Inside Track: Curiosity Corner

This week: TB

1: It’s cheered on its arrival at a grounds, but sometimes stoned on its way out

2: A team is said to get this beaten out of them when they lose heavily

3: American tennis players Tim and Tom Gullikson

4: They’re called this during play, but the beverage is usually different

5: American football’s greatest?

6: The best-paid professional sportspeople rarely get one of these – nor do they deserve it

7: He was wing-full on the great Newtown Blues teams

8: Give it time, and this indoor sport could make it on to the Olympic Games schedule

9: He’s a British heavyweight boxer

10: Katie Taylor fought Flora Pili in one at Croke Park

WHO’S YANA ALEKSEEVNA?

To begin with, she was born in Ukraine, but has represented Azerbaijan in sport. That sport is boxing, and here she has a rare distinction – she has a win over Katie Taylor to her credit. The amateur bout took place in Turkey and was a qualifier for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Taylor was the title-holder after her win for years earlier in London, and in the meantime had added to her haul of World and European wins.

But in this bout she had to give way to Alekseevna, going down by 30-37. This was her first defeat in five years, during which she had her hand raised 63 times. She did, however, get the chance to defend her crown at Rio, where she reached the quarter-finals.

Taylor would have mixed memories of 2016. Aside from her defeats, she split with her coach, her father Pete. However, in November, she turned professional, linking with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroon outfit. After that it was victory after victory, her career coming to a glorious conclusion at Croke Park last Saturday week.

MOCH’S HOPE TO EMULATE THE JOCK’S

Biggest surprise to date in the Louth senior football championship has been Naomh Mairtín’s failure to reach the knock-out stages.

The Monasterboice side, finalists for seven of the last eight years, won the title in 2025, bringing to three the number of times they’ve been crowned champions.

Of the eight teams still standing, St Mochta’s are the only one never to have won the title. They reached the final just once – in 2021, when they were beaten by none other than the Jocks, the name given to Mairtíns.

FIND THE OLYMPIC SPORT

I Nag Once (8)

THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE AGREED TO PLAY

Bon Accord, meaning good agreement, is Aberdeen’s motto. However, it was not a good idea when the local football team of that name agreed to play in the 1885/’86 Scottish Cup. Drawn against Arbroath, Bon Accord were beaten 35-0.

Bad as it was for BA, it was worse for their neighbours, Aberdeen Rovers. On the same weekend and in the same competition, they went down by 36-0 to Dundee Harp.

There hasn’t been a scoreline like it since, although John Petrie’s record 13 goals has been equalled – by whom, Curiosity Corner does not know.

OOPS!

Everyone else blames the gremlins when there’s a mistake, so why shouldn’t Curiosity Corner’s neighbour, Inside Track, do the same.

It was said a few weeks ago that noted Blackrock athlete, Peter McArdle, competed for America in the Seoul Olympics in 1964. Wrong. That year’s Games were held in Tokyo. Seoul didn’t play host until 1988, and in 2020, Tokyo was again the setting.

Thanks to the eagle-eyed Paul.

Know Your Initials: 1 Team Bus, 2 Twelve Bells, 3 Twin Brothers, 4 Tea Break, 5 Tom Brady, 6 Tax Break, 7 Tom Black, 8 Tenpin Bowling, 9 Tony Bellew, 10 Find The Olympic Sport: Canoeing.