All Ireland Club Finals 2026

Cian McGibneyGAA

The GAA yet again showed its best side this past weekend with a number of All Ireland Club finals at various grades in Croke Park. Being a Kerry man, my interest was drawn to the finals that saw both Ballymacelligot and An Ghaeltacht involved in both the Junior and Intermediate finals.

That showed again what the GAA can be when it wants to be, those finals in both hurling and football were held at GAA headquarters and gave many small parishes the chance for their day out. It was a move all those years ago that was questioned to move those games all to Dublin, but as you can see now what it does for those clubs. The build-up, the real excitement.

Ballymac won their final 1-16 (19) to 0-13 and had the father of the late Luke Sillies in the management team and they of course wore a specially commissioned shirt over the past while in his memory. It was a special day for the club and they did well to earn the win over Clougher Eire Og of Tyrone.

 An Ghaeltacht for their part saw off the challenge of Glenullin of Derry on a scoreline of 0-12 to 0-06. Ballymac formed a guard of honour to see An Ghaeltacht onto the pitch, a real mark of respect by them to do such a thing.

Like watching Tarbert in action last October in Tralee, the sense of pride of place and pride in the parish, even though I can’t stand that particular turn of phrase is always special to watch and then to see the Irish language used by An Ghaeltacht certainly also added to the day.

It is one of those truly Irish days and will be seen again this weekend when Dingle play St Brigid’s in the All Ireland senior club football final. All the best to Dingle this weekend who will have taken good encouragement from the wins of last weekend by the two other Kerry clubs involved in action.

You will have the All Ireland senior club hurling final between Ballygunner and Loughrea and then the football will follow at 3.40pm. Another special day is promised in Croke Park for all 4 clubs…

My Munster 23 for Castres

Cian McGibneyRugby

15 Mike Haley

14 Diarmuid Kilgallen

13 Tom Farrell

12 Alex Nankivell

11 Thakir Abrahams

10 Jack Crowley

9 Ethan Coughlan

8 Gavin Coombes

7 Brian Gleeson

6 Tadgh Beirne

5 Edwin Edogbo

4 Jean Kleyn

3 Oli Jager

2 Lee Barron

1 Michael Milne

–

16 Diarmuid Barron

17 Josh Wycherley

18 Michael Alalatoa

19 Tom Ahern

20 Jack O Donoghue

21 Jake O Riordan

22 Tony Butler

23 Dan Kelly

Here is the 23 I would select to face Castres on Saturday evening in the Champions Cup. Yet again Munster find themselves in need of a big victory and other results to go their way to be sure of a last 16 spot in the Champions Cup.

A big weekend of action is ahead and for certain teams they will need to calculator for the 3 days of action…..

Kleyn Move Confirmed

Cian McGibneyRugby

Jean Klyen has signed a deal to leave Munster after 10 seasons in red. He will be heading to join up with Gloucester next season. He has played for Munster over 160 times and will look to add to that before the end of the campaign.

Munster did offer terms but Gloucester have offered a better deal and will have the World Cup winner in harness for the 2026/2027 season.

Kleyn made his debut for Munster in the 2016/2017 campaign and went to the 2019 World Cup as a Irish squad member, eventually winning 5 caps before other players got ahead of him in the pecking order and with the new regulations around capping players by World Rugby.

He wasn’t capped by Ireland for a period of 3 years and so he was called up by South Africa and was an integral part of the squad that won the 2023 World Cup on French soil.

He didn’t really have many chances to play with RG Snyman during his time with Munster and he of course moved to play with Leinster at the beginning of last season. Kleyn has certainly helped develop the likes of Edwin Edogbo, Evan O Connell over the past while as injury ruled him out for large periods over the past few years.

Munster will look to promote from within but may also go into the market to see who might be available and looking for a fresh challenge to come and play there rugby with Munster in the URC. Munster is still an attractive proposition to lots of players.

Munster may look to bring in an non Irish qualified player as they have seen Snyman and now Kleyn leave for new challenges. Interesting times ahead now for Munster in their quest to bring in a replacement of equal quality to Kleyn.

Munster Momentum And Style Struggles

Cian McGibneyRugby

Munster were last night beaten by Ulster in Belfast by 28-3. It was Ulster’s first win over Munster since 2024 after Munster did the double over them last season.

Ulster under Richie Murphy and Mark Sexton have kicked on and are playing some good flowing rugby but at times they do get caught between two stools and the results on those days has suggested that Ulster are going in the right direction but are still a work in progress. They are going well in both the league and in the Challenge Cup.

The resigning of Nathan Doak was a key signing as he has defiantly made strides forward this year and was capped by Ireland A back in November vs Spain suggesting he isn’t too far away from the main Irish squad.

Bryn Ward in particular showed his raw power and pace last night. He was key on occasion to keep Ulster on the front foot, he is of course is the son of Andy Ward who played for Ulster and Ireland in the late 90s and early 2000s and was also part of Ulster’s run to European glory in 1999 in Dublin when they beat Colomiers 21-6.

Munster for their part had no answer to Ulster power, precision and accuracy in attack in particular in the second half when they took the game away from Munster completely. Munster have lost both interpros over the Christmas and New Year Period and have 8 days to circle the wagons before going to face Toulon in the Champions Cup.

Since the Argentina game at the beginning of November, Munster have lost momentum and ground in both the league and in Europe. It started oh so well for Clayton Mc Millian winning his first 5 leagues games and then the slip started with Stormers at home giving up a 21-6 half time lead in Limerick and not kicking on.

The loss at Bath in the first round of the Champions Cup certainly exposed Munster’s deficiency’s up front in the front 5 in particular. They have some but not all the components to compete at the top end in Europe.

It will be a long second half of the season if Munster can’t stop the slide and the challenges don’t get smaller, only bigger and steeper now. The struggles at scrum time continue and were again exposed last night time and again.

Munster could potentially be without and John Hodnett and Alex Nankivell who both went off with knocks last night for the trip to Toulon next Sunday 1pm kick off. Munster have been in this position far too often over recent seasons for their own liking and will again have to go to the well in search of a big season defining performance.

The year is in danger of sliding into the “what could have been column” but the one thing Munster have is time and Clayton Mc Millian will earn his money over the next while.

He and his coaches will need to find solutions both in attack as well as defence because Munster have conceded far too many points in certain games, Denis Leamy has been here before and managed to find a few solutions and they are in the similar spot now so time again for Leamy and co to come up with long term lasting answers.

The Munster motto is “ Stand Up and Fight” well it’s time for the players to do just that and help turn the season around…..

6 Nations 2026 My Selection

Cian McGibneyRugby

I will try and select the squad I feel will be best placed to serve Ireland best in the upcoming 6 Nations that will commence on Thursday 5th of February when Ireland go to Paris to play in the Stade De France.

Between here and now both injury and suspensions may play a role in who I select here making an impact on the 2026 campaign that begins in just over 1 months’ time. I will select an expanded squad of 41 players given that Ireland A will also take on England A in the same week as the French game.

Forwards –

Andrew Porter, Michael Milne, Jack Boyle – Loosehead

Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Gus Mc Carthy – Hooker

Tadgh Furlong, Thomas Clarkson, Sam Wilson, Tom O Toole – Tight Head

Tadgh Beirne, Tom Ahern, Cormac Izuchukwu, Charlie Irvine, Darragh Murray, James Ryan – Lock

Jack Conan, Brian Gleeson, John Hodnett, Josh Van Der Flier, Josh Murphy, Cian Prendergast – Back Row/Number 8 22

Backs –

Craig Casey, Jamison Gibson Park, Ben Murphy, Neil Doak- Scrum Halves

Jack Crowley, Sam Predergast, Harry Byrne, Jack Murphy – Fly Half

Jude Postlethwaite, Dan Kelly, Hugh Gavin, Bundee Aki, Tom Farrell- Centre

Calvin Nash, Shane Daly, Finn Tracey, James Lowe, Tommy O Brien- Wing

Mike Haley, Jacob Stockdale, Mike Lowry – Full Back 21

Here is my attempt at picking a 41 man squad for the 6 Nations, of course as I mention injury or suspension could have an impact on this particular selection.

Ireland have issues at full back in particular. Interesting times ahead with another round of interpro games this weekend then followed by 2 weeks in Europe. It is all to play for every player hoping to wear green for the upcoming 6 Nations.

Swanky Bar Pool Final 2025

Cian McGibneyLocal News

The 2025 Swanky Bar Pool Tournament ended in dramatic fashion last night when Tom Ward and Cyril Flynn faced off. Both men were looking to win the coveted trophy for a 2nd time. Tom and Cyril performed very well in the games leading into last night’s final.

Before the main course, Denny Hanrahan and James Enright faced each other in a competitive and fast paced 3rd/4th place play off where Denny Hanrahan saw off the strong challenge of James to seal an impressive win to secure 3rd spot.

The Final itself was evenly contested by both Tom and Cyril with Tom going into a 1-0 lead then Cyril brought it back to 1-1, then Cyril edged in front to make it 2-1, both players struggling to get into a smooth rhythm but still producing some lovely exciting pool.

Tom Ward took inspiration from the likes of Scott Mc Tominay, Kieran Tierney, Lawrence Shankland who all scored for Scotland in there impressive World Cup qualifier win over Denmark back in November to secure a World Cup spot for the first time since 1998.

He got the game back to 2-2 before Cyril snuck back in front to make it 3-2 then Tom fired back levelling this contest up at 3-3. Both men probably sensed that there were chances for both to take the game by the scruff of the neck and take charge.

Cyril was first to strike for home getting back in front to make it 4-3 before Tom who just didn’t quit brought it back to 4-4. Then what followed had to be seen to be believed.

Cyril went for broke and cleared the table to set himself up to take the second last frame before a cruel stroke of luck befell him when he potted the black only for the white ball to continue it course and follow the black to hand Tom Ward the advantage.

The last frame of the evening followed a similar vein and saw both men trying to take full control playing some very good pool only for another cruel slice of misfortune to happen to Cyril Flynn where he again put himself in postion to take the title only for lady luck to run out on him and he again potted the black only for the white to again follow the black into the pocket and that sealed Tom Ward’s second title.

Both men played some very solid pool and were well matched throughout only for those two bits of misfortune it could well have been Cyril Flynn winning a 2nd Swanky Bar Pool title. As it was it was Tom Ward who was crowned the 2025 champion.

Well done to all 4 players on the evening, huge congrats also goes to MC John O Dowd, DJ Shicco for the tunes and for keeping the evening running smoothly. To JP who refereed the final. Not forgetting Ger Keane who was on the camera. Well done to Sophie and the crew behind the bar who kept the crowd watered through the proceedings.

New Year, New You Apparently….

Cian McGibneyLife

2026 is almost upon us and it will be “New Year, new you” for lots of people. New year traditions will be to the forefront over the coming days. To anyone about to pick up or start a new regime be that starting from scratch on Thursday, all the very best to you with it.

For more people, they can close the book on 2025 and start a fresh in 2026 depending on how 2025 played out for you and yours of course. Families welcomed new additions, sons in law, daughters in law. Families said goodbye to loved ones as well and for that reason people will be glad to see the end of 2025.

The new year will bring fresh promise and hope for many people, it will mark the countdown to many big family occasions aswell. We as a family fall into that particular bracket as Fionn will get married in late May, I have a small role to play on the day which will be enjoyable of course.

The new year will see every “influencer” out in there droves to tell you and show you how to press the reset button heading into the new year and also how to lose the excess weight of the Christmas and New Year.

I myself will stick to my own plan and won’t be looking for any secret formula to help me stay up on the exercise bike into 2026 after taking to using the exercise bike in mid 2025. A small bit of weight has been lost and that will continue as the new year approaches.

Do whatever works and suits you and drive forward and don’t look back and wonder what might have been, make the plan to make the change if you want to do so.

So as we head for 2026, I’d like to wish all of you both near and far a very Happy New Year and thanks for the continued support of my ramblings and recordings….

Ferry Rangers New Year’s Eve Charity Game

Cian McGibneyLocal News

New Year’s Eve will see hostilities resume when the Ferry Rangers old stagers will dust off the boots and shin guards to play the new generation of players wearing the red and black of Ferry Rangers. This game will help mark the 30th anniversary of the club which began back in 1995.

The game will take place at Ferry Park at 2pm on New Years’ Eve. Both sides are in serious training I have been informed both on and off the bar stool since Christmas began. It will be a great way to kick off the new year celebrations that will follow later in the day.

This annual event has been running for a number of years and is very keenly contested, amazing to see how fast the competitive spirit kicks back in in particular for those who have been retired in the past number of years.

Both squads are full of top notch talent who are eager to show that they still have “it” whatever “it” is. It will be great to see some of the lads who were only youth players back when the club started get stuck in with the new generation who are playing in the Kerry District League at the current moment.

Rumour has it that a number of scouts will be in attendance on the day to the run the eye over some of the players, now whether in the case of the old stagers that is for the old folks home I just don’t know !!

So if you’re at a loose end and fancy watching two teams kicking lumps out of each other with the odd bit of football thrown in then head for Ferry Park at 2pm on Wednesday…

Keep an eye out for details through all of Ferry Rangers social media platforms as to who will benefit from monies collected on the day….

Ireland In Pool D for RWC 2027

Cian McGibneyRugby

So it’s course set for Australia for 2027 after the draw was done this morning in Australia. The draw saw 24 teams enter the hat. Ireland have been drawn in Pool D and will face Scotland, Portugal and Uruguay in Pool play to see who will advance to a newly introduced round of 16.

It will be the third consecutive Rugby World Cup where Scotland will play Ireland having faced them in Japan in 2019 and in France in 2023. The path to make it to the final has been lined out for all 24 sides.

Ireland of course have an extremely poor record at World Cups, having failed to win a quarter final being beaten every time and of course famously in 1991, it took Michael Lynagh’s late intervention to deny Ireland a possible semi-final in Dublin after Gordan Hamilton has scampered clear to score a famous try.

Ireland will have two Six Nations to play in the next two years and will want performances to start going in the right direction over the next while. They are certainly a team that will go through a number of personal changes as father time is waiting for a few more senior members of the Irish squad.

Over the next few years, Andy Farrell will have to spread the net out and bring in some more fresh blood. We have had many A games since he took over and 2 tours of South Africa under the Emerging Ireland banner. It’s time for those players to be given more game time in green.

Ulster in particular have been going well so far this year and a few of those players will be pushing hard for inclusion in the 2026 6 Nations squad. Munster, Connacht and Leinster have also begun to kick on in the early part of this campaign and with Europe kicking off this weekend, it will be two rounds to again show Andy Farrell and his coaches of new and fresh options for the green jersey.

Ireland will be trying in 2027 to get the unwanted monkey off the back once again but for now the talk of 2027 will have to wait as the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup loom large on the horizon beginning on Friday night……

North Kerry Final 2025 Replay

Cian McGibneyGAA

I made my way to Ballylongford for the replay of the 2025 North Kerry Senior Football Championship Final between Listowel Emmets and Knocknagoshel who were appearing in their first Final. They had played out an entertaining draw the previous Sunday that saw Knocknagoshel score a late two pointer to secure a draw after finding themselves 10 points down at one stage of the Final.

I travelled with local man Denis Kiely who won a few North Kerry Championships himself and he had shown me a photo of the Kerry Under 21 side that contested the Munster Under 21 Final of 1969 that saw 4 Tarbert men on the panel, himself, Patsy “Skin” O Connell, Tom O Donnell and Mossie Carrig, that moment set the tone for the afternoon.

That’s the thing about the district finals, it brings all the stories back to the surface. It is about the 60 minutes of course and the two teams involved but as the North Kerry Final shows, old friends meet up at discuss the day but also reminisce of by gone days and for this author, that is what truly makes the GAA so special and unique.

Like every organisation, the GAA has its faults but no one can deny how well it does at bringing people together for “the parish”. To see the Knocknagoshel’s supporters and Listowel’s supporters roaring on their respective sides is something so special. As was mentioned more than once to me yesterday, “there won’t be anyone left in Knocknagoshel”. There was a healthy Listowel contingent in Bally to support the “townies” also yesterday.

Having been at many sporting events over the years including a World Cup in France in 2014 and here in Ireland in 2017, I still fail to see the sport or event that will bring people together in this country like the GAA. The genuine “pride in the parish” you see on days like yesterday is why the GAA is still number 1 in this country.

The game was won by Listowel Emmets on a scoreline of 2-18 (21) to 2-07(13). Listowel draw level with Moyvane on 18 Championships a piece. They have youth on their side in terms of trying to go on a win a number of Championship in a row, having won last year aswell.

A number of clubs in North Kerry will be hell bent of making sure that any level of dominance by Listowel does not happen…

They have a number of men that have been involved with Kerry at various levels over the past few years, Eddie Healy and Aaron Kennelly were involved at under 20 level with Kerry this past year. They have been coached by new Kerry minor boss Marc O Se who is part of the Emmets management team that includes fellow All Ireland medallist Noel Kennelly.

The North Kerry Final takes on a life of its own and certainly shows the best of the GAA in its purest form. As I mentioned the GAA like many organisations does have its faults but one cannot help but be impressed by the organisation of Brosna GAA club last Sunday week and the Ballylongford club yesterday.

In the few words before the Eamon O Donoghue Cup was handed over to Listowel Emmets, both hosting clubs over the last 2 weeks were commended for getting as many volunteers as they did to help the day run as smoothly as they did on both days.

Volunteering is still a critical part of the GAA as it is for many things and will continue to be the case into the future where yet again on occasions like yesterday the call goes out and people rally round to help out if they can.

I have a gra for the GAA but it isn’t as big as it is for other people, It is always great to see genuine passion for your area that comes out on days like yesterday and earlier in the year when Tarbert defeated Beale in the Kerry Junior Club Championship final in Tralee.

In the words of John B Keane where he said Listowel Races is a “state of mind” I think the same can be said of the North Kerry Senior Football Championship.

People will complain about the time of year that the Championship is run off, the weather, the pitches but the North Kerry Championship Final still drew a crowd of 2,500 people to Ballylongford yesterday to see the replay.

Other sporting organisations might manage that on the odd occasion barring maybe there big days in those chosen sports. The North Kerry Final is still one of those special days in the sporting calendar of Kerry and long may that be the case…