As the shifting sands of time take us into a new year, it's never any harm to look backwards.
So just like last year in what is now an annual tradition, you'll need binoculars to look back as we're going to go aeons in reverse into the distant past of Irish sport. A hundred years back to be exact and this time it will be 1926 and the trials and tribulations in GAA, soccer and rugby.
GAA
The previous year's All-Ireland senior football championship was particularly acrimonious amid a litany of objections and replays. Indeed, the 1925 Connacht championship had taken five months to resolve itself - and not to everyone's satisfaction.
But a year on and perennial protagonists Galway - the reigning All-Ireland champions - and Mayo made their way through to another provincial decider all squeezed within the space of a couple of months and it was the Tribesmen who would claim Connacht glory and a spot in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
The other provincial champions that year were Kerry, Kildare and Cavan. The All-Ireland semis would roll around in August at Croke Park with the Kingdom making light work of Cavan with a 1-06 to 0-01 win, and Kildare following suit in dispatching Galway 2-05 to 0-02.
Kerry were no strangers to All-Ireland finals in that 1920s era, having finished runners-up in 1923 and then bounced back to win the 1924 title.
Kildare, meanwhile, hadn't been in the showpiece since 1919 when they had won their second crown.
This 1926 decider would be the first of four All-Ireland finals in a row for the Lilywhites. Half of those would be happy memories for the county and the other two not so much, and this one would fall in the latter category, albeit having come very close to victory.
The sides lined out in front of over 37,000 expectant spectators at a wet Croker on 5 September 1926 and going into the closing stages, Kildare held the lead.
However, a late, late goal from Bill O'Gorman saw the sides finish level and force a replay.
Twelve days later, nearly the same number of supporters, almost all garlanded in the hats and caps of the era, were back on Jones' Road for that rematch. A goal would be decisive again and it was Kerry's Tom O'Mahony who got the crucial one in a 1-04 to 0-04 win.
Sadly, after the drawn final in which he had excelled, Kerry's Jack Murphy contracted pneumonia and subsequently died aged just 22.
Meanwhile, when it came to the hurling that year, the All-Ireland title would also end up residing in Munster.
But Cork really had to work for it with replays the order of the day in their provincial championship run. In the Munster final, it took three games between 12 September and 3 October for Cork to finally get the better of reigning All-Ireland champions Tipperary with the two replays taking place in Thurles.
Kilkenny had come through in Leinster and then overcame Galway in a semi-final goalfest. Beyond the 11 goals shared between the sides in that 29 August semi, the match was notable for another reason.
It was one of the first ever outdoor sporting events in Europe to be broadcast live on radio, with Paddy Mehigan on commentary for 2RN, which had been launched at the start of that year.
Kilkenny's win set up an All-Ireland final which would take place at Croke Park on 24 October.
Neither Cork nor the Cats would be short on goals but in the end it was the Rebels who would win out by a 4-06 to 2-00 scoreline to claim their eighth title.
Soccer
This year was the first time the Republic of Ireland - then known as the Irish Free State team - had been in action since 1924 when they had debuted at the Paris Olympics.
On 21 March 1926, the FAIFS organised an away trip to Turin where they met Italy but suffered a 3-0 defeat.
Domestically, Shelbourne would win the 1925-26 League of Ireland title, the first of their 14 league titles, by pipping Shamrock Rovers by two points.
The landscape of the league remained very much a Dublin-centric one, with all but three of the ten teams - Fordsons of Cork, Bray Unknowns and Athlone Town - based in the capital.
And it would be one of the non-Dublin teams that would go on to win the Cup as Fordsons beat Shamrock Rovers 3-2 at Dalymount Park on St Patrick's Day.
Rugby
1926 was a good year for the Ireland rugby team and one that could have been great but for a near miss with a grand slam at stake.
Runners up to grand-slam winning Scotland in the previous edition of the Five Nations, the Irish team would deny the Scots from repeating the feat after a 3-0 victory in Edinburgh, having already beaten France and England earlier in the championship.
Unfortunately, a narrow 11-8 defeat to Wales in Swansea would in turn prevent Ireland from winning a triple crown and maiden grand slam of their own, although they did have the consolation of sharing the championship title with Scotland.
