Education Minister Joe McHugh recently overruled the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and made sure that History was not an optional subject for the new Junior cycle.
It is beginning to feel that I am writing obituaries just as much as I'm writing about football.
This is club time. Not the artificially contrived month of April when the Junior B man has not surfaced after the winter. Those men of the...
There are several carts being put before horses at the moment. We will soon be making a decision about a second tier football competition while at the same time a fixtures review committee is...
When I read last week that a gold toilet worth £5million was stolen from Blenheim Palace in London, I thought it must be the GAA who...
I have to admit I got it badly wrong last Sunday. I genuinely thought there would be the semblance of a contest in Omagh between two fairly strong teams. Instead, it was the farce of all farces.
Just as well Dublin only played for the second half or this would have been a right massacre. In the first half they were tied up by Mayo and were a bit fortunate to get to the break only two down. They were outfought by Mayo, who engaged with unrelenting ferocity. They stripped the ball from Dublin frequently in the tackle and were calm and measured in their approach. This despite Robbie Hennelly giving the Mayo supporters the shivers on kick-outs and anytime he had the ball in his hands. The main Dublin players were being limited to bit parts. Paddy Durcan was magnificent...
There seems to be a fair bit of debate about how competitive today's game between Tyrone and Dublin will be. If you put out a group of young lads to play a friendly match against each other it will usually start like that but normally finishes as something else entirely. Even in the youngest there is an urge to be the best. Only losers accept losing.
If this game was going to advertise Kerry's All-Ireland credentials then their supporters should resist the urge to rush to the local bookies to back their team. They performed like a side who always felt that they were going to win and there was little urgency in their play for most of the game.
This weekend is a time to draw breath after a hectic few weeks.
First of all, it is hard to credit how or why Galway and Mayo would not toss for home venue last night. Surely Galway having won home and away in...
This was not a game in the proper sense of the word. The match was over after 20 minutes and Tyrone played out time thereafter. Cavan were...
Páirc Uí Chaoimh is a very nice stadium. That is the first thing I should say about it after months...
Mousetrap, Phantom of the Opera and Mayo, the longest running sagas of modern history.
Some hope at last for Cork football. After last year's humiliation - when they were beaten by 17 points - they found that this team does have heart and spirit. In the end, they were a little...
In the boxing world the challenger never lets the champion get off the ropes. Kerry found that out yesterday. In the drawn match Dublin showed that they certainly don't have a glass chin. They fought manically to save their crown in the last 10 minutes and they were a lot sharper from the very beginning yesterday.
A drawn All-Ireland final leads to a myriad of emotions. Relief, disappointment and - for the players who played badly - worry.
Today could be one of those days. It may not rank in world affairs like the bombing of Pearl Harbour or Neil Armstrong walking on the moon but in this small tip of the world a group of men have the chance to make history. That thought can weigh heavily on some, yet in Dublin's case it appears as if the prospect excites rather than daunts them.
The week before an All-Ireland final has probably not changed very much in 30 years. I played in four finals and a replay and, basically, the routine remained the same.
Now is a time for calm reflection before the final. For two counties, it's a rest period of two weeks; for the others, the long dark winter must be negotiated before hostilities resume.
The Super 8 should always throw up a couple of great contests and so we have Kerry against Donegal today and Dublin against Tyrone in Omagh next week.
There wasn't much that was super about Dublin's latest Croke Park massacre. Luckily for the GAA, Dublin play such attractive football that the supporters still turn up in big numbers.
The games go on. From a kind of league format in the provincial championship where there was always the second chance saloon, to a knockout system in the qualifiers, and now back to a league in the Super 8 and then back again to knockout in the semi final and final. It's all very confusing. Tyrone set a record last year in that they lost three championship matches. Anyway, it is all academic as Sherlock Holmes might say, because whoever wins won't worry about the hoops they have had to jump through.
The first half in Dr Hyde Park was one of cat and mouse. Both sides took turns at being the cat as each gave up the kick-outs and then tried to break through the massed ranks of defenders.
This year, for me, marks 40 years of being involved in education as a teacher, deputy principal and, for the past 12 years, as principal of a secondary school with over 900 students.
The contrast between Cavan and Meath is startling. I was in Cavan during the week and took a drive around the town. It seemed every shop, filling station, school, house and business premises had the blue and white on display. Even bus stops had Cavan flags, while there were signs along the roads from the clubs wishing their men well. A great football county with a glorious history embracing...
The announcement last weekend of the GAA's new task force to review the fixtures calendar was a bit like Government strategy of releasing bad news at a time when there was so much happening that nobody would notice.
There is a bit of a debate at the moment about tactics and players and which should shape the other. Before last week I thought Tyrone were not using their key players to full effect when they persisted with a system which employed a small man up front and a hand-passing game from back to front. It meant defensive stability and very little kicking.
History will be made in Croke Park today when Stephen Cluxton is handed the number one jersey.
The idea of a B and maybe even a C championship is gaining traction. John Horan has at last grabbed the bull by the horns and is going to make an attempt to lead change rather than just hope it will happen.
The idea of a B and maybe even a C championship is gaining traction. John Horan has at last grabbed the bull by the horns and is going to make an attempt to lead change rather than just hope it will happen.
If you want a great contest and are not too worried about great football, then last Sunday's game between Down and Armagh is the sort of championship match we need more of.
It was a beautiful day in Navan last Sunday for Meath and Offaly's championship clash. It was, though, a poor match. Offaly had more possession, more scoring chances and the better players on the day and must be still wondering how they lost.
So The Blue Panther has passed on. It's hard to credit that age and infirmity can catch up with even the greatest. And make no mistake, Anton O'Toole was a great footballer in a great team. He did his talking on the field and was low profile off it. In a team of well-known players and characters, Tooler was as good as any of them, but was never interested in the sideshows that fame can...
The tightening of the championship schedule means a famine in April and a glut of fixtures this weekend, with seven football championship matches taking place. Leaving April free has made no major difference as county boards could have used this month for clubs anyway. The GAA disappeared in terms of profile and a lot of games will go ahead without much publicity as there is only so much space in print, while other counties will get about three minutes on TV tonight. It is hardly the best way to promote the game.
I was a little surprised at the reaction to Eugene McGee's passing last weekend. Surprised in a nice way, that is, because I feared his achievements might have faded from the collective memory. It was good to see that people remember and appreciate his contribution to the GAA, to rural Ireland and to society.
The championship is starting with a big bang this year. Well, not really, it's more of a whimper if the truth be told. Mayo take on New York, a mismatch at Gaelic Park in the Bronx, and it will be similar in London where Galway play the hosts in McGovern Park.
Most people have never heard of CCS - Coronary Calcium Scoring. Maybe everyone should familiarise themselves with it, as it is a test that could save lives in middle-aged men and women. That is the passionate view of David Bobbett, a very successful businessman from Meath who founded Irish Heart Disease Awareness, a charity which is trying to make people aware of a test which could save lives.
A bit like a political party before a general election, the GAA launched its manifesto last week, except without all the press in attendance.
What about these Kerry jerseys? This new psychedelic design is hard on the eyes. Paul Galvin is the man responsible for a rig-out that looks more suitable for a local disco.
After 13 minutes the game looked over for Donegal. Meath were sharp and kicking accurately into Mickey Newman, who was making hay.
Tyrone graduated from the school of slow learners last weekend with their best performance for almost a decade. The penny finally dropped - management seem to have realised that they were not getting the most out of their players.
This is a game which should be watched. Unless I get it badly wrong - which has been known to happen - today's All-Ireland club final will be one of those games when everyone will say afterwards, 'why isn't football always played like this?'
A couple of years ago I was back in Leitrim with my brothers. It was a visit to where we had come from over 50 years ago. My older brothers had won senior championships with Aughavas in the 1960s.
When I heard last week that a Russian, Victor Bayda, had been appointed as the Irish language planning officer by Udaras na Gaeltachta for the Kerry Gaeltacht, I wondered if this was some elaborate joke to give Irish a bit of prominence.
Anyone who reads this column regularly probably understands that I am loathe to jump to conclusions on the basis of one or two matches. Turning a county's fortunes around takes time and there are plenty of bumps in the road in attempting to do so. That was never more clear than last week in Croke Park when Mayo came with confidence to take on Dublin. They arrived with their...
There was an All-Ireland final played last Wednesday night in Portlaoise. It was a very well-kept secret, but a few hundred got to know about it. This was the final of the Sigerson Cup, which used to be one of the most prestigious competitions in the land; now, alas, it is almost like the Railway Cup.
The depths to which football has plunged was summed up by the reaction to the Kerry-Dublin game last weekend. Yes, it was good, and both sides went at it hard, but it was talked up into something more than it was. Epic battles only happen when there is a bit more at stake. Maybe it is a natural reaction when there are so few good games. The weekend was balanced by all the other Division 1 matches ranging from poor to rotten (in the case of Galway v Monaghan). So thank God for small mercies.
The image going around on WhatsApp last week showing Páirc Uí Chaoimh as the venue for the 2019 Ploughing Championships was a bit harsh. In their hour of greatest embarrassment, Cork didn't need their noses rubbed in it even more.
Winter arrived just in time for the League. MacHale Park in Castlebar was buffeted by an Atlantic storm last weekend which made scoring almost impossible into the wind. A crowd of around 10,000 was impressive in the circumstances.
For such a wonderful organisation, generally run by clever people, the GAA has a great capacity to shoot itself in the foot, sometimes with both barrels.
When I saw that Cork County Board had a plan for football I thought it was worth reading, if only because there has been little evidence of a plan with anything they have been doing for the last ten years, apart from staggering around like a drunk in the dark without even a lamp post to lean on or pee against.
While I was taking a couple of weeks off there must have an annual general meeting of the County Managers' Association. That is a joke in case some of the managers don't get it as many of them seem unable to laugh at themselves or anything else and take everything too seriously. Obviously the chief recommendation to emerge from the group think was that the proposed new rules were to be...
It's hard to end the year on a bum note, but necessary all the same.
Mullinalaghta... Mullinalaghta. A week ago most people could not spell or pronounce Mullinalaghta. If a week is a long time in politics then an hour can change the face of football.
So the GPA have thrown the toys out of the pram again. They were not happy that the GAA decided to go ahead with experiments on rule changes. This despite having their own representative, David Collins, on the committee.
How has your club progressed in the last ten years? Can you remember? Has it regressed? Where would you like it to be in another ten years? Most, of course, would answer in terms of championships won, increased membership and improved facilities. Few though have any strategic plan of how they expect to carry out this journey.
We have to talk about Dublin and by extension, everywhere else. That causes complications. It elicits a strong response from the normal quarters so it is difficult to make any case without the debate turning into something unintended.
A man can't take a week off without a bit of controversy . . . and I thought nobody cared too much about the All Stars any more.
The hot summer seems to have driven sensible young men to distraction. We had a pitched battle and a pitch battle between Armagh and Tyrone under 20s in June and the disease has spread far and wide.
This time of year is for thinking - new structures, new rules, men with missions. This year the pace of change seems to be gathering momentum. The penny has dropped and people see that the football ship is heading for the rocks. To mix metaphors even more, there is nothing to concentrate the mind like a hanging, and falling crowds means less revenue, less TV money and loss of interest. That is why those in authority are thinking quickly.
It did not take long for managers and players to line up and cast doubts on the new rule proposals for Gaelic football. There wasn't outright condemnation from Malachy O'Rourke, the Monaghan manager, and others. It was more the killing-with-kindness approach.
The first consideration when changing any playing rule is to ask the obvious question: Is it idiot-proof? The game of football is played by many who do not know the rules in their present form, never mind the spectators who barely have a rough idea either. They know just enough (or little) to shout abuse at the referee.
It never rains but it pours in Tyrone. Hot on the heels of recent violent scenes in club football, Moy have asked for a further investigation into the Sean Cavanagh affair. It looks like this sleeping dog won't lie.
The reaction from most people to the GAA/GPA (are they not the same body now?) report, undertaken by the ESRI on the amount of time given up by inter-county players, is "so what?".
With everything cleared up on the county front it is going to be a long winter of discontent. I was never in favour of this new fad of a free April for clubs and the All-Ireland over so early. If the pope had not tied up Croke Park it would have all been done and dusted in August.
One of the strange things about some champions is that they become even more popular with success.
When the board went up near the end of last Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final announcing eight minutes of injury time, I could not help thinking of the previous week's football semi-final between Monaghan and Tyrone when there were only three minutes played. Of course there were more stoppages in the hurling game, but the discrepancy should not have been so great.
A gallant Monaghan reached the end of the line last weekend, while Galway limped home knowing that the progress they have made is still a mile short of the top. A new departure is needed for them with a different style and some changes in personnel. The good news for Galway is that there is definite potential in both areas.
You didn't have to be Einstein to figure out that Monaghan and Tyrone were going to be involved at the business end of the championship. The backdoor system suits the strong and has been reinforced by the new format this summer. As a result, Tyrone become the first team in history to reach an All-Ireland semi-final after losing two championship matches. Monaghan have lost one - that last-gasp defeat to Fermanagh in the Ulster semi-final.
It was always going to come to this. Tyrone and Donegal playing for a place in the semi-final and players would not be human if they did not think there was a real possibility of getting to the All-Ireland final as Dublin are on the other side of the draw.
The difference in mentality showed in Salthill last night. It was obvious from the start that Monaghan were standing on the trapdoor and they were not going to let Galway pull the lever. They were intent on denying Galway space up front and were very physical in their approach to the Galway ball carriers.
In the end sanity prevailed. The GAA hierarchy had impaled themselves on the sharpest hook and had to wriggle off. The outcome is an Irish solution to a GAA problem. A hurling match followed by a soccer match all under the umbrella of a charity event. No problem with the rules then.
The gloss on the Super 8 washed off a bit in the gloom and rain of Croke Park last Sunday and if Kerry and Kildare don’t win today there will be little enthusiasm for their dead rubber meeting in Killarney in a fortnight. Anyway, when it gets to this stage of the championship a defeat should mean the end of the season and if you beat Kerry once in Croke Park you should not have to live...
The battle of Omagh was exactly that. Even if it was relatively low scoring and there was little kicking, it was nonetheless intriguing as both sides tried to force their game on the other.
There was never any danger of Dublin losing last night - and a five-point margin flattered Donegal. There was more atmosphere in a morgue than there was in Croke Park for the last quarter.
After about ten minutes of the Roscommon-Armagh game RTÉ should have flashed up a warning to young people in particular, "do not adjust your sets". This was because there was a game of football that very few under the age of 40 had ever seen before. The ball was being kicked long, there were one-to-one situations when a back had to mark his man without any support and there were brilliant points being kicked from distance.
AT the end of the most controversial week of the GAA summer we got the first seismic shock of a championship that was stumbling along predictable lines. And maybe the saga inspired the greatest Kildare performance for a decade. Cian O’Neill had galvanised his county, but the pressure was on to get the players to perform.
If Thursday was the longest day of the year then this afternoon for Fermanagh and Laois is likely to be long, hot and uncomfortable.
Today the Connacht final takes place in Hyde Park in Roscommon. Proper order too. Any town that has been designated to hold a provincial final should host it, even if the crowd has to be slightly restricted. Local business deserves a big day too, as they support the GAA when things are very quiet.
This was no epic but nobody left Pairc Tailteann in Navan before half seven. It was exciting, close, a little short of quality and laced with plenty of controversy. Meath were denied a penalty early on and there were loud calls for a last-minute free which could have meant even more extra-time.
The world is changing. Carlow and Laois meet today in a Leinster semi-final while those who started out with greater aspirations fight through the back door. Of course the big dog looms, but for these counties it has been a spring of content - both promoted from the bottom division and now an even bigger day ahead for one.
Unlike last Sunday, there are three heavyweights in action today - Kerry, Monaghan, and Galway. All are long odds-on to win easily and the prize they are all looking to is the Super 8s. There are plenty of slip-ups still possible and they are not even all racing certainties but respective wins this afternoon puts them within touching distance of when the action really begins.
Galway continued their dominance over Mayo last Sunday, not only beating them but administering a right sickening one too. In the process, they pushed Mayo a step closer to the end and they did it in the most boring fashion as well.
Mayo and Galway meet today in what I can best describe as a proper championship match that could decorate Croke Park in August in a quarter or semi-final. Two teams who have ambitions - the first is to win today but the real bonus is to make the Super 8. Then the real fun begins.
Two teams going in opposite directions in the League meet today in the Ulster Championship - Donegal on the way down from Division 1 and Cavan jumping straight back up from Division 2. Yet the odds don't reflect this. Donegal are hot favourites and deservedly so. Their performances in the League hinted at a return to past glories even though they only got three points.
The tapes are up and the race is on. Maybe you have not noticed but the Connacht Championship starts today without a match in Ireland. Sligo are in McGovern Park in Ruislip to play London, and I emphasise McGovern Park as there are very few families who have contributed as much to the GAA in Dublin, Leitrim and London as this family has. Probably in a few other counties too.
By wiping out inter-county activity in April, the GAA has guaranteed that the sports pages and airwaves have had wall-to-wall coverage of rugby, through Leinster and Munster, and soccer's Champions League.
The great April debate rumbles on. I was surprised by the reaction to my column last Sunday although I shouldn't have been, because most people in the GAA identify and have greater loyalty to their club than county. It may appear different on the big days in Croke Park, but that's my belief. Anyway, the big gripe remains the same no matter where players are from - with a few exceptions.
It is gloomy mid-April and the sky is further darkened by the thousands of chickens coming home to roost. The great Ó Fearghaíl/Duffy initiative of giving April to the clubs is being shown up for what it always was - bluster. This, alongside the Sky deal, the Super 8s and the payout to the GPA is some legacy to leave the ordinary man. Of course, all the other major decision-making bodies of the GAA were complicit in these decisions - the blind leading the blind.
After surviving two matches in Croke Park last Sunday, I am ready for a re-enactment of Tom Crean's voyage to the Antarctic. Such was the bitter cold that everyone who attended both games should receive a free ticket for some upcoming game or maybe even the Rolling Stones concert - even if Mick Jagger might have trouble putting over a close-in free or getting through a blanket defence.
So it all ends today with two big games in Croke Park. In many ways the Division 2 final between Cavan and Roscommon will attract more interest. The Dubs might want to win the big games but league titles and Dublin are hardly rare currency while Galway's thoughts have already turned to Mayo in six weeks in Castlebar.
Sometimes I feel like a dog howling at the moon when it comes to the GAA. The last couple of weeks have thrown up a lot of issues which would test the patience of Job, a man noted for perseverance in the face of overwhelming hardship. The GAA has many of this type.
A long harsh winter drags into spring. When players wake up for an All-Ireland final they hope for good conditions. Yesterday, there was no kindness in the air and players could have been issued with long johns, woolly hats and gloves to keep out the biting cold. The small crowd deserved better too amid all the counter-attractions but at least they were rewarded with a game of skill which was...
You didn't have to work in the Met Office to predict that the GAA season was playing fast and loose with the weather - and the weather always wins.
Fifty years ago this week, Ireland invaded Australia. It was altogether a friendly move, by a Meath team who had taken up an invitation by an Aussie rules touring side who came to Ireland in October 1967. Meath, as All-Ireland champions, played the Australians in Croke Park before an attendance of 23,000 and that game marks the start of the football relationship between Ireland and Australia.
Hail the president. John Horan takes office to loud applause but the music has a habit of stopping quickly for those who attain high office. The problem is that no mortal can satisfy the competing forces that always exist within the GAA so a president has to make his mind up very quickly. Does he want to be a reformer who makes a lasting impression or king of the rubber chicken circuit where he gives the same bland speeches and is satisfied with being president as distinct from doing something as president?
When it was revealed in Roscommon that it was costing €15,000 per week to run the senior team, it just made everyone aware of the runaway train that county teams have become.
It was a tale of two venues last weekend, Dublin and Roscommon. Croke Park on a Saturday night is always worth a visit. The only thing that is stopping everyone shutting up shop and not bothering going to see the Dubs is the fact that they play such attractive football. Crowds still come to see them and 26,000 on a January night is a fair attendance.
If the ard-stiúrthóir's job is to point out problems in the GAA before riding off into the sunset then Páraic Duffy's final annual report sticks to script. Most people, though, are looking for solutions. Anyone who is vaguely familiar with the organisation knows the problems and is seeking guidance. It is not offered here.
A sporting highlight should be real.
There was a bit of reaction to last week's column in which I detailed the different kinds of managers patrolling the sidelines of our club games, so maybe it's time to look at some more of the characters who power the lights of the GAA. It could become a series, a bit like The Men Who Built America, but it might take Pat Shortt a while to make it up.
The GAA is the most wonderful way to study a vast range of human behaviours — sometimes in the same person during the same game. There are, however, vast differences between the people involved in this wonderful game. Here are some of the principal characters.
If there is a debate in science about which came first, the chicken or the egg, there can be a similar debate in football about which comes first, success at adult level or underage victories propelling adult teams to glory.
In a series which went largely unnoticed in this country and in Australia, there were still important questions to be answered.
At this time of year there is a good chance to take stock and cast a cold eye on the affairs of state, at least those of the GAA world anyway. By chance, the GPA's annual report for 2016 came my way last week so I thought it was time to renew acquaintances with some old friends. Hardly surprising that I am not on the GPA's mailing list but I am quite sure readers will be interested in at least...
When I tried to study the fixture list for next year which was published last week, I did not know who to feel most sorry for - the county man or the club player. The county man will get no break at all, matches start earlier with pre-season games before the year is out in some cases, and when that is all finished he will put on his club kit which should see him well into the autumn of 2018.
I managed to annihilate over 25,000 people in Cavan last week. That is, I listed the county's population as just over 50,000, instead of 76,000. Anyway, the natives don't appear to have been too upset by it.
In 2002 the GAA's strategic review committee came up with some every interesting proposals. Looking back 15 years later, the most impressive thing associated with the body chaired by Peter Quinn was the calibre of people involved, from businessmen to future GAA presidents, and the radical conclusions they arrived at on many aspects of the GAA.
Who gets more criticism every year, the Minister for Health or the GAA's Ard Stiúrthóir? It's a close call but the man at the top in Croke Park probably has to dodge more bullets than those being sent to Angola. For many supporters around the country, the 'top brass' in Dublin can be blamed for almost everything, even if it is not part of their brief. Few will defend the paid officials; it can therefore be a lonely and rather thankless job.
The hurling proposals were last week swept through in the new GAA democracy where only a 60 per cent majority was needed. If it was a year earlier, when two-thirds was required, these proposals would have been shot down in flames.
The spotlight has been shining brightly on Colm Cooper's testimonial dinner, and the general reaction has been quite negative. The dissenting voices included my colleague Joe Brolly, who articulated his misgivings in print and on radio.
There were so many talking points last Sunday, yet after the last whistle it was all chaff in the wind. Within minutes, as always, it was a bit like the Eric Cantona ad, "losers go home". And the trudge home for Mayo supporters was more painful than ever. They resembled the French army in Napoleon's retreat from Russia. A long, slow, silent retreat. Every train, plane, bus and car bore testimony to the vast emptiness of defeat.
The Flying Dutchman is a mythical ship that sails the seas endlessly and never makes port. Mayo players and supporters know the feeling but there are plenty of lights out west which would guide the Dutchman home to a safe harbour, and the closer we come to the game, there seems increasing confidence that the beacon is becoming stronger.
Comparisons between teams of different eras are odious. That is probably why people like doing it so much. The best team ever; the best player of his generation; the best corner-forward... the list is endless and everyone can be right as all opinion is subjective.
