Eimear Ryan: Facing the new year with the energy of the eternal GAA optimist
NEW YEAR NEW HOPE: Tipperary’s Michael Breen and Pauric Campion with Stephen Bennett of Waterford during Tuesday night's Munster Hurling League clash. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
One of my favourite new year activities is populating the diary. This might be my Virgo organisational tendencies coming to the fore, but there’s something about a brand-new unmarked Moleskine that you then get to scrawl all over with dates to look forward to in the new year. A big part of this operation, in the quiet early days of January, is sporting events. With two World Cups in 2023 – rugby and women’s soccer – at which Ireland have skin in the game, you’d be champing at the bit.
But for GAA people, these tournaments are not the main event. Exciting novelties, sure; something to dive into obsessively for a month or so before migrating back to the meat and drink of hurling and football. And so I’ve carefully inked into my brand-new diary all the fixtures, both league and championship, of my native county Tipperary – and with the energy of the eternal optimist, the dates for the Munster final and the All-Ireland qualifiers too. No one wants to be finished up in May; as we speak, I’m burning some sage that Tipp’s 2023 season is more successful than the last.
