JULY

The Commonwealth Games and football’s World Cup made the post-season blues for soccer and rugby fans melt away during the summer.

Fans of a good cliché would no doubt have concluded the Team Wales performance in Glasgow was very much a Games of two halves as genuine farce and a slow start turned into a celebration as the medals tally exceeded expectation.

Three key performers for Wales were injured, Helen Jenkins, Non Stanford and Becky James and the omission of two Gwent athletes – boxers Ashley Brace and Olympic medallist Fred Evans – for reasons that have been called into question subsequently – meant we started the event in a sour manner and a lack of Welsh success wasn’t helping.

However, once Abercarn shooter Elena Allen won her silver, Wales never looked back as the records tumbled.

Wales would end up with 36 medals despite suffering disaster when it came to the boxing semi finals – four losses in a single day – making this the most successful Welsh squad in Commonwealth Games history.

Wales won five golds, but even the likes of Jazz Carlin and Geraint Thomas – puncture and all – couldn’t beat the haul of Frankie Jones who also netted an incredible five silver medals and captured the heart of a nation.

A little closer to home the Newport Gwent Dragons further shaped their squad for the upcoming campaign; with the capture of ex-Leicester Tigers man Boris Stankovich a welcome punch of power. The Dragons also captured, or more accurately re-captured forward James Thomas.

The Argus also spoke with Wales skipper Sam Warburton, who backed Andy Powell to make a big impression at his new club.

Newport County returned to pre-season with manager Justin Edinburgh quick to rule out one of the strangest rumours of recent times, a move for Wales striker Robert Earnshaw.

The Exiles remained unbeaten throughout pre-season and kicked things off with victories over Evesham and Cirencester, but suffered an injury blow with Max Porter ruled out for a couple of months with a groin problem.

The Exiles ran the rule over five different triallists during pre-season but Edinburgh only opted to sign Mark Byrne, a long-term target who had been successful with Barnet.

In Liverpool, Matchroom Promotions set up their showdown for PPV later in the year, Nathan Cleverly versus Tony Bellew II, by virtue of a well managed performance from both men at the Echo Arena.

The duo both fought on the same bill, both victorious against boxers you’ve never heard of before coming nose-to-nose at the final bell of Bellew’s victory. The phony war was underway on a grudge contest that sadly wouldn’t deliver.

Finally... The four Welsh regions began the month by setting a deadline to the WRU for an agreement, but for the seventh straight month, no deal was secured.

And if you missed it, Germany won the World Cup, which started brilliantly but faded badly, much like the Brazilian team. England lasted about six-and-a-half minutes and Luis Suarez managed to use the samba setting as a stage to bite his way from Anfield to the Camp Nou.

AUGUST

The month of August was a period of extreme highs and lows for Welsh and especially Gwent sporting stars and sides.

The magnificence of Geraint Thomas, for example, whose gold medal was a genuine stand-out moment of the Commonwealth Games, contrasted to the sheer heartache for St Joe’s boxers Joe Cordina and Sean McGoldrick, who would both see their bids for gold medal glory eviscerated on an afternoon Welsh boxing fans will want to forget.

A more intriguing sparring contest turned out to be round one of the battle between Mark Aizlewood and Justin Edinburgh, with the ex-Wales international criticising the County boss for not signing Welsh Premier League striker Christian Doidge, who would end up in the Football League anyway, at Dagenham and Redbridge. Edinburgh didn’t respond to Aizlewood, this time...

In the month of August, Edinburgh had a lot more to worry about than a few comments from another manager anyway. The Exiles started the campaign by losing horribly at home to Wycombe and were then knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Reading.

That was clearly just a blip because the Exiles then raced into a 2-0 lead at Morecambe, but when they lost 3-2 and then lost at Mansfield too, the pressure on County’s most successful manager since they reformed intensified.

A 1-0 win at his old club Portsmouth on August 30 provided some respite to what had been a brutal start for County and their beleaguered boss as did the arrival of loan goalkeeper Joe Day.

However, if things were bad for Justin Edinburgh, his mate Malky Mackay would’ve swapped any day of the week as details began to emerge over the ‘textgate’ affair.

Things were brighter though for the Newport Gwent Dragons who enjoyed a fine pre-season win at Bristol, defeating them 34-19. However, despite Wales coach Robin McBryde’s that he should sign on at Rodney Parade, Wales star Adam Jones headed to Cardiff Blues instead.

But while Newport County might have been gloomy, Welsh golf fans were positively giddy after a sensational European Tour month.

Blackwood’s Bradley Dredge pocketed a €166,660 pay-day for runners-up spot at the Made in Denmark tournament on a medical exemption and a week later also finished second at the Czech Masters to secure a European Tour card and then some, for 2015. And while he was disappointed not to win either event, he could only smile at being edged out in Prague by the imperious Jamie Donaldson, who needed a top three finish to secure a Ryder Cup berth and did so in absolute style.

On August 31 we got some truly unexpected news, the end to Welsh rugby’s civil war as the regions and the WRU finally agreed to renew their wedding vows, for another six years at least.