Conor Murphy

THERE’S 05:38 on the stop-clock: Mayo are three points down in the 2026 All-Ireland Final, nevertheless very much in the game. Unlike in the 1996 replay against Meath, they still have 15 men on the field. Back then star player Liam McHale was red-carded after just six minutes following a mass brawl. 14-man Mayo lost by just one point. At 07.24, Mayo get off the mark with a fisted score.

IN 2007, I skipped the afterparty celebrations of a wedding in Gweedore, Donegal and hitched a lift to Derry to watch the Senior County Football Final at Celtic Park, where the success starved club of my birth, Glenullin, was facing Bellaghy, the record title holders.

THIS columnist’s weekend centred around a trip to Manchester for the Northern Games youth tournament with hundreds of young footballers to play in competitions across two days hosted by Lancashire GAA.