Personalise Your Experience

Ulster Bank
Ulster Bank
 
  • GAA Force

Meet the GAA Fan Reporters

Niall Farrell's avatar

Niall Farrell

Niall Farrell is a 20 year-old reporter who is passionate about Gaelic Games. He played hurling for St.Clare's as a schoolboy and is a current member of the DCU Handball Club. As a reporter, Niall covered DCU's winning Sigerson Cup season and football league campaign, as well as the DCU hurling team's run to the Ryan Cup final and league win. He also reports on League of Ireland soccer for extratime.ie- reporting live from grounds around the country.

Pearse Corcoran's avatar

Pearse Corcoran

Pearse Corcoran is an avid sports fan who comes from a vast GAA background, including his father who won an All Ireland medal with Cavan and brothers who represented Dublin in Hurling and Football. Pearse has performed many roles within his home club of Ballinteer St. Johns and takes his knowledge of Gaelic Games into the role of a journalist. Pearse has previously worked for the Sunday Times, The Star and has experience working in radio broadcasting. Pearse who recently won the Irish Colleges Fresher of the Year for 2009/2010 for his college IT Tallaght hopes to bring the same skills that many of the great Gaelic football players display week in week out to his blog posts. Pearse lists his sporting writing heroes as Jimmy Magee and Brian Carthy.

David Prendergast's avatar

David Prendergast

David Prendergast is twenty two years old and comes from Kilrossanty in Co. Waterford. He is going into his final year studying English and History in University of Limerick. His grandfather was a member of the historic Waterford football team which beat Kerry in 1957 and Cork in 1960. His passion for the G.A.A. stems from his family's involvement and parish's obsession. Living in the mountains he learnt from a young age that there is nothing only football. His home club Kilrossanty is a proud GAA parish steeped in history, silverware (although our last success at Senior level dates back to 1989) and anecdotes. Just ask Paidi O Se how Kerry got their famous green and gold colours!

Ciaran Daly's avatar

Ciaran Daly

Ciaran Daly is a 27 year old sports journalist from Newry. He is finishing a Masters in Journalism at DCU and is working on placement at the sports section of the Irish Times for the duration of the summer. Ciaran was this year's winner of the Veronica Guerin Memorial Bursary. He is a long-suffering Down fan. The first big game he remembers going to was the Mourne men's semi-final victory over Kerry in 1991 at Croke Park. Ciaran has worked at the Newry Democrat as a GAA correspondent. He has also had articles published in the Irish Times and the Examiner.

Liam Kelly's avatar

Liam Kelly

Liam Kelly is twenty two years old and comes from Co. Monaghan. He is studying Sports Journalism at the University of Lincoln in England. His passion and huge interest in Gaelic games is reflected in his dissertation, 'GAA and the question of Professionalism'. Gaelic football has been a part of his life since he was a child and he still plays for his local club side, Aghabog in Co. Monaghan. At 22 he is still quite young but has already collected medals at both minor and senior level. This opportunity to report on inter-county fixtures at championship level is one that he intends to grasp with both hands.

pentest3's avatar

pentest3

pentest4's avatar

pentest4

  • 20 Aug 2010

    Why Football is More Competitive than Hurling

    Much has been made of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship this year, and that it is a one horse race in the eyes of many. After last weekend's semi-final clash, some commentators referred to it as a second-placed playoff. read more

    Comment (0)

    Much has been made of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship this year, and that it is a one horse race in the eyes of many. After last weekend’s semi-final clash, some commentators referred to it as a second-placed playoff.

    This year’s All-Ireland Football Championship, on the other hand, has been one of the most open in recent memory. All four provincial champions, including pre-tournament favourites Kerry and Tyrone, have been knocked out and we are left with four teams that were (with the exception of Cork) unfancied before the tournament.

    But what makes the two competitions so markedly different in terms of the level of competition? There may be a number of reasons:

    Football has no dominant force at a comparative level to Kilkenny
    Kerry fans may beg to differ, but football has no team capable of walking over any other team in the country. Any of the four semi-finalists could, potentially, beat another semi-finalist. The same can’t be said for their hurling counterparts.

    Football has a better standard
    Although Kilkenny are completely glorious to watch, hurling suffers from a weak level of competition in many counties. This is exampled by Antrim and Galway playing in Leinster rather than Connacht. The same situation would never happen in football. There are four thriving provinces, and the gap between them isn’t huge.

    There are more shocks
    This year we had Louth getting to the Leinster final, Dublin beating Tyrone and Down beating Kerry. In hurling, you could have predicted the semi-finalists months ago. Aside from the odd shock (Antrim trumping Dublin, for example) hurling is a lot more predictable than football.

    More people play football
    It’s a simple fact. More people play football, so there’s a bigger playing pool. Having more players means that there is a greater chance of one or two being good. It’s not that there aren’t good hurlers, it’s just that they are all quite concentrated in a handful of counties. The same can’t be said for football.

    Comments

    Commenting is not available in this channel entry.

Ulster Bank Events

Check out the events page for the latest events from the Off The Ball Roadshow to photo opportunities with the Sam Maguire Cup. Find one happening near you.

Find out more

Gaelic Football Challenge

Find out more

Home Away Date Time Venue
London Leitrim 03.06.2012 3:00 Ruislip
Longford Wexford 03.06.2012 2:00 Croke Park
Louth Dublin 03.06.2012 4:00 Croke Park
Clare Limerick 09.06.2012 7:00 Cusack Park, Ennis or Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

View more

Home Score Away Score Date Venue
Roscommon 0-10 Galway 3-15 20.05 Hyde Park
Cavan 1-10 Donegal 1-16 20.05 Kingspan Breffni Park
Limerick 2-12 Waterford 0-7 20.05 Gaelic Grounds, Limerick
Westmeath 0-14 Louth 2-9 20.05 Navan

View more