Month: September 2021

A LEADING GAA official has hit out at the black card rule in Gaelic football, claiming it has failed players, match officials and administrators.

In his annual report to county convention – which takes place next Tuesday 13 December – Tyrone secretary Dominic McCaughey has heavily criticised the black card, which has been in place for the last three seasons.

Tyrone lost two players to black cards during their Ulster final triumph in July when Mattie Donnelly and Cathal McShane were both penalised.

“We vividly recall the background to the calls for the introduction of the black card and the manner in which it was enthusiastically and emotionally proposed, together with selective video clips, at national Congress in 2013,” outlines McCaughey.

“By adopting the black card we were led to believe that almost all the perceived ills of the game would be cured from 2014 onward.

“The black card has been a failure for the association in all respects; it has failed our players, our match officials, our disciplinary administrators and it has failed to diminish or eliminate cynical behaviour in football.”

Lee Keegan was shown a black card by referee Maurice Deegan

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

McCaughey believes there is ‘a clear and significant discrepancy’ in the penalty of the black card while also stating that referees are in ‘an impossible situation’.

“Players have suffered unnecessarily by both the application of the black card and by the misapplication of it.

“There is a clear and significant discrepancy in the severity of the penalty that applies to a player receiving a black card in added time at the end of a game compared with the player who receives it in the opening quarter of a match – this is unfair.

Diarmuid Connolly is shown a black card in the recent Leinster club quarter-final

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“Match officials are almost always placed in an impossible situation in making a determination as to whether the appropriate threshold of deliberateness has been reached in order to merit the imposition of a black card.

“Often a judgement must be made at quite a distance from an incident that has taken place in a period of time, measured in seconds – it is unfair to ask the match officials to do so.

“There is also a major lack of consistency among referees in their perceptions of what infraction merits a black card.”

Mattie Donnelly was shown a black card during the Ulster final

Source: Lorraine OÕSullivan/INPHO

The Tyrone official also expresses the view that the black card has not eradicated cynical fouls.

“Regrettably, there is no evidence to indicate that the black card has been successful in eliminating the deliberate fouls associated with cynical behaviour at both club and county levels.

“One example from the available evidence is quite contrary: that 37 black cards were issued to players in 21 inter-county games during a peak period of championship activity last summer (9th July – 1st August).

Kerry’s Tadhg Morley is shown a black card by referee Maurice Deegan

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“Perhaps the black card can be set aside now for all deliberate cynical behaviour fouls, in the same way that it has never been applied for the so-called ‘sledging’ infraction, nor for the infraction of remonstrating in an aggressive manner with a match official.

“If it retains its place in the Official Guide then the application of the rule, and the misapplication of the rule, will continue to be the subject of discussion during and after games -rather than the game itself, or the quality of the performance, or the level of skills on display.

“The after-match focus by supporters, players, analysts and the media should always be on the game; it should not be on a rule.”

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TWO LEGENDS OF Cork and Kerry football are joining forces to spearhead UCC’s Sigerson Cup challenge.

Five-time All-Ireland winner Tomás Ó Sé has joined Billy Morgan’s backroom team ahead of the 2017 tournament.

The Sunday Game panellist had been involved in training the side in recent weeks, and UCC confirmed today that he will be an official part of the setup.

Ó Sé, who now lives in Cork and plays his club football with Nemo Rangers, previously managed the university’s Freshers team.

UCC will open their Sigerson campaign against St Pat’s Drumcondra on 25/26/31 January.

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CLARE COUNTY SECRETARY Pat Fitzgerald has blamed social media for stirring up the opposition that forced Davy Fitzgerald to stand down.

Davy Fitz walked away following Clare’s exit from the hurling championship when it became clear that he did not have the support of all the players.

The 2013 All-Ireland winning manager, who still had a year to run on his term, was replaced by Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor.

In his report to Clare’s annual convention, seen by the Clare Champion, Pat Fitzgerald — Davy’s father — pointed the finger at an online campaign as the source of the unrest.

Fitzgerald believes that some people within the county were opposed to Davy’s appointment from the outset.

“People turned to social media to have shots at the management and basically launch a campaign for change,” Fitzgerald wrote.

He added:

While Davy had a year to run, he was swimming against the tide as a cohort of people, who never really endorsed his appointment, pushed the keyboards to stir up opposition to him seeing out his tenure. When some of the players indicated their wishes for change, he bowed out in a very dignified manner, thereby eliminating the possibility of acrimony, conflict and bitter division.

Source: Clare Champion

Any blame for Clare’s disappointing campaign couldn’t lie solely with the management, Fitzgerald indicated, as he turned the focus on the players themselves.

A disappointing summer saw Clare fail to build on their National Hurling League title, losing to Waterford in the Munster semis before exiting the All-Ireland series in the quarter-finals against Galway.

“In my opinion,” he wrote, “there are a small cohort of players that need to analyse their own performance and commitment over recent years.”

Moloney and O’Connor were ratified for a two-year term as joint managers having guided Clare’s U21s to three consecutive All-Ireland titles between 2012 and 2014.

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Home

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

• Dundalk’s European adventure is over after the League of Ireland champions lost to Macabbi Tel-Aviv in Israel.
• Jamie Heaslip says he’s happy to continue playing rugby in Ireland, but is considering all other options as his IRFU contract comes to an end at the end of the season.
• Jack McCaffrey seems keen to rejoin the Dublin footballers, but no word yet from manager Jim Gavin.
• Davy Fitzgerald’s father has blamed social media activity for the former Clare manager’s resignation.
• Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is hopeful that Johnny Sexton will regain full fitness in time for their inter-provincial clash away to Munster on December 26th.
• Galway footballers Johnny Duane and Sean Armstrong are due to return to the inter-county fold next season.
• Conor McGregor is expected to contest a $75,000 fine for throwing a water bottle at Nate Diaz during a press conference ahead of their UFC rematch.

Away

Source: Jeff Holmes

• Joey Barton has blamed the Scottish media for billing him to be the next Lionel Messi or Neymar ahead of his arrival at Rangers.
• US broadcasters Showtime have expressed an interest in broadcasting Katie Taylor’s fight this weekend at the Manchester Arena.
• The New York Yankees are bringing back Aroldis Chapman on an $86 million contract. 
• The famous Mayo curse which is believed to be the cause of their All-Ireland drought, got a mention on Countdown.

The Best Thing We Shared

The over-due video compilation of Sean O’Connell’s entertaining weigh-ins.

On the Record

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Ryan McHugh gave his take on the evolution of the Dublin footballers.

I think they’re a lot more smart, a lot more streetwise. They’re just getting more experienced, they know how to win games. They’re such a good team with experienced players all over the pitch. Just runners coming from everywhere. You go out and you have to mark six forwards, it’s hard to leave men free. You don’t realise until you actually play against them.”

Where We Were Today

Source: Sam Barnes/SPORTSFILE

Alan Waldron was chatting to Davy Fitzgerald at the Leinter Bord Na Mona GAA Series launch while Sean Farrell attended the Leinster press conference in the RDS.

The Fixture List

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Leinster travel to face Northampton Saints for a Pool 4 clash in the Champions Cup tomorrow evening. Kick-off is at 19.45.

Showbiz, Baby!

This dog would put some NFL players to shame with this perfectly legal tackle on a young boy who has just caught a football.

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DIARMUID CONNOLLY FINDS himself back in familiar territory.

St Vincent’s are in another Leinster final, chasing their third provincial title in four years. For Connolly, he’s one game away from complete a clean sweep of trophies in 2016.

An O’Byrne Cup defeat to Longford in January aside, a game that Connolly didn’t feature in, he’s had things pretty much his own way this year .

A National League, Leinster title and All-Ireland medal were added to Connolly’s collection with Dublin, while St Vincent’s lifted their 28th Dublin SFC crown last month.

Now he chases a fifth trophy to mirror his remarkable achievement in 2014. For Connolly, such a long season takes its toll mentally as well as physically.

“Not just the body,” he said at the AIB GAA Leinster Senior Football Club Championship Final Media Day.

“Mentally you’d be tired after a year like this. I’ve been lucky enough not to get too many injuries – bumps and bruises but nothing that’s kept me out for long periods. After a long season, mentally it gets tough. Absolutely but hopefully a holiday after next week will recharge the batteries.”

His last championship defeat for club or county came over a year ago when Ballyboden stunned the three-in-a-row chasing Vinnies and went on to lift the Andy Merrigan Cup on St Patrick’s Day.

“Last year we were massively disappointed but Ballyboden were a complete unknown, no one gave them a snowball’s in the final but they beat us on merit.

“I said it before the county final that it was a hard thing to take, we were obviously going for three-in-a-row and a bit of history.”

This time around Vincent’s made no mistake against underdogs Castleknock in the county final. Much of that was down to the evergreen 36-year-old Tomas Quinn, who kicked five points, two from play.

Source: Ramsey Cardy/SPORTSFILE

“When I started off I was more of an inside forward, I would’ve watched him very closely and learned a lot off him to be honest, he’s probably one of the best finishers and still is.

“He mightn’t thank me for this but it’s the pace probably that lets him down. Obviously getting a little bit older the game is getting quicker, yeah he’s been massive for us this year.

“He got man of the match in the county final, 36 years of age, if I’m 36 years of age and doing that I’ll be pretty happy.

“(His longevity is) down to him looking after himself really well, getting the work done, getting the gym work done, eating right, not acting the maggot really. His free-taking for us has been exceptional the last ten or 15 years with Vincent’s.”

“His father was 41 when he won a Dublin senior hurling medal with Vincent’s so there’s pedigree.”

It’s still unusual to see Connolly on media duty, this outing his third press event the last six months. But he’s happy to take on the responsibility as the skipper of Vincent’s.

“I’m captain and I’m representing Vincent’s so that’s it.

“It’s a massive honour to be asked to represent the group, especially a group that means so much to me and we’ve won so much together that to be asked to represent them is an honourable thing.

“I’m not blind to media. When it’s coming up to big games and there’s pressure I tend not to read the papers or listen to too much radio because I just like to listen to what’s happening inside (the camp.)”

Vincent’s face a Rhode outfit seeking their first ever provincial title. The Marino club easily disposed of the Offaly champions two years ago, but on Sunday Connolly expects a more difficult contest.

“We played them a couple of years ago in the same competition. I was speaking to Niall (McNamee) there and they’re flying, it’ll be a big challenge for us playing them guys.

“I know they’ve won county titles probably more easily than we have in the last couple of years and they’re obviously stalwarts of the Leinster campaign and it’ll be a big challenge for us.”

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SLOWING DOWN DOESN’T come naturally to Davy Fitzgerald. The brakes haven’t worked for quite a while.

As a player, as a manager, everything has been at full throttle. He doesn’t have time for second gear.

Cast yourself back to his era-defining penalty against Limerick in the 1995 Munster final.

As Fitzgerald buried the sliotar below the crossbar, edging Clare towards their first provincial crown in 63 years, composure was nigh on impossible as his proud Banner blood pumped through his veins.

He turned away from the rippling net and leaped for joy. On his descent, his elation was sharply dismissed as he spotted the gaping goal at the other end he needed to tend to.

Pure bliss, a mid-air reality check and a brief moment of assessment. Then came the mad dash towards the next challenge.

Source: CR’s Video Vaults/YouTube

Twenty-one years have passed but Fitzgerald’s love for the game remains inspiring in its purity, his waves of emotion as passionate as they are fleeting, and the arrival of reality checks as sudden as they are important.

One can only speculate about the intensity of his internal battles but considering his fierce competitive nature, it’s probably safe to assume they’re on a par with his external ones; hemming and hawing between rationale and desire.

When Wexford first came knocking, while the door was still swinging from his Clare departure, Fitzgerald politely turned them away.

His summer heart scare was a factor, no doubt. It had also been a roller-coaster five seasons in charge of the Banner. Full of pride and plenty of the gritty stuff. A break would do him no harm, he thought. And he stuck to his guns, initially.

But soon that irrepressible love for an uphill challenge, an opportunity to upset the status quo, began to shift his feet from his firm stance.

A couple of meetings with Wexford officials later and Fitzgerald was ready to complete his U-turn, it was an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up.

“When Diarmuid [Devereux] came to me, the chairman of Wexford, I turned him down,” Fitzgerald recalled at the launch of the Bord na Móna Walsh Cup in Croke Park yesterday.

“I said: ‘I don’t think I can do this.’

“Now, when I got talking to him and I started to get enthusiastic. I saw where he felt Wexford were … they had players, they had talent, but needed just a different direction or something. And they were so passionate about it.

“It just made me think twice. It made me think that it would be great if another team could join the top ranks.”

Source: Sam Barnes/SPORTSFILE

His health remains a primary concern; Fitzgerald explains he is trying to shift some weight and improve his diet.

The hereditary heart condition that hospitalised him in July before the Galway game, and also in 2009, is still lurking in the background.

He will do what he can to stay healthy but that doesn’t involve stepping away from management. Hurling is a stress relief, not a burden, he insists.

“It took me a while to make up my mind [on Wexford]. And a lot of the reason would have been I’m not 100% happy with that,” Fitzgerald says as he points to his chest.

“The most important thing in life is life and the health you have. There’s times where we don’t value that enough.

“And in the last few months, even in the darker times of the last month or two, it’s been coming into my head.

“OK, ‘what exactly happened you?’ You got a blockage and you don’t want to get another one of them again because that could be fatal.

“I’m the kind of guy who likes to f**king … I like to live and do stuff, so it is. I’ve thought about it.

“Obviously I’m not happy with my weight. [I’m] trying to get a bit of weight off to help ease a bit of pressure in general, change my diet a bit.”

The Wexford role certainly whets Fitzgerald’s appetite. It’s almost comfortable in its familiarity —  a proud coastal hurling county desperate to claw its way back to the top of the tree.

A place where passion and fight is celebrated; a shared belief that deficiencies in skill can be overcome with desire.

It might be a long trek across the breadth of the country, a six-hour round trip he’ll be doing three times a week, but Wexford is cut from the same cloth as Clare when it comes to hurling, and that is something that sings loudly in Fitzgerald’s mind.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“I saw it [the job as] similar to Clare,” Fitzgerald says.

“I’d be very funny, I’d be a GAA person that loves to see a team do something that hasn’t done it in a while.

“If you look at most of my CV, back with the club teams I worked with or any of them. A lot of the teams I’ve won with have done it out of no place.

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“The joy that you get from seeing that, from seeing a team doing something that they’re not meant to do — that kind of buzz is always there with you in saying ‘can I make a difference?’

“That was it. I saw them as very much the same as Clare and I’d love to see them back competing for big-time honours, they haven’t been for a while.

“They’re a mad, fanatical GAA people down there.”

It’s been so far, so good for Fitzgerald. He’s met the panel, including Jack Guiney, and he’s been impressed with what he’s seen.

A recent challenge with Dublin pointed out a number of obvious areas for improvement. But Fitzgerald, who also revealed he has a book in the pipeline, has already outlined to the players the mammoth task that lies ahead.

“I want to go in and hopefully do my best for them. They’re an absolutely lovely bunch to work with.

“Have they work to do? They have. Liam [Dunne] did a good job with them but they need to go to another level.

“Mentally, they need to go to another level. Hurling wise, they need to go to another level.

“So, hopefully, I’ll be able to help them with that.

“I think they just want to be involved in big days and I’d love to bring them to one or two.”

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IT MAY BE almost 13 years since David ‘Dotsy’ O’Callaghan made his debut for the capital’s senior hurlers but he admits he’s as hungry as ever to succeed having seen Cuala claim the county’s first Leinster club title in 36 years.

However, whether O’Callaghan’s inter-county career continues into 2017 appears to be out of his hands.

The 33-year-old is recovering from an October back surgery to tackle a prolapsed disc, an injury that came to a head during last summer’s championship campaign with the Dubs.

O’Callaghan had convinced himself 2016 would mark his farewell from the inter-county game but the way the season panned out, with his back injury, he didn’t get to bow out on his terms.

Success breeds success too, as they say. And seeing so many of his Dublin colleagues end a lengthy drought for club hurling in the capital with Cuala helped persuade O’Callaghan to throw in his lot for 2017, fitness permitting.

“I suppose the fact that I haven’t got to play any hurling for the last six months; you can’t help the appetite building again,” O’Callaghan explained yesterday at the launch for the 2017 Bord na Móna Walsh Cup.

“Even looking at Cuala last week as well, it was very refreshing looking at that and that would give you the horn as well to go back!

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“Ultimately, I’ll see how this [injury] progresses over the next couple of weeks, work away with Eamon [O’Reilly, Dublin physio] and see if I can get into a position to give it a crack.”

The success of the Dalkey club has been a welcome distraction for Dublin hurling during difficult times of transition, division and rumours of unrest.

Dublin’s sizable Cuala contingent will certainly miss the league opener against Tipperary on 11 February, and possibly the entire campaign altogether if Mattie Kenny’s side overcome Slaughtneil in the All-Ireland semi-final, but O’Callaghan is confident the Boys in Blue will be given a massive boost when their county champions eventually return to the setup.

“It is a little [awkward, former players speaking out against the setup], to be honest. I’ve had some of the best days of my life with those lads.

“But, I mean, ultimately, if you’re selected on the squad you have to basically give yourself to the squad 100% and you have to commit to the lads that are there.

“If I’m going to be there in 2017 — and hopefully I can get back — I’ll be giving my best to the group that’s there.

Please God you’d like to see Cuala going on and maybe pulling off an All-Ireland victory and coming back into the fold — they’d be a huge lift at that stage.

Another positive for Dublin hurling over the past couple of seasons has been the emergence of a new wave of fearless, talented young hurlers. And that’s something O’Callaghan, who is returning to his boyhood club St Mark’s, Tallaght after two seasons at Ballyboden St Enda’s, believes is important to remember.

“A lot of the lads have got a lot of action the last couple of years and have really stood up, the younger guys.

“You are looking at the likes of Eoghan O’Donnell, the Shane Barretts. I know Cian O’Callaghan will be with Cuala but there’s a lot of lads kind of coming to the fore.

“A lot of the lads really stood up and took it, and a lot of the younger guys are becoming real leaders in the group and I’m sure they are going to be the guys driving the team forward as well going into the future.”

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THE GAA HAVE announced their television and radio rights deal for the next five years with RTÉ and Sky Sports set to retain their current TV packages, while in radio RTÉ now have full commentary rights to all games as Newstalk lose out.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

RTÉ have retained access to 31 senior championship games each year including all provincial hurling and football finals, both All-Ireland hurling and two All-Ireland football quarter-finals, and the All-Ireland semi-finals and finals in both football and hurling.

The Sunday Game will be staying put on RTÉ for another five years

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The Sky Sports package stays at 14 exclusive games, while they will have the rights to a further six games which they broadcast simultaneously with RTÉ in the latter stages of the All-Ireland senior championships.

For the first time, Sky Sports will have exclusive coverage of a Munster senior hurling championship game.

In radio, RTÉ are the big winners while Newstalk lose out. RTÉ have now secured full and exclusive live rights for all senior championship games. The new deal will see Newstalk awarded score flash rights, similar to the arrangement that Today FM will have.

Newstalk sideline reporter Billy Joe Padden

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The new rights deal will run from 2017-2022 and will see Sky Sports still involved, three years after their entry to the GAA broadcast market provoked huge debate.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

An interesting development will see the GAA retain its clip rights for all games. This is part of plan to ‘leverage them across its own platforms as part of a wider digital content strategy’.

Football championship sponsors Eir will also have access to these rights while Sky Sports will have clip access for their 14 exclusive games.

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Other features of the new deal include:

TG4 will broadcast 85 GAA games a year

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

• TG4 retains rights for Sunday afternoon Allianz league games, the GAA club championship along with the U21 and minor championships.
• Eir Sport will broadcast Saturday night Allianz league games.
• BBC Northern Ireland again will have live TV coverage of the Ulster senior football championship.
• Raidió na Gaeltachta will broadcast GAA games throughout the year.
• Partnerships will Premium Sports (North America – Commerical Premises) and Premier Sports (Britain) have also been renewed.
• The GAA’s existing local radio agreement continues with 20 stations around the country.

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Kerry’s Paul Geaney and Dublin’s Diarmuid Connolly

KERRY’S PAUL GEANEY and Tipperary’s John McGrath have claimed the senior player honours in the 2016 Munster GAA awards.

While Dublin’s Diarmuid Connolly and Kilkenny’s Jonjo Farrell have won the equivalent awards in Leinster as they are the inaugural winners of the Pearse Medal for 2016.

Jonjo Farrell and Diarmuid Connolly during a presentation in Croke Park

Source: SPORTSFILE

Geaney inspired Kerry to Munster title glory when he hit 0-5 in the semi-final against Clare and was man-of-the-match when scoring 2-3 in the final win over Tipperary.

Paul Geaney raised two green flags against Tipperary

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

McGrath made his Munster senior championship debut when scoring a point against Cork, he struck the same total against Limerick before exploding to life in the final when he fired 3-2 in the victory over Waterford.

John McGrath netted a hat-trick against Waterford

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Connolly was again instrumental to Dublin’s victory, man-of-the-match in their wins over Laois and Meath before helping them overcome Westmeath in the final.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Farrell was a revelation for Kilkenny in the Leinster senior champiosnhip, striking 2-9 from play in their victories over Dublin and Galway.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Munster

Meanwhile there are several other award winners in Munster that will be honoured at a gala dinner in the Rochestown Park Hotel tomorrow night

Cork’s Michael Hurley and Waterford’s Austin Gleeson have claimed the U21 awards after their respective provincial final wins, while Kerry’s David Clifford and Tipperary’s Jake Morris were the minor stars in 2016.

NEWSTALK HAVE QUESTIONED RTÉ’s use of state funding to win the full radio commentary rights in the new GAA media deal.

The GAA today confirmed the details of their new deal, which will last from 2017 to 2022.

Newstalk, who first secured the rights to live GAA commentary in 2011, have lost live commentary of GAA championship matches and will instead be restricted to live flash score rights.

In a statement released this evening, Newstalk sports editor Adrian Barry responded to today’s announcement and expressed their disappointment at the news.

“We believe we made a very competitive pitch to retain our live GAA commentary rights and we are disappointed that, after six years of innovative and extensive coverage, the GAA has decided not to renew that agreement.

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State Funding

“Despite RTE continuing to benefit from 85% of the license fee, today’s decision begs the question as to why the state broadcaster would use state funding to purchase rights for a service that was already available to the public, free of charge, via Newstalk.

“Off the Ball produced some iconic moments this year – in addition to our full coverage of Euro 2016, the Rio Olympics and the Paralympics, we grilled Lance, toasted the Dubs and drank in another successful season of Irish rugby.

“We were delighted to renew our Premier League commentary package this year for another three seasons, we have recently broadcast live Republic of Ireland games for the first time, we continue to broadcast live Champions Cup rugby and we remain a broadcast partner of the GAA, with live score flash rights for the coming five years.

“Off the Ball’s listenership across seven days is at an all-time high, bring on 2017.”

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