Month: September 2021

JJ DELANEY PREDICTS another meeting of Limerick and Galway in this year’s All-Ireland final, but says Clare’s year can only be regarded as a success by reaching the decider.

The nine-time All-Ireland champion is looking forward to seeing Tony Kelly playing at centre-forward for the Banner when they open their Munster Championship campaign away to Waterford on 12 May.

Incidentally, the Kilkenny man says Waterford can have no excuses either considering they’ve been given the opportunity to host matches at Walsh Park this year as opposed to having to travel to Limerick.

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“Clare need to get to an All-Ireland final this year,” Delaney told The42.

“Last year was a success for them in that they got back to Croke Park and brought Galway to a replay, but they have to get to a final this year. They’re like Limerick and Waterford of previous years, getting to semi-finals and then making the breakthrough.

Clare forward Tony Kelly.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

“I don’t think a Munster Championship would be good enough, I don’t think it’d be enough for their fanbase because 2013 is a long time ago.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what Waterford bring to the table. I didn’t see much of them during the league — in the league final they were disappointing — but they look to be going a bit more orthodox and with younger legs up front.

“Pádraic Fanning trained me with the Fitzgibbon team in WIT. He’s a great guy, a passionate guy and he’ll definitely get it right come championship.

“They’re a different X-factor coming into the Munster Championship this year and their excuse of having no home games is gone, they’ll have to perform in Walsh Park.”

On his own county, Delaney is hopeful of a first Leinster title in three years – a tilt which they’ll begin at home to Dublin on 11 May, in what will be the first of 20 live championship matches Sky Sports will screen this year.

“The Dublin game is a huge game for both teams because they should have beaten Kilkenny last year in Parnell Park. That set up Kilkenny to get to a Leinster final and All-Ireland quarter-final.

“If Dublin do win that, Kilkenny are on the back foot straight away and they’ll have to go down to Wexford Park and get a result — a place where we haven’t got a good record the last couple of years.

“It’ll be interesting to see what Dublin bring to the table as well. Mattie Kenny likes to bring a possession game, a running game and you see what they did in the league semi-final, they played a sweeper.

Kilkenny and Dublin met at Parnell Park in last year’s Leinster Championship.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“Tactically, they can play both games — 15 v 15 or with a sweeper — so it’s going to be interesting to see what tactic Mattie Kenny actually employs against Kilkenny.

“But I think it’s vital for Kilkenny to get off to a good start, especially in Nowlan Park. We saw in last year’s championship that you have to win your home games. If you don’t, you’re on the back foot straight away.”

JJ Delaney was speaking as Sky Sports announced its GAA fixtures for the 2019 Championship. A total of 20 live, and 14 exclusive, fixtures of Championship action will be available on Sky’s multi-platform offering throughout the season.

Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to get stuck into last weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals.:

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KERRY LEGEND KIERAN Donaghy expects his former team-mate Tommy Walsh to have a big season for the Kingdom alongside budding stars Seán O’Shea and David Clifford.

Peter Keane’s men are 4/1 second favourites to land a first All-Ireland crown since 2014 this year, but will be expected to seal a seventh successive Munster title prior to that.

The Kingdom lost the recent Division One final to Mayo having topped the league proper and the Austin Stacks clubman feels that performance bodes well for the campaign ahead considering the age profile of the team.

Donaghy also says the lack of pre-championship expectation will help the players as they bid to stop Dublin’s ‘drive for five’.

“There is hope there, but there wouldn’t be expectation like the team that I came on to,” Sky Sports’ newest pundit told The42.

Kieran Donaghy at today’s Sky Sports championship coverage launch at Croke Park.

Source: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

“I was ringing the schools in 2006 and 2007 asking if they wanted the cup and they’d be like: ‘No, we got it in last year, bring it in next year’. That’s expectancy and high pressure.

“I think Kerry will learn a good bit from the league final and I think for this team, it’s no harm to get a little reminder or a slap down to earth because they were playing so well, winning games and looked comfortable.

“There’s always a bounce when you bring in a new manager. It’s a very young team, but there are still very experienced players in there. It’s a really fresh start for Kerry so we didn’t really know what to expect at the start of the league.

“We knew the players were good, but we didn’t know what Peter Keane was going to be like.

He’s done a great job so far this year, the players have responded, bar the two Mayo displays, and I think they’ll be there or thereabouts come the summer.”

On the potential impacts of the aforementioned Walsh, O’Shea and Clifford, Donaghy was full of praise for the trio, especially Walsh, who he feels could have a big say in the sway of Kerry’s fortunes this summer.

“I envisage Tommy having whatever role he wants. If he keeps playing the way he is and remains injury free, there’s no reason why he can’t start for Kerry.

Tommy Walsh.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

“He’s a target man, but a different target man to me. Tommy is very good at winning ball out in front and I was really impressed with his hands in the few live games I saw. He was winning ball and slipping it to a guy running at 100 miles an hour off his shoulder.

“I think his hands are actually better now than when he went to Australia because the hand-passing that the Aussie Rules guys work on in their drills is second to none — it’s something I think the GAA teams need to be looking at more.

“Tommy can be the impact guy when they’re winning — to catch a few balls and win frees just to settle the ship — and the impact guy if they’re losing — put a few balls in around the house and he’ll compete. I’ve been that martyr before, coming in when you’re chasing a game, but basically you’re fighting for ball that’s like trying to win your club lotto; you’re trying to win dirty balls at that stage of a game where you’re down three or four points with a minute to go.

“I hope Tommy’s not in that position this year, but if Kerry are down three or four points, there’s no better man in the country that you’d want than Tommy Walsh coming in there.

“And the two lads [O’Shea and Clifford] are brilliant footballers: they’re so mature, they’ve their heads screwed on, they’re great guys on and off the pitch, they’re very good team-mates and there’s no selfishness or ego about them.

“They’re the perfect young superstars coming through in a team. They’re not like Paul Pogba waiting for their Rolls Royces instead of going on the bus. They’re brilliant guys and I’m sure they’ll be brilliant in that set-up.”

Kieran Donaghy was speaking as Sky Sports announced its GAA fixtures for the 2019 Championship. A total of 20 live, and 14 exclusive, fixtures of Championship action will be available on Sky’s multi-platform offering throughout the season.

Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to get stuck into last weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals.:

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LAOIS NATIVE ZACH Tuohy will make his return to AFL action this weekend for his club Geelong as he completes his recovery from injury.

Tuohy has been sidelined since undergoing knee surgery at the end of the 2018 season with his last appearance occurring in Geelong’s exit from the AFL finals against Melbourne Demons last September.

After making a successful return to action in the VFL last weekend, Tuohy is now poised to make his opening appearance of the 2019 AFL campaign on Sunday in the Round 6 fixture against West Coast Eagles (6.40am Irish time). 

Geelong finalised their side today for the game with Tuohy selected amongst the interchange list of four players. 

The 29-year-old will join another Irish player with Kerry’s Mark O’Connor maintaining his run as an ever-present in the side. Geelong are currently top of the AFL ladder with four wins from their five ties to date with Melbourne Demons second from bottom.

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Tuohy is an established figure in the AFL and last April he became the fourth Irish player to reach 150 appearances in the league. He joined Carlton as an International Rookie in the 2010 draft selection before moving to Geelong in 2016.

Elsewhere for the Irish contingent in Australia, Tyrone’s Conor McKenna featured yesterday as Essendon lost 73-69 to Collingwood.

Mayo’s Pearce Hanley, who made his 150th appearance last weekend in the AFL, will start for Gold Coast Suns against his former club Brisbane Lions tomorrow.

Kilkenny’s Darragh Joyce (St Kilda), Tipperary’s Colin O’Riordan (Sydney Swans) and Meath’s Conor Nash (Hawthorn) are all named as emergencies for their respective games over the weekend. 

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DONEGAL CLUB NAOMH Colmcille will have their appeal against a proposed eight-week ban heard next Tuesday night.

The Tir Chonaill outfit have been cited by county management for permitting a fundraising soccer tournament in aid of clubman Paul Dillon to be played on their grounds last February.

According to the Donegal Democrat, the county’s hearings’ committee will adjudicate over the appeal, while, yesterday, Mr Dillon called for ‘common sense’ to be used.

“Hopefully the ban will be overturned and people will do the right thing,” he said.

“I’d like to see a bit of common sense about the whole thing.

“I was taken back by it when I heard it first. We feel guilty. It’s not the club’s fault.”

Neither the club nor Donegal GAA are believed to be making comment at this stage of proceedings, although county PRO John McEniff confirmed the hearing date with the Democrat.

Donegal GAA’s management committee were alerted to the staging of the tournament, following a complaint, and found Naomh Colmcille to be in breach of the GAA’s official guide. 

The tournament – organised by a local committee which was spearheaded by Councillor Paul Canning – helped raise over €5,000.

A weekend-long series of events accumulated €85,000 to go towards necessary works to make the Dillon family’s home wheelchair accessible.

Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to get stuck into last weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals.:

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Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to get stuck into last weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals.:

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IN RECENT YEARS, women’s sport in Ireland has made considerable progress.

In GAA, attendances for All-Ireland finals have consistently been broken. In rugby, the Irish team have beaten New Zealand among other notable triumphs. In soccer, a historic protest from the women’s national team has led to better working conditions and improving results. And outside of those big three sports, there has also been the remarkable success of the Irish hockey team in addition to individuals such as Katie Taylor achieving historic feats.

There is still plenty of work to do, of course, otherwise there would be no need for welcome initiatives such as the 20×20 campaign.

And while women’s sport in this country has developed in a positive fashion over the past decade, it would be too simplistic to suggest it was not popular and there were no breakthrough moments up until quite recently. In fact, for decades, there have been a number of advancements and setbacks.

In 2015, The42 spoke to scholar David Toms about the prominence of women’s soccer in Ireland and elsewhere in the 1920s, with as many as 12,000 supporters attending a match between a Dublin selection and Scotland at Milltown. Exactly why it struggled to maintain such popularity in the intervening decades is a complex issue, with a number of factors having an impact, such as people’s increasingly narrow-minded view of women’s sport and the subsequent widespread efforts to limit its presence in an increasingly conservative society. Mass emigration and the institutionalisation of women by the church and the state exacerbated this dwindling female representation. In addition, it was a time when it was widely thought that ‘a women’s place was at home,’ as the Eamon de Valera-drafted constitution in 1937 indicated.

And while it is easy enough to ascertain why women’s sport struggled to be taken seriously in Ireland for large portions of 20th century and thereafter to a degree, the information that exists on the subject remains limited and consequently, people’s knowledge of these issues tends to be quite vague.

Consequently, Helena Byrne and four other researchers — Martin J Moore, Stuart Gibbs, Michael Kielty and Gerard Farrell — are currently working on a project that aims to “document the history and development of women’s football”.

In 1973, women’s football governing bodies were established and structures were put in place that have been developed in the intervening years. Prior to that period, however, there is a conspicuous lack of information. Byrne and her colleagues seek to explore this forgotten history, and have formed a crowdsourcing project to share citations of Irish women’s football in newspapers prior to 1973.

A 1975 article from Football Weekly.

Byrne’s research has focused largely on indoor football, which was popular among both men and women in the 1960s. 

Curiously, indoor football managed to escape the GAA’s ban on its members playing foreign games, which took full effect in 1905 and was not officially revoked until 1971.

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“There were GAA players playing it who were getting away with the ban,” Byrne explains. “In some cases, it was seen as entertainment, or just the GAA looked the other way because it was so popular — they’d have crowds of thousands in to watch the matches during the week.

“They’d have a couple of men’s matches, then two or three women’s matches, and more men’s matches. Women were encouraged to play, so that’s how contemporary women’s soccer and Gaelic football started. The women were playing indoor football and moved on to outdoor soccer or outdoor Gaelic. They lifted the ban on GAA players playing foreign sports in the early ’70s. Then the popularity of indoor football had served its time and was a springboard for other activities.”

On the rise of indoor football, Byrne continues: “They had the ads in the entertainment section. They did have some reporting of the matches and the rules and stuff like that, but they weren’t in the sports section, so I think in Drogheda it was seen as entertainment rather than sport. But in Dundalk, they had North Louth sports awards and a woman won the indoor football section of it.

I had a talk in February in Dundalk. Somebody there told me they were playing a competition in Monaghan and the GAA players wore the same jersey with the number 3 on the back just in case they got suspended, so if they’re all number 3 from the same club, they’re never going to know who they are.

“There were other interviews in the Dundalk newspapers as well. They interviewed two prominent GAA figures who were in the crowd. They said it was great but in other areas, it didn’t get received very well. It was so popular that they couldn’t be seen to be coming down hard on it.

“It was a lot [about] the ban and that’s how the debate started in the late 1960s about the future of the ban. It was in that in-between phase. There’s an organisation that call themselves the All-Ireland Indoor Football Association. They said that they’d sent the rules out to 1,000 places and they were hoping this would bridge the gap between the GAA and other codes of football. People organising women’s football were actively trying to break down the barriers that existed. I tried the GAA archives to see if they’d any records of correspondence [in relation to] indoor football, but they don’t seem to have anything.

I’m looking more into their relationship with camogie, because camogie never had that ban as the GAA did. But in ’67, they got one in because indoor football was so popular among camogie players. Lots of prominent camogie players got banned because they were playing indoor football. A north Louth team had won the Louth Championships for a number of years and they lost because five of their players were suspended. And then when the suspension was over, they won it again the next couple of years.”

Byrne, who works as a librarian in web archiving and undertakes the research in her spare time, plans to keep digging in the coming months as she bids to help people gain a more comprehensive understanding of this intriguing and overlooked subject area.

“I’m still working on indoor football research with former players, because it really is a forgotten history. It hasn’t been documented anywhere. There’s no legacy archive or anything left behind. It was a really important part of Irish sporting history. It broke down a lot of barriers.”

You can find more info on the work undertaken by Helena Byrne and her colleagues here.

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Clare 2-12
Cork 3-15 

CLODAGH FINN SCORED 1-8, Emma Murphy slotted a brace of goals, and player of the match Fiona Keating shot five points as Cork secured a second All-Ireland Minor A Camogie Championship in a row against Clare at MacDonagh Park.

The Rebels were given a huge fright however, as the Banner girls reduced a 17-point deficit at half time to six by the final whistle.

The impact of the wind could not be underestimated as Storm Hannah made a slow retreat. Cork were clinical in the opening period with the gale in their favour, leading by 3-11 to 0-3 at half time.

It was the Clodagh Finn Show early on as Cork laid siege to Rachel Daly’s goal. The Fr O’Neills tyro provided the first four points before getting the final touch to make it 1-4 to 0-0 with just seven minutes elapsed.

Roisin Minogue and Fiona Keating.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Lorna McNamara registered Clare’s opening two scores but Dervilla Moloney’s troops were left shellshocked as Murphy grabbed her two goals inside a minute at the start of the second quarter. Keating provided a supplementary trio of points, McNamara Clare’s third, but it was looking forlorn for the saffron and blue at that juncture.

Yet they resumed with real intent and when McNamara set up Robyn Conway for a goal in the 36^th minute, they were reinvigorated.

McNamara brought her tally to 10 points but Clare needed a goal earlier than when it finally arrived, in the third minute of injury time, the brilliant McNamara providing the assist for Finia O’Brien but Jerry Wallace’s Cork had done enough.

Robyn Conway and Hannah Sexton,

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Laois and Limerick will have to do it all again in the Minor B Final, as they could not be separated following a titanic tussle at the opening game in Nenagh.

Once again, the wind was a significant factor but considerable credit must go to both sets of defences, who performed magnificently into the teeth of the gale for it to leave it 0-8 to 1-5 at the change of ends.

The key score in the first half was a fifth-minute Kirsten Keenan goal for Laois, after Keenan and Iris Kennelly had exchanged early points. That gave Robert Jones’s crew something to hold onto and though they ended up trailing at the change of ends, the 0-7 to 1-1 deficit would not have seemed insurmountable.

Enya Harrington slotted four points for Limerick and Kennelly another but a vital clearance by Katie Dunican off the line denied the Shannonsiders what seemed a certain goal.

It was all Laois in the second half but Kevin Connolly would have been delighted with the grit shown by his crew. A couple of frees from Keenan brought Laois within one and when Clodagh Tynan equalised from a 70m free on the three-quarter mark, the O’Moores looks to have it in the bag.

Heroic defence kept them out for 10 minutes but captain Alice Walshe split the posts to put Laois in front, only for Sinéad McElligott to level within a minute.

Laois did have two chances to snatch it from frees but were unable to take them, with one hitting the upright, and the replay will take place at a yet-to-be-determined venue next Saturday.

In the Minor C Final, Tyrone had too much scoring power for Kerry, prevailing by 3-12 to 0-6 in Crettyard.

The Red Hands did the damage in the first half, when Lára Devlin, Catherine Muldoon and Kaitlín Gallagher goaled to lead by 3-4 to 0-2. From there, it only needed some resolute defending to take the spoils for the first time, though Amy O’Sullivan excelled for Kerry.

Inniskeen Grattans played host to the Minor B Shield decider and the honours were claimed by Down over Meath, by 3-6 to 1-6.

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KIILKENNY MADE A winning start to their Leinster MHC campaign with narrow win over Dublin, who defeated the Cats in last year’s provincial decider.

The Dubs made an impressive start to this Round 1 clash, hitting two goals in the opening half to hold a 2-5 to 0-7 lead at the break.

But last year’s All-Ireland finalists Kilkenny rallied in the second half and rattled off three unanswered points from Billy Drennan and Liam Moore to leave them just one adrift after 37 minutes.

Dublin could only manage three scores in the second period, but a Ben McSweeney free after 54 minutes kept their noses in front by just one point.

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That proved to be their last score as Peter McDonald and Andy Hickey crucially posted the final two points of the game to secure the one-point win for Kilkenny.

Elsewhere, Wexford squeezed through with a 3-11 to 2-11 win over Offaly. 

AJ Redmond in action against Dublin last year.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

AJ Redmond and Luke Kavanagh’s combined first-half tally of 2-3 sent them on their way to victory, with Wexford leading by two points at half-time.

Offaly scored a brace of goals either side of half-time through Dan Murray and Niall Lyons and the sides were level at 2-10 apiece after 50 minutes.

But a third Wexford goal through Cian Byrne after the hour mark proved to be decisive as they clinched a three-point win.

Laois ran out comprehensive winners over Westmeath, with Dan Delaney hitting the back of the net in the first minute of the game.

They were just three points clear at the break but they hit 2-12 without reply after the restart to put the result beyond doubt.

Carlow also registered a big win against Meath.

Goals from Louis Brennan and Scott Treacy helped Carlow into an eight-point advantage at half-time while Conor Kehoe was also prolific throughout.

Kildare comfortably overcame Antrim, leading by nine points at the break before adding another 1-11 in the second half to seal the victory.

Results:

Carlow 3-18 Meath 1-3

Antrim 0-7 Kildare 2-19

Kilkenny 0-15 Dublin 2-8

Offaly 2-11 Wexford 3-11

Laois 2-21 Westmeath 0-7

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DEFENDING ULSTER CHAMPIONS Monaghan got their provincial campaign off to a winning start after getting the better of Antrim in a low-scoring affair in Belfast.

The sides could only muster nine scores between them in this Round 1 clash and Antrim had just one point on the board at half-time.

Monaghan had a three-point cushion heading into the second half, and were four points clear coming into injury-time.

Joe McNally managed to score a goal for Antrim which brought the deficit back to a point in the final moments, but Monaghan had done enough to hold on for the victory.

Meanwhile, Cavan also got their provincial campaign off to a winning start against Fermanagh.

The sides traded scores throughout the opening stages of the first half before Daryl McGurren and Caoimhin McGovern split the posts to open a two-point lead for Cavan at the interval.

Cavan hit 1-2 without reply after the restart to extend their advantage to seven points, with Jack Tully hitting the goal for the hosts.

Oliver Hughes Jordan netted for the visitors towards the end of the tie, but Cavan had 10 points to spare at the final whistle.

There was also an opening-round win for Tyrone, who came through with a 1-12 to 1-8 victory against Donegal. 

The visiting side got off to a blistering start, with a Sean O’Donnell goal helping them into a 1-2 to 0-0 lead after seven minutes.

They maintained their advantage for the remainder of the half and lead by five on 23 minutes before a brace of points from Johnny McGroddy left just three between them at half-time.

A second-half Donegal resurgence brought the sides level, with Paul O’Hare kicking a vital goal inside the first six minutes.

McGroddy then edged Donegal in front with a point before Tyrone kicked five points without reply to steer them to victory.

Armagh and Derry played out a low-scoring encounter with Armagh holding a 0-3 0-1 at half-time.

Oisin King and Michael McConville were among the first-half scorers before PJ McAleese kicked a vital goal for Derry in the 52nd minute.

That score left Derry leading by four, and they managed to hold onto that advantage at the final whistle as the sides traded points throughout the final stages of the final stages of the game.

Results:

Cavan 2-14 Fermanagh 1-7

Armagh 0-4 Derry 1-5

Donegal 1-8 Tyrone 1-12

Antrim 1-2 Monaghan 0-6

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SARAH ROWE’S IMPRESSIVE debut season in Aussie Rules has seen her re-signed by the Collingwood Magpies for the 2020 term.

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A midfielder in the Australian code, Rowe was named the club’s best first-year player at the end of last season and will head for the land Down Under once more after the conclusion of Mayo’s championship campaign back home.

Congratulations to @SarsRowe on winning our best first year player in 2019!

Best of luck in Ireland for the upcoming Gaelic Football season, we look forward to having you back in black and white in 2020. pic.twitter.com/ypscS2VEja

— Collingwood Women's (@CollingwoodFCW) April 9, 2019

The Kilmoremoy native, 23, also won Women’s Footy AFL Multicultural Player of the Year, donating the $2,500 to Headspace Australia, a non-profit organisation which deals with youth mental health.

Despite Rowe’s personal form, however, her Magpies finished bottom of Conference B on four points, winning just one of seven games.

Their 2020 cause will doubtless be helped by Carlton captain Brianna Davey who has crossed to the Magpies for next season in the biggest move of the league’s trade and signing deadline day.

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