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3 days ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
SEASONED Tyrone watchers won’t have been half as surprised at their county’s defeat on Saturday night as Mayo followers were by their team’s win – never mind the convincing manner of it. The Mayo media in the greenhouse at Omagh – AKA the press-box – may have thought my mind had been addled by heatstroke from the strong sunshine when I told them the match was set up for a shock. Part of my thinking was that Mayo couldn’t be anywhere near as bad again as they were in losing to Cavan in Castlebar.
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4 days ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
MAYO’S front foot approach led them to a convincing victory away to Tyrone – and captain Stephen Coen carried on that attitude in his post-match interview. ‘Questions are irrelevant to us’, apparently. The very idea of ‘consistency’ dismissed. Mention of two debutants – lads making their first senior championship start – rejected. Having a two-week break must have been a boost?
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4 days ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
ALTHOUGH Northern Ireland didn’t deliberately ‘take a fall’ at home to Poland on Friday night, this is the match in which manager Tanya Oxtoby believes her team can land a winning combination. Even avoiding defeat will be enough for the visitors to secure second spot and a play-off against a third-placed League A team – but that will be easier said than done.
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6 days ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
2,304 years on, the Battle of Asculum remains as a warning against celebrating a win too much. A week after Tyrone’s delight at triumphing in Donegal, the Red Hands were reminded of the phrase ‘Pyrrhic victory’ by a Mayo team whose obituary had been written too hastily a fortnight ago. Unlike Pyrrhus of Epirus, who could not continue against the Romans in 279 BC, Malachy O’Rourke will rally his troops to take on Cavan for a second Championship clash this season.
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1 week ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
BLOODIED but unbowed, Northern Ireland’s women head to Bosnia & Herzegovina for Tuesday’s final group game determined to end the campaign on a high. Despite being battered 4-0 at home by group winners Poland, manager Tanya Oxtoby insisted that she was “proud of the performance, the second half performance.
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1 week ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
GETTING beaten by poles is never pleasant but Northern Ireland Women suffered a serious thrashing to end any hopes of automatic promotion to the Nations League top flight. A new-look home defence was repeatedly exposed by the quick and clever visitors, who went two goals up inside the opening 10 minutes, both scored by their captain Ewa Pajor on the occasion of her 100th cap. A terrible error by home goalkeeper Jacqui Burns led to the second goal and there was no way back after that.
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1 week ago | 
msn.com | Kenny Archer
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1 week ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
It’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at – and also where you want to be. Louth chairman Sean McClean wouldn’t subscribe to the first part of that – he’s from Tyrone and has never forgotten those deep roots ‘among the bushes’ - but his life and heart are in ‘the wee county’ now. He’s happy to acknowledge inspiration from his native area’s GAA progress, even ahead of tonight’s All-Ireland U20 Football Final between the two counties in Armagh’s Athletic Grounds.
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1 week ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
Yahya al-Najjar. Rakan al-Najjar. Raslan al-Najjar. Gebran al-Najjar. Eve al-Najjar. Rival al-Najjar. Sayden al-Najjar. Luqman al-Najjar. And Sidra al-Najjar. Read those names. Remember those names. The names of the nine young Gazan siblings, aged from seven months to 12 years old, murdered by an Israeli airstrike on their family home last Friday were way down any articles I read about that atrocity.
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1 week ago | 
irishnews.com | Kenny Archer
ARMAGH are heading to Dublin ahead of schedule this weekend but their key attacker Rory Grugan still feels it’s a challenge worthy of the later stages of the All-Ireland series. The reigning All-Ireland champions will take on the Dubs, the previous holders, in a Group 4 round 2 clash on Sunday, with both having won their opening contests, against Derry and Galway respectively.
