperLeague powerhouses will go head to head tomorrow as last season’s league finalists, DCU Saints and UL Eagles, meet at DCU (7pm).

Clive Woodward has announced he is to leave the British Olympic Association after six years with the organisation.

John Joe Nevin believes his failure to finish school prevented him from winning an Olympic gold medal.