He won’t get the kind of send-off we’re used to or that he deserves, writes Kieran Shannon.

IT’S March now, which in recent years has invariably meant a dramatic conclusion to Irish basketball’s men’s SuperLeague, just as April always guarantees us unmissable theatre in the form of a Sunday in Augusta.

All through last summer, while the indefatigable Mark Tighe kept breaking stories highlighting the scale of the incompetence and mismanagement of the FAI, there was another weekly occurrence in another sport.

At this stage, it’s probably a rite of passage for one of Philly McMahon, James McCarthy, Ciarán Kilkenny, Kevin McManamon, or Paddy Andrews to haze new recruits with tales of the bad old days.

Because of what was happening out in Tallaght over the weekend, this piece was always likely to be about basketball, and then a certain event in California last Sunday confirmed it could be about nothing else.

As Irish basketball celebrates its 75th anniversary and hosts another Cup finals weekend, Kieran Shannon speaks to several key figures in the game about its overall health

Last weekend, Slaughtneil and Tooreen, those oases in the hurling wastelands of Derry and Mayo, emerged from the shadows and into the limelight

While on this island we were debating whether Rory, Katie or maybe Paul O’Donovan was our outstanding sportsperson of the decade, the Associated Press gave itself the rather grander task of identifying the finest athlete in the whole world over the same timespan.

Rory McIlroy is by a distance the Irish sportsperson of the decade, writes Kieran Shannon.

Readers of this column know what they can find here is a long-term and, we hope, healthy scepticism of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA).

Now that it’ll be yellow from next summer on, the sliotar should be a lot easier to track — but even with the advent of such a smart ball, there’s probably an even smarter solution when another Brian Hogan incident arises.

When the Dublin footballers continuously speak about the ‘culture’ that Pat Gilroy changed and established and that Jim Gavin then perfected, they rarely go into detail while knowing the secret of winning and Gavin was in the detail.

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.

Ireland legend Jamie Heaslip was never one to take a backward step during an illustrious playing career — and it’s an approach he continues to take as he creates a life outside rugby

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All-Ireland winner Bryan Sheehan on learning the art of free-taking from Maurice Fitzgerald and why Kerry football is in a good place, despite the exodus of its All-Ireland winning stars.

So that’s nearly Wednesday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

When Paddy Stapleton’s family were confronted with a crisis last autumn, he found he could call on old teammates — and some old adversaries — for support.

I remember a time when a wrapper was something that covered a bar of chocolate.

Selector. Coach. Friend. Many words can be used to describe Seoirse Bulfin’s relationship with Davy Fitzgerald since they first met in 2003. And after helping steer Wexford to tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final, he hopes there is another chapter to write

Leading sport psychologist Kate Kirby talks to Kieran Shannon about what it takes to have a winning mentality.

So John Horan will hardly countenance splitting Dublin, but he is happy to divide Cork.

I must say I really enjoyed it. I mean, I had my doubts about the standard of play initially, and unfortunately there are always going to be mismatches in the early stages.

Republic of Ireland defender Louise Quinn has been one of the punditry stars of a groundbreaking World Cup for women's football. But she won't be satisfied until she has starred in one on the pitch. The Arsenal stalwart won't back away from a challenge, having had to completely change her playing style to become an integral part of a star-studded multinational side now chasing Champions League glory.

The joy and release of Limerick’s All-Ireland win and the pain of his sister’s passing last year have changed Joe Quaid’s outlook on life.

Until he stepped out of a Cork dressing room for the last time, at 37, Donncha O’Connor was a symbol of Rebel defiance.

There’s a strange feeling that comes over you when you stand on the first tee of a golf course, especially when you’re only a beginner in the game and playing with people you don’t really know.

For 20 years Michael Corcoran has been working in RTÉ, covering and commentating on the Irish provinces’ exploits in Europe, writes Kieran Shannon.

The plight of club players was front and centre once more this week when Cork delegates debated radical new championship structures.

Five decades after sitting into a radio studio for the first time, Seán Bán Breathnach remains as enthusiastic and animated as ever on the national airwaves

This is a story of a Cork schoolboy, though not the one we’ll begin with.