The boys of summer are older now.
Some hearts are stilled.
Fifty years in a heartbeat.
Was with these great Dublin men of 1974 last week.
The band who's music first made Hill 16 rock.

20th wedding anniversary.
Went from Saddle Room in Shelbourne Hotel, via Kehoes, to this oul' avenue of idiocy.
When we were young and immortal...

Kindness is life's supreme gift.
I'm a little overwhelmed here.
Off The Ball kindly offered a canvass to paint a few word pictures.
Things that matter.
Family and life and sport and memories.
The response from so many has been overwhelming.
Thank you.
Really, thank you.

A giant fell five years ago next month.
Lovely to speak today on Off The Ball about an authentic prince of the city.
Anton O'Toole and the detonation of joy he and his Dublin brothers brought to a sleeping city.

Will be on Off The Ball with John Duggan and Philip Lanigan at 1.30 to discuss all-time favourite sports documentaries/ films.
Everything from Anton O'Toole to an ailing Jack Charlton; Ayrton Senna to tightrope walkers; Kevin Moran to young American kids chasing their NBA dream

This is wonderful stuff from Roy Curtis.

Another clip from yesterday's OTB 'You Had to be There'
Why sport, at its most profound, is about belonging, identity, family and love.
How Stephen Cluxton, Kevin McManamon and Dublin gifted us an All-Ireland Sunday in 2011 that brought my late father back to life.

It was a joy to join Ger and Eoin on OTB's 'You had to be There' series.
A chat which ranged from Euro 88 to Stephen Cluxton; Sonia O'Sullivan to Michael Jordan.
A father's unspoken love to Con Houlihan's role in easing a young journalist's crippling anxieties.
Here's a sample.

Sometimes, life delivers its blessings.
This 20-month-old column was intended as a crutch for a dear friend who was falling.
Today, he stands on his own two feet.
Understanding the tripwires that addiction plants on every road, but walking on.
A better man than I could ever be.

Phenomenal writing

A column on the beyond heroic Stardust mothers.
This extraordinary woman - Bridget McDermott - lost three children on one infernal night.
Just think about that.
Bridget's persistence, courage, dignity and resolve are beyond my understanding.
A brilliant, beautiful Dublin mother.

Jimmy's winning matches.
The power of a man's aura.
Incredible from Donegal.

A nail in the coffin of absurdist tactical notions that a goalkeeper should also be a maitre d, travel agent, mixologist, and backing drummer in a Led Zepplin tribute band

A thrill and honour to speak at Dublin 1974 All-Ireland winning team's 50th anniversary lunch.
Heffo's fathers of the revolution.

The foundation stone on which the skyscraping modern era was built.
Heroes, who became friends.
Older now, some gone, but our forever boys of summer.

And we think we know hardship.
Oh my Lord.
Imagine what this lady has endured.
A lifetime of pain beyond pain.
Three children.
May she have some peace tonight.
#Stardust

Saw two Stardust mothers nipping into Briodys for lunch one day during inquest.
Saw my late Mam in their determination to rise above terror and bureaucracy.
Ordinary, tormented, cheated folk, driven by love and an elemental desire for justice.
Today is their day.
Mothers.
Heroes

Dublin's Thursday eve glories.
Sunshine in short supply.
Yet, the old town's redeeming qualities remain life-affirming.
A teeming old tavern, a wood-panelled house bleeding history.
Porter flowing.
The music of conversation.
Nearys, as it has for centuries, making life better.

Her son was kidnapped by ISIS, tortured, and, in an act of medieval barbarity, one uploaded to the internet, beheaded.
A column on the remarkable Diane Foley.
How her collaboration with the towering Dublin wordsmith Colum McCann - American Mother - is a beautiful candle of hope.

🏐ROY CURTIS COLUMN🏐
'It is heartbreaking to look on helplessly as that magic dust – something dreamy & entrancing and fantastic to so many of us, the very essence of an Irish summer – is wilfully flushed down the sinkhole.'
Roy Curtis
#gaa #allireland
sundayworld.com/sport/gaa/roy-…

A weekend column beseeching the GAA to restore the lost glories of August/September All-Ireland action.
That Jarlath Burns today says that is possible is a step forward.
Something precious in Irish life is ceded with a championship summer as fleeting as The Sunday Game theme tune

Amid the Grand National Saturday tumult, a rewind to one of the most profoundly powerful and beautiful sporting moments of my life.
The De Bromheads on that Honeysuckle Cheltenham day of days so shortly after they lost their boy, Jack.
Love and family. The stuff.
The only stuff.