Month: September 2021

Carlow

Darragh Foley dejected after Carlow’s season ended.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

CARLOW’S CHAMPIONSHIP AMBITIONS ended with a 0-25 to 2-13 defeat to Longford in Tullamore. They fell nine points behind in the opening half and must be credited with staying in the game when a hammering looked on the cards.

Niall Carew’s side struck goals through Darragh Foley and Conor Crowley. They might have added a few more had they taken their chances, but Longford’s point-taking abilities meant they always looked comfortable

Occupying the three team Division 4 South, the Barrowsiders enjoyed wins over Waterford and Wexford. They fell by eight points to Mickey Harte’s Louth in the promotion play-off. The arrival of Tipperary and Cavan in the bottom tier next season will make promotion extremely difficult, so they’ll be hoping for a decent championship run in 2021.

Clare

Eoin Cleary performed well for Clare in 2021.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

A sobering end on Saturday night in Killarney to a campaign that had been so promising. Losing to Kerry is not new for Clare but the scale of the beating by 17 points was tough to take. It was only the third time that Clare have lost by a double-digit margin against Kerry in Munster under Colm Collins, all of those arriving in Killarney.

The disappointment for Clare lies in the fact that they don’t get the chance to make amends, something they have done successfully in the qualifiers in the past. That’s salient given what they have shown over the past six weeks, impressive in defeating Laois and Kildare, producing a high-scoring tussle with Cork and posting 2-18 in a competitive showing with Mayo.

But we won’t get to see the bright form of Sean Collins, Darren O’Neill and Eoin Cleary again on the county stage in 2021. Clare have reason to feel they are a top 12 team yet the knockout system works against them proving that.

Down 

Referee Maurice Deegan red cards Gerard McGovern of Down during the loss to Donegal.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

A year that started with an illegal training February session concluded with a low-key Ulster demolition by Donegal. Paddy Tally served his eight-week ban without missing a game and later claimed he was made a ‘scapegoat’ as other counties got away with committing similar offences.

Down’s defensive approach saw them concede second-highest score in Division 2, but they saved their place in the second tier with a one-point win over Westmeath in the relegation play-off.

It was always going to be a tall order for Paddy Tally’s men to put it up to Donegal at the weekend. There has been significant turnover in the squad in recent years. They look to be a long way off the big boys in Ulster.

Louth

One and out for Mickey Harte’s side in the Leinster SFC.

Source: Brian Reilly-Troy/INPHO

Had Sam Mulroy slotted over his late chance to win the game in normal-time, Louth would be preparing for a Leinster quarter-final against Kildare this weekend. They ran out of legs in extra-time and Mickey Harte admitted afterwards his team have plenty of strength and conditioning work to do.

On the plus side, Wee County did seal promotion from Division 4, recovering from an opening day loss to Antrim to beat Leitrim, Sligo and Carlow by 27 points combined. 

Harte has most of the best footballers in the county as part of the panel. That includes former AFL man Ciaran Byrne, who kicked three points against Offaly and was steady presence at midfield throughout. 

Sligo 

Sligo have played just one championship game between 2020 and 2021.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

A Covid outbreak in the panel meant they couldn’t fulfil last year’s Connacht championship clash against Galway, and Sligo’s 2021 didn’t last much longer.

Tony McEntee’s side failed to secure promotion from Division 4 after a narrow loss to Antrim and 10-point defeat to Louth. In the Division 4 Shield final, Wexford handed out a 2-15 to 0-9 beating. 

McEntee’s men were predictably swatted aside by All-Ireland finalists Mayo on their only championship game since 2019. Niall Murphy’s five points from play was a rare bright spark in the game. Fortune has not been on Sligo’s side recently and they’ve a lot of work to do to emulate the teams that reached Connacht finals in 2010, 2012 and 2015.

Waterford

Waterford’s Tommy Prendergast and Limerick’s Iain Corbett shake hands after the game.

Source: Ken Sutton/INPHO

A grim season on the football front for the Deise. Started with a 15-point thrashing against Carlow and ended with a similarly one-sided outing against Limerick on Saturday. There was some brief hope when they toughed it out against Wexford by a point and they gave Antrim a test before losing that Division 4 promotion play-off.

Manager Shane Ronayne rightly pointed to the building job needed with their squad after Saturday’s loss and the lack of proper time with the players in his debut season can hardly have helped either. The gap between themselves and Limerick on the scoreboard has grown from 11 to 18 points since last October, indicative of the contrasting fortunes for both.

Wicklow

Wicklow manager Davy Burke was extremely disappointed with his team’s performance.

Source: Tommy Grealy/INPHO

Wicklow sent shockwaves around the country when they sent Ulster champions Cavan packing to Division 4 after victory in their third tier relegation play-off a couple of weeks ago.

Survival in Division 3 had been the primary aim for Davy Burke. Their scoring difference of -7 showed how competitive they were in narrow losses to Offaly, Limerick and Tipperary.

Progress had been solid until Wexford’s 2-11 to 0-14 win in Aughrim ended their season. Burke described it as the worst performance of his tenure – and this is from a manager who watched his team concede 7-14 against Meath in the Leinster championship last year. 

“They probably read into themselves after Cavan,” he noted. Like the other six, Wicklow will be forced to wait for a long time to put it right.

-Additional reporting by Fintan O’Toole

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MAYO FORWARD RYAN O’Donoghue says he’s excited to accept the challenge of becoming a key feature in the forward line as they continue their championship without Cillian O’Connor.

Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue.

Source: Eóin Noonan/SPORTSFILE

O’Connor is a major absentee for James Horan’s side after suffering an Achilles tendon injury which required a procedure. The veteran star made his 100th appearance for the Green and Red county earlier this year, but was on crutches for their Connacht SFC win over Sligo at the weekend.

Mayo’s forwards racked up an impressive tally in Markievicz Park, with Aidan O’Shea slotting 2-2 while Darren McHale [1-5], and O’Donoghue [0-5,4f] were also prolific.

O’Donoghue said it was unfortunate to lose O’Connor at such a crucial stage in the season, but is ready to deputise and make an impact for Mayo.

“It’s not ideal him getting injured but it gives the opportunity to other players to step up and look, Darren McHale came in. There’s a possibility he wouldn’t be playing if Cillian was there.

“So, I’m delighted to see him take his opportunity and score. That’s what we have to do. The six of us pulled together and put in a pretty good performance. So, we’re happy with how it went.

“Cillian sent me a voice note on Saturday morning, wishing me well and telling me to stick with my routine, that nothing changes, and it’s the same if you’re practising or in a championship game.

“He has helped me, and gave me a lot of confidence on that Saturday morning.

O’Donoghue is also taking over from O’Connor on free-taking duties, a job which he has plenty of experience with having performed the role with his club and at underage level with Mayo.

“I’ve done it for my club Belmullet and I did it for the minors in 2016 so it’s something I’m comfortable with and happy to take on the responsibility if I can keep proving to James that I’m well able to do it.

“When I get that added responsibility, I love the pressure of it and it lights that fire in my belly. I don’t always need it to play well but I definitely don’t shy away from it and I’m well comfortable with it.

“Getting responsibility to take frees thankfully doesn’t phase me and I just get on with it.

“It’s a credit to the dressing room from the older lads, because they let us voice our opinions and lead us. Going into it, I was thinking it would be hard to be a leader in that dressing room with all the older lads. But they were so open and welcoming and wanted us to be leaders.”

O’Donoghue is among the cohort of U20 stars who have progressed to the senior squad after appearing in the All-Ireland final against Kildare in 2018.

Jordan Flynn and Tommy Conroy were also on that team that lost out to the Lilywhites by two points in Croke Park.

O’Donoghue, who is now into his second season with the Mayo senior panel, feels that the physicality of top-tier football is the biggest adjustment for him.

“Athletic-wise, that’s the biggest step-up. Obviously you have your skills the whole way through and if you’re skillfully good enough, you’ll always have it but definitely the physical demands of it is where the inter-county senior level really stands out.

“I’m seeing the benefits of learning last year, of not bringing the ball into the tackle. The physical demands are very high at this level so I definitely learned a lot and always learned a lot off the older lads.

“He’s [Horan] given us the chance but we had to earn that chance. It’s not about what age you are or who you are, it’s if you’re putting in the work and playing well. Us, the younger lads, we earned our chance and we took it.

“We’ve just gone from there really and haven’t looked back. That was one of my goals for the season, I didn’t want to just be a one-season wonder. I wanted to push on this year and so far I’ve done that.”

AIB, proud sponsors of both club and county, today celebrated the return of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship this summer. Ryan O’Donoghue was on hand for the launch.

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CORK WILL FACE Dublin in Nowlan Park on Saturday week as the 2020 Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U20 hurling final will at last take place.

The competition was not completed last year due to the Covid-19 enforced lockdown with Dublin only landing the Leinster title last Wednesday, at the expense of Galway, that ensured they will contest the All-Ireland decider.

Cork have not played since 23 December last, when they defeated Tipperary to secure the Munster crown.

The two teams, who contested the corresponding All-Ireland U17 final in 2017 in Croke Park, will face off in Nowlan Park in Kilkenny at 7.15pm on Saturday 10 July.

The match will be shown live on TG4 as will the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor hurling decider at 5pm, a game that has been fixed for O’Moore Park in Portlaoise.

The identities of the finalists for that tie will be known after this weekend. Limerick play Galway on Friday night at 7.30pm in Ennis in the All-Ireland minor semi-final.

Kilkenny play Offaly in Portlaoise at 12pm on Saturday in the 2020 Leinster final. The winners of the two games advance to the All-Ireland decider.

The GAA have also announced today that Parnell Park will host the meeting of Antrim and Laois in the All-Ireland senior hurling preliminary round on Saturday 10 July at a time to be confirmed.

The 2020 All-Ireland minor football semi-finals are also down for that weekend. Offaly play Meath in the Leinster final tomorrow night in Mullingar, while Derry face Monaghan in Omagh in the Ulster decider on Friday night. The victors of those games will clash at the semi-final stage.

The other last four game will see Kerry take on Roscommon, the respective victors of the Munster and Ulster finals last December, at LIT Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Sunday 11 July.

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CATHAL MCSHANE IS ‘looking good’ in Tyrone training ahead of their Ulster SFC quarter-final against Cavan on Saturday week.

Cathal McShane is on the comeback trail.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

That’s the view of Paul Donaghy, the rookie forward who showed up well during his first league campaign for the Red Hands.

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Joint boss Feargal Logan confirmed last week that the 2019 All-Star resumed full training with the group and Donaghy reckons he’ll be seeing action very soon.

“Cathal has been back training for a while now and he’s looking good,” said Donaghy.

“He had a really difficult injury to manage and he had a lot of difficulty with it but he’s really mentally strong and he’s fighting his way back through. I’d say he’ll feature soon.

“It’s just going to depend on management and what way they think he’s going but he’s doing well.”

After flirting with a move to the AFL’s Brisbane Lions, McShane suffered a broken ankle during the league February 2020. A set-back ruled him out of that year’s winter championship and he is being eased back into the fray by the new Tyrone management.

McShane will rejoin an attack that already features Conor McKenna, Darren McCurry and Donaghy, though Darragh Canavan has yet to return to training with an ankle injury he suffered against Kerry.

Despite Tyrone’s attacking riches, it was defensively where their issues cropped up in the Division 1 semi-final against the Kingdom.

They shipped 6-15 in a heavy beatdown, which wasn’t ideal given its proximity to the championship.

“It probably was tough for different individuals (to pick themselves up afterwards) but everybody just realised that we had to stay positive,” said Donaghy.

“It’s a great learning opportunity because we got to identify in our games individually and collectively. We spent a week trying to learn from that before we start focusing again. Hopefully we can turn it into a positive.

Tyrone footballer Paul Donaghy pictured at AIB’s launch of the 2021 All-Ireland senior football championship.

Source: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

“I just think it was one of those days where you have to give Kerry a lot of credit. They were excellent on the day and on the other end of things we were just as poor as could possibly be. Sometimes games unfold in that manner and it was really disappointing and we’ve taken a lot of learning from it.”

Donaghy’s debut season has been impressive. He was top-scorer last year as Dungannon Clarkes defied their 33/1 odds at the beginning of the season to deliver the Tyrone SFC title.

“It was such a special moment for everybody in Dungannon and it just shows you – you’re competing with other top players within Tyrone and you’re able to hold your own and it’s encouraging definitely.”

A native of the Edendork club that Niall Morgan and McCurry line out for, Donaghy transferred to Dungannon ahead of the 2020 season.

“I live in Dungannon,” he explained. “I always lived there and I went to primary school in Dungannon. All of my friends were Dungannon Clarke’s boys and I sort of nearly always found myself up at Clarkes training even though I wasn’t playing with them.

“I just always wanted to play with my best friends and I just thought that it was the best time to do it and it turned out well so far. I really enjoyed.

“Regardless of winning the championship, they’re a great bunch of players, it’s just great to be with them and they’re all very ambitious and we want to go on and win more which is exciting because everybody is going to be doing their level best to make sure that happens.”

There was surprise locally when Donaghy didn’t link up with the county panel for the 2020 season.

“It was maybe a wee bit surprising for people that I wasn’t (involved) but that’s in the past and I’m here now and I’m enjoying every second of it. I’ve just got to make the most of it while I can.”

Donaghy celebrates scoring a goal against Armagh that was later disallowed.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

The 22-year-old has adapted well to senior inter-county football, particularly impressing on his debut against Donegal with a 10-point haul.

“I was excited,” he says of his debut. “Obviously it’s a great honour to be playing for Tyrone and there’s no point in allowing nerves in or playing with fear or anything like that.

“With how competitive our squad is at the minute, you need to go out and take the opportunities while you have them. You just have to do your best with every chance you get.

“The professional element of it and all is very enjoyable. You learn a lot so quickly, getting the opportunity to do things like play on the TV and play in those big football grounds.

“It is definitely a wee bit faster and a bit more physical. You’ve less time on the ball. You get on the ball less. Everybody has a good skill set. They are more than capable of taking scores.

“The amount of dedication that’s required. You give up a lot of your week to do it but it’s not really too much of a challenge because it’s very enjoyable as well.”

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SIX DAYS AFTER the 2020 championship was finally completed, this year’s Leinster U20 action commenced tonight with Laois, Antrim and Kildare all claiming Round 1 victories.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The game of the night was in Portlaoise with Laois winning an extra-time thriller by 4-33 to 4-27 against Westmeath.

Laois looked to be in complete control during normal time as they were in front 2-17 to 0-11 at half-time but Westmeath reeled them in to trail by seven points at the second-half water break.

A remarkable finale saw the teams trade goals with first Westmeath netting in the 57th minute, Laois raising a green flag in the 61st minute, Westmeath scoring another goal in the 63rd minute before a late Laois point from Tomas Keyes left the teams tied at 4-22 to 3-25.

Westmeath made the initial running in extra-time and their fourth goal of the evening saw them creep ahead 4-26 to 4-25 at the midway mark of that period. But Laois took a grip of the game thereafter as they outscored Westmeath 0-8 to 0-1 in the second half of extra-time to clinch a six-point success.

James Duggan top scored for the winners with 3-5 from play while Keyes (0-8), Tadhg Cuddy (0-6), Gearoid Lynch (1-2) and Ciaran Byrne (0-5) also impressed for Laois.

Defeat was tough for Westmeath with Jack Gillen (1-8), Eamonn Cunneen (0-8) and Josh Coll (2-2) having shown up well.

Leinster U20 Hurling Championship

Extra Time
FULL TIME

Westmeath 4.27
Laois 4.33#leinsteru20hurlingchampionship #iarmhiabu

— Westmeath GAA (@westmeath_gaa) June 29, 2021

Elsewhere at Netwatch Cullen Park, Kildare overcame Carlow by 1-23 to 3-16 with Paul Dolan firing the late winner from play.

Kildare trailed 2-7 to 0-11 at the interval and were down 3-10 to 0-14 during the third quarter. But a Conor Treacy goal inspired their comeback as they outscored Carlow by 1-9 to 0-6 in the last 20 minutes of action.

Free-taker Liam Dempsey was Kildare’s top scorer with 0-13 while Jake Doyle (0-8), Eoin Hosey (1-2) and Conor Kehoe (0-4) caught the eye for Carlow in that area.

Bord Gais Leinster U20 Hurling Championship Rd1
Full Time
Kildare: 1-23(26)
Carlow: 3-16(25)

Fantastic victory for the lads – what a finish, what a game

Cill Dara abú 🏳🏳🏳

— Kildare GAA (@KildareGAA) June 29, 2021

In Ballycran, the all-Ulster clash was won by Antrim by 3-17 to 1-13 against Down. Antrim laid all the foundations in the first half, as they went in front 1-11 to 0-4 at half-time and were ahead 2-14 to 0-9 by the second-half water break.

Tom McGrattan, who finished with 1-7, got a goal for Down late on but Danan McKeogh struck Antrim’s third goal of the night with top scorer Rian McMullan (1-6) and Michael McGarry also raising green flags.

Antrim will now face Laois next Tuesday 6 July in Navan at 7.30pm, four days before the counties meet in an All-Ireland senior hurling preliminary round.

Also next Tueday, Kildare will face Wexford in Round 2 at St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge.

Last year’s Limerick senior hurling champions Na Piarsaigh.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Elsewhere tonight the 2021 Limerick senior club championship draws were made.

Reigning hurling champions Na Piarsaigh, who have won six of the last ten titles, have been paired in the same group as 2017 finalists Kilmallock and 2016 finalists Ballybrown.

2019 champions Patrickswell are in the other group in Section A of the championship along with Ahane and last year’s beaten finalists Doon.

Cian Lynch celebrates after Patrickswell win the 2019 Limerick final.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Leinster U20 Hurling Round 1 Results

• Laois Westmeath

• Carlow 3-16 Kildare 1-23

• Down 1-13 Antrim 3-17

Limerick Senior Championship Draws

Hurling

Section A

• Group 1 – Na Piarsaigh, Kilmallock, Ballybrown.

• Group 2 – Patrickswell, Doon, Ahane.

Section B

• Group 1 – South Liberties, Blackrock, Garryspillane.
• Group 2 – Adare, Monlaeen, Kildimo-Pallaskenry.

Football

• Group 1 – Ballysteen, St Kieran’s, Galtee Gaels.

• Group 2 – Adare, Oola, Na Piarsaigh.

• Group 3 – Ballylanders, Claughaun, Monaleen.

• Group 4 – Galbally, Newcastle West, Fr Caseys.

 

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