Ciaran Hanley

My earliest memories of American Football are playing it on my Spectrum 128k computer in the mid 80's. Whatever the game was, there were only two teams to pick from - Chicago Bears or New England Patriots, who faced off in Superbowl XX in early 1986. Walter Payton and William "The Fridge" Perry were the two most famous players I can recall from the victorious Bears team. Of course, the Patriots would have years of domination to look forward to in future decades.  The first time I remember watching games was the 1988-89 season. I started at Christian Brothers Grammar School in Newry that autumn and some of my new friends were big into it. There's a Poultry Shop at the bottom of Courtney Hill that looks like a huge barn in the wild west with a big wooden sliding door that stayed open during business hours. Along with chicken, they sold sweets to school kids and packs of chewing gum that had a wooden key ring inside with the helmet of a NFL team. I had a Bengals one so I...

It's been a very emotional few days. On Thursday morning, I was rushing around getting ready to drive 250 miles to Cork to see Joe Bonamassa Play Rory Gallagher at The Marquee. If you don't know, Bonamassa is one of the great blues guitarists of our time and a huge Rory Gallagher fan. Recently, none other than Johnny Marr from The Smiths cited Gallagher as one of his main influences. If you love guitar solo's you'll love RG and JB! The first time I remember hearing Gallagher's name mentioned was when he died in 1995 and my housemate at university told me his older brother was heartbroken by the news and sat up all night, drowning his sorrows but got worried about drinking alone so poured some in the dogs bowl so he could join him!  There was a CD shop on Royal Avenue in Belfast that sold classic albums for a fiver in the early 2000's. One day I went in and bought Morrison Hotel by The Doors and Against The Grain by Rory Gallagher. That was the album that got me ...

Once famous for thrilling chariot races, Circo Massimo was transformed into a stadium full of fans who had travelled from all over the world to visit the Eternal City and see David Gilmour play for six nights on the Luck and Strange Tour. Another ancient Italian location for a concert following the 2016 shows at Pompeii. I first became aware of Pink Floyd when I was at university in Coleraine, my portable CD and tape player was kept in the living room and everybody in the house played their music on it. One night I came in from the pub, pressed play, put the headphones on and lay down on the sofa expecting to hear what I'd been listening to last (Chemical Brothers Exit Planet Dust) but instead of heavy electronic beats, I was met with long, transcending guitar solos. I listened the whole way through and then I looked to see what it was. Written on the blank tape in pen was "Pink Floyd - The Division Bell". This was the brit pop/dance music/ Tarantino movie soundtrack era ...

Dundalk Football Club are staring into the abyss. One of Irelands greatest teams sit bottom of the league, having lost their last 3 games and were unable to pay player and staff wages a couple of weeks ago as the Brian Ainscough era began to unravel. I'm from Newry but we always had more in common with Dundalk, 12 miles up the road but over the border, than Banbridge, 12 miles up the road in Northern Ireland. On both sides of my family there are Dundalk connections and it always felt familiar. My first ever football match was on a Sunday in the autumn of 1988 with my uncle Leslie, not even a blood uncle, a Dundalk man married to my mothers sister. I was competing in the scór for our GAA club with his children later that evening. During the day, they were looking after me, with my parents at work, we went to see his mother who lived in the town. My auntie Helen and the younger children were left to visit while I was brought to the football at Oriel Park. Derry City were the visitors...