Just a couple of weeks back, a trip through the Far East happened to briefly coincide with a trip by Barcelona through the same part of the world.

As a player, Daithí Regan was a force to be reckoned with, and as an analyst, the Offaly man is proving equally formidable. But there’s a deeper, reflective side to Regan the public rarely gets to see

It took just a few sentences, but in those few seconds Jimmy McGuinness managed to depressingly sum up the next three months.

Reared in a UDA stronghold Carl Frampton is, by some distance, Ireland’s best chance of a world title next year. Sportswriter of the Year Ewan MacKenna spent the day with him in Tiger’s Bay, the Belfast enclave he is changing with every punch.

Eamon Dunphy believes Giovanni Trapattoni will select younger players for the upcoming friendly against Greece, but that the Republic of Ireland manager will revert to established senior players for the vital qualifier against Sweden next March because the Italian “is not going to change” his conservative philosophy.

Some Sunday in early Jul 2014, the World Cup will be held aloft, but it won’t be the only seismic event in sport that day — Bill O’Herlihy will be vacating his anchorman’s chair for good.

The standard of sports writing in the Irish Examiner has been recognised by the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) awards for the second successive year.

Irish Examiner sports writer Ewan MacKenna has been named as Sports Reporter of the Year at the annual National Newspapers of Ireland awards ceremony in Dublin yesterday.

2011 saw Conor Niland on the crest of a wave with qualification for Wimbledon and the US Open, however, the reality of daily life on the professional tennis tour can be far from glamorous. Ewan MacKenna reports.

READING Sport On The Fringes, the marvellous three-part series by Ewan MacKenna in this paper this week, you were reminded that some people need sport more than others, that some people deserve sport more, not just for its medals and its rewards and its glory, but to give them something to dream about when troubled heads find a pillow.

SOBER-AGAIN boxer Kenny Egan has admitted his toughest battle is still outside the ring as he is tormented by urges to hit the bottle.

Ewan MacKenna on the controversial axing of Donegal footballer Kevin Cassidy

The story of a GAA star's battle against his gambling addiction was today announced as a contender for a major book award.