IF YOU’VE BEEN a good little sports fan this year, chances are that the big man in red (Santa, not Paul O’Connell) might have left you a shiny smartphone under the Christmas tree this morning.
Once you’ve polished off the first selection box or two of the day, you’ll need to start filling up your favourite new plaything with the best sports apps out there.
We want you to be the coolest kid at the dinner table so here’s our list of 15 essential downloads to get you started. Take special care with #15 — any right-minded person will mock you to tears if you don’t have it.
There's no panic like the panic at 11.25 on a Saturday morning when you realise that you've forgotten to change your Fantasy Premier League team. The official app makes those last-minute transfers and substitutions nice and easy.
Strava (Free)
The perfect app to help you stick to that New Year's resolution to get out and do a bit more exercise. Strava comes in two varieties, Run and Cycle, so you can track every calorie as it disappears forever.
FourFourTwo StatsZone (Free*)
FourFourTwo have teamed up with stats guru Opta to create the holy grail of apps for football nerds. Create your own mini-chalkboards to show your uncle why Darron Gibson is a better footballer than Michael Carrick. Live 2012/2013 stats are available to buy for €2.69.
Official GAA (Free)
A one-stop shop for GAA news, fixtures and results, courtesy of the official app. Next time someone in the pub asks you for a result from the first round of the Nicky Rackard Cup, you'll know.
MLB.com At Bat (Free)
Once the baseball season swings back into action, you'll need an app to tell you if everyone still hates the Yankees (yes) and if the Red Sox still suck (also yes). The official MLB app is the best place to start.
F1 2013 Timing App (€22.99)
Expensive? Yes. Worth it? If you are an F1 fan that simply must have the latest split times at your finger tips, it certainly is.
Today FM Premier League Live (Free)
Today FM's specialised Premier League app has live commentary every Saturday afternoon as well as pre-match build-up and post-match comment. Makes shopping for curtain fabric slightly more bearable.
Heineken Rugby (Free)
Heineken Cup updates AND a blog from Donal Lenihan? Yes please.
Teamer (Free*)
A fantastic tool for helping to organise your teams, schedule training sessions and finalise numbers for matches -- it even works for five-a-side. Try it for free for a month and see if it's worth the price of an annual subscription.
New Star Soccer (Free)
The Sims meets Football Manager? On a smartphone? Hold all of our calls for the next few weeks while we try this bad boy out.
ESPN Fantasy Football (Free)
More and more Irish NFL fans are dipping their toe in the incredibly addictive waters of Fantasy Football. You too can be like the 11-3 Revis Island Islanders if you download the ESPN app.
Golfshot: Golf GPS (€26.99)
At €26.99 it's pricey, but for course regulars, Golfshot is an excellent little tool. With over 40,000 course maps, it uses GPS to tell you your range on every shot. No more excuses so.
FIFA 13 (€4.49)
The world's leading football game comes to the iPhone. What's that they say? "Life is what happens while you're busy playing FIFA?"
ESS Gaelic Football Coaching (Free*)
The ESS app is a welcome addition to the market with a range of gaelic football traning drills. Perfect if you decide to organise a small session. Extra drills available for a €5.99 upgrade.
TheScore.ie (Free)
You already have Ireland's best sports app, right? Of course you do. If not, kindly have a word with yourself and get it sorted.
The GAA app is muck! The All-Ireland will have been decided before it has league match results up on it!! Fook all use if you’re a punting man & in desperate need of updates!! Also, what about the ‘Livescore’ app. Simple yet effective for keeping track of the footie!!
I’ll ask for you, Tony. The lads don’t come out of their tech cave that often though so I’ll need to stock up on selection boxes and sit outside waiting for them.
Shazam. TuneIn radio. Aerox is a game very alike to marble madness on the NES. The curse has my attention now, its a puzzle/riddle/solver game. The 4 mentioned are free :)
I’m a fan of ESPN Sportscentre myself. I use it to keep track of scores, catch up on the main news and following leagues I otherwise wouldn’t follow. Also, most teams have their own app that is pretty good.
That’s what I’ve been using for years. You can follow all football leagues and cup competitions all over the world. Audio stream links for match coverage, fave team match alerts, etc.
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The GAA app is muck! The All-Ireland will have been decided before it has league match results up on it!! Fook all use if you’re a punting man & in desperate need of updates!! Also, what about the ‘Livescore’ app. Simple yet effective for keeping track of the footie!!
I’d also recommend Ultimate Rugby (free on iOS and Android).
Fantasy Premier League costs €1.79. It’s not free as stated on your page??
They are all free (Saint) Peter ;)
Ah here, did Santa not read our letter and get on to the people in the iTunes store? Thanks Peter.
Hi Niall – why not talk to some of ur tech buddies and do a piece on the best 15 apps of all time…go on, please!
I’ll ask for you, Tony. The lads don’t come out of their tech cave that often though so I’ll need to stock up on selection boxes and sit outside waiting for them.
Fantasy Premier League is €1.79 in my App Store!
Just get Fantasy Premier League Buddy. Its free and does the job.
Just bookmark the page into an icon and its free in safari. Why would anyone pay for it or for any app as it goes?
Live score is the best app for football, instant goal updates, would highly recommend
runkeeper is best running app
RBS6Nations is a good one to have hibernating, ready to reactivate every Spring
new star soccer is the most addictive game I’ve ever played im my entire life. It’s great though.
the bbc live app is excellent on android! It provides assists on football games which is what every fantasy football lover wants to see
AppStart is free today for those learning to use their new IPads ;)
I don’t have an ipad :(
The Balls.ie app is pretty decent.
Shazam. TuneIn radio. Aerox is a game very alike to marble madness on the NES. The curse has my attention now, its a puzzle/riddle/solver game. The 4 mentioned are free :)
Golfshot is rubbish.
I’m a fan of ESPN Sportscentre myself. I use it to keep track of scores, catch up on the main news and following leagues I otherwise wouldn’t follow. Also, most teams have their own app that is pretty good.
The ultimate rugby app is another good app. its free aswell
What about FotMob livescore ?
That’s what I’ve been using for years. You can follow all football leagues and cup competitions all over the world. Audio stream links for match coverage, fave team match alerts, etc.
Hill climb.
Extend Trap 2 time in the morning.
Tune in radio – can listen to live US football and baseball, and loads more.
NBA game time is free and will keep you up to date with all the Basketball news. A sport you completely forgot about!
The premier league app is nothing compared too FiT EPL 12/13 v3.1 see http://www.fantasyiteam.com for more details. Enjoy!!
ESPN Goals app is excellent for users in the UK, not sure if it works in Ireland though.
Golfshot can’t be used in competition, so tbh it’s worth nothing. But that said there is no smart fone app legal.
Which are ios only and which are android? Can’t find fourfourtwo or todayfm for Android at all.
Can’t find the four four two stat zone app in the App Store
There you go, Henry: https://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/fourfourtwo-football-stats/id453744566?mt=8