Several different strands came together the morning in February 2007 that I brought into being the phenomenon that became known as the Mayo GAA Blog. At one level, what I did that day was just a flight of fancy, a mere whim, an idea that simply may not have been followed through on at all. It wouldn’t have been the […]
One way of thinking about how individuals live their lives – it’s certainly a method I often use to frame my own existence – is to parcel the single contiguous existence into discrete chunks. Childhood and adulthood are obvious divisions, the individual decades are, of course, a handy means for carving up bits of what might be a long life […]
This football-less Covid era is getting to all of us. A further yawning period of more than two months now stretches before us ahead of the most optimistic date at which the ball might be thrown in to start the 2021 inter-county season. We’ll all be driven bats before then. Up until last year, all of our lives had a […]
Happy St Brigid’s Day all. I know we were all taught in school that today’s the first day of spring, which of course it isn’t – not in the meteorological sense – but the days are getting longer and spring is indeed on the way. The first day in February is also significant from the perspective of the blog. It […]
I usually do the annual update on web traffic stats for the blog earlier in January. Last week’s glut of retirements blind-sided me a bit in that respect, however, so here, a little later than usual, is this year’s update. Covid-19 has caused plenty of graphs that were pointing upwards to tip vertiginously in the opposite direction. It certainly did […]
The start of another year of football action is now but days away. So, after several weeks where things have been very quiet on here, once the action gets going again this coming Sunday it’s likely to be a bit more lively. That means more comments. As ever, most of the comments posted on here won’t be a problem because […]
It’s the start of a new year and so, once again, it’s time for a quick look back on the previous year’s web traffic stats for the blog. You’ll no doubt recall that 2018 saw the first ever dip in yearly traffic compared to the previous twelve months, with our early exit from the Championship that year resulting in lower […]
Christmas is done with and the New Year is set to dawn shortly so it’s an appropriate time for all of us to think about what this means. For many, the start of a new year brings a desire for change. For me, significant change is already baked in for 2020. I’ve known for some months now that my working […]
Christmas Eve is almost upon us, with the big day itself coming down the tracks straight after with what feels like almost indecent haste. Are we ever really ready for Christmas? Does it matter if we’re not? It’ll soon be over for another year. At Christmas every year, there’s always time to look back on the year that’s sliding inexorably […]
This article first appeared in the ‘Mayo GAA – A Decade in Review’ tribute supplement published by the Western People. A simple plan It was all going to be so simple. A Mayo football fan, in some shape or form for most of my adult life and someone with an urge to write that badly needed scratching, this looked like […]