Cricket - The Ashes
Looking at the recent form of both sides, England could win the Ashes at a canter. That would have been unthinkable about a year ago, but Australia have finally crash-landed following the retirements of Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist. For a while, they got away without unearthing players of a similar calibre, but now the Aussies are discovering that you can’t replace the irreplaceable. (more…)

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Tyrone’s Sean Kavanagh and Kerry’s Tomas O Se give us their thoughts ahead of the cracking encounter between the Counties at Croke Park in the All-Ireland Final this Sunday!

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Waterford’s Ken McGrath and Kilkenny’s Cha Fitzpatrick look forward to hitting each other with hurls this Sunday at Croke Park in the All-Ireland Hurling Final

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And so the hype begins – the All-Ireland Hurling Final takes place on Sunday and being Waterford’s first appearance since 1963, it’s sure to be a cracker. Kilkenny boss Brian Cody and the Deise’s Davy Fitgerald rate their chances as well as… surprise, surprise the obligatory manager ass-kissing routine. “No Davy, your’re great!” “No Brian, you’re the best” and so on and so on

Check Out Our Exclusive Video Interview

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Kerry’s Aidan O’Mahony has been ridiculed for his Cristiano Ronaldo-esque theatrics in the All-Ireland semi-final against Cork and so he should be.

Not because his open-handed slap landed, but because he’s Irish, the judges at the Workers’ Gymnasium in Beijing may not have given a red card to Cork’s Donnacha O’Connor after he hit Aidan O’Mahony. It was a little ‘shut your mouth you cheeky git’ slap to the face of a cheeky git and it, by the letter of the law, deserved the red card. It’s a strike. However, O’Mahony’s reaction would’ve earned him Gold in the swimming pool for his delayed dive. He’s been justifiably lambasted for his very unlike-Kerry behaviour, but there were a couple of incidents that would look more at home at Old Trafford than Croke Park during Sunday afternoon’s repeat of the Munster final. Ignoring Colm Cooper’s impeccable display during the match, when he received a shoulder in the second half during a stoppage, he went tumbling down with his arms outstretched, clearly making the most of it. There was a deliberate attempt to coerce the ref to brandish his cards on more than one occasion from both sides. Falling down clasping one’s face is, as Joe Brolly also asserts, becoming a recurring feature in the GAA and it needs to be stamped out. For an organisation that prides itself on “manly” behaviour, it is slowly accepting the cheating qualities of soccer. It has been creeping into Gaelic football and I for one don’t like it. “He’s a bit of pup,” Brolly correctly describes Tom Daley, I mean, O’Mahony but this isn’t an isolated occurrence. Kingdom fans will close ranks again, no doubt, excusing this kind of behaviour as they did when Paul Galvin assaulted Paddy Russell’s notebook. You would hope they’d be embarrassed that a county with its tradition should produce a player that would act in this manner. Can the GAA stamp this out? Is this a completely isolated incident? Am I over reacting? Let us know what you think!

In case you missed it, here’s possibly the funniest thing you’ll ever see at Croke Park…..unless Jimmy Carr does a gig there or someone gets sent off but stays on the field….again.

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You may have/may not have noticed my somewhat muted response following Dublin’s pitiful display against Tyrone this week. Due to the Missus forcing my hand to do a bit of DIY in our new house, I had to make do with the vocal stylings of the legend Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh on the old wireless. Visualising the Red Hands demolition of the Dubs was a bit like listening to porn on the radio – not that I would ever stoop to such seedy levels and watch porn, love - just don’t look in the bottom drawer. The Sunday Game served its purpose, but I didn’t feel adequately placed to give the many readers of Over The Line my viewpoint on the Jacks’ capitulation. For that, I am sincerely sorry, but feel free to let me know what you thought of it. To make up for this glaring journalistic inadequacy, we got Kerry’s Aidan O’Mahony and Cork’s Anthony Lynch into a room, dressed them up in drag and made them fight for your enjoyment – well, they were meant too.

Anyway, my previous sporting weekend revolved around the radio due to the fact that my new home has yet to be installed with Sky/Cable…… and probably won’t be. A wise man told me that if you get Sky installed, using televised sport as an excuse for a trip to the pub to watch the Man Yoo game or the Angling Championships on a Sunday morning becomes obsolete. I’m putting the foot down this week and watching the GAA in the local – but then again, I probably won’t. I’ll let you know. Kerry will win, not only win but win well. Cork pulled off a shock in the Munster final, but as we saw against Galway, the men from the Kingdom know when to go up through the gears. Losing a Munster final didn’t really bother them, bringing home Sam again is always the objective. Selection: Kerry – 3points @ evens.

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2005 will go down long in the memories of Tyrone fans. Apart from lifting the Sam Maguire, beating Dublin in their own back yard in the quarter-final replay, topped off with a sublime goal by Owen Mulligan who danced around the Dubs defence like John Travolta, was a sweet victory for the Red Hands. Let us not forget the infamous Battle of Omagh earlier in 2005 that Tyrone lost which made their win over the Dublin all the sweeter. An expected repeat of these events did not come to fruition in the first flood lit match at Croke Park in ‘07, but it did continue the counties’ heated rivalry.

The Sky Blues, despite getting off to a slow start this year, proved they’re All-Ireland contenders with their second-half demolition of Wexford. Although Tyrone are fading in stature and haven’t been as clinical as in recent years, the significance and recent history of this encounter means they can’t be written off.

Expect intensity, passion, heart and.. eh… rain. Like the weather this is tough to predict but check out what the respective captains think. Dublin’s Alan Brogan and Tyrone’s Brian Dooher tell it how it is below in interviews exclusive to Paddy Power.

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Listen up deluded, but punctual Wexford fans. When the big hand is at 12 and the little hand is at 4 on the clock in Croke Park on Sunday, you’ll know there’s still fifteen minutes before thrown-in, which may be the first of two inevitabilities that will occur in the Leinster Football Championship Final. 1) The start of the match will be delayed for “safety reasons” and 2) Dublin will win. The former being a certainty, the latter less so. (more…)

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On Sunday, a GAA footballer received a second yellow card reacted aggressively and knocked the referee’s notebook from his hands. It was deemed assault. If Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson were to analyse the incident between Paul Galvin and referee Paddy Russell, Hansen would no doubt jump to the defence of the player and insist “the notebook has made the most of it” with Lawro interrupting “I agree, it went down too easy” before making some crude joke about a girl who he used to know in school. Galvin has now felt the wrath of the CCCC this week and faces a 6 month ban from the game, which would put his chance of lifting the cherished Sam Maguire for his beloved Kerry as captain in grave doubt. He apologised on RTE news on Monday, with the academy allegedly nominating him for best actor this year. So, to the crux of the matter. In a fierce rage, the school teacher showed the type of petulance normally seen during Premier League matches towards an official.

Firstly, he’s the captain. Granted in the heat of the moment any man “can lose his head” but the captain should know better. Secondly, the argument that he was frustrated, adrenaline fuelled etc., etc is rubbish. They were playing Clare who are considered one of the weakest teams in the country, on home soil in Killarney. Was the game slipping from their grasp? Had a crucial decision gone against them that would change the game? No and no. They were hammering them. He should’ve accepted his second yellow, trudged off and be grateful that he’d be allowed to wear the jersey again this year. Though his “assault” on the ref’s notebook should be punished and serve to remind players this type of action is completely unacceptable, the 6 month suspension is harsh. The GAA are cracking down on discipline, and rightly so, but Galvin is being made an example of. There’s been a lack of consistency in their approach on this. On previous form, three months would’ve been adequate. He will appeal it.

As well as this, Paddy Russell is a bit like a Matador with a red rag. Controversy seems to come running at him from every angle. From not noticing red carded Charlie Redmond remaining on the field of play in the 1995 All-Ireland Final, to the Battle of Omagh followed by the Storm in a Tea Cup mêlée at Parnell Park to the recent… Paul’s Paddy Attack(c). In fairness, he’s been refereeing since 1981 and is held in relative high regard, so we can excuse these few transgressions and no blame should be attributed to him in this particular incident. Perhaps Galvin should’ve waited until the end of the game, kidnap the ref and throw him in the boot of a car….. or does that just happen in my home County? In 1985 ref Johnny Price (RIP) was bundled into a hatchback and dumped in the middle of nowhere. Later, he greeted the incident with great humour and posed for photos in the boot of a car for national papers and, to his credit, continued to ref for many years. Galvin could’ve vented his frustrations in that manner and probably would’ve got away with it. Anyway, back to the important matter. This behaviour is deplorable, but six months is too much. What do you think of the Galvin affair? Is he being made a scapegoat because he’s the Kerry captain? Has he had it coming for previous borderline behaviour, does that matter? Let us know what you think about the latest GAA controversy!

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Thankfully, in many respects, the All-Ireland Championships have been less predictable than first thought. A spirited Wexford beat Leinster hopefuls Meath, Wicklow shocked Kildare and almost undeservedly beat Laois in the Leinster Football Championship while Clare were victorious over Waterford in the Munster Hurling Championship (was it really a shock?). They have all given colour to what was expected to be a dull competition until the latter stages. Perhaps it proves I don’t know what I’m talking about, but that would put me in the same boat as nearly every alleged ‘expert’ in the land. All of us should be rowing toward the Dole queue, but alas, we won’t because the preliminaries won’t decide the overall outcome – Kerry to win the All-Ireland Football and Kilkenny to win the Hurling.

Referees had a tough time last weekend. RTE analyst Anthony Tohill suggested ‘South of Ireland’ refs didn’t know how to handle an Ulster Championship match and Meath boss Colm Coyle aired his controversial grievances that a disallowed goal was legitimate and a harsh red card changed the game – conveniently he had his eyes closed when a Wexford man was despicably elbowed in the head, but that’s not important. Is it, Colm? Valid points, with some substance. However, Colm O’Rourke and Joe Brolly - to a lesser extent - were far less eloquent about the performance of Marty Duffy in the Donegal/Derry match during RTE’s live broadcast on Sunday. I agree with Tohill to a point. I thought he was a bit picky and disrupted the flow of the game.
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