Ciaran Murphy

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Ciaran Murphy

The long-awaited verdict from Junior B football is in. These new rules are ... pretty bloody good. I’ve played two league games in this new dawn in the last three weeks, and the game is slightly better, slightly faster, slightly more vertical, and slightly more fun to play. And all those minor improvements add up to a major impact. Our game last Sunday morning was on grass after our previous league game, and our only challenge game before the start of the season had been played on AstroTurf.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Ciaran Murphy

Goalkeepers are feeling the heat right now, from all sides, but they are also a house divided. Never mind the long-established Goalkeepers’ Union – would representatives of the regular goalies, the sweeper-keepers and the recently relocated outfielders even talk to each other at the monthly meetings? Shop steward Niall Morgan has been having his say on the number one bone of contention people have with number ones currently – their presence in the opposition half, creating 12 v 11 overlaps.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Ciaran Murphy

However Michael Murphy made his return to the Donegal team it was going to be dramatic, but not many of us watching on TG4 last Sunday evening were prepared for it to be quite as dramatic, hilarious, or, ultimately, genuinely uplifting. He’d watched the Dublin game from the bench, the TV cameras picking him out from under a woolly Donegal hat, but he was not a member of the 26-man panel.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Ciaran Murphy

It might only be February 13th, but Offaly are unbeaten in the hurling and football leagues. Their footballers have beaten Sligo at home and Laois away, the hurlers drew with Carlow first time out before beating Laois (again) and Antrim, convincingly, in Tullamore last weekend. They’re top of hurling’s Division 1B, and are second in Division Three of the football league, and I for one welcome Offaly’s imminent return to prominence. The Biffos are back.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Ciaran Murphy

If in doubt, there’s always a column in the complaints section. ‘If you don’t have something nice to say, say nothing at all’ is not an option available to the put-upon columnist. In fact, it turns out we usually have most to say when we’re giving out about something. And it’s springtime all the year round when it comes to complaining in the GAA. From the mountaintop they come down, babbling brooks-full, great waterfalls of the stuff.