Clamour growing for return of O'Grady to Cork 'Director of Hurling' hot-seat:

Donal O'Grady celebrates Cork's 2004 All-Ireland hurling win

Donal O'Grady has natural authority.  He won't tolerate slackness. Cork need that attitude to shake things up at all levels.


Calls are growing for the return of Cork's 2004 All-Ireland senior hurling winning manager Donal O'Grady to return to Leeside in become the director of hurling in the county.  It is widely agreed that his organisational skills are needed within a once great hurling county now experiencing fallow times.
GAA expert Christy O'Connor is the latest to make this call.  The award-winning author and All-Ireland club winning goalkeeper believes O'Grady's coaching expertise and attention to detail - which was in evidence in Limerick's last minute one-point loss to Waterford in the Munster semi-final over the weekend - makes him the ideal candidate to revive Cork's fortunes on a broad level.

Donal O'Grady doing what he does best and Cork need him back

"It would seem foolish of the Cork county board not to try and recruit O'Grady for his expertise and guidance in the future direction of Cork hurling.
For now, O'Grady has only committed to Limerick for one year, but never tied himself to long-term projects.  When he took over Cork in 2002 he immediately built structures and fostered a culture, the like of which had never before framed the preparation of a Cork hurling team.  It was scientific, demanding and challenging and he has now created similar conditions in Limerick.

"Donal O'Grady was the best Coach I ever had,"

- Seán Óg Ó hAilpín

It seems strange that other counties are now benefitting hugely from the expertise of O'Grady.  Especially at a time when many people within Cork worry about the state of Cork hurling in general."

When Donal O'Grady talks hurling;  hurling people listen

O'Grady has adopted the same hands-on role in Limerick as he had in Cork.  As a coach, he is rare in the modern era in that he breaks the skills down into minute detail and is extremely particular in the exact execution of the skills as he wants it.  The purpose of every drill is explained and outlined and O'Grady focuses heavily on the main fundamentals.  That technical expertise, which extends to every level, is a talent that few coaches  possess.
Having been rejected in 2009, O'Grady might not consider the role of Cork senior manager again.  However, for the advancemement of Cork GAA, we need to get Donal O'Grady back.  
In some capacity.

Tuohy scores Down Under:

Zach Tuohy (left) with former Cork All-Star Setanta Ó hAilpín

Laois native Zach Tuohy was the centre of celebrations for the Carlton Blues as he kicked his first AFL goal in what was only his second AFL game. 
The Blues recorded an emphatic 124-63 win over Pearce Hanley's Brisbane Lions as Tuohy's goal came with just six minutes left on the clock.
The game marked the former Laois minor's first run on, having been used as an inter-change sub in Round 11.
Tadhg Kennelly's Sydney Swans beat Richmond 75-65.

Isle of Man TT death: "Perhaps the greatest insanity of all is not to flirt with death, but to trundle through life assuming you can avoid death:"

Scene after Gorse Lea race was red flagged

Derek Brien is the third. This year, he’s the third. The 36-year-old died at the mystically named Gorse Lea. They often do die somewhere beautifully named. Snaefell Mountain, Rhencullen, Stonebreakers Hut. Ballaugh Bridge. Greeba Castle. Lambfell Cottage. Peaceful names, remote places, sometimes on a majestic sweep of mountain with nothing but the stone walls and greenery. Laurel Bank. Gob-o-Geay. Glentramman.

Brien’s tragedy is piled high on the list of names of those who have perished at the Isle of Man TT and again brings us to one of the most defiant pieces of rock on the planet. Like Everest the island accepts the riders every year and every year it takes a few. The unofficial list now is 234 deaths, not including officials or spectators. Everest’s appetite is just short of that and lists vary but one estimate stops at 216 deaths with around 150 bodies still on the mountain.

Brien was one of Ireland's great bike riders

Within a month Brien’s crash brings together two Irish people that died for the sports that thrilled them. On May 21st John Delaney failed to come down the mountain, the added anguish to his family being that his body remains in the Everest ice near the summit. Perhaps there is a strange comfort in that, and also for the family of Brien. What consumed both was more than a dalliance with the intrinsic appeal of danger but a relationship, familiar and natural, one that gave enormous pleasure.

The Isle of Man TT is as stunning a spectacle as you will ever see. It is a place where mortality is force fed, where the riders appear to go too fast into bends but somehow come out the far side, where they rear out of the seat to use their bodies as air brakes, smash into birds at 180mph, hit sticks on the road, find slippery bits of white line on hairpin bends. It is the community as much as the sports themselves that are the attraction.

Derek Brien as he will be remembered

Extreme bike racing and mountaineering are lifestyles and asking people to stop contributing to the body count is to ask them to change their lives because of our own buttoned-up sensibilities and infatuation with living safe and long. It is to say that doing one thing with a life is better than another. In that debate the bravery and the tragic clarity of choice of O’Brien and Delaney seems a creditable one to take.

Enduroman 2011 won by "The most remarkable Irish sportsman of his generation":

DECA iron man Gerry Duffy won the Enduroman competition which finished today. 

The 43-year-old Mullingar athlete, described on RTÉ last week as the  "most remarkable Irish sportsman of his generation", was one of 20 who began the gruelling 10-day undertaking last Friday week but that number had been whittled down to just five by the final day.
Every day Gerry swam 2.4 miles, cycled 116 miles and has run the full marathon distance of 26.2 miles, taking an average of 15hours to complete the task.

Gerry Duffy was once 50lbs overweight

The athletes had a maximum of 22hours to finish each day.  If they do not make the cut-off, they are disqualified.  
Gerry is also driven by a determination to complete the 10-day mega-marathon and raise much needed funds for Irish Autism Action.
His most recent venture comes hot on the heels of last year's challenge in which he successfully ran 32 marathons in 32 successive days in the 32 counties of Ireland, which is recounted in his book  "Who dares, Runs."

Leo Varadkar says: "GAA national training venue on way:"

HIGH HOPES: Leo Varadkar (right)

Just over 100 days in power and the Government are reporting progress on the sporting white elephant that is  the National Sports Campus.
In April, Leo Varadkar spoke of his hopes that the GAA might base their national training facilities at the 495-acre site in Abbotstown and yesterday the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport gave an encouraging update.
"We are also in consultation with the GAA, IRFU and FAI about having their training facilities on a partnership basis and that they would contribute a good chunk of the costs, and we would make some of the costs available too.  The discussions have been very detailed with the GAA because the GAA is in a very strong position financially but we have had not too many discussions with the IRFU as of yet because they are paying off the debt [on the AVIVA Stadium]," said the Minister, speaking to journalists at the same €410million venue.

NATIONAL AQUATIC CENTRE,  Abbotstown, Dublin

Beyond contributing to any new training facility, the Minister warned that the extent of state funding at Abbotstown will be the upkeep of the National Aquatic Centre and the Sports HQ, which will see the non-governmental sporting bodies move from Parkwest to Abbotstown.

Sign of the times as RTÉ lose Heineken highlights:

Big rugby coup for Irish language channel TG4

In yet another sign of the economic times; Ireland's state broadcaster RTÉ has lost the rights to show Heineken Cup highlights, starting next season.

TG4 has agreed a new three-year deal with the ERC to broadcast highlights of the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup tournaments. The exclusive highlights coverage will kick off in November when the 2011/12 Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup season gets under way.

They are the latest tournaments to be added to TG4’s expanding rugby schedule, which already includes the RaboDirect Pro 12 (formerly the Magners League) and deferred coverage of this autumn’s Rugby World Cup.

The station, which pioneered television coverage of schools rugby in Ireland, also has an extensive portfolio of Gaelic games and other live sports, including the National Hurling and Football Leagues, the All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling and Football championships and the Club Championships in Hurling and Gaelic Football.

Bennett back training with Cork City FC:

Alan Bennett (top left) celebrates 2005 Eircom League win

Former Cork City star defender Alan Bennett has been training with the club and could well re-join when the transfer window re-opens next month.  The 2005 Eircom League winner trained on Wednesday evening with Tommy Dunne's charges and will watch this evening's game against Athlone Town from the stands at Turners Cross.  Bennett was joined at training on Wednesday by former City players Denis Behan, Leon McSweeney and Joe Gamble, who were all released by Hartlepool United at the end of last season.  The quartet were also joined by current Ireland senior international Damien Delaney at City training on Wednesday, but for the latter it is more with a view of maintaing fitness ahead of the upcoming Championship season he faces cross channel with Ipswich Town.

PROUD IRISH INTERNATIONAL: Bennett has won two full caps

Ex City star Gamble also training at club

Bennett, who has won two senior international caps, now looks a realistic possibility to re-join the "Rebel Army," though he has said that he would prefer to play full-time football and earn a "full-time wage."  City are of course now part-time and playing first division football, though, should City achieve promotion this season, they could well become a full-time or semi full-time outfit next season.  Bennett's presence at the heart of the back four would help attain said promotion.  Bennett has also stated that being offered a part-time contract would not be a major "stumbling block" and that he would speak to any League of Ireland club.  This would lead further credence to his "full-time football" desire however and is almost a "Come and get me" plea to Premier Division clubs who could employ his services.  
However, when he left City in 2007 for (then Premier League club) Reading, the now 29 year old stated that he would return to his hometown club someday and fans of the Rebel Army will be hoping that he does just that over the coming weeks.