Cathal Mullaney

1 week ago | westernpeople.ie | Cathal Mullaney

Championship defeats usually spark a period of reflection but for Sligo, attention has already turned to the future. Saturday’s disappointing Tailteann Cup quarter-final exit to Fermanagh also signalled the end of Tony McEntee’s tenure as manager, meaning now the focus will immediately shift to who is successor will be. McEntee departs the job with plenty of credit in the bank.

2 weeks ago | westernpeople.ie | Cathal Mullaney

Whisper it quietly, but the Irish football team looks to be moving in the right direction. Last Friday’s draw with Senegal represented another decent outing for the Boys in Green as they build towards the World Cup qualifying campaign in the autumn, with the opening game against Hungary at the Aviva Stadium set to be a pivotal fixture in the context of the overall group.

3 weeks ago | westernpeople.ie | Cathal Mullaney

The results of the early rounds of the All-Ireland football championship reflected the odd nature of the provincial series these days. In the case of three of the four champions, they lost their first round matches in the All-Ireland series. Unsurprisingly, the only provincial kingpin to win two weeks after their regional triumph was Kerry, who had the easiest of finals in Munster as they cantered to victory over Clare.

1 month ago | westernpeople.ie | Cathal Mullaney

“A lot of football success is in the mind,” Bill Shankly once said, when speaking about his time as Liverpool manager as the club started to establish itself as a powerhouse in the 1960s. “You must believe that you are the best and then make sure that you are, in my time at Liverpool we always said we had the best two teams in Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.” Shankly is a revered figure around Anfield, where his memory is immortalised in the form of a statue outside the ground.

1 month ago | westernpeople.ie | Cathal Mullaney

For the final time, the football championship group stage will begin this weekend. The much maligned format – first introduced in 2023 – will cease at the end of this campaign with Congress deciding to introduce something resembling the old qualifier format for next season. There has been a lot of tinkering with the format of football's blue riband competition over the last 25 years, but the group stage format has had its benefits.