Oakleafers

In the autumn of 1990, just seven years after guiding Derry to an All Ireland Minor title, Eamonn Coleman was parachuted in from a footballing exile in London to help bring the Derry seniors back into the realm of respectability. Barely three years since his native county had won the Ulster SFC crown, in 1987, … Continue reading Book Review: The Boys of ‘93

It has only taken 53 GAA Football Championship games to get here, but the highly-anticipated Super 8s is finally upon us, with four games at Croke Park this weekend to kick-off the series. In this UnTitled Extra, we’ll get you prepared for the next month’s action.

The loss of Paddy McBrearty is not the only thing posing a problem for Donegal ahead of the Super 8s series. The way the fixtures fall could leave the Ulster champions under pressure straight away.

Although Carlow and Fermanagh enjoyed high-profile wins in 2018, they have fallen into the same trap as those mediocre soccer teams who risk losing the future generation of players in order to gain immediate results.

It’s amazing how quickly the popular narrative turns in the world of Gaelic games. Back in February, there was a highly-publicised post-match interview between Tyrone manager Mickey Harte and BBC reporter Mark Sidebottom, following Tyrone’s 2018 McKenna Cup Final defeat to Donegal. The interview was interesting for a number of reasons.  One of those was … Continue reading Mickey Harte Needs to Ignore Begrudgers

There’s a familiar narrative among the GAA cognoscenti that the deal with Sky Sports is emblematic of the Association’s rush towards professionalism. It has continued unabated since the TV deal was drawn up back in 2014 and in recent weeks it has gathered further momentum. ** CLICK HERE to sign up for our ‘UnTitled GAA Newsletter’: … Continue reading GAA Needs to Start Thinking Outside the Box

Maybe it’s just me, but this year’s All-Star awards (sponsored by those old GAA enthusiasts, PWC) generated more debate and were much more fun than usual. This year’s response from the over-excitable masses (mainly Twitter and the sporting wing of digital media publishers) shouldn’t have necessarily come as a surprise. The 2017 All Ireland Final … Continue reading All-Stars Are Back In Vogue

TG4’s Laochra Gael programme last week featured former Derry midfielder and all-time Oak Leaf legend, Anthony Tohill. As has come to be expected from the TG4 documentary series, it supplied us with a chronological overview of the Swatragh man’s inter-county career, but mostly it served as a reminder of just how important a player Tohill … Continue reading Anthony Tohill and Derry’s Golden Years

Clones on a grey Saturday evening in the middle of May is not the most appetising of places in which to find yourself, especially if the reason you’ve travelled to Monaghan’s famous border-town is to watch a National League game. This is exactly what Derry fans found themselves doing in May 2000, when the Oak … Continue reading When Derry Ruled the Royals

There’s a curious, yet seemingly satisfying obsession with sporting curses across the world. A lot of them are mindless nonsense, obviously, but they provide a convenient excuse for certain teams’ inability to succeed, and more importantly, they give comfort to fans during the darkest hours of fandom. God knows, we Derry fans need comfort from … Continue reading The Curse of the Tribe