Íde Bean Uí Shé – The Cork woman who saw participation in Camogie as a step towards achieving equality for women in the male dominated Ireland of the 1940s

The first Cork camogie club was founded in 1905. and took the name of Fáinne an Lae. Sean Ó Coindealbháin (Conlon) coached the team in the basics of the game; his sisters Kate and Margaret Conlon and cousin, Christina Conlon also played. Sean’s daughter, Íde Conlon (or Ní Choindealbháin), who later became Íde Bean Uí […]

Christy Ring and Gaelic football: An accidental if eventful, relationship

Ring scored two goals on his St Nicks debut after showing up among the crowd. On Friday evening June 18, 1948, St Nicholas faced UCC in the second round of the City Division Junior Football Championship at Douglas. St Nicks brought the bare 15 players to the game and trailed the College side by 4-1 […]

Tipperary made it difficult for the referee and even more difficult for themselves

I learned a long time ago that as a coach or a selector, you must have a Plan B, and even a Plan C, to help cope with the unexpected things that happen during the course of a game. In 1989, when I was coaching Glen Rovers against Midleton in an under-21 county hurling semi-final, […]

Rugby in Munster – A Social and Cultural History by Liam O’Callaghan

There are no tickets available for next Saturday’s Heineken Cup game between Munster and Castres at Thomond Park. This is the norm for the Heineken Cup. It has been so since Munster’s first run to the final in the 1999/2000 season, but it was not always like that. The season before the May 2000 final, […]

UCC Physical Education Department and Chengdu Sports University in China

For a small island, with a relatively small population, we make a terrible fuss about managing our affairs. We make an incredible ballyhoo over every issue; no matter how small that issue is in the greater scheme of things. In Ireland there are usually three parties involved in an argument or an issue of public […]