Month: September 2021

COLM CAVANAGH HASN’T ruled out the prospect of making a surprise return to the Tyrone fold in 2021.

The 33-year-old announced his inter-county retirement after a stellar career last September, ahead of the 2020 championship. 

Mickey Harte’s departure in December paved the way for Fergal Logan and Brian Dooher to take over as joint managers.

Dooher and Cavanagh won an All-Ireland together under Harte in 2008 — Tyrone’s last Sam Maguire victory. Backroom team members Joe McMahon and Collie Holmes also lined out with Cavanagh during the tail-end of their careers.

Given the current uncertainty around the 2021 inter-county season, Cavanagh admitted the thought of a comeback has been on his mind in recent weeks.

“I don’t know whether it’s part of my mindset of [thinking], ‘Jeez, could I go back for 2021? I’m keeping myself in good nick here, who knows?’” he said.

“My patterns haven’t changed, I’m probably training five out of seven nights of the week still. Running and bodyweight stuff at home and a wee bit of weights at home as well. 

“Physically, I’m probably fit as I’ve ever been.”

The Moy midfielder admitted he found the first championship campaign of his retirement “mentally challenging” .

“It was a very strange adjustment period and I found it a wee bit weird. There was a part of me going, ‘Why did I step away? Why did I not go back in and play? I’m still able.’”

Cavanagh said the new set-up has brought an excitement back to the county and he feels Tyrone will employ a more attacking style going forward.

Lee Brennan and Connor McAliskey have rejoined the set-up, with Mark Bradley and Dungannon Clarkes sharpshooter Paul Donaghy also part of the squad.

“You see it a lot with soccer teams that whenever a new manager comes in there’s always that optimism and fresh approach,” said Cavanagh.

Colm Cavanagh was speaking at the announcement of the Electric Ireland Minor Special Recognition Awards.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

“There was that element where Mickey knew the players that he liked and who he wanted to play, there was a staple of guys there. This new approach will bring that optimism and enthusiasm, and obviously with the forwards the guys have, but just that guys have to prove themselves again. Guys have to go back to the beginning. 

“From talking to a few of players over the last number of months, through Zooms and we’ve a guy in our office here who is part of the panel, I think there’s an overall consensus that the guys are really buzzing for this season and looking forward to that different approach.

“Seeing the backroom team they guys have put together, I’m very optimistic about their chances. Personally, I think it’s going to be a lot more of a player-led approach in terms of trying to get the best out of the players and what can they do to help the players perform on the day.

“I think in the last number of years it probably hasn’t been that way. So it’s a complete reversal in terms of the old and new management systems. I think it will bring new desire and positives to the group.”

He said when making his decision to step away from inter-county duty, the thought of playing without crowds helped push him out the exit door.

“That was part of the decision making process last year and the fact there was no crowds. Watching Dublin win the All-Ireland was strange as there was nobody there. Not having anybody there if you won the All-Ireland, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much.”

But for Cavanagh, a small part of him feared the prospect of Tyrone winning the All-Ireland while he was sitting at home looking on.

“Before I stepped away I had to be comfortable. I always weighed up the worse case scenario, ie Tyrone winning an All-Ireland with me stepping away mid-season,” said the two-time All-Star.

“I had to be comfortable in my own skin that I could support the guys and do that. When I put all down on paper it obviously weighed up that I could. 

“It would be bitter sweet, no doubt. People telling you that, say in my case for example if Tyrone had won the All-Ireland, that it didn’t annoy them, it would like.

“The majority of you, 90% would be pure joy for the lads and the guys that you soldiered with for years and years that really deserved a medal. To get that recognition, that would be the overwhelming sensation.

“But there would be that part of me that would be sitting there going, why did I not just stay on and play on. But look, that’s life. Looking at where we are, in terms of the pandemic and everything else at the moment, there are bigger things than football at play.

“But 100% agree, I think if Tyrone had have won it would have been a bittersweet moment for me.”

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THE DAY STARTED with Michael Darragh MacAuley’s retirement and closed with news that Paul Mannion is opting out.

The shift in Dublin’s squad continues with MacAuley bowing out after a career that properly began with his 2010 championship debut and then more strikingly came the word of Mannion’s plans not to be involved in 2021, as reported by the Irish Independent.

The exits come a week after Paddy Andrews called time on his role with Dublin career. Three departures in a month for the champions and part of a recurring pattern over the last 20 months.

The trend began on the first day of May 2019 when Paul Flynn confirmed his retirement. He was followed later that year by first Bernard Brogan and then Eoghan O’Gara, another pair of forwards removed from the capital setup.

In a volatile 2020 season, Jack McCaffrey stepped away mid-summer before a championship ball had been kicked in anger. Then September saw Darren Daly and Diarmuid Connolly both move on before the early 2021 decisions of Andrews, MacAuley and Mannion.

Add it all up and it is a sizeable amount of big-game experience, winning mentality and Gaelic football class for one squad to be stripped of. There is a combined total of 59 All-Ireland senior medals in those trophy cabinents, a sign of their input to Dublin’s decade of dominance. 19 All-Star awards collected by six of those players is a testament to their individual excellence with three of them (Brogan, McCaffrey and MacAuley) picking up Footballer of the Year gongs as well.

And yet that drain of talent has not obstructed Dublin’s march to success so far. Flynn was the only one absent for the 2019 campaign with another five watching on as the 2020 winter season unfolded. In both cases there was the familiar sight of Dublin lording it in Leinster and getting the job done in the All-Ireland series.

The striking thing is the status of the players when they retire. Their contribution to the Dublin football cause is undeniable yet it is telling that influences on the pitch have started to wane with gametime restricted.

Jack McCaffrey celebrates with the Sam Maguire in 2019.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Only Mannion and McCaffrey started the 2018 final win over Tyrone from that group, a stat repeated in the 2019 final replay success against Kerry. They have all remained valuable components of the Dublin setup, positive role models for emerging players and signalled out as key drivers in the preparation that helps keep them at the top.

But when it has come to the key moments that decide the securing of championship silverware, the trust of managers has largely been placed elsewhere. Even of the most recent departures, consider that last month’s All-Ireland final saw Mannion brought on in the 50th minute, MacAuley stay on the bench throughout and Andrews miss out on the 26-man panel.

Michael Darragh MacAuley lifts the Sam Maguire in December.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

The evolution of the Dublin squad has continued unabated, more illustrative of a conveyor belt than a golden generation. Sean Bugler and Paddy Small made their breakthrough in 2020 just as Eoin Murchan and Brian Howard were ushered in to impact in 2018.

Stephen Cluxton, Michael Fitzsimons and James McCarthy are the towering figures still chipping in since 2011 but the Dublin team is one where the generational talents of Fenton, Kilkenny and O’Callaghan are fuelling the engine to such powerful effect.

It is significant to note that Mannion and McCaffrey are the two high-profile figures who have decided to press pause on their Dublin playing narrative. Both turn 28 this year and share a strong relationship with current boss Dessie Farrell that stems from their underage days. They would appear football wise to have so much left to give as evidenced by their three consecutive All-Star selections between 2017 and 2019.

But there has always seemed an independence to their thinking and a sense that football does not govern their every decision. McCaffrey took a break in 2016 when he spent some time in Africa while still a medical student. That was a season after Mannion did not partake as he went to study in China and spent a summer in Chicago.

Paul Mannion after the 2020 All-Ireland final.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Despite McCaffrey operating at the peak of his powers, Dublin slotted in Robbie McDaid to fill that space last year. A gap opens up, whoever is next in line moves up to take that place and on the champions since 2015 go.

The playing faces may change but Dublin’s position as the market leaders shows no sign of altering.

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THE CARLOW SENIOR hurlers have a new manager in Kilkenny native Tom Mullally.

He takes over from Colm Bonnar, who left the role in November after four years, and has since joined the Tipperary ladies backroom team under the watchful eye of new manager and All-Ireland winning hurling captain Declan Carr.

A native of Glenmore in Kilkenny, Mullally is best known for his time in charge of Mount Leinster Rangers. He was manager of the Carlow club outfit when they won the 2013 Leinster senior title against the odds, and got to the 2014 All-Ireland club final, before losing out to Portumna.

Mullally has enjoyed a colourful coaching journey over the last few years.

A brother of former Kilkenny players Richie and Paddy, he coached Clara in Kilkenny to the 2013 county senior — their first in 27 years. He was Wexford U21 manager in 2018, steering them to the Leinster final, though they lost to Galway in the star-studded clash.

Most recently, Mullally was a coach/selector for the Carlow minors in 2020, and the Naas senior hurling manager. He has also been involved with the Wexford U21 and Wicklow senior teams of late.

We are delighted to announce this evening that Kilkenny native Tom Mullally has been ratified as Manager of our Senior Hurling Team.
We wish Tom and his soon to be announced Management Team every success🇬🇳@itcarlow 🇬🇳 #CarlowRising 🇬🇳 pic.twitter.com/mP5f2cHWnh

— Carlow GAA (@Carlow_GAA) January 21, 2021

“We are delighted to announce this evening that Kilkenny native Tom Mullally has been ratified as manager of our senior hurling team,” Carlow GAA wrote on Twitter last night.

“We wish Tom and his soon to be announced Management Team every success.”

He fills the vacancy left by Bonnar, who stepped down in the wake of the county’s Joe McDonagh Cup exit. 

During his tenure, the Tipperary native oversaw Carlow’s progression to the Leinster SHC for two seasons. They also lifted the Joe McDonagh Cup, Christy Ring Cup and Division 2A league crown during his time in charge.

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TIPPERARY’S TWO-TIME ALL-IRELAND winning captain Samantha Lambert has retired from inter-county football.

The Ardfinnan defender bows out with three All-Ireland intermediate medals to her name — two of those coming as captain in 2017 and 2019, having climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup, and the other coming at the tender age of 16 in 2008.

From her role as a substitute that year — her debut season of 13 — Lambert soon flourished into one of the side’s key players and was ever-present at centre-half back.

A real leader on and off the pitch who has done so much for Tipperary ladies football, Lambert has been a key figure through the county’s meteoric rise over the last few years.

She’s been instrumental through the climb to the senior ranks and league journey from Division 3 to Division 1, helping deliver four national titles in the last four years under the watchful eye of Shane Ronayne. 

Lifting the trophy in 2019.

Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

But like Ronayne, Lambert won’t be involved in the next chapter as All-Ireland winning hurling captain Declan Carr takes the reins.

In an interview with Tipperary Live, she delved deeper into the journey as a whole, touching on memories from through the years, making the retirement decision with her Dad and what’s next.

“It has been an absolute privilege not only to play for Tipperary but to also captain the team for the past four years,” she said. “It was always my dream to play football for Tipperary and sometimes dreams do come true.

“It’s been a journey that has been filled with both joy and heartache, but from that I’ve learned some key values in life – resilience, passion, determination and humility.”

On the ball in the 2019 final.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

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A secondary school teacher at Comeragh College, Carrick-on-Suir, Lambert will continue lining out for her beloved Ardfinnan. “I owe it to give a fair bit back to the club, who have been so good to me, and give them the commitment I couldn’t give before,” she added.

Tipperary ladies football county board chairman Lar Roche led the tributes last night, with many others adding kind words for the retiring player.

“‘Samantha has been a fantastic captain, player and role model for Tipperary and I hope that she won’t go too far away from Tipperary Ladies Football,” he said.

Ladies Football

It’s been confirmed this evening that Tipperary’s 2017 and 2019 TG4 All-Ireland winning captain Samantha Lambert (@SamLambert91) has retired from inter-county football.

👏 Congratulations to Samantha on a stellar career in blue and gold and best wishes for the future 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/WnQVPJ5dIl

— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) January 21, 2021

WGPA

A fond tribute to Samantha Lambert on her retirement!

Not too many in the game so well regarded among her peers, she was an amazing leader of the @TippLadiesFB team & a fantastic WGPA rep.

Thanks & best wishes for all the new adventures @SamLambert91, you’ll be missed! #laoch pic.twitter.com/BsKIoPDJG4

— WGPA (@WomensGPA) January 21, 2021

Tipperary GAA

Best wishes to @TippLadiesFB star @SamLambert91 on her retirement from inter county football. Samantha was a true leader and an inspirational role model for so many people, both young and not so young. pic.twitter.com/SrfhQIsQwI

— Tipperary GAA (@TipperaryGAA) January 21, 2021

Aisling McCarthy

Thank you @SamLambert91 for being an inspirational leader. Great to share such fond memories on & off the pitch. 3 all Ireland’s with @TippLadiesFB – 2 as captain climbing the steps of the hogan, not a bad track record 🙌🏻 Enjoy retirement👏🏻, you’ll be missed😢 https://t.co/qJumUAuvTn

— Aisling McCarthy (@aish_mac) January 22, 2021

Maria Curley

It’s a sad day for @TippLadiesFB What a career for @SamLambert91 an inspirational team mate and an even better friend ❤️ We will forever try to fill your boots! 💙💛 https://t.co/RqqoZjTon6

— Maria Curley (@mariacurley4) January 21, 2021

Laura Dillon

Incredible leader! No words to describe how hardworking and dedicated @SamLambert91 was to @TippLadiesFB 💙💛 The memories will last a lifetime ❤ https://t.co/vFNZekpsSI

— Laura Dillon (@laura_dillon1) January 21, 2021

Ardfinnan GAA

Enjoy your retirement @SamLambert91. Some woman 💪💪 https://t.co/x2GF89NFtX

— ArdfinnanGAA (@ArdfinnanGAA) January 21, 2021

Ciara O’Sullivan

Had the privilege of playing with and the misfortune of playing against @SamLambert91! Much preferred the former! Enjoy retirement Sammy! 🙌🏼 https://t.co/aFzKBy8Nh7

— Ciara (@ciaraosull90) January 21, 2021

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THE ARSENAL OF attacking options available to new Tyrone managers Fergal Logan and Brian Dooher is mouthwatering prospect.

2019 Footballer of the Year nominee Cathal McShane will return from a serious ankle problem that derailed his 2020 season. In his absence, former AFL man Conor McKenna became Tyrone’s leading forward after the GAA’s restart, re-adapting to the sport quicker than anyone expected. 

McKenna and McShane have the potential to form a lethal partnership on the inside line. Both are physically impressive athletes, with the skill and shooting ability to match.

Around them, a host of talented forwards will battle it out for the four remaining spots in attack. 

Sharpshooters Lee Brennan and Connor McAliskey are back in the squad, with Dungannon pair Paul Donaghy and Mark McKearney called up for the first time. Darren McCurry enjoyed his best year in the Tyrone jersey last season, while Niall Sludden, Mark Bradley and Ronan O’Neill are also involved. 

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Youngster Darragh Canavan could well be set for a break-out year, having spent the best part of two years in the senior set-up. 

And that’s before you factor in Mattie Donnelly and Peter Harte, who’ve spent a good deal of recent seasons in the Red Hand attack but may now be employed further out the field. 

Asked if Tyrone have the best forward division in the country outside of six-in-a-row champions Dublin, recently retired midfielder Colm Cavanagh didn’t hesitate.

“I’ve no doubt about that to be totally truthful,” the 33-year-old said. “The guys like Connor McAliskey coming back in, Paul Donaghy and whatnot. The guys who are already there – Conor McKenna, Cathal McShane, Darren McCurry, Mark Bradley, I could rhyme a list off there.”

“I wouldn’t like to be one trying to get into that full-forward line,” he said of the options in Tyrone.

“The thing with them boys is they’re all out and out forwards. The likes of Mattie will probably maybe have to move back to the middle, because he can play out the field. Tyrone are going to be blessed with an abundance of forwards this year. 

Colm Cavanagh was speaking at the Electric Ireland GAA Minor Special Recognition Awards Announcement.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

“It’s probably the biggest part of Fergal and Brian’s job is trying to harness that in the right way. Get the right men in on the right days and get them all singing and dancing because each one of them can change a game, can kick a score from anywhere and could really punish teams in terms of going at them. 

“If they can get that right along with shoring up at the back a wee bit and be strong around the middle, I think they’ll take a bit of beating.”

It’s quite the statement giving collection of attackers available to Kerry (David Clifford, Sean O’Shea, Paul Geaney, Stephen O’Brien, Tony Brosnan, Killian Spillane, Dara Moynihan, James O’Donoghue and Tommy Walsh) and Donegal (Michael Murphy, Jamie Brennan, Paddy McBrearty, Peadar Mogan, Niall O’Donnell, Odhran MacNiallais, Michael Langan, Ciaran Thompson, Eoin McHugh and Oisin Gallen).

For years, Red Hand supporters hankered back to the days when their front six featured household names like Canavan, O’Neill, Mulligan, Dooher, McGuigan. Now it appears, they have the weapons to compete for the big prize once again. 

For the entirety of his 13-year senior career with Tyrone, Cavanagh operated under the watchful eye of Mickey Harte.

He feels the new voices of Logan and Dooher will add a freshness to the set-up and their management style will promote a more ‘player-led’ approach.

“It’s very hard to put this in words but yeah, Mickey did have a style of top down [leadership]. If you think of a business where he was trying to bring you to do things in his way and what he thinks is best,” he said.

“Probably since when Mattie came in as captain, that he did try to shift it a wee bit in terms of trying to get a lot more players involved and feedback.

“Mattie seen it that if you get everybody to buy in through a process of being player-led then I think the team as such is more bought into what we’re trying to do, what we’re trying to achieve.

New Tyrone joint-manager Brian Dooher.

Source: PRESSEYE/Russell Pritchard/INPHO

“I know that wasn’t the case for a lot of years with Tyrone where it was sort of ‘this is what we’re doing, this is the way we’re doing it’ whether it was preparation or on field stuff. Whatever way we were preparing on the pitch, it was coming from the top. I still think you need that to a certain degree.

“Of course there has to be that respect and that place where there is a management team there but I think guys get bought into things a lot better if they feel a lot more involved.

“It’s probably the changing dynamic of youth and that generation. I do think the guys that have come in, just from speaking back and forward with players, that will be the case and there will be a lot more player focus.

“Don’t get me wrong, they’ll work harder probably than they’ve ever worked before but they’ll feel like they want to do it more, and that can ultimately only, in my mind, be positive for the group.”

The Moy native also feels Tyrone need to develop “that club mentality in a county jersey” that has been lacking in recent years. 

” I personally don’t think that was there the last number of years with Tyrone. I think that was probably one of the things that was missing.

“You look at the Dublin lads, from my side anyway, they nearly all seem best friends and all seem like they get on, and they all seem like they really go to the well and you only have to look at their intensity and work-rate. You can see it. They will back each other up to the hilt. That starts off the pitch. 

“Whenever people are genuinely together and things – if that’s not there, you won’t win anything. Somewhere on the pitch at some point, you won’t back that man up or you won’t make that actual run or you won’t make that tackle and I do genuinely believe Tyrone haven’t had that.

“With all the talent we’ve had over the years, I feel that wee extra bit that is there, that sort of bond and that gel holding together a team, wasn’t there. So I think this new approach will bridge that gap and I think they guys will really buy into that. Who knows whether it will bring success but it’s a positive step forward.”

JANUARY LOCKDOWN CONTINUES but at least there’s some sport on TV to keep us entertained.

There’s a Munster-Leinster battle on Saturday in the Pro14 and another Manchester United-Liverpool clash, this time in the FA Cup, on Sunday.

Throw in the golf from Abu Dhabi where Rory McIlroy has started well, Conor McGregor in UFC 257 and places in Super Bowl LV up for grabs on Sunday night.

Here’s the main action that is in store.

Friday

4am: Day One of the second test between Sri Lanka and England is on Sky Sports Main Event.

8am: It’s Day Two of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the European Tour on Sky Sports Golf.

7.30pm: The Bundesliga action sees Borussia Monchengladbach play Borussia Dortmund on BT Sport 2.

Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.

Source: DPA/PA Images

7.45pm: FA Cup action sees Wolves travel to play Chorley on BT Sports 1 while it’s Stoke City against Watford in the Championship on Sky Sports Main Event.

8pm: We’ve got an all-Welsh Pro14 tie on eir sport 1 as the Scarlets take on Cardiff while league leaders Paris Saint-Germain face Montpellier in Ligue 1 on BT Sport 3.

8pm: Day Two of the American Express on the PGA Tour is on Sky Sports Golf.

Saturday

12.30am: If you’re staying up, then on Sky Sports Main Event you can catch the Philadelphia 76ers against the Boston Celtics, 1st v 3rd in the NBA Eastern Conference.

4.30am: Day Two of the second test between Sri Lanka and England is on Sky Sports Main Event.

8am: The third round of the Abu Dhabi Championship tees off on Sky Sports Golf.

12.15pm: Southampton play Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round on BT Sport 1.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

Source: PA

1pm: There’s live racing coverage on Virgin Media One with the feature races the New One Unibet Hurdle at 3pm from Haydock and the Clarence House Steeplechase at 3.35pm from Ascot.

Politologue en rounte to winning the Tingle Creek Chase in December.

Source: PA

1pm: Pro14 coverage for the day begins with Zebre playing Edinburgh on eir sport 1.

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2.30pm: It’s 3rd v 5th in the Bundesliga on BT Sport 2 with Bayer Leverkusen playing Wolfsburg.

3pm: There’s six FA Cup games on across BT and BBC channels. The games involving Premier League teams see Brighton v Blackpool on BT Sport Extra 3 while Sheffield United v Plymouth and West Ham v Doncaster are both on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

5pm: Serie A leaders AC Milan host Atalanta on Premier Sport 2.

5.30pm: FA Cup action on BBC One with Cheltenham Town entertaining Pep Guardiola’s Man City.

7.35pm: Munster against Leinster is the main rugby focus of the weekend for Irish fans, you can watch all the Pro14 action on eir sport 1.

Leinster’s Robbie Henshaw.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

8pm: Soccer action sees Aston Villa take on Newcastle United on Sky Sports Main Event in the only Premier League game of the day while Real Madrid travel to Alavés on La Liga TV.

8pm: Day Two of the American Express on the PGA Tour is on Sky Sports Golf.

Sunday

1am: UFC 257 is on BT Sport Box Office with the headline for Irish fans being the rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.

4.30am: Day Three of the second test between Sri Lanka and England is on Sky Sports Main Event.

7am: The final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship is covered on Sky Sports Golf.

11.30am: Juventus play Bologna in Serie A on Premier Sports 1.

12pm: It’s Chelsea against Luton Town in the FA Cup, follow the action on BBC One.

12.30pm: Some Irish interest in the fortunes of Preston North End, they go up against Reading in the Championship on Sky Sports Main Event.

2.30pm: FA Cup games see Brentford play Leicester City on BT Sport 1 and Fulham face Burnley on BT Sport Extra 2. Elsewhere Bayern Munich take on Schalke in the Bundesliga, you can catch it on BT Sport 2.

3pm: Connacht go up against Ospreys in the Pro14 with live coverage on TG4.

Connacht coach Andy Friend.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

3.15pm: Barcelona play Elche on La Liga TV.

5pm: The big tie of the FA Cup fourth round sees another battle between Man United and Liverpool, BBC One are covering it.

8pm: The last FA Cup game of the day involves Everton going up against Sheffield Wednesday on BT Sport 1 while La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid play Valencia on Premier Sports 1.

8pm: Day Two of the American Express on the PGA Tour is on Sky Sports Golf.

Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Source: Douglas R. Clifford/Times

8.05pm: It’s the Green Bay Packers against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Aaron Rodgers against Tom Brady. Sky Sports Main Event have the NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field.

11.40pm: Then the NFL spotlight turns to the Kansas City Chiets meeting the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game. Again you can catch this on Sky Sports Main Event.

– Originally published at 07.30

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TG4 HAS ANNOUNCED that it will provide weekly matches and highlights of the 2021 Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) season.

This will be the first time that extensive coverage of the sport will be provided on Irish television, with 14 Irish players signed up with clubs for the new season.

Several LGFA stars are on the books with clubs this year. Dublin trio Sinéad Goldrick, Niamh McEvoy and Lauren Magee are with Melbourne while Mayo sisters Niamh and Grace Kelly are alongside Aisling McCarthy at West Coast Eagles. 

The NAB AFL Women’s competition begins on the last weekend of January with fourteen teams battling it out over twelve weekends to see who will reach the Grand Final in April.

The agreement between TG4 and the AFL will allow viewers to watch deferred coverage of matches each weekend as well as weekly highlights.

The coverage will begin on TG4 on Saturday 30 January at 5.10pm.

There has been continued growth in the AFLW since its arrival in 2017. Eight teams participated in the inaugural season before the competition expanded to 10 teams in 2019, and expanded again to 14 teams in the 2020 season.

“We are extremely pleased that TG4 have agreed a deal with the Australian Football League [AFL] to broadcast matches from the NAB AFL Women’s Competition,” said TG4′s Head of Sport Rónán Ó Coisdealbha.

“There are a lot of players from Ireland who play in the AFLW so the interest is very high. We would like to thank the AFL for giving us the opportunity to showcase their sport in Ireland.”

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***NUACHT***

Beidh cluichí & buaicphointí ón gcéad séasúr eile de Shraith Pheil Astrálach na mBan (AFLW) á chraoladh againn go seachtainiúil!🏉

FOURTEEN Irish players will play in this season's NAB AFL Women’s Competition with coverage beginning on @TG4TV on the 30th January🙌 pic.twitter.com/zyFriMdQIL

— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) January 22, 2021

TG4 AFLW  Coverage

Saturday 30 January 5.10pm – full deferred coverage from a top match in the 1st round.
Monday 1 February 8pm – highlights from the weekends matches from the 1st round.

Saturday 6 February 5.10pm – full deferred coverage from a top match in the 2nd round.
Monday 8 February 8pm – highlights from the weekends matches from the 2nd round.

Saturday 13 February 5.10pm – full deferred coverage from a top match in the 3rd round.
Monday 15 February 8pm – highlights from the weekends matches from the 3rd round.

Saturday 20 February 5.10pm – full deferred coverage from a top match in the 4th round.
Monday 22 February 8pm – highlights from the weekends matches from the 4th round.

Saturday 27 February 5.45pm – coverage from a top match in the 5th round.

The 14 Irish players confirmed for the 2021 season:

Sarah Rowe (Collingwood / Mayo)
Cora Staunton (GWS Giants / Mayo)
Aileen Gilroy (North Melbourne / Mayo)
Grace Kelly (West Coast Eagles / Mayo)
Niamh Kelly (West Coast Eagles / Mayo)
Sinéad Goldrick (Melbourne FC / Dublin)
Niamh McEvoy (Melbourne FC / Dublin)
Lauren Magee (Melbourne FC / Dublin)
Aisling McCarthy (West Coast Eagles / Tipperary)
Orla O’Dwyer (Brisbane Lions / Tipperary)
Ailish Considine (Adelaide Crows / Clare)
Áine Tighe (Fremantle Dockers / Leitrim)
Bríd Stack (GWS Giants / Cork)
Aishling Sheridan (Collingwood / Cavan)

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DUBLIN WILL HAVE to plan without Paul Mannion when they bid to win a seventh consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 2021.

In a brief statement this afternoon, Dublin GAA confirmed that the 27-year-old has opted out of the panel “for now”.

Mannion has been one of the Dubs’ star forwards in recent years, as evidenced by his inclusion in each of the last three All-Star teams.

The statement adds: “We would like to thank Paul for all the time and commitment he gave to Dublin GAA at all grades and we wish him well as he concentrates on developing his career outside of inter-county football.”

As well as being a six-time Sam Maguire winner, the Kilmacud Crokes star was involved in two All-Ireland triumphs at U21 level.

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His decision comes on the back of the recent retirement announcements of Dublin veterans Paddy Andrews and Michael Darragh Macauley. 

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THE GAA HAVE this afternoon moved to clarify that they have no plan to refurbish Croke Park’s Cusack Stand.

The Dublin venue reportedly had approval for a €36 million loan, but the governing body this evening stated they ‘have no plans to proceed with the refurbishment or expansion of the Cusack Stand.’

“In 2019 the stadium team explored the need to upgrade a stand that was opened in 1994 and part of that exercise was to establish possible funding streams for any such project,” the statement reads.

“A long-standing application to the European Investment Bank concluded successfully last week and was subsequently reported in the media but these reports failed to indicate that the GAA had in fact already suspended any such plans at the outset of the pandemic.

“The GAA’s sole focus and energy lies in getting our games back up and running when it is safe to do so and securing the future financial viability of the Association at every level as we continue to work through the pandemic.”

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