Offaly’s slide from football superpower to forgotten backwater has happened, for the most part, on the fringes of the wider consciousness but the county’s parlous state has been framed in a sharper focus of late.

Irish Sports Council chairman Kieran Mulvey describes his role as the ‘best appointment in Irish public life’. But it is not without its challenges.

THE demise of pensioner Michael Faherty, who died at his house in Galway just before last Christmas, was unique in Irish history.

CLARE club Kilmaley have demanded an explanation from GAA President Christy Cooney as to why they failed to receive one of 10 €25,000 Strategic Infrastructure Funding Programme grants allocated at a recent Clare county board meeting from the monies the county received from the financial dividend of opening Croke Park to soccer and rugby since 2007.

ALMOST two million Irish vehicle owners will soon be able to renew their motor tax online.