The new year finally has a spring in its step

LAST weekend's Sunday Miscellany on RTE Radio One marked the approach of St Brigid's Day, officially 4 the start of the Irish spring, with the usual series of gentle, elegiac reflections on birth, renewal, growth. But is the winter really over yet? The weather itself seems determined to prove tradition wrong. There has been a symbolic turning of the year in one respect, though, in that last weekend also saw the return of the Allianz National Leagues, with Sunday Sport on the same station covering an impressive total of 33 matches that day alone, reflecting an excitement which GAA commentators across the various networks last Monday morning unanimously agreed had never been more palpable. Today With Sean O'Rourke certainly shared that collective pleasure, with the eponymous presenter sounding as happy as a pig in a poke to round up a panel and discuss all the weekend action. The Ray D'Arcy Shaw continued the theme by grabbing an impromptu, amiable interview with RTE's Michael Lyster on the announcement of his retirement at the end of this season after 35 years as anchor for TV's Sunday Game. Lyster also reflected on how GAA has grown massively in popularity in recent years, which he attributed in large part to television, generously including Sky's live broadcasts of Gaelic games in that dynamic too. Belfast poet Gerald Dawe was also waxing lyrical about "the brazen air of early spring, when everything becomes new once more" on Sunday's Lyric Feature; but Home Thoughts primarily concerned itself with his reflections on his departure for Galway at the age of 22, and at the height of the Troubles, from his native city. That's now more than 40 years ago, and Dawe acknowledged that "the Belfast I left behind doesn't exist anymore, except in people's minds and memories". Nor does the Dublin to which he later moved, and where "it always seemed to be dark by mid afternoon, and men still wore hats and smoked pipes, as if time had stood still for the last half century". How do you remember what's long lost? Through music, naturally. Eleanor Shanley performed the songs to accompany Dawe's compelling journey through memory. Lyric's Sound Out, meanwhile, introduced a new album by a less well known name, Irish harper Una Monaghan, also from Belfast, whose beautiful new release, For, mixes traditional and electronic influences in a way that is beyond language, like all the best music. It can be heard and purchased through her own website, unamonaghan.com. Finally those who continue to suffer at the start of each day by choosing the relentless tide of moaning that is Morning Ireland can console themselves that things are not much better over on Lyric's Marty In The Morning, where Mr Whelan this week inflicted on his listeners the following joke: "My Mend had an operation to turn himself into a duck, but he was left with a massive bill:' Truly the man has no shame.