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The memory of the late Eamonn ‘Chick’ Deacy is to be kept alive with a new full soccer scholarship at NUI Galway. The first recipient will be named in time for the 2012/13 academic year, which begins in September.

I was out of the country last weekend on a cycling holiday in Germany (more anon). I deliberately stayed away from all forms of communication until I arrived back in the country. By the time I landed in Dublin I was bursting for information on all of last weekend’s sporting activities. I called a few friends on the trek home from Dublin Airport and managed to get a good account of most of the action. The first conversation I had informed me of Kilkenny’s demolition job on Cork in the league final. These Kilkenny boys are simply in a different league to most others. I have watched them a couple of times earlier this year when they appeared to be just going through the motions, but once they get a whiff of a trophy they invariably rack it up a few notches. Jimmy Barry Murphy will, for the first time since his appointment as Cork manager, realise that the honeymoon period is over and his task of landing the Liam McCarthy is an enormous one when you consider the conveyor belt of young talent Brian Coady has at his disposal. But it is not just the talent that they produce year on year – it is their entire application and appetite for success that makes them so exceptional.

London GAA is in shock after a young player, Cathal Forde, died while training with Kilburn Gaels in the city this week.

Moycullen handball ace Martin Mulkerrins has claimed this year’s All Ireland Intermediate Singles Championship title and is now one of the country’s leading young handballers to have been promoted to the senior ranks.

Almost as soon as it began the group stages of the FBD League will wrap up this weekend. For Mayo the competition so far can be given good grades. Two wins out of two, a number of new players given their introduction to the inter-county game and a place in the final of the competition against NUIG to look forward to in a week’s time.

When Anthony McGarry took over as manager of the Ballintubber team late last year, he did so from a position of considerable strength. They [Ballintubber] had just won their first county title, and not alone did McGarry get to manage a talented bunch of young men, he also inherited a team that knew how to maximise their playing strengths. He was then given the scope to evolve the team’s style of play by shifting away from the rear-loaded defensive strategy, employed to reasonable effect last year, to a more expansive attacking style this year.

All eyes will be on McHale Park on Sunday for the repeat of last year’s senior championship final, last year it was Ballintubber who were the last men left standing. While both groups of players are still more or less the same, on the sideline two new men will have been busy for the past few weeks plotting and planning each other’s downfall. When James Horan left Ballintubber to rejuvenate the standing of Mayo football on a national level, Anthony McGarry was the man left with the task of filling his boots. For the Mitchels, when Peter Ford stepped aside his banisteoir’s bib was handed to former Mayo senior and u21 manager Pat Holmes, and one target was given him, bring the Moclair cup back to the county town.

I was at the two under 21 semi-finals in McHale Park last Friday evening. It was a wonderful evening for football and the football on view was good too. The first game between Aughamore and the combined forces of Hollymount and Carramore had a dramatic finish. For long periods Aughamore looked the dominant side and appeared to be cruising to a fairly comfortable victory, but the Holly/Carra boys never stopped believing in themselves and persevered right to the very end. They finished strongly, eventually winning by two points. The Aughamore boys appeared shocked that they had not managed to close out the game and they will scratch their heads for a while yet wondering how they managed to let this one slip away.

In addition to an impressive haul of 14 All-Star award nominations, two Kilkenny players have been shortlisted for the coveted GAA GPA Hurler of the Year award.

Connacht’s long-awaited qualification for Heineken Cup rugby is being hailed as an exciting opportunity that the province must grab - both on and off the pitch.