Malachy Clerkin

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

He arrived in a stork basket, 10 years ago next week. Conor Whelan had been the best forward on the 2014 Galway minor team but whatever currency that might have held in other years, it looked like pennies on the dollar this time around. Though he’d scored two goals against Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final, Galway had been torched by 15 points. If there was help for the senior team coming from that group, it surely wasn’t coming in a hurry. Anthony Cunningham saw it differently.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

This R360 stuff is interesting for the thunder that isn’t rolling. Normally, when you come across a sport being sized up for attack by an outside disrupter, you can’t move for sirens wailing and cannons firing in opposition. That doesn’t quite seem to be the case with rugby in this instance, which raises the fascinating question of why that might be. It feels like a little more than just the usual rugby confidence in itself, although that is certainly part of it.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

Huge save at the end of the first half, having had zero to do up to then. Left one-on-one with Prasnikar but was equal to it, batting away the Slovenia striker’s shot Rating: 7Fantastic cross for Noonan’s goal, whipped in first time to land on the edge of the six-yard box. Scruffier efforts followed though, often struggling to beat the first defender. Rating: 6Should have done better with a first-half chance, swinging a leg at a second ball from a corner.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

Mayo gonna Mayo. The vibes were terrible, the manager was laid up, the noise off the pitch was turned up to 11. And so of course they came to Omagh and beat Tyrone up a stick. What else did you expect? They showed a side of themselves here that most of us, in our innocence, presumed was gone for the year. They were full of running and purpose, tackling like dervishes, emptying themselves in every position.

4 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Malachy Clerkin

Things will get better for Derry, just maybe not yet. They have won three of the last six All-Ireland minor titles. Between St Pat’s Maghera and St Mary’s Magherafelt, Derry schools have taken five of the last nine MacRory Cups, plus this year’s Hogan Cup. Their under-20s have been to two of the past three Ulster finals, only losing to last season’s crack Tyrone side on penalties, as well as running this season’s ever better one to two points.