Simplicity can be the hardest thing of all

Thu, Dec 13, 2018

Maybe it was all Darina Allen’s fault. For about 100 years of cooking Christmas dinners and burning turkeys, we were happy.

But somewhere around the 1980s, Darina came along. In two-channel land, everything was watched on Irish television. There were people who came in late at night to stand for the national anthem at shut down time, and then watch the multicolours of the test card and listen to the whistle of its accompanying sound. Maybe, that was where we got the notion that there was nawthin’ on the telly.

Fantasy Football round 17 preview

Thu, Dec 13, 2018

Another week of European action has ended with Spurs achieving their "greatest ever European result", a 1-1 draw away to a Barcelona B team and Mo Salah and Alisson Becker sending Liverpool through to the knock-out stage after a tense 1-0 win over Napoli at Anfield on Tuesday night.

In focus: Galway’s gambling scene

Thu, Dec 13, 2018

We all know the old cliché: “the luck of the Irish”. Whether this originated in the context of gambling or not, there’s no doubt it’s relevant to the Irish people’s love of a flutter – whether it’s on the horses, in the lottery or even in one of the country’s many casinos.

How we stop doing things the stupid way

Thu, Nov 29, 2018

When all is said and done, there is great wisdom to be got from Puss in Boots in Shrek. A master of the art of life, a great survivor, a curator of the nine lives that he was born with, he was often known to impart the words of a creature who had lived life to the full and knew all its twists and turns.

And although, Puss in Boots is unlikely to be ever mentioned in the same breadth as Einstein or Shaw or Wilde, there is one of his quotes that often comes to my mind, and maybe because that is the way I am wired.

Fantasy Football round 14 preview

Thu, Nov 29, 2018

It is back to the Premier League after European duties and for Irish fans, domestic action is a welcome distraction from the FAI's strange decision to bring back Mick McCarthy to manage of Ireland after parting ways 16 years ago.

Forty families a minute make the call

Thu, Nov 22, 2018

Poverty cannot be appreciated until you have lived it. Until you have walked the streets wanting, but not looking like you are wanting. Until you have trundled through Shop Street at Christmastime with an ache in your heart knowing that you cannot have what others have. But it is not envy. It is the feeling of being unnoticed, unwanted, that is the most hurtful and debilitating.

We all make the mistake of thinking that poverty is being without food, without clothes, without shelter, but is so much more than that. It is about how all of these things make people feel.

Pallas Karting Christmas gift voucher - the Christmas present of 2018

Thu, Nov 22, 2018

Christmas is 'the most wonderful time of year'. Everyone is getting into the spirit of festive and cheer, and towns and villages throughout the county are decorated and illuminated by Christmas lights, creating a special atmosphere which only this time of year can generate.

Fantasy Football round thirteen preview

Tue, Nov 20, 2018

After another depressing round of internationals for Ireland where Martin O'Neill's men played out an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland on Thursday night followed by another 0-0 snoozefest against Denmark in Aarhus on Monday evening, the good news for Ireland fans is that there are no more international rounds until March and it is back to the Premier League.

Reaping the benefits of a culture of nurturing

Thu, Nov 15, 2018

Gardeners are good at nurturing. I suppose it comes with having a great patience, a desire to believe in the capacity of the fruit and plants they tend, a gut feeling that with the proper conditions, they will deliver. The right amount of photosynthesis, the right amount of care, the right amount of gut feeling.

I have visited the Portershed in Galway on many occasions over the past few years, and it is full of gardeners. Not wellied-up green-fingered types, but people who stand there watching over their patches, waiting to see if they turn to the sun or turn away. If they absorb the rain, or let it destabilize them.

Fantasy Football November review

Tue, Nov 13, 2018

Round 12 of the Premier League ended with Man City proving that sky blue is the colour in Manchester as they defeated Man United 3-1 at the Eastlands on Sunday evening.

Connacht coach Andy Friend believes his team have what it takes to make the Champions Cup

Mon, Nov 12, 2018

Connacht coach Andy Friend believes his team have what it takes to make the Champions Cup after watching them destroy a hapless Dragons side on Saturday. James Cannon and Colby Fainga’a scored their first tries for the province in a 33-12 bonus point win that carried them up to fifth in the Pro14 Conference A table. Seven Pro14 teams qualify for the Champions Cup and Friend reckons his squad can kick on and grab one of the spots. They are certainly benefiting from the impact of Australian imports David Horwitz and Fainga’a and optimism currently abounds.

The international break, which has seen Bundee Aki, Kieran Marmion, Finlay Bealham and Quinn Roux called up to the Ireland set-up, gives fans, players and Friend the opportunity to reflect on a rollercoaster start to the season. According to a Sportsbetting.ag review a top bookie at SBR and a look at the best odds available, Connacht are given a decent chance of success in the Pro14 and the Challenge Cup. They are sixth in the betting for the Pro14, behind only Leinster, Glasgow, Munster, Scarlets and Ulster. In the Challenge Cup, they are sixth in the list, with only Clermont, La Rochelle, Harlequins, Sale and Northampton ahead of them.

Fantasy Football round 12 preview

Fri, Nov 09, 2018

After the rollercoaster week that was the Champions League and Europa League, it is back to the normality of domestic matters.

The laundry walls find a new purpose

Thu, Nov 08, 2018

Walls are powerful things. Some are built to keep something or someone out; others to keep people in.

Tried and tested - Michael D wins the race

Thu, Nov 01, 2018

It is reassuring the people of Ireland have elected Michael D Higgins as our President for another seven years.

The result was an overwhelming mandate for the Michael D and ageism, reinforcing that this election was one in favour of the incumbent President, and not one against the other candidates.

Fantasy Football round 11 preview

Thu, Nov 01, 2018

November has arrived and we are nearly a third way through the Premier League season.

Justice at last for lives unlived

Thu, Oct 25, 2018

What strikes us is the ordinariness of the forenames. The Patricks, the Julias, the Marys, the Peters, the Johns, the Mauds.

Fantasy Football round nine preview

Thu, Oct 18, 2018

After another depressing round of internationals for Ireland where Martin O'Neill's men played out an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Denmark on Saturday followed by a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Wales on Tuesday evening, it is back to the Premier League.

A stadium to admire and inspire

Thu, Oct 11, 2018

In times of old, our ancestors built places of worship, soaring churches, round towers pointing at the skies. Around the world, most civilisations did likewise, digging amphitheatres into undulating hills; surrounding places of conquest with walls to form an arena for entertainment or persecution, to where the hordes thronged to fill their thoughts with admiration and revulsion at gladiators and beleaguered prophets.

Fantasy Football October review

Wed, Oct 10, 2018

Round eight of the Premier League ended with a whimper as Liverpool and Man City played out a dour 0-0 draw at Anfield on Sunday evening.

Let’s not let the next crucial decade slip by

Thu, Oct 04, 2018

I’m due to retire sometime late in the spring of 2030. Around four o clock on that day, there’ll be be a soft shuffle of footsteps at the office door, the smell of cheap birthday candles from the pound shop, and the loud ticking of an engraved timepiece to somehow none too subtly remind me of the time that I’m supposed to be at work, and just how many of those hours were devoted to keeping the coffee industry alive in local hostelries. There’ll be a few hoary auld speeches that will all begin with ‘d’ya remember the craic we had when....” and then after a few awkward silences, there’ll be a card with a voucher for an afternoon tea, and the kind offer of helping me with the few cardboard boxes out to the car, because after all the new person will be starting on Monday and.....

Thoughts of 2030 come to my mind this week at a crucial juncture in the timeline of some major projects in this city. I wonder on that day as I sit there with my few cardboard boxes, looking out on Eyre Square, just how much of the city will have changed. Will I look across and see the sun reflecting in from the coast, bouncing off the glass windows of Bonham Quay; will I see thousands of excited young visitors and workers make their way up through and into the Ceannt Quarter where lie beyond delights of retail and cultural experience?

E-paper

Read this weeks E-paper. Past editions also available from within this weeks digital copy.