SPORTS COLUMNISTS
JOHN DIVILLY: Long and hard road to All-Star fame
Over 1,000 senior inter-county football players set their personal and team goals at the start of each season.
More
LARRY RYAN: Still time for Rugby Country to make that call
Acloud of confusion settled over Rugby Country this week, its people truly baffled by the notion of choosing somebody for a job purely on merit.
More
LIAM MACKEY: Benno’s drive to inspire the City pathway
There are veterans and then there are footballing veterans. At the ripe young age of 36, Alan Bennett chuckles when this ageing correspondent’s dodgy back elicits an involuntary groan as I attempt to sit down beside him.
More
BRENDAN O'BRIEN: Magic of cup not felt by all
Seamus O’Brien was barely a teenager when his brother Pascal arrived back home from seminary one time to usher him and another brother Brendan out the door and on to a train bound for Kingsbridge Station in Dublin.
RONAN O'GARA: 30,000 capacity indoor stadium is like nothing like U have seen before
Given how precious and frail dressing-room confidence can be, you’ll take all the positive bounces you can get, even if they are not of your making.
More
PAUL ROUSE: Super 11s Boston junket in tune with the age of spin
The assault on the importance of language and facts continues apace. Propagandists are not new to our world, but their capacity to spread their message is now much greater than before.
More
ANTHONY DALY: The clean sweep should have brought Galway another All-Star gong
Halloween is about the odd fright and this All-Star selection has a nice few talking points.
More
DONAL LENIHAN: If Simon Zebo is flying in 2019, why shouldn’t he go to Japan?
If the 2015 World Cup taught us anything, it is that we need a depth of top-quality players in every position to make it to the last four, something no Irish side has yet achieved, writes Donal Lenihan.
More
KIERAN SHANNON: What will management teams make of new fixtures order?
How inter-county management teams plan for the changes will be among the most intriguing aspects of the whole new ball game that will be Championship 2018, writes Kieran Shannon.
More
DONAL LENIHAN: World Cup bid already looks holed below the waterline
What a disaster. Ireland’s race to host the 2023 World Cup exclusively in this country is, on the face of it, all but run before even reaching the starting line of World Rugby’s council vote in London on November 15, writes Donal Lenihan.
More
JOHN FOGARTY: The All-Stars system explained
So which of the two goalkeepers shortlisted for footballer of the year candidates is going to lose out on a PwC All-Star? How many if any footballers outside of Dublin and Mayo will make the 15? Might Mayo even boast the biggest representation? Doesn’t anyone realise that Colm Cavanagh, James McCarthy and Tom Parsons can’t all be selected in midfield?
More
THE SECRET FOOTBALLER: It stinks of robotics but Jose still programmes winners
Our man inside the game has grudging respect for Mourinho’s joyless anti-football
More
MICHAEL MOYNIHAN: Stranger things we would never have predicted
A person known to me was counting down the days for quite a while until the moment arrived last week: Stranger Things 2 was released.
More