Former Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice was last week confirmed as the new Galway senior football manager, on a three-year term. From Lixnaw in North Kerry, he replaces Pádraic Joyce who quit as Galway manager after seven years in charge last month. A three-time All-Ireland winner as a player with Kerry, Fitzmaurice managed Kerry for six years between 2013 and 2018, leading the Kingdom to Sam Maguire glory in 2014. He also won six straight Munster titles and a National League title during his time in charge. He remained involved with the club scene in Kerry, coaching the Clifford brothers’ club Fossa in 2022 as they claimed a junior All-Ireland title. Fitzmaurice was also part of the Football Review Committee chaired by Jim Gavin. Most recently Eamonn has been working as a pundit for RTE.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice [Inpho/Ryan Byrne]
ZUCKERBERGS
DONATE TO GAA
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have donated €150,000 to the three GAA clubs which are located closest to Strancally Castle in County Waterford. It is understood this is the couple's first Irish philanthropic donation since they bought Strancally Castle in August. The three clubs: Shamrocks GAA in Knockanore, Tallow GAA and Lismore GAA, will each receive €50,000. The donations will be paid to the clubs over a two-year period, with each club receiving €25,000 per year. A spokesperson for the Meta owner and his wife say they decided to donate to the three GAA clubs in Waterford that are closest to Strancally Castle as they are aware of the very significant role that the GAA plays in local communities in Ireland.
BAD URC START
On the opening weekend of the United Rugby Championship, holders Leinster and the other three provinces lost. It was only the fourth time the four Irish teams lost over the same weekend, following on from September 2009, April 2015 and April 2025. However things did improve somewhat the second weekend with two wins and an away draw for Ulster, but Leinster lost again.
The European Cup competition does not start until Oct. 17, and we will have the third round of games in the URC this weekend, a competition that also involves teams from Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. Next weekend, most focus will be on Ballsbridge when Leinster return to the refurbished RDS, now known as the Laya Arena, where they will play Cardiff on Saturday at 7.45 pm.
WOMEN’S GAME
SET FOR AVIVA
The IRFU have confirmed Ireland will return to the Aviva Stadium next May for their 2027 Women’s Six Nations game with world champions England, while Dexcom Stadium in Galway will host their second round game with France .It will be the second time that a standalone Women’s Six Nations game will be held at the home of Irish rugby. A record crowd of 31,294 was in attendance for their 54-5 win over Scotland on the final day of this year's championship last May, which sealed third place in the table for Scott Bemand's team. And it will also be the second time that a Women's Six Nations game will take place at the Dexcom after they beat Italy 57-20 there last April.
EXPERTS’ CHAIR
URGES PATIENCE
Kevin McStay, chairman of Gaelic football’s Expert Advisory Group, has urged stakeholders to be patient and let them breathe as Gaelic football's latest swathe of experimental rules are trialled in higher education league competition, starting from mid-October. The former Mayo footballer and manager has suggested that any trial rules which prove successful could be introduced for next year's National Football League.
The various rules will be re-evaluated after being road-tested in the Higher Education Ryan Cup, potentially subject to further trial in provincial pre-season competitions. And then it will be decision time, according to McStay. He said: ‘‘ I will have to talk to the Standing Committee on Playing Rules, and I am meeting GAA president Jarlath Burns, to discuss these things. We would like to see whatever stands up going straight into the league, and then they would be formalized at GAA Congress in February.’’
The EAG is seeking to build on the success of Jim Gavin's Football Review Committee, whose sweeping rule enhancements introduced initially on a trial basis in 2025 have transformed the game and the public’s appetite for it. Among the most eye-catching adjustments, McStay’s committee will trial a four-point goal; a limitation of three consecutive hand or fist passes before the ball must be kicked; and a ban on handpassed or fisted points.
MUNSTER CEO
TO STEP DOWN
Ian Flanagan will step down from his position as Munster CEO at the end of October. Flanagan took over from the late Garrett Fitzgerald in 2019. Flanagan’s position has been under scrutiny in recent months after a number of controversies in the organization, leading to calls for change at the top of Munster Rugby from a number of former players. More damaging headlines have been created by the content of a new book by former Munster captain Peter O’Mahony, who said: “I think Munster needs a little bit of a governance change. I think they need to look at who is looking after the place properly.’’ The province will appoint an interim CEO this month before the search for a permanent successor begins.
DOLAN TIPPED
FOR LONGFORD
Former Roscommon footballer Frankie Dolan is in line to take charge of the Longford senior footballers after Abbeylara, the club he was most recently managing, were knocked out of the Longford senior championship by Killoe Emmet Og. That defeat, coupled with Dolan’s recent decision to step away from Oisín McConville’s backroom team in Wicklow, has paved the way for him to fill the void left by Mike Solan in the midlands. Dolan said: “I’ll make contact with Longford. I got a call a number of weeks ago, but to be fair to Longford they understood my position. I wasn’t making any decision until either Abbeylara won the championship or were knocked out of the championship.’’
STARRING ROLE
FOR MORAN, 42
Andy Moran rolled back the years as he came off the bench to help Ballaghaderreen avoid relegation from the Mayo senior football championship recently. Trailing Balla by five points at half-time Ballaghaderreen turned to their 42 year-old All-Ireland-winning manager after the break, and Moran made an immediate impact with two points. He was also involved in the game’s crucial moment, taking a quick free that led to Conor Moriarty finding the net and putting Ballaghaderreen ahead. They held on to a 1-13 to 0-14 win that secures their senior status for 2027.
BAD TIMING FOR
STARS’ BANQUET
We have a lot of school teachers playing Gaelic football and hurling for their respective county counties. Successful inter-county teams get a holiday at the end of the year as a reward for their commitment and to accommodate the many teachers in the panels, those holidays are normally planned for the Autumn mid-term period. That Autumn mid-term break this year coincides with the date for the All-Star Banquet and some of the players who are due to go on holiday might have to miss the banquet in Dublin on Oct. 30.
CITY FOUND GUILTY
BUT WILL APPEAL
Manchester City arranged ‘‘sham”’ sponsorships in a near-£1bn plot to flout EPL rules, an independent commission has found. It was confirmed last week that City were found guilty of all charges related to ‘‘serious breaches” of the league’s financial rules. The commission also upheld all but one charge in relation to their failure to co-operate with an investigation spanning more than three years. The commission found City artificially inflated their revenues and reduced their costs by more than £900m over a nine-year period. As such, of £949.94m claimed as genuine commercial income, £830.69m was paid by their Abu Dhabi owners, which is against EPL rules. The announcement about well over 100 individual breaches of the EPL rules came five days after City’s top-flight rivals were informed the club had been found guilty of the majority of charges. City, who deny any wrongdoing, will appeal the verdict which could drag on for some time. Following an eight-year saga, which is expected to run for much longer, the commission found that City did the following: arranged ‘sham’ contracts with a number of commercial partners and similar agreements with others; filed mis-stated accounts and concealed the true state of their finances from auditors and football regulators; were significantly in breach of both the EPL’s and Uefa's spending limits; committed multiple breaches of their duties of co-operation towards the league and called witnesses who gave evidence that they knew to be untrue and so had been dishonest.
