Seán Moran

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran

With the admittedly pretty significant exception of the 2021 All-Ireland final, Mayo’s record against Tyrone hadn’t been too bad going into the weekend’s All-Ireland Group 1 fixture in Omagh. The counties were honours-even from the six matches played until Saturday. In the absence of Kevin McStay, happily recovering from a health scare, the reins were taken by his assistant, Stephen Rochford. Nine years ago, Rochford was manager when Mayo sprang a tactical coup on Tyrone, then Ulster champions.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran

Kieran McGeeney was asked if he felt Armagh are a better team this season. The manager of the All-Ireland champions took a philosophical approach to answering the question, but seemed to say it’s too early to tell. “As you know, it’s like everything else,” he said. “All the writing is done at the end. No matter what I say now, no matter what you say, it doesn’t make any difference. It’s always the final chapter when it comes to sport that determines the content of the book.

4 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran

Even by Mayo’s standards, it was an eventful few days. As the county came to terms with their footballers’ unexpected home defeat by Cavan on the first weekend of the All-Ireland series, word emerged on the Friday of last week that GAA president Jarlath Burns and director general Tom Ryan would be arriving in Westport’s Knockranny House Hotel the following Monday to attend an extraordinary meeting of the Mayo county committee.

4 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran

John Kiely has endorsed the current provincial championship format. The Limerick manager, who is preparing for Saturday week’s final against Cork, was speaking at an online media briefing, organised by Munster GAA. Asked for his views on his Waterford counterpart, Peter Queally’s call for the season to be extended on the lines of the football championship, Kiely sympathised but said that any more permissive a structure would “diminish the importance” of provincial fixtures.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran

There is little weight attached to the concerns of beaten managers. This is something Brian Cody well understood and on the odd occasion when Kilkenny’s championship ended in defeat, he was generally nothing but respectful of the winners. His strong view that the better team was always ahead on the scoreboard at the final whistle may have suited a county enjoying serial success but for all the lack of nuance, it had an essential truth.