America’s indifferent attitude to drug-taking in sport could change as the federal probe into alleged doping by seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong moves up a...
Fullback
Mission improbable accomplished
Mission improbable accomplished
Whether they got a sneak preview of Osama’s ‘Is féidir linn’ speech or what, something happened midway through last Saturday’s Heineken Cup final that led Leinster out of the...
Protocols and photocalls
Protocols and photocalls
An ex-GAA president escorting Queen Elizabeth II by the elbow is scarcely on a par with Martin Johnson making Mary McAleese take a walk on the wet side of the red carpet at Lansdowne...
Hoops better than Blues?
Hoops better than Blues?
Having clinched their ninth Premier League title in 12 seasons, there’s a strong argument to be made that Carrick United may well be the best side in and around the Waterford ‘district’ – including the current Blues. Adam McSherry, for one, has been sensational of late for the Hoops, scoring wonder goals for fun...
Bobby Power’s iron will steered the way
Bobby Power’s iron will steered the way
Carrick has a history of producing stellar and steely sportsmen. Bobby Power, ‘Mr Carrick Wheelers’, was one such person in every sense. A prolific one-day rider who amassed 107 open senior race victories from the mid-1970s to the early ’90s, including six Rás stages, Bobby’s passion copper-fastened the future of the...
God’s Gift to Golf
God’s Gift to Golf
He rewrote the course-management manual, redefined the bounds of possibility, but superlatives aside, more than anything Seve made golf gripping. And, let’s face it, sexy. Up until his teenage emergence in the mid-seventies, it was a grey enough game (for all the garish attire), with an inordinate proportion of...
Class versus crass
Class versus crass
Anyone I’ve spoken to who saw last week’s low-key BBC2 documentary about Bobby Charlton was struck by the same thing – the sheer humility of the man. At Christmas, ESPN Classic screened a series of sporting documentaries, one of which was about another World Cup-winning Bobby, Moore. It was much the same story, of...
Tom’s mile of a lifetime
Tom’s mile of a lifetime
Tom Queally’s stunning runway success on flat racing’s latest ‘wonderhorse’ Frankel in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday has consolidated his status as one of the top jockeys in Europe. Not that he’d even entertain the thought. The bashful Cappagh man’s career curve continues to arch upwards, putting the...
Sturdy shoots
Sturdy shoots
A youthful Waterford’s slender win against a near-full-strength Galway in sun-drenched Walsh Park on Sunday showed that the balance of power is slowly but surely shifting to the county’s new generation. With Shane Walsh leading the line with a new lease of life, Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh immense at No6 (and I‘ve a bet or...
Fairway to heaven
Fairway to heaven
A priest close to the great greenkeeper in the sky is Fr Johnny Condon, who celebrated the SEVENTH hole-in-one of his career in the Chernobyl Classic at Carrick-on-Suir Golf Club last Friday. On the downhill Par 3 2nd hole, the well-known Waterford-born cleric, who plays off 13, recorded the ace with a 4-iron from...
Faugh an Bheallach!
Faugh an Bheallach!
Old traditions die hard, they say. Well, road bowls (or bouls as they’re commonly pronounced in these parts) have been played in the east Waterford village of Fenor since the 1950s, and possibly before, with the inimitable Jimmy ‘Skinner’ Flynn and Gerry Cremin the two men who’ve done most to keep the game alive,...
Horse sense
Horse sense
Saturday’s Grand National was not a good day for the Sport of Kings. Whatever the Ginger McCain connections, the facts are that two horses were killed on the course at Aintree before Ballabriggs made it home first alive and barely kicking. The unusual heat and brutal pace, coupled with obstacles that are still too...
