This is my last column for Irish Country Living. It has been a privilege to share my thoughts with you over the past 11 years, one I never took lightly.

Of course, I wasn’t allowed to either. Like my favourite subject, the GAA, the Irish Farmers Journal is embedded in rural Ireland and you’re not allowed to forget that. I was the “fella who writes in the Journal” no matter where I went. That got me many the extra slice of cake, cup of tea or even something stronger at matches, funerals and weddings all over the country.

I was proud to be that fella. I wore as it a badge of honour. I always treasured this column and never took my audience for granted. I went to every game I could, travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to do so and enjoyed every one. I never wrote about sports I didn’t avidly follow myself, in the flesh too, as I don’t think the television is any real substitute for being there and trusting my own eyes.

And this is why I must give up the column. I am taking up a new job in October and there will be a lot of travelling involved. Alas it won’t be to Croke Park, Thurles or Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Not even my beloved Cusack Park in Ennis. Don’t feel too sorry for me, I might see a lot of America and the Far East.

After over 25 years in journalism, it is time for me to change tack. This will be the second act in my career and it means that I must leave some of the first instalment behind. My intrinsic involvement with the GAA will suffer. I feel I need to be at matches about 45 weekends out of the 52 in a year to write knowledgeably and currently about sport. I won’t be able to do that any more and this column needs the opinions of an eyewitness, not a remote bystander.

Relationships

You’ll have to indulge me now, because there are a couple of people I should thank. Despite being away from the Irish Farmers Journal office for 11 years, I have many strong relationships from my time there. It was Mairead Lavery who suggested I maintain my links with the paper when I left my then editor’s role in September 2007 by contributing a weekly column on sport. Mairead was a powerhouse and a pleasure to work with. She has been the driving force behind Irish Country Living. She has been a huge asset, not just to the Irish Farmers Journal family, but rural Ireland too. Thanks, Mairead, for all your encouragement.

When I worked full-time in the Journal from 2004 to 2007, every day was a school day in the Farm Centre. And if you couldn’t learn from giants like the late Paddy O’Keeffe and Joe Rea, well really you were wasting your time. I still miss my chats with Joe in particular; I’ve yet to meet a man since that could cut through nonsense quicker, more decisively and probably cuter than Joe.

It was Matt Dempsey who gave me my initial opportunity back in 2004. Little did I think back then that my relationship would extend to 14 happy years in total. Sincere thanks to Matt as well.

This column has been sent to a number of subeditors, people who put everything together, Rosie and Niall just two of the most recent. New editor of a few weeks, Amii McKeever? Sure I hardly knew you Amii!

The constant in my time writing this column has been another subeditor, Joe Lenehan. Joe, like myself, is an eternal GAA optimist, my cross being all things Clare, his being Kildare. There have been many emails where we consoled each other at the end of all too often short summers for our counties on the field. Above all, however, it has been Joe who has encouraged my odd tendency to rant, as we both called it, when I went off the reservation now and again.

Writing a column from your living room at about midnight on a Monday can be a lonely enough existence and there were times I wondered if I went too far, or maybe not far enough, or was I on the wrong road altogether. Joe could always be relied upon to read the column objectively and offer his advice, critique or encouragement. Thanks Joe, I have valued your help. But don’t worry, your inbox will still flicker and my name will pop up when the Lilywhites are in action. And yes, your short summers will continue for some time yet!

Readers

The last thank you is to all those who have been reading my column for so long. To the many who have emailed me, including the fella from Cork who delighted in contacting me when Cork won in hurling or football to remind me I had called it wrong. For a finish, he used to email me in advance of columns, begging for me not to tip Cork, right down to the last man to email me, Arthur O’Dea from Sligo just a few days ago. Thank you, Arthur.

I enjoyed that fun. I appreciated all those who contacted me over the years, whether it was to admonish, argue a point or on the odd occasions to say they liked what I said. I loved preparing the quiz questions and trying to source a couple that would confuse some of you. That feedback usually lasted into February!

All of that I will miss. But the fortune has been all mine. I got to write about what I loved, for readers who appreciated their sport and the style in which it was delivered.

The strength of the Irish Farmers Journal has always been that: the sum of its readers.

Take care, stay going to matches and keep reading.