Malachy Clerkin

4 days ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

Ulster SFC quarter-final: Monaghan 0-21 Donegal 0-23It ended in chaos. Monaghan, doughty and willing throughout, thought they had hands on ball for one last effort. Ryan O’Toole stood over a sideline ball with the clock ticking dead and paused slightly, only kicking it after the hooter began to sound. David Coldrick, correctly according to rule, blew for full-time, much to the home side’s indignation.

4 days ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

A while back, Anton Tohill was facilitating a mental health workshop in a small club in Fermanagh. The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have been working in conjunction with the Movember charity, trying to put a focus on suicide prevention, normalising openness and talking, all that good stuff. Tohill was a few minutes into his spiel when a middle-aged man in the audience pulled him up. “Here,” he said. “Why are you coming in here now?”So Tohill, primed and practised, recited all the reasons.

5 days ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

In Ballybofey a fortnight ago, the queue for grub in the Villa Rose was as dense as the burgers on the menu. And just as full of flavour. The street outside was lined with young lads with Donegal hair, leaning against the wall of the hotel and knocking back cider in the April sun. Championship was general all over Main Street. (Don’t be feigning mystification as to what constitutes Donegal hair, by the way. You know it well.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

He did it. Finally, gloriously and oh, so dramatically. Rory McIlroy won the Masters. The longest day ended with a putt so short you didn’t even have to watch. Which was good, because by then plenty couldn’t bear to. Just close your eyes and wait for the roar. Open them now. See him there, face down on Augusta’s 18th green, heaving and sobbing after everything. After 11 years, after 44 majors since his British Open win on July 20th, 2014, he straightened out the weirdest glitch in golf.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

We value your privacyWe and our 84 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting I ACCEPT enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Settings link on the bottom of the webpage .