Month: September 2021

2018 ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONS Limerick and last year’s Super 11s winners Clare are two of the sides heading to Fenway Park for this year’s edition on 18 November, with tickets on sale tomorrow.

Cork and Wexford are also on the billing with the four sides going head-to-head for the Players Champions Cup at the home of the Boston Red Sox. 

Fenway Sports Management (FSM) announced details today, with tickets going on sale at www.redsox.com/hurling at 12pm tomorrow. 

The Banner return to defend their title after they beat 2017 All-Ireland champions Galway 50-33 in last year’s final.

“I’m thrilled that hurling is coming back to Fenway Park and I am excited to welcome the teams, their fans, the Gaelic Players Association and the Gaelic Athletic Association to Boston,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said.

Anyone have plans this November? FOUR Elite Hurling clubs will be at Fenway November 18 for #GPASuper11s! @FenwaySportsMgt #itsback pic.twitter.com/8fQfXlAttw

— GPA Boston (@GPABoston) September 19, 2018

“Hurling is the one of the greatest games in the world and whether it’s American football in Dublin, college hockey in Belfast, or hurling right here in Fenway: It’s uniquely Irish and uniquely Boston.”

Fenway Sports Management Director Mark Lev added on the upcoming double-header:

“Hurling has been one of the most popular off-season events that Fenway Park has hosted in recent years and the tournament format introduced last year added to the excitement.

“The thrilling combination of speed, skill and scoring has made hurling a fan favorite and a can’t miss event on the Boston sports calendar. We’re thankful to work with great partners in the City of Boston, GPA and GAA to bring this dynamic event to an exciting off-season line-up at Fenway Park.”

Super 11s, a modified version of hurling, is the brainchild of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA).

It’s designed for smaller pitches with just 11 players on each side. The only way to score is under the crossbar into the net, with a goal inside the designated scoring zone worth three points, and a score from outside worth five.

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THURLES SARSFIELDS ARE chasing five-in-a-row in the Tipperary senior hurling championship this year and they will face the recently crowned north divisional winners in their opening knockout tie in their bid to land the 2018 title.

Ronan Maher and Padraic Maher of Thurles Sarsfields with their mother Helen after last year’s Tipperary county senior hurling final.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Thurles Sarsfields, who have claimed the last four crowns and triumphed in seven of the last nine finals, rounded off their divisional campaign with a victory in the play-off tonight against Drom & Inch.

And they will now face Kilruane McDonaghs at the quarter-final stage with the Cloughjordan club winning the north championship last Sunday for the first time in 28 years.

That game will take place on Saturday 29 September as part of a double-header featuring 2011 champions Drom-Inch and Toomevara, who were last kingpins in 2008.

The remaining two quarter-finals are scheduled for Sunday 30 September with 2016 finalists Kiladangan taking on 2010 and 2011 finalists Clonoulty-Rossmore, with 2015 finalists Nenagh Éire Óg facing Loughmore-Castleiney or Killenaule – who meet in a preliminary quarter final clash next Tuesday night.

It represents a busy schedule for Loughmore Castleiney and Killenaule with both clubs facing Tipperary senior football quarter-final ties this Friday night.

Here’s the draw in full:

2018 Tipperary senior hurling championship

Preliminary quarter-final

Tuesday 25 September
Killenaule v Loughmore-Castleiney, Borris-Ileigh, 8pm

Quarter-finals

Saturday 29 September
Toomevara v Drom & Inch, Nenagh, 2.30pm
Thurles Sarsfields v Kilruane McDonaghs, Nenagh, 4pm

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Sunday 30 September
Kiladangan v Clonoulty-Rossmore, Dolla, 2pm
Nenagh Éire Óg v Loughmore-Castleiney/Killenaule, 3.30pm

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FORMER HURLER OF the Year Michael Fennelly believes players are putting even more time into their inter-county commitments than the figures revealed in the recent ERSI study.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

On Tuesday, the report jointly commissioned by the GPA and GAA in 2016 found that inter-county players were spending up to 31 hours per week in some cases on their sport, sacrificing family, sleep and downtime. 

Fennelly, who retired from Kilkenny duty at the end of 2017 duty due to injuries, says that figure may have increased in the two years since the players were surveyed. The inter-county season was condensed this year while more games were introduced into the hurling and football championships.

“They were saying (up to) 31 hours and a few years ago I was asked that question and I would always say ’25 hours’ off the cuff without even properly calculating it,” Fennelly says.

“25 is a lot and now they’re saying 31 – and that was done in 2016. From last year’s fixtures, in terms of the amount of game-time, that has definitely increased.

“More games, more pressure, more stress, so I would suspect that those figures are not accurate. Whatever it is at the moment it’s definitely higher, without a doubt. The fixture list last year, I remember seeing it from the Kilkenny players and other players around the county – the demand is that they’re on the go 24/7 now.

“Normally, you’d get a week off with your club, that’s how the fixtures used to be after a championship game. You’re back with them and you’re kind of on a little bit of a down with your club and you’re chilled out. You might get a social night out – whatever it may be.

Michael Fennelly was speaking at the unveiling of the 2018 Electric Ireland Minor Hurling Team of the Year

Source: David Fitzgerald/SPORTSFILE

“A bit more time to yourself and your family. But that didn’t really happen this year and the players are on the go 24/7. The gym is getting more emphasis as well because you want to prevent injuries and get stronger, build your skill level. And then obviously in the league, if you keep going in the league week-on-week you’re really just making life that much harder for the county players.”

Speaking at the launch of the study in Croke Park earlier this week, GAA President John Horan advocated the introduction of a performance director to regulate the commitments placed on leading footballers and hurlers. 

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But Fennelly feels it may be difficult to police, given players are often handed individual programmes to work on away from the group environment.

“To be fair, you only train about two times a week normally. Then you have the gym, an hour yourself. There could then be a second gym, physio, rehab. It’s not all collective sessions.

“Recovery is going to be important – in terms of getting to the gym or getting on the bike. For me, Kilkenny was never always face-to-face stuff the whole time, there was individual stuff that players do.

“I know with other county teams perhaps there is an issue with a lot of face time, a lot of collective sessions and maybe a rule there would help. I know the NFL have gone from one extreme to another.

“Colleges over there where you can only have so many hours with a team. What managers do there, though, is that they say, ‘I want you doing this’. So even if they’re not physically on the field, they’re still going drill exercises. Where does it end? I don’t know.

“The year needs to be shorter for the players cause they’re probably starting too soon. They want to get a head-start every year and November is probably the latest that players are going back to do training sessions and mentally that’s the time to switch off.

“It’s the time to chill out, you always look forward to it and to do stuff for individually for yourself. I don’t know where it’s going to stop.”

John Kiely celebrates with his Limerick backroom team after their All-Ireland final victory

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

He also feels the costs of funding inter-county teams will keep rising over the coming years as the size of backroom teams continue to swell.

“You need qualified people in there. You need sports psychologists in there. I think that’s going to play a bigger part in years to come. The physical well being, the mental well being of the person.

“But that’s more money, I think the county boards can invest more money into the qualified people. Sports nutritionists, you have them on part-time – I think Kerry have them on full-time.

“Try to look after the well being of the player but at the same time, you’re still switched on. Your nutrition you’re planning that. Your sleep, you’re planning that. You’re like a robot sometimes and that’s hard to sustain that over long periods you need to have that time.

“Recovery is going to be a big aspect of that and they do have to be a collective session for that but you’re expected to be in your recovery. I think the players want to perform to their best.

“You have to get it done, the players are highly motivated. Do you ban November and December altogether? The fixtures are an issue because there are more games now and the league is still there and then the two of them are the same now. The format for the league is similar for what happens in Leinster and Munster. It’s a bit much.”

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THE POST ALL-Ireland final debate over the role population and funding has played in the dominance enjoyed by Dublin footballers has continued to rage and while it has not surprised defender Philly McMahon, it is a line of thinking that he believes ‘can be dangerous’ on a wider level.

Dublin footballer Philly McMahon at the official launch of the new-look Chadwicks brand.

Source: Jason Clarke

Dublin completed four-in-a-row with their victory over Tyrone earlier this month yet their latest success has sparked a debate over the effects on Gaelic football from the control they are currently exerting.

And McMahon believes calls for change in the sport are to be expected if a team enjoys a large amount of success.

“It doesn’t surprise me. I find it interesting. For me I would think a little bit deeper when it comes to this, what are we feeding into our young kids in the clubs and inter-county levels?

“That if a team is successful, you should look for other ways to beat them or you should look for excuses why you can’t beat them? You can look at the population, there’s arguments for or against on all the excuses of why the football needs to change.

“I think to be honest, and it’s very easy for me to sit here and say that because I’m part of the team that’s successful, but for 16 years we had to look at what we needed to do wrong, we had to look at the failures and the pain that we had from not winning the Sam Maguire, and funnel that some way to where we are today and what we’ve achieved.

“It’s not a hidden secret what the Dublin county board did, going back and putting GPOs in clubs. Look it these are the things that most counties are probably doing now. I feel it sells media wise. We’re developed as human beings, even as millennials, we’re consumer-based, we only really like listening to negative things.

“The fans won’t like listening to Dublin are great all the time. I understand that in terms of the media world, that’s what sells. But it can be dangerous and send the wrong message to our younger kids. That you know what, losing, pain and suffering, it should be a form of life and certainly it should be a form of sport. Everybody has different meanings on life and football. You’ve just got to respect them.”

Philly McMahon in action for Dublin against Tyrone’s Colm Cavanagh and Padraig Hampsey.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

McMahon is adamant that the good times Dublin are experiencing are an example of a cycle in Gaelic football, comparing their current phase to previous golden spells enjoyed by the Kilkenny hurlers and Kerry footballers.

“In sport there’s not one team or one person meant to win forever. It’s just the way it works and when you have a team that’s successful for a long time, you’ll always have people that want to change in sport.

“No different to the way Kilkenny were and no different to the way Kerry were when they were winning so much. It does go in cycles and again we’d said it numerous times, we’re not going to look just yet on what we’ve achieved, certainly I won’t be until I hang my boots up.

“People want to focus on the football side of things when the season is on, when it’s off then there’s nothing really to focus on, so let’s look at another thing we can talk about. 

“That’s the way it’s going to be and it’s not ever going to change. If we lost the All-Ireland this year, the other way of looking at it is if a blanket defence team beat us, you’d be saying should everyone be doing that.

“Look the game evolves and I think it’s just about people learning and improving and getting to the stage where you can compete to win All-Irelands.”

The 2018 victory brought the number of All-Ireland senior medals in McMahon’s collection to six yet the volume of silver has not dulled his enjoyment of the latest win.

Philly McMahon celebrates after Dublin’s victory with the Sam Maguire.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

“I was at a charity event last week, a golf classic for St Michael’s House. Just the joy that you see when you bring the Sam Maguire into a room. There was a young lad there who had his wheelchair decked out in all blue (for) Dublin.

“You can never under-estimate the joy you bring on people’s faces through sport. You couldn’t get sick of winning any of them. I’d much prefer that cup staying in Dublin than going anywhere else in the country.”

——————————

Philly McMahon was speaking at the official launch of the new-look Chadwicks brand, which took place at its recently upgraded Sandyford branch in South Dublin.

Grafton Merchanting, Ireland’s leading building merchanting company which operates brands including Chadwicks, Heiton Buckley and The Panelling Centre today announced details of a store upgrade programme with 12 Chadwicks branches due for completion by the end of 2019.

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“I CAN HONESTLY say it’s a better feeling,” Siobhan McGrath grinned in the bowels of Croke Park shortly after she helped her Dublin side to another All-Ireland crown.

“I was so proud of them last year but it’s definitely a nicer feeling.”

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

Last year, she watched on from the Hogan Stand, one of 46,286. 

On Sunday, she gave a masterclass in defence across the 60 minutes as 50,141 observed. Her work rate was immense; she tackled, hounded, blocked and ran her socks off as she covered what seemed like every blade of grass on the pitch.

She’s complimented on her individual performance but is quick to deflect the spotlight away. This was about the team.

“I just thought everybody worked so hard out there, everyone was putting in tackles and playing simple, good football. I just thought everybody played unbelievable.”

“I’m so proud of everyone that walked onto that pitch.”

Well, she should be more than proud of herself for sure. An All-Ireland winner previously in 2010 after making her senior bow at the age of 15 in 2003, she’s definitely put in the years in the Sky Blue jersey.

She’s been there for good days and bad, for better or worse. But in 2014, she decided that she needed a break from everything. She packed her bags and headed for Australia shortly after Dublin’s All-Ireland final loss to Cork.

McGrath missed the further heartbreaking defeats which followed to the same opposition in 2015 and 2016, though she’s had many a battle with the 11-time champions down through the years.

Last January, she returned from her two and-a-half year stay in Oz but didn’t feel she was ready to return to the fold. In fact, when she left she never thought she’d go back to that level.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

But then there’s the unfinished business. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and what not, and back she went.

Satisfying to get her hands back on the Brendan Martin Cup?

“Extremely satisfying,” the Thomas Davis star smiles as she gathers herself.

“I’m kind of trying to let it sink in, it’s not really getting there yet but it will. It’s hard to believe that I came back this year, straight into a team that had just won an All-Ireland, and now we’ve done it again. It’s definitely a nice feeling.”

It was an intriguing battle between two great sides, with the crowd treated to a fine exhibition of all-out football. It started quite cagey and tactical but then grew into a thrilling, end-to-end clash played in full flow.

With Dublin on top, Cork came close time and time again in the second half reducing the deficit to two points as the final 10 minutes approached. 

But Carla Rowe found the back of the net for the second time as the clock struck 50 to ultimately settle the contest.

“They were getting their purple patch, we knew they were,” McGrath concedes.

“They’re an unbelievable team. We were never going to get our own way, they were always going to come at us. To be honest, I had the belief. We all had belief in each other.

“I didn’t fear that we were going to lose it. I felt we’d keep driving on and we’d get our scores, keep patient and drive on.”

The rivalry between the Jackies and the Rebels was touched on plenty in the build-up. There was talk of revenge and how special it would be to beat the old enemy who had inflicted so much hurt upon the Sky Blues.

Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

It was played down by both camps, of course, but how sweet it must have been for Dublin as the final hooter sounded and they finally put the hurt of 2014, 2015 and 2016 to bed.

“It was addressed (the rivalry and history) but it was just more (about) the team that we are and not to buy into that,” she explains.

“I’d say it was outside both camps. Both camps probably tried to stay clear of that as much as they could, we did.

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“It is a nice feeling. Personally, it is a nice feeling to get over it. They’ve been beating me personally for 10 years so it was nice!”

She adds, on the action itself: “I think every time we play Cork it’s a good game.

“It’s a good game for spectators to come out and watch, and I don’t think it was any different out there today.

“Everybody wants a game to be free-flowing: players on the pitch and obviously spectators all want the same thing. The ref was brilliant in what he did there today. He really enhanced or enabled a really good game of football.”

At this stage, she’s being rushed away to continue the celebrations elsewhere. A question about three in-a-row has already come up, and she understandably shook it off.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

The record attendance is addressed once again, another huge step for ladies football.

“That’s it! Keep breaking it.”

So next year 60,000 in Croke Park and Dublin for three in-a-row?

She laughs.

“Like I said we’re just going to enjoy this one!”

And that they will.

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IT FITS THAT the three longest-serving Gaelic football managers at the outset of the 2019 season are a trio that journeyed deep into the heart of this year’s championship.

Mickey Harte brought his Tyrone side back to the grandeur of All-Ireland final day and is set to be in charge for a 17th campaign. Jim Gavin from the champions Dublin and Malachy O’Rourke, who steered Monaghan to a notable semi-final showing, match each other with a seventh year in charge beckoning after starting out in 2013.

The boss who ranks fourth on that list bowed out this summer on 30 June but that exit at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh can not detract from the body of work Colm Collins has compiled in Clare.

On Tuesday night the Clare county board confirmed what had been on the cards – the Kilmihil native would take the Banner reins for a sixth campaign.

“He took a bit of time to think after the championship,” outlines Clare’s midfield stalwart Gary Brennan.

“Once he knew that the group was committed to working for another year and trying to build on what has been done already, then I think he was happy to give it another go. It’s very positive for Clare football. The team has been on an upward trajectory throughout his tenure so hopefully that’ll continue now next year.”

Clare manager Colm Collins.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

Brennan is a long-standing pillar of Clare football now since first joining the senior ranks in 2007. He began with Páidí Ó Sé in charge of him, then had Frank Doherty and Míchéal McDermott supervising before Mick O’Dwyer was at the helm in 2013.

Collins took over that winter, setting out in the 2014 league and has been around ever since. The turnover rate is high in the area of inter-county management as the demands and expectations are ratcheted up. The longevity of Collins is something the Clare camp welcome and appreciate.

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“That continuity is great,” admits Brennan.

“We know the setup now and we know what we’re working towards. Colm knows the county well and knows the players within the county and spends a lot of time looking at underage games, looking at players that he can bring in from a young age to try and develop them and get them into the habits I suppose of the inter-county lifestyle.

“He works very hard at it and we’ve seen some good results. But Colm’s very determined equally that it’s not going to plateau at this point. He wants to continue to drive Clare football forward. It’s great he’s been given the chance to do that and that he’s willing and happy to continue to do it.

“I’m sure it probably has a big impact on his personal life. Inter-county playing is hugely time demanding, inter-county management is probably more on top of that again. We’re fortunate I suppose that he’s in a position to be able to continue to do it. It’s a sign of how successful he’s been and how positive an impact he has had that he’s stayed in it for the number of years that he’s had.”

If there is one trend that captures the progress Collins has made, then it is the improved league standing of Clare. In his debut spring campaign they climbed out of Division 4, in the most recent spring campaign they finished third in Division 2.

Gary Brennan celebrates Clare’s 2016 Division 3 league final win.

The challenges will rise next season with teams of the stature of Donegal and Kildare dropping down from the top tier, while there is a sense of frustration in Clare at how they signed off on the 2018 championship.

“The reason we have wanted to get up the divisions is to play the best teams that we can play against,” says Brennan.

“It’ll be a good test again of us and our squad. The thing Colm has been focusing on the last few years is to try and bring through younger guys and freshen up the squad so it’ll be a good test and experience next spring.

“I don’t think we ever really hit the heights in the championship that we were capable of this year. I don’t think we hit the standards that we’d like to have got to. Up in Armagh we had put ourselves in a very strong position and allowed Armagh to come back into it, to beat us and take it.

A dejected Keelan Sexton after Clare’s loss to Armagh in the qualifiers this year.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“Credit to Armagh but it was one that we’d have felt we left behind. Any year you finish like that it’s unfinished business. In terms of titles, we don’t have a whole pile to our name so we’d like to add a bit to that. Colm is very determined to drive Clare football forward and get the best players playing for the county.”

Retaining those who are working alongside Collins is another boost with Galway’s 2013 All-Ireland U21 winning manager Alan Flynn set to continue his coaching role with Clare.

“The management team is staying on as far as I’m aware, that’s what was ratified at the county board meeting anyway,” states Brennan.

“For a young coach, he’s very experienced. He’s a lot of very good ideas on the game and has worked very well with the squad and has done an awful lot of work in developing those younger players that we have coming into the squad.

Former Galway U21 boss Alan Flynn.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

“You can see the influence a lot of those guys are starting to have now. A lot of that is down to Alan’s coaching. When the whole setup is staying on, it gives you an opportunity to build from year to year rather than restarting again and trying to get things in place.”

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HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE last Sunday night as the head of Dublin hurling was a shock, but one of the players who worked closely with Pat Gilroy when he ended the county’s barren football spell in 2011 does not believe it means the end of Gilroy’s future as a manager in the capital.

Gilroy departed after a single season in charge of the county hurling side due to work commitments, six years after that factor also came into play when he departed as the Dublin football supremo. 

Philly McMahon had been looking forward to seeing what progress Gilroy could make in his second season with hurling squad and is convinced that the idea of another spell in charge in the future with a county team, should not be dismissed.

“I knew what Pat did with us in his second year so I was looking forward to seeing what the hurlers could do this year. I understand Pat has huge work commitments, he did when he stepped way from the footballers.

“One year in, it must be a huge amount of work commitments to walk away from something, especially considering they’d a decent year. I think the most they lost in the group stages was two points.

“The way Pat is as a person, there was surprise when he was the football manager. I think he’d managed a Vincent’s U16 team or U14 before that. Nobody would have ever thought he’d have got the hurling job, he’s a footballer.

“I wouldn’t write him off, definitely not, no. Whether that’s in football or hurling, he’s just that type of fella that he could surprise you. They’re not far off it and the good thing is Pat is a Dublin man. He could be the person to develop the structures there whereas I’m not sure who’s out there in the hurling world in Dublin that can now take that on.”

Since that 2011 victory under Gilroy’s watch, Dublin have lifted the Sam Maguire five times with Jim Gavin at the helm.

Pat Gilroy celebrates Dublin’s 2011 All-Ireland final victory with Diarmuid Connolly.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

McMahon is still mindful of the role Gilroy played in kick-starting this current run of glories.

“It’s funny to think about the success of the 2011 team and the team that’s there today started, it probably started as the links going back to post-95 with the failure. Success only starts when failure begins.

“There was always that motivation because of Dublin not winning All-Irelands and then all of a sudden we’ve got a guy that comes in and puts structure on it. A very smart business guy and (he) starts to develop a culture, then you’ve got Jim coming in and building on that and put his own stamp on it.

“I certainly think what Pat did with us could have pushed the Dublin hurlers on a good bit.”

Philly McMahon was speaking at the official launch of the new-look Chadwicks brand.

Source: Jason Clarke

With demands off the pitch prompting Gilroy to channel his energies away from a GAA  role, it throws the issue of the commitment managers make into sharper focus.

“The hours players put in is massive, the hours managers put is even more,” says McMahon.

“The Dublin management team put serious amount of hours in, it’s ridiculous. I’d have a huge respect for the management team.

“I would see the countless hours they put in and they don’t really get the plaudits that we get in fairness to them. They’ve bought into a culture of helping the next generation which is us and there’s a lot of ex-Dublin players doing that with other teams down the ranks. It’s a bigger cause. There’s something bigger than financial reward to them guys.”

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FORMER SLIGO STAR Paul Taylor is set to take over as manager of the county’s senior football team.

The U21 boss has been recommended by the Yeats county’s selection committee and it is expected that he’ll be ratified by club delegates at a county board meeting on Monday.

He’ll succeed Cathal Corey, who stepped away after just one year at the helm.

In 2018, Sligo retained their Division 3 status in the National Football League and went on to beat London in the Connacht SFC.

Provincial champions Galway sent them into the qualifiers with a 21-point win at Pearse Stadium before Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh ended their summer with a 1-19 to 1-13 victory at Markievicz Park.

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In terms of their new manager, Eastern Harps clubman Taylor lined out for 14 inter-county seasons with Sligo and helped his club to six senior titles.

He was involved as a selector in 2010 under Kevin Walsh, a year in which the senior side were beaten by Roscommon in the Connacht final. 

Congratulations to Paul Taylor who has been recommended by the Sligo GAA selection committee to be the new Sligo Senior Football Manager and it is hoped he will be ratified by the County Board next Monday. We wish Paul all the best on his new adventure.

— EasternHarpsGAASligo (@EasternHarpsGAA) September 21, 2018

In 2017, he guided the Sligo U21s to the provincial decider, where they were narrowly defeated by Galway.

Sligo GAA announced the news last night in a detailed press release with details shared on the recruitment headed by Joe Taffee.

It stated that Taylor will confirm his full backroom team in the coming weeks, consisting of two local selectors and a new face in Mayo’s Joe Keane as a coach.

Keane was an All-Ireland senior club champion with Crossmolina in 2001 and coached the Mayo U21s to All-Ireland glory in 2016. He’s also been involved in the Green and Red backroom team for the past two years.

The statement concludes:

“Sligo County Board would like to thank all those who considered the role and thank them for their time and interest and wish Paul Taylor and his management team every success.”

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KERRY FORWARD DONNCHADH Walsh has announced his retirement from the inter-county game at the age of 34.

The 2015 All-Star made his debut under Páidí Ó Sé in 2003 but didn’t properly make his breakthrough until 2008.

He went on to win three All-Irelands, eight Munster titles and two Division 1 crowns with the county. A hard-working half-forward, Walsh struggled with injuries this season and made just one championship appearance – against Galway in the Super 8s.

Walsh follows Kieran Donaghy out the Kingdom exit door as the county prepares for the appointment of a new manager in the coming weeks.

Announcing his retirement via his club Cromane’s Facebook page, he said: “For the last 15 years, I have devoted my life to the Kerry senior football team.

“The greatest honour I ever could’ve imagined has been pulling on the green and gold jersey but, as with all good things, it must come to an end. That end has arrived.

“I am retiring from Kerry inter-county football with a lifetime of memories. I first played for Kerry as a minor two days after my 17th birthday back in 2001, and apart from a brief period where I had to knuckle down in my early 20s, I have been on the juggernaut that is the life of a Kerry footballer ever since. I cherished every second because it’s all I ever wanted to do.

“But now, it’s time for me to step aside. I wish the new Kerry senior football manager the very best of luck and encourage all my former teammates to do what it takes to get Kerry back to the top. The memories will be worth it.

“My club, Réalt na Mara, An Cromán, have supported me to the hilt on the entirety of this journey. There is no greater feeling than representing your own people and I hope I’ve done so with heart, dignity and determination.

“Although a small club we have managed to produce two inter-county footballers for Kerry over the last 15 years, something we take great pride in. On my league debut for Kerry, back in March 2003, when Páidí Ó Sé gave me my first taste of senior Kerry football, Seán O’Sullivan and I made up two-thirds of the half forward line.

“To have two men from the club line out for Kerry was a great honour for Cromane and a testament to our club’s officials and coaches.

“To all the members of Cromane GAA Club: thank you so much for nurturing and encouraging me. While it’s the end of an era retiring from Kerry, it’s something of a rebirth for me with the club.

“I was reared about 10 metres from Cromane GAA pitch and it has been close to my heart since I could raise my foot and kick a ball. I look forward to kicking many more balls there in the years to come.

“I would like to thank my family and friends for always being there through thick and thin. I’d like to especially thank all my coaches and team-mates that I played with, and for, throughout my development and career including my school, the Intermediate School Killorglin (ISK); my divisional GAA board, Mid Kerry; my colleges, UCC and RCSI, and Kerry underage teams.

“Finally, to the many passionate Kerry supporters, young and old, that I have met the length and breadth of the county and country, I would like to thank you for your fervent support throughout my time in the green and gold. I now hope to become one of you, as I cheer on my heroes from the terraces of Austin Stack Park and Fitzgerald Stadium.”

His former Kerry team-mates Tomás Ó Sé and Kieran Donaghy were among those to pay tribute to Walsh on Twitter.

I marked this man more than any other in my time with @Kerry_Official what a complete pro, great attitude, temperament and footballer. No one bettered his workrate. Jesus we used go on some tours of Fitzgerald stadium!!! Enjoy retirement @DonnchadhWalsh pic.twitter.com/QNEzfG0aOM

— Tomás Ó Sé (@tomas5ky) September 21, 2018

Well done buddy. Fittest player I ever played with, the ultimate pro, some man to stick a one on one, great teammate, some craic on the lash, serious club man. Never left an ounce out in that pitch, 100% everytime. Enjoy the next chapter big man @BalanceExpo @DonnchadhWalsh 👏🏻

— Kieran Donaghy (@starryboy14) September 21, 2018

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ALL-IRELAND CLUB CHAMPIONS Carnacon are set to appeal the player suspensions and fine handed out by Connacht LGFA Council earlier this week, according to reports.

On Tuesday night, the club were fined €500 while the eight players who left the Mayo panel this summer were suspended for four weeks as the row rumbled on. 

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Carnacon were originally due to face Knockmore in Group A of the Mayo senior championship on Sunday evening. However, The42 understands that the fixture is no longer going ahead due to a “scheduling issue” on the county board’s behalf — an overlap with a minor game –  and will instead take place next weekend.

On 21 August, Mayo clubs voted 26-2 in favour of throwing Carnacon out of the county championship under rule 288 of the LGFA Official Guide which relates to bringing the game into disrepute. The Mayo club successfully appealed the decision and were reinstated to the championship on 30 August.

Mayo LGFA then appealed that decision this week, but it was confirmed that Carnacon are free to defend their county, provincial and All-Ireland titles, but without eight players for the next four weeks. 

The eight players in question are Martha Carter, Marie Corbett, Amy Dowling, Doireann Hughes, Sadhbh Larkin, Fiona McHale, Cora Staunton and Saoirse Walsh.

The suspensions came into effect from the date of the meeting, but Carnacon were given five days to appeal the decision, which they are expected to formally do today.

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