GAA – Slugger O'Toole

New GAA President Jarlath Burns is an impressive and visionary man…

Andy Pollak on February 22, 2023, 7:00 am

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I am going to stray into the unfamiliar territory of the Gaelic Athletic Association for this post. As a sports-mad half-Irish boy growing up in London, my games were football (soccer in Ireland) and rugby (although I was occasionally seen on the touchline at the GAA’s London ground at New Eltham). At the risk of being controversial, I would describe Gaelic football and hurling in Northern Ireland as objectively sectarian pastimes, since few if any Protestants play them and the …

Line Dancing – the phenomenen that terrified the GAA…

Brian O'Neill on November 20, 2021, 1:02 pm

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Light man people woman

Keith Duggan in today’s Irish Times discusses Garth Brooks’ return to Croke Park. Much like the statue in Ballinspittle a few years earlier, the sight of Garth Brooks storming the world brought out the evangelists. His music – this cannot be stressed enough – was inescapable. How you felt about the Brooks catalogue of twangy ballads and anthems was immaterial. Even Ireland’s hardcore metal purists of the early 1990s subconsciously came to know every single line of the Brooks staple …

Tyrone are All-Ireland Football Champions…

Brian O'Neill on September 11, 2021, 8:01 pm

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The Mayo curse strikes again as Tyrone beat Mayo to win their 4th All-Ireland Football Title. In a thrilling match, Mayo had a promising lead at the start but Tyrone soon took over and Mayo was behind most of the game. Watch the Full-Time Highlights of Tyrone v Mayo in the All Ireland Senior Football Championship Final here!Full-Time Score:Tyrone 2-14Mayo 0-15#GAANOW pic.twitter.com/ka4qFsOxbY — The GAA (@officialgaa) September 11, 2021 You have to feel sorry for Mayo, who have now lost …

Grassroots Gaelic Football and All-Ireland Fever…

Jason Conlon on September 10, 2021, 7:42 pm

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Tomorrow, Tyrone and Mayo will stand centre stage in the All-Ireland Football Final. It is the ultimate sporting showpiece, with desperate demand for tickets at a reduced capacity Croke Park. Ballygawley is bouncing and Glencull looks great – the spiritual Harte-lands of Tyrone GAA are dressed in red and white, and the bunting is up. There are good discounts to be had on car flags and headbands at Ballygawley Roundabout, as well, “each day between 4pm and 7pm”, according to …

A Northern Ireland Rorschach test…

Brian O'Neill on March 6, 2020, 7:35 am

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Tell me what do you see? TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Salthill Knocknacarra GAA Club in Galway. #RoyalVisitIreland 📸: Getty images pic.twitter.com/HF8Xzl3uok — Isa (@isaguor) March 5, 2020 Leo I’m really sorry but somebody had to do it..#GAA #RoyalVisitIreland pic.twitter.com/BtfOIMkK9Q — Jim Sheridan (@Jim_Sheridan) March 5, 2020 “(Rorschach) II” by dailyinvention is licensed under CC BY Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background …

Future Ireland: Uniting people is the starting point

David Honeyford on November 10, 2018, 9:01 am

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I was in a cafe recently when the owner, who I know from being a regular, came over and asked me, “David, clear something up between me and the Missus – was that you on the TV we saw the other night … [puzzled look] … you were part of a panel … Mike Nesbitt was there too.” To which I answered – ‘Yes, guilty! Was me!’ After a little discussion about how he didn’t realise I was interested in …

Slugger TV with Christopher Stalford

David McCann on August 27, 2018, 11:17 am

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In this months episode I speak with the DUP MLA, Christopher Stalford about the DUP, going to Clones and a border poll. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs

Perspectives on Change from a Dublin-dwelling northern Prod

Soapbox on July 11, 2018, 8:41 am

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I am a Northern Irish Protestant who has lived in Dublin for the past twenty five years. I am proud to be from the Protestant community and proud to be from Northern Ireland. But I have never been so proud to be part of a society, as I have been to be part of the Republic of Ireland in recent years. A society that voted, myself included, in favour of marriage equality and a woman’s right to choose. I have a friend …

Arlene Foster attends GAA Ulster Final

David McCann on June 24, 2018, 8:09 pm

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DUP leader Arlene Foster stood for the Irish national anthem as Fermanagh took on Donegal at the GAA Ulster final in Clones. #UlsterGAA @FermanaghGAA @officialdonegal https://t.co/TwzX0n6JEe pic.twitter.com/wIZCtjL9E2 — BBC News NI (@BBCNewsNI) June 24, 2018 Here attendance was welcomed by the Sinn Fein Vice President, Michelle O’Neill; I very much welcome the attendance of DUP Leader Arlene Foster MLA at today’s Ulster GAA final. “I along with other Sinn Féin leaders met recently with Prince Charles in order to demonstrate …

Story of Peadar Heffron’s ostracisation should mark a turning point for NI and the GAA…

Pluto on November 9, 2017, 8:35 am

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Taking in the air of the men’s changing rooms in 1980s Dungiven gives a man some perspective, and nobody could have written up that interview with Peadar Heffron quite like Joe Brolly. The story that Brolly had to tell was, of course, that of his interviewee but it came with an authenticity that was as much to do with Brolly’s own lived experience as it was to do with his skill in setting out a narrative. He didn’t have to …

Casement Park is a vanity project. Someone needs to stop the madness…

Brian O'Neill on October 10, 2017, 10:39 am

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The Irish News reports today that plans for a Park & Ride for the new Casement Park at the old Maze site can’t be approved without a Stormont Executive. You might be thinking, hold on a minute, they want to put a Park & Ride where they originally wanted to build the stadium?? So you drive to the Maze site, park your car, wait for the shuttle bus to arrive, traipse into Belfast on the bus, get off, watch the …

GAA “thrown into confusion” by British Ambassador’s request to attend Tipperary v Antrim hurling final #20yearrule

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 30, 2016, 2:01 pm

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GAA THROWN INTO CONFUSION when British Ambassador to Ireland asked to attend the 1989 Tipperary v Antrim hurling final in Croke Park. The matter was referred up to the Taoiseach. The diplomat’s match report has been released today under the 20 Year Rule.

Battle lines re-drawn over new Casement Park stadium plan

Pete Baker on October 29, 2016, 5:23 pm

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The BBC reports that the Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents Association (MORA) has said it opposes the recently unveiled revised GAA plan for a new stadium at Casement Park. MORA campaigned successfully against the original proposal. From the BBC report In a statement, the residents group said it supported a “suitable-sized redevelopment” that was safe, did not host concerts and was “part of the natural fabric of the community”. “The revised proposals for the redevelopment of Casement Park do not meet those requirements,” it said. …

Casement Park Development: Further allegations at Assembly Committee Hearing

Pete Baker on July 9, 2015, 7:08 pm

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The BBC reports that GAA official, and independent Northern Ireland Policing Board member, Ryan Feeney, has threatened “immediate [legal] action” following further allegations by the chairman of the safety technical group, Sport NI’s Paul Scott, of pressure being exerted to drop concerns about safety at the controversial proposed £70million redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast. Mr Scott was appearing again in front of the NI Assembly Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure. From the BBC report Mr Feeney later issued …

Carál Ní Chuilín: “What is clear to me is that there has been an anti-GAA element throughout…”

Pete Baker on May 7, 2015, 8:17 pm

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Having had to apologise for “an error” in claiming that the “Electoral commission vetoed using last election figures” in defence of Sinn Féin’s sectarian leaflet campaign in North Belfast, the Northern Ireland Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín, might have been better advised to be more cautious in her public utterances in future… Despite having reportedly announced, last Thursday, a full review of the new Casement Park Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ground redevelopment plan, on Tuesday, …

Casement Park STG Chair: “we were being attempted to be coerced, pressurised into signing off something that we were singularly uncomfortable with…”

Pete Baker on April 30, 2015, 2:46 pm

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The BBC reports on the latest wrinkle in the on-going saga of the controversial £70million redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast – stalled in December last year when Belfast High Court quashed the decision to grant planning approval for the redevelopment. At the start of April this year, the BBC obtained the minutes of the last meeting of the Casement Park Development Safety Technical Group (STG), in November 2014, under a Freedom of Information request. The STG is made up of representatives …

Ringland pays tribute to the quiet voices that kept northern society from falling apart…

Mick Fealty on February 27, 2015, 10:40 am

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This has been a recurrent theme in Trevor’s outlook ever since I first got to know him for the research and writing of The Long Peace: Trevor Ringland refused to visit Croke Park for many years because of the ban on members of the security forces playing GAA games, which has since been lifted. Today he visited the ground to address a meeting of British and Irish parliamentarians, which included the DUP and other unionists. “As we look to reconcile …

Former GAA star to run for the SDLP in Newry and Armagh…

Mick Fealty on February 4, 2015, 4:56 pm

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So the SDLP throw a ringer into the Newry and Armagh Westminster fight. He’s Mullaghbawn man Justin McNulty, whose major claim to fame is not politics but GAA. The man he’s contesting, Mickey Brady was himself relatively new to the game in 2007 when Sinn Fein took back the Newry seat they’d lost when Davy Hyland left the party. I spoke earlier at length with Kevin McCallister on Q Radio in Newry: listen to ‘On the SDLP's choice of Justin …

There Is No Alternative! (to Casement Park development plan) – Redux

Pete Baker on December 15, 2014, 4:30 pm

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Belfast High Court has ruled that the decision to grant planning permission for the controversial £70million redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast was “fundamentally flawed”. However, Mr Justice Horner did not quash the decision, and will take further submissions from lawyers for the Department of the Environment, the GAA and the residents group who mounted the legal challenge before ruling on what the alternative actually is. From the Irish Times report The overall bill for the redevelopment in west Belfast has now risen …

Night of first times – my first GAA match…

Jonathan Abernethy on November 17, 2014, 4:52 pm

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Sometimes it would appear that nothing has the power to divide like sport. How many of us have been asked ‘what team do you support?’ and instantly depending on the response you give, you are greeted by either a nod of approval or a comment from the other person that demonstrates loyalty on their part to some other team. Or think how sport also divides us in terms of socio-economic backgrounds. Rugby and fencing, the preserve of the Grammar School …