Larry Ryan: This looks like being the year of controvassy

They are calling it the year of the rabbit but I think we already know this is going to be the year of controvassy. A year of festering disputes and rows rumbling on

FARRAGO: Katie Taylor has been denied the right to box in Croke Park. Pic: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Gaelic football might have got in first, but this weekend represents the traditional start of the Irish sporting year. The Six Nations and the hurling getting underway at the same time. The yin and yang. A balanced diet. Perfect complements. No need to read into one, every moment of profound importance in the other. Nothing to be learned and no end of learnings. One with a trophy for nearly everyone, the other where nobody wants to win anything.

From here, the year should proceed along established lines. The League of Ireland crowd will ride in, on high horses. ‘The Irish’ will raid Cheltenham. The hurling will restart proper, after these controlled doses, in a welter of savage hunger. The football will meander along, Kerry pleading for a test.