Month: September 2021

1. Dean Rock

What a legend this man is!! Puts me in the best form each & every day. A great work mate and an even better singing partner ☺️ https://t.co/36KKEE2osR

— Dean Rock (@Deanrock14) May 20, 2019

2. Rod Stewart

What a lovely tribute to Liam Miller by @rodstewart #RodStewartCork #Cork pic.twitter.com/hR8wtX3Hq0

— Stephen Ryan (@MarketingInCork) May 25, 2019

3. Dick Clerkin

‘Well done but you kids can forget about Croke Park, it’s no place for you’. pic.twitter.com/hb2JubzuJQ

— Adrian Barry (@WhosAdrianBarry) May 25, 2019

4. Shane Stapleton

My first cousin, Fr Vinny Stapleton, substitutes himself midway through the second half of a league game against Sars to go say mass. Blessed us with a couple of lovely points. No, this is not a joke @Borris_GAA pic.twitter.com/9XXtxSabLk

— Shane Stapleton (@ShaneSaint) May 25, 2019

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5. Jon Walters

'I'm still coming to terms with it,' – Jonathan Walters gave an incredibly touching interview on the Late Late Show about the losses he has suffered in his family. pic.twitter.com/TBTBayExkF

— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) May 25, 2019

6. Italia 90

The kid on the bike having the time of his life and then just getting waved on by the Garda as if he's traffic. (1990)
Different Times. pic.twitter.com/77lYLgCsil

— KillianM2 TV Archive (@KillianM2) May 23, 2019

7. Rhys McClenaghan

It’s a Silver🥈! So happy to be back out doing my thing. This is a great opportunity to thank everybody who helped me recover from my shoulder surgery and get me back to medal winning form! Also thank you all for the support! Time to start bringing the 🥇 back 🔥❤️ pic.twitter.com/OQEq8m6JLI

— Rhys Mcclenaghan (@McClenaghanRhys) May 20, 2019

8. Mick McCarthy 

Mick McCarthy is just brilliant 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/cEUarEtkHZ

— Ratimus (@ADAMTHERAT) May 22, 2019

9. David Meyler

Hon Jonny boi! pic.twitter.com/g6dVhPMheK

— David Meyler (@DavidMeyler) May 19, 2019

10. Mike Dean

A coach full of Tranmere fans wearing Mike Dean masks on the way to Wembley earlier today before their massive win 😂

[via @reidy104] pic.twitter.com/raG8wAIuEi

— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) May 25, 2019

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Laois 0-12
Westmeath 0-10

Fintan O’Toole reports from Tullamore

THE OPPORTUNITY TO make amends was gratefully seized by the Laois footballers today, correcting a pattern of results against Westmeath that had afflicted their team to date in 2019.

Evan O’Carroll in action for Westmeath against Laois.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

A Division 3 final reversal in April was preceded by a loss in a regular league fixture in February and saw John Sugrue’s team land at the Offaly venue with a clear goal in their sight this afternoon. 

Smarting after suffering a pair of three-point losses to Westmeath, they achieved their objective in booking a Leinster semi-final joust with Meath.

It was hard fought in the end, tough and tense in the finale before the Laois faithful were able to let out a cry of delight and relief in injury time. Substitute Eoin Lowry did a swift exchange of passes with Evan O’Carroll, raced clear and sensibly punched over a point. That sent Laois two clear to copper-fasten their victory. They dealt successfully with a late delivery pumped in by Westmeath in pursuit of the goal required to salvage their Leinster campaign. 

Laois ultimately deserved this success. It was not as clearcut as the one they enjoyed last May against Westmeath when Paul Kingston bagged a hat-trick of goals but they had another key attacking weapon in their ranks today. O’Carroll provided the assist for that late point but had contributed eight before that, five from frees and three from play. It was an invaluable return that helped to separate the teams as the sun shone in O’Connor Park.

Laois had a hefty breeze at their backs and utilised it to forge a six-point advantage by the interval, 0-8 to 0-2. Their attacking strategy was based around the class they had inside in O’Carroll and Kingston.

In the first quarter Kingston swung over two tidy scores from play and in the second quarter O’Carroll notched a lovely brace of points. A trio of converted O’Carroll frees swelled the lead Laois enjoyed and Conor Boyle ensured another player got in on the scoring act for Laois with his first-half point in added time.

Laois defender Sean O’Flynn in action against Westmeath’s David Lynch.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

While all this was unfolding, Westmeath were toiling away at the other end with scant reward. They didn’t feature in the recording of scores until the 23rd minute when Ger Egan knocked over a free and another placed ball from him seven minutes later was the sum total of their first-half scoring efforts.

Playing against the wind was a factor and they did finally get off the mark from play when John Heslin stroked over a stylish point 10 seconds into the second half. But the attacking struggles didn’t end there and as the game drifted towards the last quarter, they were staring at deficit of 0-10 to 0-5.

A late onslaught materialised. Denis Corroon got clear sight of goal but blasted in a shot that was bravely blocked by Laois defender Gareth Dillon. Ger Egan started to take the fight to Laois with a pair of points, O’Carroll hit back with a score before Ronan O’Toole clipped over a 60th minute score to leave three in it.

Westmeath pushed on as the 70 minute mark approached, Kieran Martin made a couple of big catches around the middle with Egan and Callum McCormack both raising white flags. Suddenly Laois were clinging to a slim advantage, 0-11 to 0-10, but Westmeath couldn’t engineer a levelling score. Lowry stole in for that vital late point and after a dogged battle Laois could look forward to the last four stage.

Scorers for Laois: Evan O’Carroll 0-8 (0-5f), Paul Kingston 0-2, Conor Boyle, Eoin Lowry 0-1 each.

Scorers for Westmeath: Ger Egan 0-7 (0-6f), Callum McCormack, John Heslin, Ronan O’Toole 0-1 each.

Laois

1. Graham Brody (Portlaoise)

2. Denis Booth (The Heath)
3. Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen)
4. Gareth Dillon (Portlaoise)

5. Seán O’Flynn (Courtwood)
6. Colm Begley (Stradbally)
7. Patrick O’Sullivan (Portarlington)

8. John O’Loughlin (St Brigid’s)
9. Kieran Lillis (Portlaoise)

10. Daniel O’Reilly (Graiguecullen)
11. Conor Boyle (Portlaoise)
12. Damien O’Connor (Timahoe)

13. Paul Kingston (Arles-Killeen)
14. Colm Murphy (Portarlington)
15. Evan O’Carroll (Crettyard)

Subs

17. Robbie Piggott (Portarlington) for Timmons (inj) (8)
19. Martin Scully (Ballyroan Abbey) for Murphy (half-time)
18. Donal Kingston (Arles Killeen) for Boyle (60)
24. Brendan Quigley (Timahoe) for O’Connor (67)
20. Eoin Lowry (Killeshin) for O’Reilly (67)
22. Seán Byrne (Portarlington) for Begley (70)

Westmeath

1. Eoin Carberry (Rosemount)

2. Kevin Maguire (Caulry)
3. Ronan Wallace (Multyfarnham)
4. Boidu Sayeh (Rosemount)

5. Killian Daly (Mullingar Shamrocks)
6. Noel Mulligan (Athlone)
7. James Dolan (Garrycastle)

8. Sam Duncan (Milltownpass)
9. Denis Corroon (Mullingar Shamrocks)

10. David Lynch (St Malachy’s)
11. John Heslin (St. Loman’s, Mullingar)
17. Frank Boyle (Killucan)

13. Ronan O’Toole (St. Loman’s, Mullingar)
14. Kieran Martin (Maryland)
15. Ger Egan (Tyrrellspass)

Subs

12. Callum McCormack (Maryland) for Duncan (32)
23. Luke Loughlin (The Downs) for Boyle (half-time)
18. Darren Giles (Coralstown Kinnegad) for Corroon (61)

Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford)

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Fermanagh 0-9
Donegal 0-15

Declan Bogue reports from Brewster Park

DONEGAL HAVE TAKEN their first steps towards defending their Ulster final and will make up a mouth-watering semi-final against Tyrone on  8 June in Kingspan Breffni Park after just having too many threats all over the field for a limited Fermanagh side.

There are no secrets in Ulster football, particularly between these two teams that know each other so well and with Fermanagh manager Rory Gallagher so embedded in Donegal football. As good as their defence was for the first 55 minutes, their lack of scoring threat was always going to lead to some separation on the scoreboard.

Six points in it at the end pays testament to Donegal’s ability to shoot over the Fermanagh blanket defence, nine of their 13 scores from play coming from outside the 35 metre mark.

When Donegal went a full 18 minutes without their opening score, they had six chances prior to it that they either sent wide or dropped short.

However, a hamstring injury to Fermanagh’s Sean Quigley sustained at training midweek was to rob them of virtually their only genuine forward.

With a gap opening up after a freak bounce in front of the Fermanagh goals ended up with a fisted point from Paddy McBrearty — making his first appearance in a Donegal jersey since last year’s Ulster final — the quality shone through as the Ulster champions ran in five of the last six points of the game.

A stern examination, and they look to be in a good place again.

Scorers for Fermanagh: C Corrigan, U Kelm 0-2 each, C Jones 0-2f, R Jones, B Mulrone 0-1 each, S Quigley 0-1f

Scorers for Donegal: P McBrearty 0-5, 2f, J Brennan 0-4, M Murphy 0-2, J McGee, L McLoone, C Thompson, M Langan 0-1 each

Fermanagh: J McGrath; J Cassidy, C Cullen, L Cullen; U Kelm, J McMahon, K Connor; E Donnelly, R Jones; D Teague, A Breen, C Corrigan; D McCusker, C Jones, S Quigley

Subs: B Mulrone for Teague (HT), P McCusker for Quigley (44m), T Clarke for Connor (61m), R Lyons for Breen (65m), Teague for D McCusker (68m)

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Donegal: S Patton; P McGrath, N McGee, S McMenamin; R McHugh, D ÓBaoill, EB Gallagher; H McFadden, J McGee; C Thompson, L McLoone, J Brennan; P McBrearty, M Murphy, M Langan

Subs: F McGlynn for ÓBaoill (50m), N O’Donnell for McLoone (55m), E McHugh for McGrath (62m), E Doherty for R McHugh (71m), P Brennan for Thompson (74m)

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

Attendance: 10,447

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Declan Rooney reports from Pearse Stadium

DAVY FITZGERALD WAS sent off in the second-half but his Wexford side staged an impressive comeback to clinch a draw with Galway at Pearse Stadium.

Wexford fired seven points in a row to take the lead for the first time in the game with seven minutes remaining, but Jason Flynn saved Galway, who only scored six points in the second half.

It was an error-strewn game and the teams hit a combined 30 wides but Wexford should have won it at the death when Cathal Dunbar’s shot was saved by Colm Callanan. A point would have won it for Wexford.

Having won the toss, Wexford elected to play against the very strong wind at Pearse Stadium, and Galway’s advantage was clear when they raced into a 0-6 to 0-0 lead after 17 minutes. It was an horrendous start from Wexford, pockmarked with some very poor shooting and by half-time they had hit ten wides.

But they were lucky that Galway were also wasteful at the other end. Once again Niall Burke was on free-taking duty for the Tribesmen and he gave them a fourth-minute lead.

That advantage was doubled in the seventh minute when Jason Flynn intercepted a Mark Fanning puck-out, but Niall Burke’s third wide of the half in the ninth minute underlined the difficulties both teams had with the conditions. Just after that Conor Cooney had a great goal chance that was well saved by Fanning, but it should have resulted in a goal for Galway.

Lee Chin was most guilty for Wexford and he saw five shots miss the target before the interval – he also had a shot blocked down – but after Conor Whelan added to a couple of Niall Burke points to put Galway six ahead, it was Chin who put Wexford on the board with a brilliant free into the wind from the left wing.

Lee Chin missed a host of chances in the first half.

Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

Once they got that score Wexford improved, and their defence began to win their individual and collective duels with the Galway forwards. Aidan Nolan’s point and a couple of frees from Chin made it 0-8 to 0-4 by the 33rd minute, but Galway finished the half well with Conor Cooney and Whelan getting points for their side.

Galway should be disappointed with their use of the ball in the first-half and the six-point lead they held was just about par for the course. When Diarmuid O’Keeffe pointed 15 seconds after the restart, Wexford had the start they needed.

But three of the next four points went to Galway, all of which came from Jason Flynn frees, after he was handed the job when Niall Burke was withdrawn.

Nine minutes after the break Davy Fitzgerald was sent from the sideline by referee Johnny Murphy following a verbal altercation with sideline official Mick Murtagh, but his side responded with two points in a row from Chin frees.

Cathal Mannion hit his first point from play after 51 minutes as Galway settled again, but Galway’s challenge fell asunder. Six points in a row between the 52nd and 60th minute drew Wexford level at 0-14 each – two came from Rory O’Connor – and after Flynn and Chin both missed lead frees, Shaun Murphy put Wexford ahead for the first time in the 63rd minute with a point from the left.

Flynn then hit a 65 and a dubious point from play to put Galway one point clear, but Liam Og McGovern levelled it.

Both sides had goal chances to seal it, but in the end a point each was all they deserved.

Scorers for Galway: Jason Flynn 0-6 (3f, 1’65), Niall Burke 0-4 (3f, 1’65), Conor Whelan 0-3, David Burke 0-1, Conor Cooney 0-1, Cathal Mannion 0-1

Scorers for Wexford: Lee Chin 0-7 (6f, 1’65), Cathal Dunbar 0-2, Rory O’Connor 0-2, Diarmuid O’Keeffe 0-1, Aidan Nolan 0-1, Liam Og McGovern 0-1, Conor McDonald 0-1, Shaun Murphy 0-1.
Galway

1 Colm Callanan (Kinvara)

5 Padraic Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)
3 Daithí Burke (Turloughmore)
4 Aidan Harte (Gort)

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18 Sean Loftus (Turloughmore)
6 Gearóid McInerney (Oranmore/Maree)
24 Joseph Cooney (Sarsfields)

8 Johnny Coen (Loughrea)
9 David Burke (St Thomas) (c)

10 Cathal Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh)
11 Niall Burke (Oranmore/Maree)
12 Jason Flynn (Tommy Larkins)

14 Conor Cooney (St Thomas)
13 Conor Whelan (Kinvara)
15 Brian Concannon (Killimordaly)

Subs:
25 Jonathan Glynn (Ardrahan) for N Burke (41)
7 Kevin Hussey (Turloughmore) for Coen (57)
21 John Hanbury (Rahoon Newcastle) for Joseph Cooney (60
23 Davy Glennon (Mullagh) for Concannon (66)

Wexford

1 Mark Fanning (Glynn-Barntown)

4 Simon Donohoe (Shelmaliers)
3 Liam Ryan (Rapparees)
2 Damien Reck (Oylegate-Glenbrien)

5 Paudie Foley (Crossabeg-Ballymurn)
6 Matthew O’Hanlon (St James) (jc)
7 Shaun Murphy (Oulart-The Ballagh)

11 Aidan Nolan (Halfway House Bunclody)
9 Diarmuid O’Keeffe (St Anne’s)

10 Lee Chin (Faythe Harriers) (jc)
14 Rory O’Connor (St Martin’s)
8 Kevin Foley (Rapparees)

15 Liam Óg McGovern (St Anne’s)
22 Cathal Dunbar (Naomh Eanna)
13 Conor McDonald (Noamh Éanna)

Subs:
17 Shane Reck (Oylegate-Glenbrien) for D Reck (9-11, blood)
12 Jack O’Connor (St Martin’s) for Foley (49)
21 Paul Morris (Ferns St Aidan’s) for Nolan (49)

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).

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17 TEAMS WILL have a close interest in the opening draw of the 2019 All-Ireland senior football qualifiers which takes place tomorrow morning.

Five counties – Westmeath, Louth, Carlow, Antrim and Fermanagh – are all heading to the backdoor stage in the wake of defeats in their provinces this weekend.

Both Kildare and Longford will be paying attention to the draw after they finished all square after extra-time in today’s Leinster quarter-final in Tullamore. The losers of next Sunday’s replay will face an All-Ireland qualifier the following weekend with the winners meeting Dublin in the Leinster semi-final.

The draw will be broadcast live tomorrow on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1 at 8.30am.

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All the counties from Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster who failed to reach the provincial semi-final stage this year will be involved in tomorrow morning’s draw. The fixture details for the Round 1 games will be confirmed by the CCCC on Tuesday afternoon with the games to be held on the weekend of 8-9 June.

The first team drawn in each tie will enjoy home advantage with the proviso that a Division 3 or 4 side from this year’s league drawn against a Division 1 or 2 side is guaranteed to have their game at home.

All home venues are subject to approval by the GAA’s CCCC and shall meet the criteria set down by the National Facilities/Health and Safety Committee.

Here’s the full list of the counties involved tomorrow:

Connacht

• Leitrim
• London

Leinster

• Westmeath
• Louth
• Carlow
• Longford/Kildare
• Wicklow
• Wexford
• Offaly

Munster

• Waterford
• Tipperary

Ulster

• Antrim
• Fermanagh
• Monaghan
• Down 
• Derry

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Sean O’Brien and Leinster celebrate with the Pro14 trophy at Celtic Park

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Ultan Harney celebrates with fans after Roscommon beat Mayo in the Connacht SFC semi-final

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Stephen Cluxton was a man in demand after Dublin’s win over Louth in Portlaoise

Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

Still got it! David Beckham after scoring in the Man United 1999 Legends v Bayern Munich Legends game at Old Trafford

Source: PA Wire/PA Images

Dundalk players were swinging from all angles celebrating Patrick Hoban’s extra-time penalty on Monday night

Source: Ciaran Culligan/INPHO

Seanie Maguire heads home at Irelabd training in Portugal 

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Ireland diver Clare Cryan at Tesco and Swim Ireland’s title sponsorship announcement on Tuesday 

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

Crusaders’ Jack Goodhue is tackled by Levi Aumua of the Blues

Source: John Davidson/INPHO

Amy Magana pours milk over her head following her win at the 2019 US Diving Senior National Diving Championships

Source: Amy Sanderson

Lewis Hamilton his red helmet to tribute Niki Lauda after he won the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix race

Source: Luca Bruno

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Cork 3-22
Waterford 0-7

By Andrew Horgan

CORK SECURED AN impressive win in their opening game of the TG4 Munster SFC as they defeated Waterford 3-22 to 0-7 in their round two clash played at CIT on Sunday evening.

A win against Kerry next weekend will ensure the reigning Munster champions will again progress to the final where they will again meet Waterford in a couple of weeks.

Cork started the game brightly and they stormed into the lead after just three minutes as Daire Kiely grabbed an early goal.

Maire O’Callaghan’s clever handpass inside sent Kiely through one-on-one with the keeper and she made no mistake, coolly slotting the ball into the far bottom right corner.

And just a couple of moments later, Cork doubled their lead as they raised another green flag following a superb attacking move.

Neat play in the build-up involving Orla Finn and Ciara O’Sullivan created the opportunity for Marie O’Callaghan and the midfielder drilled her shot past the keeper from close range.

O’Sullivan scored her side’s first point of the match in the sixth minute before four quick scores — three of them frees — by Orla Finn saw the home side lead by 2-5 to no score midway through the first half.

The two sides soon started to swap scores with Maria Delahunty (2) and Eimear Farrell firing over for the Deise in between scores from Coppinger, Finn and O’Sullivan for Cork.

Cork, who landed their 12th Lidl National League Division One title recently, finished the first period of play strongly as O’Sullivan added another couple of points to her tally either side of Finn striking over the bar to give them a 2-11 to 0-3 lead at the half time break.

There was no let-up from Ephie Fitzgerald’s side in the second half as they continued to charge forward from the restart.

Ciara O’Sullivan facing Roisin Tobin.

They notched five unanswered points before Niamh Cotter calmly slotted home their third goal of the evening to make it 3-16 to 0-3.

Cork went on to add three more points before Waterford rallied in the closing stages of the game.

They outscored their Munster rivals by four points to three in that time, with Maria Delahunty claiming two of those but it was of little consequence as Cork finished with a 24 point winning margin.

Scorers for Cork: O Finn 0-11 (0-4 frees), C O’Sullivan 0-5, N Cotter, D Kelly, M O’Callaghan 1-0 each, O Farmer 0-3, L Coppinger, S Noonan and E Scally 0-1 each.

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Waterford: M Delahunty 0-4 (0-3 frees), M Ryan, L Devine, E Farrell 0-1 each.

Cork: M O’Brien; C O’Shea, E Meaney, M Duggan; S Kelly, A Hutchings, E Kiely; O Farmer, M O’Callaghan; C O’Sullivan, N Cotter, D Kiely; S O’Leary, L Coppinger, O Finn.

Subs: S Noonan for L Coppinger (HT), E Spillane for S O’Leary (37), R Ni Bhuachalla for D Kiely (41), L Crowley for M O’Brien (46), M Cahalane for M Duggan (46).

Waterford: R Landers; A Mullaney, C McGrath, R Casey; C Murphy, K McGrath, R Tobin; E Murray, K Murray; S Dunphy; C Fennell, M Delahunty; E Farrell, M Ryan, A Wall.

Subs: C Murray for A Mullaney (39), L Devine for S Dunphy (42), E Gildea for R Casey (56), K Hayes for C Murphy (56)

Referee: Eamonn Moran (Kerry).

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AFTER BREAKING BOTH of his legs in a horror injury last summer, Galway star Paul Conroy announced his return to the club scene this weekend in impressive fashion.

The St James’ midfielder contributed a handsome 1-5 and played an instrumental role as his side beat Leitir Móir on a scoreline of 3-14 to 0-8 in the opening round of the Galway SFC last night.

In the opening minutes, Conroy intercepted a kickout and rattled the back of the net — while all of his points came from play as he lined out in the full-forward line.

One of those was from the sideline ‘from an impossible angle to say the least,’ as the club wrote, ‘and to the astonishment of everyone in attendance, the umpire raised the white flag ‘.

Source: St James’ Twitter.

The Tribe veteran was returning to play after suffering a devastating season-ending injury in Galway’s Super 8s opener against Kerry last July.

He underwent surgery on the double-break in his left leg — his tibia and fibula — and also sustained a hairline fracture in his right leg following an accidental collision with Seán O’Shea in his side’s Croke Park victory.

• ‘I’ll be back next year’ – Tribe star Conroy explains his recovery from horror injury
• ‘The recovery has started already’ – Galway star Conroy confirms he broke both of his legs

The horror injury came in Galway’s Super 8s opener last July.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The news of Conroy’s bright return comes as a timely boost for Galway boss Kevin Walsh, whose side are preparing for a Connacht final meeting against Roscommon in three weeks’ time.

That decider is fixed for Sunday, 16 June.

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TWELVE MONTHS AGO Cian O’Neill stood in O’Connor Park surveying the wreckage of Kildare’s Leinster campaign.

He wasn’t trying to process the pain of defeat after the final whistle yesterday in Tullamore, a rip-roaring encounter with Longford culminating in a draw after extra-time.

But there was still a sense of regret in the Kildare camp that they hadn’t closed out a game where they were in front by seven points during normal time and by three points during extra-time.

With a replay to plan for next Sunday, O’Neill’s message to Kildare fans was to keep the faith.

“No-one’s more disappointed than us. Stick with us. Last year, it would have been very easy to walk away and desert us after Carlow and look at the great journey we went on.

“It probably feels like a defeat, after Wicklow was the same thing. But the performances are very close to being significantly better. A few execution issues, a bit of decision-making, and you could see a totally different team but it’s up to us to make sure those changes are made coming into next week.

“A titanic battle. Both teams are going to be disappointed they didn’t come away with the win. They’re going to be disappointed and we had some really gilt-edged chances that we didn’t take, particularly in extra-time with two goal chances. Things to work on, things to improve upon but a titanic struggle.”

There was some relief for Kildare at the close of normal time as Longford pushed hard for a winner. They came close to achieving it as well but James McGivney’s long-range effort brushed against the upright and Kildare were able to clear with the full-time whistle then sounding.

James McGivney looks on as his late effort to win the game in normal time hits the post.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“We were hoping it was swinging out, they were hoping it was swinging in. It hit the post and came out and look, I think it would have been very unfortunate for us because I think we dominated large portions of the match.

“But we got what we deserved because we didn’t take advantage of it. You can’t afford to do that in championship. You saw that last night – Mayo had far more chances and didn’t execute them and got caught in a very tight game again.

“Something like that could have happened to us today. But we finished very strong and we were unlucky not to get out of it with a sneaky win.”

O’Neill revealed the reasoning behind the withdrawal of Kildare attackers Adam Tyrrell and Ben McCormack, who both had been motoring well up front.

“A couple of lads came off with knocks and bangs, Adam came off with an injury at the end, everyone else was just fatigue. Ben was a decision we didn’t want to make but we felt we had to, he was on a yellow and then got a tick just before half time. It was just too risky, it was danger territory.”

The focus will switch to next Sunday’s replay with the victors having an assignment with Dublin to prepare for the following weekend and the losers set for a qualifier clash. A hectic schedule awaits.

“It’s not ideal but what would be less ideal is being out of the Leinster Championship and that’s what you need to use as a positive going into next week,” said O’Neill.

“I don’t think either team would even consider thinking about the next weekend. We just have to get our act together and get through next week and see where that takes us.

“It’s going to be tough, definitely. We both used a lot of bodies there because we had to. That’s going to be a big part of it this week. Handling the turnaround and then putting in an equally big performance next Sunday.”

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THE OPENING DRAW has taken place this morning for the 2019 All-Ireland senior football qualifiers with last year’s All-Ireland semi-finalists Monaghan set to meet Fermanagh the team that knocked them out of the Ulster championship last year.

Monaghan lost out to Cavan in their provincial quarter-final tie recently and now face another all-Ulster clash against a Fermanagh team that lost out to Donegal yesterday.

2016 All-Ireland semi-finalists Tipperary must travel to take on Down while the losers of Kildare and Longford, who face a Leinster replay next Sunday, will take on Carlow.

Louth entertain Antrim, Leitrim will meet Wicklow, Wexford are to take on Derry, Offaly go up against London and Westmeath are drawn against Waterford.

Here’s the draw in full for the games that will take place on the weekend of 8-9 June with the fixture details to be confirmed by the GAA’s CCCC tomorrow afternoon.

All-Ireland SFC qualifier draw

Round 1

Louth v Antrim
Down v Tipperary
Leitrim v Wicklow
Wexford v Derry
Offaly v London
Monaghan v Fermanagh
Carlow v Kildare/Longford
Westmeath v Waterford

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