The first week of 2012 and festive memories well and truly evaporated!
Back into it this week and relishing the sporting season ahead.

The opportunity to reflect this week on last year’s championship summer
when GAA.ie’s Round The Square makes it’s TV debut.

Iomaint 2011 will be broadcast this Wednesday night January 4th
at 7.30 with  Peil 2011 on 730 on Friday night. The shows produced by
the GAA Communications department and Ballywire will have you buying your
season ticket straight away!

It’s nearly as big a tradition as it’s 15 man counterpart, but the eve of All Ireland Senior Hurling Final tournament at Kilmacud Crokes continues to attract hurling fans up in the smoke for the big weekend. How will the  2010 All Ireland 7′s champions Portumna fare this year? We’ll have to wait and see but here’s how they celebrated last September.

Now that he’s been signed up to play his rugby in Ireland for the next two years, Leinster’s Rob Kearney is targetting a spot in Declan Kidney’s Rugby World Cup squad as he continues his rehabilitation from the injury that ruled him out of this year’s Six Nations Championship.

The Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ambassador has been sharing the secrets of the skills that prompted the IRFU to ensure they hold onto his services for another two seasons, holding a special rugby training session with a delighted Gorey RFC.

The Wexford rugby club won a competition run by Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain to experience their very own training session with the Leinster and Ireland fullback and professional trainers.

The rugby clinc took place in Old Belvedere RFC, Dublin and experienced rugby trainers Girvan Dempsey (Elite Player Development with Leinster Rugby, 82 caps for Ireland), Richie Murphy (Leinster Skills and Kicking Coach) and Collie McEntee (Head of Leinster Rugby Academy) were also on hand to give the team an experience they will never forget.

Speaking at the session, Rob Kearney said: ‘This is a really great prize for Gorey Rugby Club and I’m delighted to be involved with Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain on giving them such an opportunity. They have had the chance to train with professional rugby coaches today, which is obviously very exciting. The session also gave them insight into what a typical training session is like when you train with a professional rugby team.”

The scene in the Tipp dressing room after the 2010 All Ireland Senior Hurling Final

Ireland’s leading sports photographic agency Sportsfile spend their Sundays on sidelines around the country providing reportage to the nation’s newspapers on matters on the pitch and every year they publish what they consider their best work in a coffee table book called A Season of Sundays. A who’s who of the GAA community attended the 2010 launch at Ulster Bank headquarters in Dublin including Mullinahone’s Eoin Kelly pictured above letting rip after inviting Liam McCarthy to the Premier dressing room.