It’s time for patience and calm

Thu, Feb 04, 2021

They say that patience is the ability to idle your motor, while in reality you feel like stripping your gears and throwing it all overboard.

Too easy to be distracted and lose hope

Thu, Jan 28, 2021

As a child in Mayo, I always had a great sense of the potential for hope that comes with this time of the year. We had three wooden lake boats for fishing on Lough Mask, and every winter, they were upturned in our garden and allowed to hibernate against the harsh winds and rain while the fishing season remained shut. And then in late January, the boats would be turned again and the process of getting them ready for a new season would begin.

Trump’s legacy is one we can all learn from

Thu, Jan 21, 2021

This morning we wake up to a new era in world politics. Perhaps the most divisive and most colourful figure it has produced for decades has moved back into the shadows and steps can be taken to redress the damage that has been done since his arrival four years ago.

We cannot afford to close our eyes to unfairness

Thu, Jan 14, 2021

Back when I was a young journalist, I had a friend who had been born into the Mother and Baby Home. And before I ever shook his hand, I could tell that here was a man with a story, a tale that had traced its way across his face, into his furrowed brow and wrapped itself around all of his humble demeanour.

He was a man who I encountered everyday on my way to get a cup of tea and eventually, he joined me and asked me if I would do him a favour. He told me of the hardship in the home, the coldness, the harsh words, the lack of any encouragement. Then he told me of how he was sent from there to live and work on a farm, to be a substitute son, virtually a slave worker. One who would eat his meals on his own, the only communication of compassion coming from the family dog with whom he’d share the spoils of the leftovers. I can still see his face wince and the shake of his head when he recalls just how unkind they were to him.

A time for our collective hibernation

Thu, Jan 07, 2021

It has been another hard week, it is fair to say. There are none who are immune from the worry of this pandemic and its consequences. There are probably none who fully understand the changing rules and regulations with their ever changing status.

A shot in the arm for a new beginning

Thu, Dec 31, 2020

I think it was Rahm Emanuel who said once that we should never let a serious crisis go to waste. And I agree with him. In every adversity, there is an opportunity. Lest this should sound exploitative, what he meant was that every crisis is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before. And so it has panned out this year.

Keep your eye on the prize but look after the little things this Christmas

Wed, Dec 23, 2020

Look after the little things in life. Because one day the time will come when you realise they are the big things.

Needlepoint — hope has brought us this far

Thu, Dec 17, 2020

This time last year when the worst of our worries were whether the bird was the right size or the pudding mature enough, we didn’t know ourselves.

Time for female sport to be respected by those who promote it

Thu, Dec 10, 2020

I hope that no other girl who goes on to play football or camogie or soccer or whatever sport for her club, her parish, her county, her country is ever made feel the way that the Galway ladies team felt when they made their way down from Dublin last Sunday evening. On Sunday morning last when I heard that this talented Galway team, the second best in Ireland last year, top top athletes, were being asked to make a mad dash from one place to another to play a game of such importance at a time earlier than they expected, I felt it was utter madness and would end in frustration.

Fantasy Football round 12 preview

Tue, Dec 08, 2020

With the Premier League season more that 25 per cent complete, the runners and riders for this year's title are starting to pull away from the chasing pack. Spurs and Chelsea underlined their credentials as champions Liverpool's biggest challengers with comfortable victories over Arsenal and Leeds respectively. Leicester kept in touch with a last gasp winner against bottom side Leicester City and the much maligned Man United moved within five points of the summit with a come from behind win at West Ham.

Covid cannot change the spirit of Christmas

Thu, Dec 03, 2020

This week marks the traditional start of Christmas festivities. A time when towns and cities bustle and burst, where shoppers are greeted by Christmas carols, however nauseatingly repetitive; shop windows are festooned with fairy lights, draped haphazardly to produce that festive glow; and of course, there is always a traditional Christmas market with that smell of spice and sugar.

There is nothing quite like it. Good cheer, a time for that annual drink in the pub with a friend of 40 years, work parties where someone always gets that little bit merrier than usual, lighting ceremonies where people gather to join in the holiday cheer. Yes, a magical time to rejoice and relax.

A Christmas like never before...or will it?

Thu, Nov 26, 2020

These days are very important in all our lives, as we count down the days to a return to normality.

Fantasy Football round 10 preview

Thu, Nov 26, 2020

For the first time in a long time, a Premier League round did not have any real headline news apart from Spurs defeating Man City 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening. Champions Liverpool soundly beat Leicester City 3-0 at Anfield, Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 win over Newcastle, and Man United's most important asset, the penalty, earned them the three points over struggling West Brom.

It’s time to hear the songs again

Thu, Nov 19, 2020

At around midnight on New Year’s Eve last, I stood with friends and family and listened as the bells of St Nicholas rang out across Galway City, their wonderful peals soaring high into the night sky, hanging there and waiting until the ship’s horns in the bay answered their call. It was a fitting moment; the juncture of the civic and maritime, two key attributes of the city over many centuries.

​Fantasy Football round nine preview

Thu, Nov 19, 2020

That was a pretty depressing week for Irish football. Defeats to England (3-0) and Wales (1-0), and a dour 0-0 draw with Bulgaria, sees the Republic of Ireland slip further down the world rankings and into pot three for the December draw of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Cead mile failte Joe Biden

Thu, Nov 12, 2020

The collective sighs of relief and whoops of joy were audible throughout the free-thinking world. Democrat Joe Biden eclipsed incumbent Donald Trump at the polls to become the 46th president of the United States, and also the 23rd to have Irish roots.

Fantasy Football review

Wed, Nov 11, 2020

With the international break on the horizon, it gives us a chance at Advertiser Towers to have a look back at my top tips and to see whether I have the golden touch or need to be doing more homework on my football.

The world waits to heal itself

Thu, Nov 05, 2020

Perhaps this was the week when we thought the world would start to heal itself, when a new sort of leadership would emerge to replace the dark days of the past few years.

Fantasy Football round eight preview

Wed, Nov 04, 2020

Round seven concluded at Elland Road on Monday night when Leicester gave league new boys Leeds, a reality check with a 4-1 thumping. The game summed up another game week packed with goals.

Sad events remind us that we need to mind each other

Thu, Oct 29, 2020

There has been a lot a sadness in our news lately, and I don’t mean that of a purely Covid nature. Tragedies in Cork and Dublin have shocked us all, but saddened us even more.

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