Month: September 2021

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THIS SEASON WAS too short for Briege Corkery. Another few weeks to work with would have been great, she reckons.

Briege Corkery.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

After an almost two-year absence from inter-county camogie, she made her return to the Cork panel in August.

She had just given birth to her son Tadhg in March, but getting back into the red jersey quickly came into view for her.

The goal was to get as much game time as possible, and potentially work her way back onto the team. She came close to getting over the line but she ran out of road.

She got three minutes on the pitch in the All-Ireland semi-final win over Tipperary and was thrilled to get them as Cork booked a date in Croke Park to defend their title.

“I was just waiting for the call really. I nearly ran on with the bib I was so excited,” she laughs.

They were facing their rivals Kilkenny in the final and Corkery was hopeful that she might get to play a part.

It turned out to be another tight affair between the sides in an All-Ireland final, the kind of game that the Cloughduv star thrives in.

But it didn’t work out as she was held in reserve for the full game which was settled by a late Orla Cotter free to ensure Cork retained their crown.

“I was hoping I’d get a run. I thought I was going ok and was asking the lads if they thought I was going ok or what do I need to do [to improve].

Obviously you’d be disappointed that you didn’t get a game but I can’t complain, they’re training since last December and I rock on back in July so I can’t have any qualms about not getting a game.

“Of course, I’d love to have got a game and I was mad to go on but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

There were a few important factors behind Corkery’s return to Cork camogie. She missed the intense training that comes with the inter-county game and was eager to recapture the fitness levels she possessed before taking a break for the 2017 season.

She also had a persistent manager regularly checking in to see if he could persuade her to come back.

Cork boss Paudie Murray after winning the All-Ireland final.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

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“Only for Paudie Murray getting on to me, I probably would never have gone back and I’m delighted I got the opportunity to go back and give it a go,” Corkery admits.

“In December, Paudie asked me what am I doing and I was like ‘Jeez Paudie, I need to have the child first.’ So it didn’t even enter my head but then Paudie kept going onto me and I felt for myself, I was after putting on an awful lot of weight and wasn’t feeling great.

“I thought it would be nice to try and get back to that fitness. That was really what spurred me on. I really enjoyed going to training.”

It was a daunting task to undertake and Corkery had to ensure everything was in place before she could start training again.

Making such a late arrival into the panel played on her mind and she sought reassurance from the manager as well as captain Aoife Murray that the other players would accept her back at this stage of the season.

Once it was established that her teammates were more than happy to welcome her back, Corkery quickly got to work.

Naturally, the early days at training were a struggle.

I was a mile behind and I had a lot of weight to lose. It was the first time I’ve ever gone on a diet. I’ve never had to watch what I was eating so I was put on a diet.

“It was very tough, I was struggling a lot of the days but I’m quit a stubborn person and I think that got me over the line a small bit. When I put my mind to something, I’m at 100%.

“I was on a programme so I was training twice a day for nearly seven days a week. I was going to club training and going as hard as I could and doing some running after for myself. 

“I worked hard at it and watched what I was eating. When I came back, I had to get down to a certain weight and I was happy we hit that target. I had a good bit of weight to lose and it was great to have that.”

Corkery was only a short time out of the game, but she quickly discovered that inter-county camogie had moved on since she last played in 2016.

There were new drills to adapt to and new training methods that she had to learn.

It was an adjustment of course but her teammates were on hand to give her a steer and help her understand the instructions. 

Playing against Tipperary in the semi-final was a milestone for her, and while she didn’t feature in Cork’s victory over Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final, she did get to bring Tadhg out onto the pitch for the celebrations.

He didn’t quite enjoy the whole experience but it was nice for Corkery to have him out there with her. She never thought she would ever get such an opportunity to enjoy this moment as a mother.

Baby Tadhg Scannell.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“He let me down badly,” she laughs

“The men always get to bring their children onto Croke Park after winning or losing and I always thought it was such a nice thing. Not many women have got the opportunity to do it.

I always thought that I’d love to have done that and it was something I thought I’d never get to do. I never thought I’d be back playing camogie so it was lovely to bring him on and to say he got to come onto Croke Park.”

Becoming a mother has brought new challenges for Corkery, particularly in her sporting life but it just requires more planning.

Babysitters have to be arranged, bottles have to prepared and a whole other multitude of things have to be considered to maintain a balance.

In her typically modest way, Corkery doesn’t see herself as a role model in this respect but she is eager to spread the message that female athletes don’t have to retire from sport when they have children.

“My own sisters had babies and they went back playing with club.

Sarah Carey from Limerick went back after having a baby. I wouldn’t think I’d be a role model for that but it’s something that girls should realise that having a baby doesn’t stop your life. It makes things harder for running out the door and stuff.

“Before, you could come home in the evening and chill out whereas [now] you have to prepare for the following day especially when you need to get a babysitter ready.

“90% of the population are probably more organised than I am,” she laughs.

Corkery has returned to her job in the bank but she is from a farming background and that’s still a part of her life.

Briege and Tadhg taking it all in after the All-Ireland final.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

She and her husband Diarmuid Scannell plan to lease out a farm in Ballincollig in the new year, while baby Tadhg is already a regular visitor to the milking parlour.

“Tadhg is brought into the milking parlour, he sits in his pram watching the cows go by. He’s out in the yard. There’s no fear, we’d throw him up in the tractor and take him round for a spin.”

There’s unfinished business for Corkery in her camogie career. She accepts why she couldn’t get on in the All-Ireland final, but the competitive side of her character remains unsatisfied.

She didn’t reach her target of getting back into the team and plans to correct that in 2019.

There’ll be no late return this time though and she confirmed to The42 earlier this month that she will be back with the panel from the beginning of the new year.

“I wasn’t going back to lounge around and do nothing, I was going back to get back on the team. I didn’t make my target but look, it was great to have the opportunity to go back and if we had another couple of weeks I could have got there but things just went against us.

“There’s no point going back just happy to sit on the bench. I wouldn’t have any interest in sitting on the bench.” 

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‘Players of the Faithful’ was a hit with GAA viewers.

Source: RTÉ Player/Photojoiner.net

THE RTÉ DOCUMENTARY about one of the most famous moments in GAA history aired on Friday night, and it proved to be a hit with viewers.

‘Players of the Faithful’ recounts the story of how Offaly defeated Kerry in the 1982 All-Ireland SFC final and stopped one of the greatest ever football teams from winning an unprecedented five-in-a-row.

Interviews with various players from that Offaly team are featured in the programme, along with the manager who masterminded that incredible feat, Eugene McGee.

It also includes archive footage from the game and other events surrounding Offaly’s triumph.

Various GAA figures including Tomás Ó Sé and Carlow football manager Turlough O’Brien were impressed by how the story was told.

You can watch ‘Players of the Faithful’ on the RTÉ Player here.

Turlough O’Brien

Tomás Ó Sé

Nigel Dunne

Anton Sullivan

Ciaran Mullooly

Dara Ó Briain

Des Cahill

Jamie Wall

Thomas Niblock

Murray Kinsella, Gavan Casey and Andy Dunne look back on a memorable year for Irish rugby.

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Clare 1-20
Cork 0-21

Eoin Brennan reports from Cusack Park

CLARE WILL ENTER the new year on a winning note after snatching what seemed an unlikely opening Co-Op SuperStores Munster Hurling League victory over Cork in front of 1,987 spectators in Cusack Park this afternoon.

Trailing by four points with just three minutes of normal time remaining, substitute Colin Guilfoyle’s goal initiated an unanswered 1-3 flourish to complete a remarkable turnaround.

Cork’s Jamie Coughlan under pressure from David Fitzgerald of Clare.

Source: Tommy Grealy/INPHO

Cork had led from the throw-in to the 70th minute when Niall Deasy’s 10th point pulled Clare level for the first time, before additional scores from Ryan Taylor and Diarmuid Ryan got the home side over the line.

Until that late backlash, Cork — having led by six points at half-time — dealt admirably with Clare’s second-half resurgence. On five occasions when the margin was slashed to the minimum, the Rebels were able to produce a response.

Declan Dalton was Cork’s guiding light in the opening period with six placed balls, but the physically imposing full-forward was also denied a brace of goals by home goalkeeper Keith Hogan, who kept out two bullet efforts.

Michael O’Halloran also chipped in with four points from play for the visitors, who — despite the best efforts of Colm Galvin, Niall Deasy and Gary Cooney — took a 0-13 to 0-7 advantage into the dressing rooms.

Clare were decidedly improved on the restart though, hitting four points inside the opening three minutes. However, while Deasy constantly brought the deficit back to one, Cork — through Dalton, Jamie Coughlan and Robbie O’Flynn — appeared to weather the storm as they moved four clear heading into the final minutes.

Clare’s Rory Hayes tracking Declan Dalton of Cork.

Source: Tommy Grealy/INPHO

Clare’s 15 wides over the hour looked to be costly but Guilfoyle’s goal effectively altered the narrative as a buoyant home side finished with aplomb to take the opening spoils in Group B, with both sides set to face Waterford over the next eight days to decide the group winner.

Scorers for Clare: Niall Deasy 0-10 (7f); Gary Cooney, Diarmuid Ryan 0-3 each; Colin Guilfoyle 1-0; Davy Conroy 0-2; Cathal Malone, Ryan Taylor 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cork: Declan Dalton 0-10 (7f, 2’65, 1s/l); Michael O’Halloran, Jamie Coughlan (1f) 0-4 each; Robbie O’Flynn 0-2; Cormac Murphy 0-1.

Clare

1. Keith Hogan (Clooney-Quin)

4. Rory Hayes (Wolfe Tones)
20. David Fitzgerald (Inagh-Kilnamona)
2. Jason McCarthy (Inagh-Kilnamona)

7. Cathal Malone (Sixmilebridge)
18. Colm Galvin (Clonlara) (Captain)
10. Aidan McCarthy (Inagh-Kilnamona)

8. Shane Golden (Sixmilebridge)
9. Davy Conroy (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)

17. Ryan Taylor (Clooney-Quin)
11. Niall Deasy (Ballyea)
5. Diarmuid Ryan (Cratloe)

13. Gary Cooney (O’Callaghan’s Mills)
12. Aron Shanagher (Wolfe Tones)
22. Michael O’Neill (Kilmaley)

Subs

14. Colin Guilfoyle (Newmarket-on-Fergus) for Conroy (51)
26. Conor Cleary (St Joseph’s Miltown) for Galvin (54)
25. Jack Browne (Ballyea) for Fitzgerald (58)
15. Cathal McInerney (Cratloe) for Shanagher (65)

Cork

1. Pa Collins (Ballinhassig)

2. Sean O’Donoghue (Inniscarra)
18. David Griffin (Carrigaline)
4. David Lowney (Clonakilty)

9. Christopher Joyce (Na Piarsaigh)
6. Tim O’Mahony (Newtownshandrum)
19. Robert Downey (Glen Rovers)

8. Conor Cahalane (St Finbarr’s — captain)
20. William Kearney (Sarsfields)

10. Cormac Murphy (Mallow)
11. Michael O’Halloran (Blackrock)
12. Aidan Walsh (Kanturk)

14. Jamie Coughlan (Newtownshandrum)
21. Declan Dalton (Fr O’ Neill’s)
15. Robbie O’Flynn (Erin’s Own)

Subs

22. Cormac Beausang (Midleton) for Kearney (63)
26. Paul Leopold (Sarsfields) for O’Halloran (71)

Referee: Fergal Horgan (Tipperary)

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LOUTH WERE TOO strong for Wicklow in today’s O’Byrne Cup encounter, running out 1-17 to 1-9 winners in Bray.

A superb goal from John Clutterbuck got Louth off to a good start, and they took a two-point lead in at the interval despite being reduced to 14 men when Andy McDonnell was sent off in the 13th minute.

Gearoid Murphy’s goal kept Wicklow within touching distance at half-time, as they trailed by 1-8 to 1-6. However, the visitors pulled away in the second half.

In today’s other O’Byrne Cup fixture, Westmeath and Offaly played out a draw at 0-11 each at St Loman’s in Mullingar.

Westmeath, who were two points behind at the break, snatched a share of the spoils in added time when Paddy Fagan scored his fourth point of the afternoon.

O’Byrne Cup results

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Wicklow 1-9 Louth 1-17
Westmeath 0-11 Offaly 0-11

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THE MOST POWERFUL scene in the upcoming Jason Sherlock documentary comes right at the end, in a South African temple.

Jason Sherlock in Jayo.

An emotional Sherlock is speaking to the ashes of his late father Denis Leung, as a monk stands beside him. The former Dublin footballer is in the country where his father was murdered in an attempt to find out about the family he never realised he had. 

He meets his half-brother and they share their memories of Denis, before Sherlock heads to the street where their father lost his life and then onto his final resting place in the temple. Sherlock confronts they lack of a relationship he had with his father growing up and speaks about his hope that he made Denis proud.

Ronan O’Donoghue, the film’s director, was in the room to witness the touching moment. 

“None of us knew that was going to happen,” he tells The42. “I certainly didn’t get any inkling from him that he thought he was going to say anything.

“I tried not to walk into that temple with any expectations really because it’s a very personal moment from a guy I’ve only really known for a few months. But we got to know each other well and I think we got to understand each other and what we were doing.

“It was a strange moment but because we were there to tell the story in collaboration with Jason we all knew it was important that myself and the cameraman were there.

“A weird one but that kind of comes up in our line of work, sometimes you’re there for people’s very deep personal moments and that was one of them. It was a powerful and quite moving moment.”

Dublin selector Jason Sherlock.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Later, Sherlock speaks about the sense of calm that came over him after making the trip. “I feel more at ease with myself,” he says. 

O’Donoghue “could see the moment of release” immediately.

“He’s talking to me when he’s saying that stuff at the end and I could see from him that this was a weight off his shoulders,” he explains.

“In that whole journey to South Africa you could see he was just starting to loosen up as a person and feel a sense that there was some unfinished business there in his life that he was finally starting to break down.

“That started for him in the process of tracking down where his father’s ashes were and finding out about his brother. That had all started to happen. But yeah, that was a cathartic moment of release for him, definitely.”

Jason Sherlock takes on Tyrone’s Chris Lawn in 1995.

Source: INPHO

The documentary ‘Jayo’, which airs tonight on RTE One at 9.30pm, features plenty of fascinating moments from the life of one of the GAA’s first genuine superstars.

“A lot of footballers have more medals than Jason but I don’t know if any footballer really ever made the impact that Jason made,” says O’Donoghue, explaining what drew him to the 42-year-old as a subject.

“I think he brought the sport singlehandedly to a new level of attention. This one guy did. Because he was so different and then when you feel away at that and the reasons for it there’s a complex story behind why Jason Sherlock made such an impact.

“Because of how he looked, how he was and he was just like nothing that GAA had ever seen. What fascinated us was that we feel he kind of changed the game in a way that nobody else had. There had been more storied and celebrated footballers before him but I don’t think anyone ever pivoted the way Gaelic footballers were seen as much as Jason did.”

Source: The42.ie/YouTube

From Sherlock’s childhood juggling various sports, to the trial that never happened at Liverpool, the racial abuse he suffered as a youngster, his dramatic rise to prominence in 1995, his subsequent struggles with fame and his coaching career – it’s all covered over an entertaining, fast-paced hour of television.

A year on from the release of his autobiography, Sherlock comes across as very self-aware and a deep thinker. The decision to go down the route of exploring his heritage and family connections was made “ in collaboration with Jason”, according to O’Donoghue. 

“Our early conversations with him were good, were healthy. Jason often talks about himself as being as a mass of contradictions. He’s quite a standoffish and closed off guy as he describes himself, I’m not saying that’s how I find him.

But yet he kind of senses that by going public with certain things about himself it can have an impact beyond himself. So he did think about what going public with some of this stuff would be and what doing it in real time on camera would feel like. 

“I think he saw that if him telling his story was to have an impact and make people think about themselves and how they feel about some of the issues raised, that he had to go all the way. He was all in from the get go really.

O’Donoghue continues: “He’s a deep thinker but I think he thought quickly about it. As much as there were some personal stuff we had to work with him with, he had to contact family members and do all that stuff to facilitate meeting his family out there, he was very open and very generous to do all that.

It was a feeling we wanted to explore what made him who he was. I think a huge part of Jason was a search for acceptance and happiness. That feels like the big themes in Jason’s story and I think they’re universal themes in and out of sport, we’re all looking to belong and be happy.

“I think a lot of what he was examining about himself was all tied up in his sense of identity and a sense of who he was. There was a whole chunk of that missing and to try and summarise a life, it had to be part of it – from his point of view as much as from our point of view as the makers.

“He just needed to kind of have some sort of sense of completion about the his own sense of who he was, where he came from,” he adds. “I think there was a gap by his own admission and a gap in himself that was there because he hadn’t really confronted it.

He had thought a lot I think about how he felt about his father and how his father was the reason for him being of mixed ethnicity and that being the reason he had a lot of anger as a kid and had a hard time and got racial abuse as a kid. 

“Even now as he’s in his early 40s, I think he was kind of still shaken up by that and I think he needed to front it. I was necessary to try and tell an honest story of his life to see him go through that. He was very brave to do and but also he was adamant that we should.”

Source: The42.ie/YouTube

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EARLY AUGUST IN Killarney and a championship Saturday night that had a defining feel to it.

Kerry won and Kildare lost but the twist of the Super 8s saw both teams troop out of Fitzgerald Stadium disconsolate that their 2018 season was over.

Individual storylines popped up on. The immediate exit of Eamonn the manager from the Kerry hotseat commanded the spotlight.

But Eamonn the player left the pitch as well knowing that his departure was imminent.

Kildare’s record championship appearance holder waited a week and then the following Saturday morning announced it.

Source: Twitter – @leperleper

After 17 seasons devoted to the Lilywhite cause, 35-year-old Eamonn Callaghan closed the book on a sizeable and significant chapter in his life.

“I remember coming on against Mayo in a qualifier in 2016 and thinking that was my last game and trying to play like that. Then after the match I was thinking that was it, I was probably finished.

“But then just in the off season, you get back into it and you miss it. I decided to go back and the following year (2017) we’d a great year in Division 2 getting promoted and then getting to a Leinster final.

“I was really enjoying it. I felt myself I was making an impact. Then when Armagh beat us, I was thinking, ‘Jesus I can’t leave it on that note’.

“So I kind of knew this year (2018) was my last. At the start of the year when I talked to Cian (O’Neill), I knew this was a case of let’s give it one more go. This year felt different. I knew that it was going to be my last game against Kerry so it was a strange feeling in the build up to it.

“Look it, I felt it was a good time to go. A good way to end it, getting to the Super 8s after what we’d done in the Leinster championship. I was kind of happy with that.”

A veteran campaigner, Callaghan began in a different GAA world. He was playing U21 football in 2002 when the word filtered through at the end of that spring that he was being recruited to senior life by a man well-versed in All-Ireland glories and Gaelic football royalty.

Mick O’Dwyer came calling and Callaghan found himself ushered into a dressing-room populated by men he had been accustomed to roaring on from the terraces.

Mick O’Dwyer and Glen Ryan celebrate Kildare’s Leinster final victory in 2000.

Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

“It was just very strange coming into that setup and looking at Mick O’Dwyer giving team talks. I just couldn’t believe I was there, actually in a training session with Mick O’Dwyer. It was mad.

“I was only 19 at the time but I’d been a supporter in 1998 when they got to the All-Ireland final and in 2000 when they won another Leinster. Two years later I was in training with them. I remember at the time being blown away by it.”

That was the launchpad for an unstinting run as a Kildare footballer. He served under six managers, saw team-mates come and go, all the while watching the complexion of the sport change. The longevity of his career is striking but the sacrifice never overwhelmed him to the extent he viewed it all as a chore.

Eamonn Callaghan in action against Laois in the 2003 Leinster senior final.

Source: INPHO

“The commitment levels for me aren’t any different to when I started really. I would spend a lot of time on my own doing a bit of training. If I was injured, I’d do some extra stuff. I always enjoyed going down to the pitch in Naas doing a bit of kicking and shooting.

“We trained fairly hard under Micko as well, it was fairly unforgiving. The time nowadays is more for analysis, meetings and injury prevention. The physical element of training was always there, it’s just gone a lot more professional now on the mental side.”

Callaghan has not moved on with a treasure chest of medals and the series of moments when they came agonisingly close are recalled with clarity.

“The ’09 Leinster final was definitely one that got away from us and 2011 the semi-final against Dublin, just the way the game finished with that free. You look back at moments in games and you feel we didn’t get any break at all.

“The square ball against Down in 2010, Benny Coulter’s goal. Then the following year 2011 they changed the rule and we got penalised when Tomas O’Connor scored a goal against Donegal.

“We were competing at the top level back then and that’s what happens in games, it comes down to a couple of key moments. They were the heartbreaking ones really.

“Back when I started, I didn’t realise it at the time but my first two years, we lost Leinster finals. You think we were so close to winning a Leinster and you didn’t even realise it at the time.

“I would have thought it’d be grand, we’d be competing at Leinster finals for the next 10 years but it turned out we only got to two more after 2003. That’s disappointing that we didn’t push on. That’s one of my biggest regrets.”

Away from Leinster, he was a central figure when Kildare pushed hard to reach the biggest day in the football calendar. That 2010 All-Ireland semi-final had a thrilling conclusion.

“It was just a crazy game, really exciting . I remember hitting the post, there could have been 15-20 minutes left. I was thinking if I’d got that one, we’d have got the gap back to three. When I did get the goal, it was late on.

“We’d a couple of goal chances after that, a scramble around the box and a free hit the crossbar at the end.but having lost a game like that then it takes a while to get over that then.

“I kind of felt that was one of the toughest losses I ever had and it took a good while to get over that.”

Eamonn Callaghan fires to the net for Kildare in the 2010 All-Ireland senior football semi-final.

Source: James Crombie

It was not all torment and hours spent stewing over the disappointments. From the introduction under Micko to the standards they operated at under McGeeney’s watch.

“We’re lucky in Kildare that we’ve had top managers over the years and I’m just very fortunate that I got to work underneath them.

“The qualifier run in 2010 and in 2011, I think those couple of years were the best we’ve had I think apart from this year. We beat Meath in the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2011, a couple of those qualifier games in 2010 and 2011 were pretty special.”

And a more recent qualifier night had prized status as well. The draw pitting Kildare and Mayo together in June sparked a week of rows and recriminations, chaos and controversy. When game day drew around, Kildare were on their home patch and made the local comforts count on a sun-splashed Newbridge evening in a riveting contest.

“It was huge,” recalls Callaghan.

“We’d lost every single league game. We’d lost the first round against Carlow. There was no kind of buzz around the place, we were just stuck in a rut really.

“Once we got out of that against Derry and got that win, I think it just took off then. The Mayo game came around, everybody thought it was going to be the end of the road for us.

“It was just a massive game for us against the second best team in the country. To finally get over the line and beat one of those top teams was just an unbelievable moment.

“It was mad after the game and the build-up to the game was fairly mad. All the eyes were on the game as well, it was a massive occasion and to get the win was fairly special.”

The 2018 season concluded with Kildare’s neighbours reigning once more. Callaghan’s early days was a different era for Leinster football but he has watched the province fall under the rule of Dublin.

Callaghan goes up against Dublin’s Jonny Cooper in 2015.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“I just feel they’re on a different level, even look at the subs they’re bringing on would make every other team in the country. Dublin have the numbers, from a coaching and underage development aspects, there’s funding going into that.

“This happened 10 years ago when big money started coming into the GAA. I just know from Kildare they’ve put on a huge push in the last 5 years but Dublin did that 10-15 years ago.

“They’re just so far ahead of everyone. It’s so hard to compete with them, I don’t see it changing any time soon either. I think a lot of it comes down to funding over the years. I think eventually teams will catch up to them but it’s going to take time and it’s going to take a lot of structures to be put in place in other counties.

“I just don’t think other counties have had the same opportunities that they would have had in Dublin over the last 10 years in a development phase. It’ll probably have to be something from Croke Park  level to try to offer the weaker teams a bit more money, a bit more incentive.

“It’s a hard one, it’s not the Dublin players fault. They’re just doing what they can, looking after themselves, getting themselves in the best shape possible.”

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Eamonn Callaghan celebrates after the 2010 All-Ireland quarter-final win over Meath.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

He considers the future for Kildare though and feels optimistic with the calibre of player that is there at present and the ones in the pipeline like the group that delivered an All-Ireland U20 success this year.

The Garda stationed in Lucan will look forward in 2019 to adjusting to returning to his previous position as a Kildare fan. He’ll be around his club Naas more. And there’s the chance to spend more time with his wife Katie, his young son Fionn and his wider family.

The tributes flowed in when he called it a day in August, a recognition of the rapport he had built up with the county’s football faithful since 2002.

To most he was more familiar as Leper, the nickname that has been attached to him since he was young.

He finishes with the back story to that.

“Everyone expects this mad kind of cool story behind this nickname,” laughs Callaghan.

“When I was in sixth class, I was about 12, I was the only lad in the group that didn’t have a nickname. One of the lads said he’d find a nickname for me in the dictionary. So I’d to open up a page in the dictionary and Leper was the first word on the top of the page.

“They were all just laughing and slagging and calling me Leper. I came back into school the next day and the whole school was calling me Leper.

“I don’t know how the hell it stuck over the years. When I was going to different places in Kildare, one fella would call me Leper and then sure everybody would.

“When I joined the Guards then in 2008, no one knew me as Leper but there was one lad I think who got wind of it, he started calling me and I can’t get away from it.

“I should have come up with a better story though. It’s stuck with me forever.”

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A MEMORABLE YEAR for Mickey Graham has ended with the new Cavan senior football manager guiding his county to victory in his first game in charge.

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Graham recently guided Longford champions Mullinalaghta to the Leinster club senior football title, setting up an All-Ireland semi-final against Dr Crokes on 16 February.

In the meantime, he must balance those preparations with his role as Breffni County boss. His reign got off to a winning start this afternoon at Kingspan Breffni Park.

A point from Conor Madden in the fourth minute of additional time sealed a 0-13 to 1-9 victory for Cavan over Down in the first round of the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup.

The sides had been level at 0-6 each at half-time, but Cavan raced into a five-point lead after the restart. However, a Down revival was sparked by a Pat Havern goal from a penalty with 14 minutes remaining.

Ciaran Harney and Conor McGrady then brought the visitors level, Jack Brady nudged Cavan back in front, before McGrady pointed again in the second minute of additional time as the game looked destined to end in a draw. However, Madden settled it for the hosts.

In Ballybofey, an experimental Donegal side were too strong for Queen’s University Belfast, with man-of-the-match Ciaran Thompson chipping in with four points for the home side in a 0-21 to 0-11 victory.

Yesterday, Monaghan ran out 1-20 to 1-12 winners over Antrim. 

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2019 COULD POTENTIALLY be a massive year for Irish sport.

Naturally, our starting point is the Rugby World Cup in September where Ireland will go deservedly go into the tournament as favourites.

Joe Schmidt’s side were always a strong prospect for the World Cup, but that historic victory over the All Blacks on home soil has certainly given their chances a timely boost.

The Six Nations in February will give us a good indication of how their preparations are going and there’s also the small matter of defending their Grand Slam crown. 

Elsewhere on the rugby front, the Pro14 and the Champions Cup deciders are both penciled in for May. 

We’ll have the usual spread of All-Ireland finals to look forward to in August and September while the League of Ireland season commences in February.

Following the departure of manager Stephen Kenny, can Dundalk defend their League and FAI Cup double?

The Republic of Ireland will be facing into their Euro 2020 qualifiers next year and have been drawn against Switzerland, Denmark, Georgia and Gibraltar in Group D. Now that Mick McCarthy has returned as manager, how will the Boys in Green perform in this new era for Irish football?

The women’s World Cup takes place in June, and while Colin Bell’s Ireland unfortunately failed to qualify for this tournament, this should be another exciting sporting event.

The World Athletics Championships are also scheduled for Doha in September as part of packed sporting calendar in 2019, but what are you most looking forward to in the new year?

Let us know what you’re most looking forward to in the comments section below.

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