Generous Westmeath hurlers and Aston Villa footballers united in charity this Christmas

A pair of lovely gestures, from the pride of both the Irish and British Midlands.

It is not often you can draw a connection between the Westmeath hurlers and Aston Villa FC, but they have made it easy for us with their charitable acts this Christmas. Next Monday, December 12th, the Westmeath senior and Under 21 hurlers (AKA the scourge of the Cats) will donate one post-match meal each to the homeless community of Dublin - handing out 100 dinners on Grafton Street. Their hope is that other counties and teams will join the campaign to ease the plight of the capital's homeless population, which numbered more than 3,000 in November. Anyone interested should contact U21 manager Adrian Moran on 0872311551. Which brings us to Championship giants Aston Villa. Professional footballers, somewhat unfairly at times, are made out as being money-obsessed young men who are completely out of touch with the rest of society. Obviously, many of them are extremely well paid for what they do (just look at the latest about how much Cristiano Ronaldo raked in last year, for crying out loud), but to jump to the conclusion that they don't give anything back is not always the case. An example of this came on Friday night, when Rudy Gestede, Jordan Ayew and Jonathan Kodija were pictured serving food to the homeless in Birmingham city centre. On the eve of their Championship meeting with Wigan Athletic, the trio of players were helping out at the Homeless Heroes soup kitchen in the Albert Street area of the city. https://twitter.com/avfcofficial/status/807338692557860864 Diarmuid Connolly makes his long overdue GAA Hour debut and talks to Colm Parkinson about everything from the black card to his rivalry with Lee Keegan and how he honed the ability to kick accurately with either foot.